One particular scene in Things Fall Apart has become emblematic of the moral condition and compass of the modern African mind. At the scene of Okonkwo's death, overwhelmed by shame resulting from his people's weakness, Obierika turned to the white man and said: "That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. He had earlier observed that the white man has "put a knife on the things that held us together, and we have fallen apart." What stands out among other things is Obierika's insensitivity to the pain his people's feudal structure inflicted on certain groups that have no access to power and privilege: the efulefus, the Osu (outcasts), women. He was particularly eager to offload his people's moral problems on the District Officer, who supposedly brought about Okonkwo's demise. Obierika set the stage for the postcolonial African moral compass that consists mainly of indicting the West, in the belief that doing so lets Africans off the moral hook, off the responsibility to search for ways to enhance justice and human flourishing in Africa. Thus very few African minds interrogate the moral structure of their own ethnicity or tribe.
Let the rethinking begin. Thanks, Nimi.
--I would reply word for word as moses did, but add that some make a distinction between ethnicity and tribe in africa. I am not clear on the difference. We all know that ethnicity was to be the polite replacement for tribe, but it is hard to shake the past, and traces of european thinking mark both terms.I;ve heard tribe used for jews, or for flemish versus walloon, but those usages are colloquial, not intended as identity markers, whereas tribe still has the premodern traces. Not just in africa, but the u.s. as well.And the same turn here in the u.s., with native or native american, the polite replacement term. I also believe the shift back to usage of tribe is true in the u.s. along with africa. Who can claim ownership of these usages?Lastly, black and african american are terms that shifted through time, as we all know, as has white or heterosexual, with cis replacing the latter.Frankly i can't keep up. We have lgbtq+ and i don't know what to add or subtract any more, or whether words like dyke are supposed to be in common usage or not.Ken
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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Moses Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, November 5, 2022 7:58:32 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wariboko's Essay on Majority-tribe Privilege in NigeriaThe linguists will tell you that there are many examples of popular usage and meaning overwhelming "proper," academic usage/meaning. In such situations, the academic or polite usage usually bends to the popular one. The opposite rarely happens.
I was an ardent campaigner against "tribe." I used to ban its use in my students' papers, including a disclaimer on the syllabus to that effect. On the first day of class, I would give a few remarks about why the word is bad.
I don't do that anymore. I still don't use the word myself, but once I came to terms with the popular semiotics and utility of the word in Africa, which is largely detached from its racist, colonial usage, and once I realized that some of my students knew that Africans, including African scholars and intellectuals, were using the term in a descriptive way, I thought it was an unfair burden on my students to outright ban its use in my class. Plus, it was taking up too much of my time to correct every use of the term.
Then I would go to Africa and everyone, including my academic interlocutors, would be using "tribe" casually.
You'd run out of breath correcting everyone, I said to myself. So I gave up my crusade against "tribe" and accepted this as one of those instances in which we academics must humbly accept that the popular, quotidian, harmless, and neutral use of the term as both critique (tribalism) and description of an ethno-linguistic group, has trumped the colonial, racist iteration of the word.
I agree with Falola that what remains is to de-particularize and de-Africanize the word so that it is applied to ethnic communities everywhere.
The battle to stop its usage by Africans and for Africans has been lost. If we persist in this mission, we would be validating the critique that we're out of touch ivory tower dwellers.--
Sent from my iPhone
On Nov 5, 2022, at 6:24 PM, Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:
It's popular usage stems from ignorance!--
On Sat, 5 Nov 2022 at 11:17 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
IB:
You did not read the second sentence. In that second sentence, Flemish and Walloon are tribes.
"Tribe" is used on the streets in Africa, routinely.
PS: I don't use it, to be clear.
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 6:13 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wariboko's Essay on Majority-tribe Privilege in NigeriaI disagree! We should fight hard to free Africa from the tribal cage. The word had relevance long ago--not now. If you can explain to the world why tribe is used as reference to us; while nation is deploy to talk about the global north I will listen to you.
What makes the Flemish and Walloon in small Belgium a nation and the Hausa and Yoruba a tribe? It's the R word--Racism!
You're on record talking Decolonization--so tribe is not part of that sing song? It's popularity in Africa is borne out of ignorance!
Don't get.
On Sat, 5 Nov 2022 at 10:56 PM, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:
Okey:
You and I should bring back the use of "tribe" as a legitimate label.
What you and I must not do is particularize it to an African zone. I see Europeans as tribal people, as in the case of the tribal war in Ukraine.
Popular usage in Africa has accepted "tribe" and "tribalism."
TF
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Okey Iheduru <okeyiheduru@gmail.com>
Date: Saturday, November 5, 2022 at 5:43 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Wariboko's Essay on Majority-tribe Privilege in NigeriaI stopped reading after seeing the Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo called "tribes" by none other than Prof. Wariboko, despite his use of "ethnic groups" in the first sentence of the excerpt.
On Sat, Nov 5, 2022 at 7:33 AM Ibrahim Abdullah <ibdullah@gmail.com> wrote:
Still tribalising Nigeria/Africa?
On Sat, 5 Nov 2022 at 1:57 PM, Nimi Wariboko <nimiwari@msn.com> wrote:
Dear Colleagues:
This is an article I published in Punch Newspapers Nigeria yesterday, Friday, November 4, 2022. It is about majority-tribe privilege in Nigeria.
Wazobia Republic: The majority-tribe privilege in Nigeria
Majority-tribe privilege is the advantage the Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba enjoy as members of the three big ethnic groups in the country. The mighty advantage of belonging to one of the Big Three, the Wa-Zo-Bia groups, is both unconscious and conscious. For those who enjoy being part of the big tribes, the advantage is unseen to (majority of) them, but it is highly visible to the rest of us that belong to the minority tribes. When national public officials and the media list ethnicities in Nigeria and routinely name Hausa-Fulani, Igbo, and Yoruba, without bothering to mention even one minority tribe, you are reminded that Nigeria is wazobia and the country does not regard your existence. Minority-tribe persons grate under their skin when they hear Wazobia, a portfolio word that reminds them of their exclusion, marginalisation, and irrelevance in the general description of what Nigerian citizenship means. With the way the 2023 elections have become a three-tribe affair, you would be forgiven for thinking they are the only ones in the country.
For more, please click the link below:
https://punchng.com/wazobia-republic-the-majority-tribe-privilege-in-nigeria/
Nimi Wariboko
Boston University
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