The Strategic Significance of Niger Delta Studies : Thinking Aloud

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

      

                                                            

                                            The Strategic Significance of Niger Delta Studies 

                                                                         Thinking Aloud

                                                           Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                     Compcros

                                               Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

                                    "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

                                                                         

Method

''Thinking Aloud'' as represented by the title of this very brief essay, is a process of recording one's developing thoughts on a subject, helping to give them clarity while recognizing their tentativeness.

What is Niger Delta Studies?

Niger Delta Studies is constituted by the processes and products of the study of all aspects of life directly related to Nigeria's Niger Delta.

The Comprehensive Significance of Niger Delta Studies for Understanding Nigeria Across Time and Space

Niger Delta Studies is pivotal to the study of Nigerian economy, history, politics, philosophies, spiritualities and arts. All these aspects of Nigerian existence cannot be adequately understood without engaging with the multi-faceted windows of life and study related to the Niger Delta.

The Centrality of Niger Delta Studies to Understanding Classical Nigerian and Perhaps Classical African Systems of Thought

Beyond the fact that the Niger Delta is the fundamental economic centre of Nigeria, the source of its oil wealth, the primary economic strength of its internally generated revenue, as far as I understand, and therefore strategic to struggles for power in Nigerian politics and the manner in which that politics shapes its history,  I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that  classical Nigerian spiritualities and their associated philosophies and arts reach some of their their ripest and most condensed expression in the Niger Delta.

Between Self and Cosmos in Niger Delta Thought in Relation to Classical and Post-Classical African Thought Systems

At the core of classical Nigerian, and, I expect, classical African spiritualities and philosophies, from the Fulani in the North to the Igbo in the South East, to the Yoruba in the South-West to the Edo  and other peoples within the Delta,  along with others in Nigeria not referenced here, and across East, West, South and Central Africa, I expect, is the idea of animism, the understanding of the universe as defined by sentience in individual entities, human and non-human, animate and inanimate, and perhaps, even in abstract forms.

Within this complex is the exploration of the nature of the human self in dialogue with other selves within a matrix of what may be called a form of energy, ''ase'' in Yoruba, ''ike'' in Igbo,  that enables being and becoming, existence and change. 

Reading diverse accounts of these ideas I am mapping  the various possibilities evident in the literature as operating in terms of a tension between fate and free will, between the self and factors external to the self. One cannot adequately understand the implications of the various theories along such lines as developed by various Nigerian, and perhaps even African peoples, without considering them in relation to each other, an appreciation significantly amplified by expanding to a global scale the comparative study of this fundamental human preoccupation.

Conceptions of destiny and free will in Yoruba cosmology  are best explored in relation to similar ideas in Igbo and Kalabari thought, for example. Ideas about relationships between human beings and deities which are hinted at, or expressed without elaboration in accounts of Yoruba and perhaps Igbo thought, as far as I know, are discussed at a greater level of explication in scholarship on Niger Delta thought.

Various ways in which the oscillation between fate and free will is managed, between humans and forms of sentience not limited to biology, one way of describing spirits, and even in relations between humans and the creator of the universe, as presented in accounts of Yoruba, Igbo and Edo cosmologies , are given greater explication in discussions of Niger Delta thought, as in the work of Robin Horton, Michael Nabufo and particularly Nimi Wariboko.

The Glory of Nsibidi

The performative, graphic, verbal and structural possibilities of classical Nigerian communication systems,  such as the aroko and odu ifa of the Yoruba,  and various masquerade arts, may be seen as reaching a climax of synthesis and elaboration in Cross River Nsibidi, its evocative range comparable to the marvelous combination of symbol density and evocative range of the lukasa of the Luba from the Congo but expressed in terms of a broader range of media.

The synthetic whole, the architectonic order constituted by the various parts of the Nsibidi symbol system working in unity might yet be inaccessible, though,  beyond the better informed  members of the Ekpe/Mgbe esoteric order, for whom Nsibidi is a primary language. 

