HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE IGBO LANDSCAPE : A POETIC MEDITATION BY OBI NWAKANMA
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OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 5:50:35 PM5/28/12
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I have made it my business to distribute this writer's words whenever I come across them at random on Nigerian centred listserves and I feel motivated enough to do the compilation and distribution. I think that if I ask his permission, I might not get it so I just go ahead and do it anyway. I seem to have asked him one or twice and he refused, not sure I remember very well the accuracy of this. It might be unethical to distribute his words without his permission but it has to be done. This kind of writing should not disappear into the anonymity of listserve archives. His writing is really powerful and easily rises above the notion of commonness often associated with discourse on general social networks.
His scholarly and at times poetic style is evident in his contributions to debates on various subjects. His contributions to discussions on the history and politics of the question of Nigerian unity, a small collection of which I once distributed on these fora, are particularly moving, being mini essays delivered with passion and depth of thought. I think he blurs facts at times in order to make a point, but his writing is often enchanting.
I was compelled to distribute this particular contribution on being pulled into his blend of landscape evocation, recreation of his native linguistic and social world and discourse on Igbo/African history and sociology of knowledge, all in a very succinct but memorable summation.
Some of his conclusions could be controversial but the poetry remains compelling.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE IGBO LANDSCAPE
A POETIC MEDITATION BY OBI NWAKANMA
"Is there any society that can be said to have no knowledge of science, no matter how underdeveloped? We know for a fact that our palm oil was used by Lever Bros."
-Orindare
Before Lever Brothers made soap with palm oil, my great, great, great grandmother made soap called "Ncha Obo" from the cured husks of the palm bunch, and made 'Elu aki" from the palm nuts - all organic. It took a highly scientific knowledge to process the cassava roots, and remove its cyanide content through fermentation. That knowledge of Chemistry happened at the most basic domestic laboratories - the kitchen.
Every village boy knew precisely the [various kinds] of bird[s], [their] pattern of flight, and calculated the rate of velocity of [their] motion simply by listening to bird calls. An awareness of this is at the roots of aeronautical science.
In my part of the world, rising just above the outlies of the Niger delta, in its dry plains with dried river beds from years of environmental changes, the people discovered new methods of water preservation by creating artificial lakes which we call, "Iyi Ala" and just around these artificial lakes, were protected forests and herbarium which they called, 'Ohia mmo" (the Christians later called "evil forest" or "ajo-ofia).
Until our contemporary scientists take a step back to study carefully the extent and archive of scientific knowledge present in our various social order [s], we'll continue to dwell in the wilderness.
Among the most startling discoveries for me in the last fifteen years of closely studying the Igbo knowledge systems is its energy law connected to its productive systems and to a profound environmental consciousness only now becoming real to Western science.
My theory is simple: we've been there. We've done this, done that, and pulled back from the abyss. That is what lies at the core of much of African culture's reluctance to instrumentalize energy. And it takes high scientific consciousness to come to that reality - because energy is finite.
From a post under the user name Rex Marinus on NaijaP...@yahoogroups.com on Mon, May 28, 2012 at 7:21 PM on the thread "Africa Must Close the Five Hundred Years Civilization Gap Between It and Europe".
His scholarly and at times poetic style is evident in his contributions to debates on various subjects. His contributions to discussions on the history and politics of the question of Nigerian unity, a small collection of which I once distributed on these fora, are particularly moving, being mini essays delivered with passion and depth of thought. I think he blurs facts at times in order to make a point, but his writing is often enchanting.
I was compelled to distribute this particular contribution on being pulled into his blend of landscape evocation, recreation of his native linguistic and social world and discourse on Igbo/African history and sociology of knowledge, all in a very succinct but memorable summation.
Some of his conclusions could be controversial but the poetry remains compelling.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
HISTORY AND SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE IGBO LANDSCAPE
A POETIC MEDITATION BY OBI NWAKANMA
"Is there any society that can be said to have no knowledge of science, no matter how underdeveloped? We know for a fact that our palm oil was used by Lever Bros."
Before Lever Brothers made soap with palm oil, my great, great, great grandmother made soap called "Ncha Obo" from the cured husks of the palm bunch, and made 'Elu aki" from the palm nuts - all organic. It took a highly scientific knowledge to process the cassava roots, and remove its cyanide content through fermentation. That knowledge of Chemistry happened at the most basic domestic laboratories - the kitchen.
Every village boy knew precisely the [various kinds] of bird[s], [their] pattern of flight, and calculated the rate of velocity of [their] motion simply by listening to bird calls. An awareness of this is at the roots of aeronautical science.
In my part of the world, rising just above the outlies of the Niger delta, in its dry plains with dried river beds from years of environmental changes, the people discovered new methods of water preservation by creating artificial lakes which we call, "Iyi Ala" and just around these artificial lakes, were protected forests and herbarium which they called, 'Ohia mmo" (the Christians later called "evil forest" or "ajo-ofia).
Until our contemporary scientists take a step back to study carefully the extent and archive of scientific knowledge present in our various social order [s], we'll continue to dwell in the wilderness.
Among the most startling discoveries for me in the last fifteen years of closely studying the Igbo knowledge systems is its energy law connected to its productive systems and to a profound environmental consciousness only now becoming real to Western science.
My theory is simple: we've been there. We've done this, done that, and pulled back from the abyss. That is what lies at the core of much of African culture's reluctance to instrumentalize energy. And it takes high scientific consciousness to come to that reality - because energy is finite.
From a post under the user name Rex Marinus on NaijaP...@yahoogroups.com on Mon, May 28, 2012 at 7:21 PM on the thread "Africa Must Close the Five Hundred Years Civilization Gap Between It and Europe".
kenneth harrow
May 28, 2012, 6:58:42 PM5/28/12
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toyin
i think it is ethical to repost what someone else has posted. we actually are doing that all the time; for instance, right now. i am replying to your post, citing it below. it is in the public domain, not "owned" any more, which is the great virtue of the web.
don't quote me on this.
(just kidding)
ken
i think it is ethical to repost what someone else has posted. we actually are doing that all the time; for instance, right now. i am replying to your post, citing it below. it is in the public domain, not "owned" any more, which is the great virtue of the web.
don't quote me on this.
(just kidding)
ken
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OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU
May 28, 2012, 7:42:13 PM5/28/12
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Thanks for that encouragement, Prof. Harrow. deeply appreciated.
Toyin
Toyin
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