Ezi Na Ulo: The Extended Family in Igbo Civilization

Ochi agha Imo State

Ndi isi ala

Oha n’eze

Ekele na udo diri unu:

Igbo bu Igbo; Igbo buru miri ga ogu kpo ya ijiriji; Kele nu:

Igbo na aru ji, aru ede: Kele nu.

Igbo n’azu ahia eke ukwu, azu eke nta: Kele nu:

Igbo n’azu ahia orie ukwu, azu orie nta: Kele nu:

Igbo n’azu ahia afo ukwu, azu afo nta: Kele nu:

Igbo n’azu ahia nkwo ukwu, azu nkwo nta: Kele nu: (3)

Abstract

This lecture on the Igbo “family and home” is at once a detailed study of the core components, complexity, and values of Igbo social organization, and at the same time a lecture in anthropological theory and a study in dialectical anthropology.

In his introduction, the author who was himself an insider of Igbo culture, points to the challenge of interpreting Igbo society to its custodians and culture bearers. Reflecting on ethnography and interpretations of culture, he illustrates his comments with an Iranian folk tale as well as references to Susanne Langer, Claude Levi-Strauss, Clifford Geertz, Gilbert Ryle, Alfred N. Whitehead, and Chinua Achebe

Uchendu begins with the general possibility of profiling a culture along two clusters of culture traits such as Ezi and Ulo, as separately identifiable units of Igbo cultural organization against anthropological theories, proposed by Clyde Kluckhohn, Clifford Geertz, Max Weber, Victor Uchendu, Ralph Linton. Margaret Mead, and Chinua Achebe, In his next step, Uchendu profiles Igbo culture specifically, as complex and holistic, and immediately warns against two type of academic pitfalls evoked by the culture’s specifics: I) Foreign scholars’ surprise and fascination with an open, decentralized society whose “strength and resilience under stress” is found in features other than “a single over-arching institution,” that is monolithic state power, 2) The indigenous scholar and “Igbo student” who goes overboard “into a fruitless search for institutions which the Igbo culture does not need, and if such an institution were forced on it, Igbo culture would lose its integrity.” The Igbo worldview and social structure are defined as two elements of the socio-cultural system that shape and condition each other. Thus, social institutions such as Ezi na Ulo are defined as reinforcing the social structure and reaffirming the Igbo world view characterized by Uchendu along 7 features: integrated, dynamic, market oriented, status by achievement cycle, striving for balance, strict code of conduct, and a world of change and freedom. Uchendu then goes on to examine Igbo social structure “not as a concrete phenomenon...,” but rather as “a statement of principles embodied in objective reality. One of those realities is ezi na ulo…” which he then goes on to describe in detail, followed by a section examining the extended family and the “concept of the extended family,” outlining and identifying in the Igbo social organization 6 elements following Goode (1963)_., 10 elements after Celia Castillo (1968), and pointing to further criteria (Uchendu and Shimkin 1978). The following discussion of the extended family universe builds on Levi-Strauss’ theory of “elementary structure,” and examines Ardner's exemplary study of Ezinihitte Mbaise and the 5 kinship categories identified therein. Uchendu next discusses the theories of social structure by Radcliffe-Brown, Fortes, Eggan, Evans-Pritchard, Leach, Levi-Strauss, Nadel, and Firth., and proceeds to defining the complex characteristics of Igbo social organization, following the 11 criteria proposed by M,G. Smith, and again warning against an obsession with centralized power and a confusion of complexity and a need for centralized authority, Following Henry Maine (1905), Uchendu then proceeds to define Igbo society as a corporation that includes specific corporate aggregates and subdivisions, with brief references to the ohu and Osu categories, and including a discussion of Nzimiro’s “segmentary model,” The next section examines the institutional patterns of Igbo society, Uchendu mentions several previous studies of specific institutions and important monographs of specific sub-divisions of Igboland and notes that there are still few general ethnological studies of the Igbo, and especially studies of the Western Igbo are badly needed, as well as more studies of double-descent systems and the Cross-River area. A general description of the five different areas outlined by Forde follows. In a brief section on “models of Igbo social structure”, contemporary anthropology is portrayed as attempting to integrate the “analytical model” or “outsider’s point of view” with the “folk model^” or the “insider’s point of view,” The distinction is also known as emic-etic distinction, and the next section Uchendu examines the emic, model of Igbo social structure and describes Igbo society as characterized by a “status structure rather than a class structure,” emphasizing the importance of “social conversion, a mechanism by which individuals and corporate groups transform their wealth into highly valued prestige symbols,^” He goes on to illuminate the “equalitarian principle” as basis for the Igbo world, and “social conversion, a principle that makes social status an unstable affair that requires constant revalidation in order to retain its prestige level,” A closer examination follows of the social status model and an illumination of the important Igbo distinction between Diala or Amadi and non-Diala, culminating in the telling Igbo attitude towards wealth: “Wealth is a social product. It is not an end in itself. Rather, it is viewed in Igbo society as a means of achieving prestige;… Traditionally, wealth was not used for things that would effect a positive change in status.”

The next major segment of the lecture is devoted to “Regional Variations in Igbo Social Structure.” Critical of the earlier attempt by Forde and Jones to contour the variations in Igbo culture along critical cultural traits, Uchendu proposes kinship as “the key diagnostic cultural trait to the variations in Igbo social structure...,” and points to importance of distinguishing the Ikwu and the Umunna belts of kinship systems, as well as the presence and distinctions of pawns and slaves, ohu and osu, He goes on to examine the kinship state structure as well as the conversion principle within these parameters. The next section outlines the two kinship belts, Umunna and Ikwu plus the presence of the double descent kinship system. Features of the double descent system are discussed in the following section, referencing schneider-Gough’s analysis. Next, Uchendu discusses Igbo marriage types.

A special segment is devoted to Ahiajoku in lgbo social structure, and discussed the associated religious believes associated with yam, as well as the yam title. The fourth segment discusses “Civilization in Igbo Civilization,” drawing on George Adams, as well as on comparative data from China, ancient Greece, and the European middle ages. The next segment examines “Value orientation: anchors to Igbo civilization,” and examines values such as mutual dependence and reciprocity, lineage continuity, life affirmation, and occupational orientation.

In summary, Uchendu reaffirms that “Abstract structures, like grande ideas, can lead to the explication of the concrete event, and ‘vice versa, Ezi na ulo which transforms itself into ezi n’rlo is a concrete form of Igbo social system and it provides insights into other structures of Igbo social life and the theories and organization of such life.” He goes on to affirm the importance of acknowledging and learning from “otherness.” “I have attempted to show that the “otherness” of the Igbo customs constitute an important civilization in its own right and contributes to the pool of human civilization.” Fully aware and critical of issues confronting not only Nigeria, but the entire global scene, Uchendu concludes by asking, “what can modern society… lean from Igbo-type society? The problem is not what␣analysis of such society will reveal and therefore teach but rather what prejudices.