Victor Ekpuk and Bruce Onobrakpeya

I am not aware of any Nigerian artist who has adapted a classical Nigerian communication system at the level done by Victor Ekpuk for Nsibidi.

I wonder if any Nigerian artist has engaged with the imaginative possibilities of classical Nigerian spiritual systems and their associated arts at the level of evocative depth, range of media and technical skill as Bruce Onobrakpeya, at the intersection  of his native Urbobo, and Edo, Yoruba and Fulani cultures. 

A Previous Essay of Mine on Niger Delta Studies 

"The Literature and Arts of the Niger Delta, Edited by Tanure Ojaide and Enajite Eseoghene Ojaruega : A Panoramic and Yet Detailed Exploration of Beauty, Power and Challenge"

 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

      

                                                            

                                            The Strategic Significance of Niger Delta Studies 

                                                                         Thinking Aloud

                                                           Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

                                                                     Compcros

                                               Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems

                                    "Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

                                                                         

Method

''Thinking Aloud'' as represented by the title of this very brief essay, is a process of recording one's developing thoughts on a subject, helping to give them clarity while recognizing their tentativeness.

What is Niger Delta Studies?

Niger Delta Studies is constituted by the processes and products of the study of all aspects of life directly related to Nigeria's Niger Delta.

The Comprehensive Significance of Niger Delta Studies for Understanding Nigeria Across Time and Space

Niger Delta Studies is pivotal to the study of Nigerian economy, history, politics, philosophies, spiritualities and arts. All these aspects of Nigerian existence cannot be adequately understood without engaging with the multi-faceted windows of life and study related to the Niger Delta.

The Centrality of Niger Delta Studies to Understanding Classical Nigerian and Perhaps Classical African Systems of Thought

Beyond the fact that the Niger Delta is the fundamental economic centre of Nigeria, the source of its oil wealth, the primary economic strength of its internally generated revenue, as far as I understand, and therefore strategic to struggles for power in Nigerian politics and the manner in which that politics shapes its history,  I'm increasingly coming to the conclusion that  classical Nigerian spiritualities and their associated philosophies and arts reach some of their their ripest and most condensed expression in the Niger Delta.

Between Self and Cosmos in Niger Delta Thought in Relation to Classical and Post-Classical African Thought Systems

At the core of classical Nigerian, and, I expect, classical African spiritualities and philosophies, from the Fulani in the North to the Igbo in the South East, to the Yoruba in the South-West to the Edo  and other peoples within the Delta,  along with others in Nigeria not referenced here, and across East, West, South and Central Africa, I expect, is the idea of animism, the understanding of the universe as defined by sentience in individual entities, human and non-human, animate and inanimate, and perhaps, even in abstract forms.

Within this complex is the exploration of the nature of the human self in dialogue with other selves within a matrix of what may be called a form of energy, ''ase'' in Yoruba, ''ike'' in Igbo,  that enables being and becoming, existence and change. 

Reading diverse accounts of these ideas I am mapping  the various possibilities evident in the literature as operating in terms of a tension between fate and free will, between the self and factors external to the self. One cannot adequately understand the implications of the various theories along such lines as developed by various Nigerian, and perhaps even African peoples, without considering them in relation to each other, an appreciation significantly amplified by expanding to a global scale the comparative study of this fundamental human preoccupation.

Conceptions of destiny and free will in Yoruba cosmology  are best explored in relation to similar ideas in Igbo and Kalabari thought, for example. Ideas about relationships between human beings and deities which are hinted at, or expressed without elaboration in accounts of Yoruba and perhaps Igbo thought, as far as I know, are discussed at a greater level of explication in scholarship on Niger Delta thought.

Various ways in which the oscillation between fate and free will is managed, between humans and forms of sentience not limited to biology, one way of describing spirits, and even in relations between humans and the creator of the universe, as presented in accounts of Yoruba, Igbo and Edo cosmologies , are given greater explication in discussions of Niger Delta thought, as in the work of Robin Horton, Michael Nabofa and particularly Nimi Wariboko.