Poetic Thought

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Apr 23, 2022, 6:46:27 AM4/23/22
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The king has journeyed
To join his ancestors.

They are liberated,
Those horny queens.

Those beautiful young ladies
Whose libidoes 
Were put under lock
By the mighty magun.

They are liberated,
Those horny queens are liberated.

(C) Chidi Anthony Opara

#2022Poeticthought


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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Founder/Publisher of, www.publicinformationprojects.org)

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Apr 23, 2022, 7:50:14 AM4/23/22
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Will they be allowed to remarry?

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Toyin Falola

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Apr 23, 2022, 7:53:24 AM4/23/22
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Yes…

Oluwatoyin Adepoju

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Apr 23, 2022, 8:03:39 AM4/23/22
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Great

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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Apr 23, 2022, 12:36:11 PM4/23/22
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I have mixed feelings about this poem.

Women are not hyperactive nymphomaniacs, as the poem implies,
and polygamy is not just about sex. It is about lineage expansion,
power, class consolidation , identity, hierarchy, economy, cultural proliferation, 
historical continuity, and a lot more. 

Thank you, though, for your concern for the fate of women before and after their
loved ones and  partners  pass away.





GE




Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

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Toyin Falola

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Apr 23, 2022, 12:48:21 PM4/23/22
to usaafric...@googlegroups.com, Oluwatoyin Adepoju

To consolidate your argument add Chidi’s use of magun, and it becomes more complicated. He combines two dangerous forces—kingship and juju—converted to the instrumentality of control and violence to cage the innocents. The king uses masculinity, reinforced by juju, to kill those who want to gain access to willing vaginas, and send the women on the path of shame and suicide.

TF

Okey Iheduru

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Apr 23, 2022, 4:40:06 PM4/23/22
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Superstitious lot, you all.
Magun is fiction.
Socially constructed power or potency.
That's all there is to it.

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Okey C. Iheduru


Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Apr 23, 2022, 4:40:06 PM4/23/22
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Gloria,

The poem, to me, did not imply that the queens are "hyperactive nymphomaniacs".

The poem said that they are horny(naturally), because their
"....libidoes 
Were put under lock
By the mighty magun."

The poem then concluded that they are now liberated (meaning that they can now live normal sexual life).

This is my personal understanding of the poem, nobody needs to agree with me.

Thank you all for commenting.

-CAO.

On Saturday, April 23, 2022, 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
I have mixed feelings about this poem.

Women are not hyperactive nymphomaniacs, as the poem implies,
and polygamy is not just about sex. It is about lineage expansion,
power, class consolidation , identity, hierarchy, economy, cultural proliferation, 
historical continuity, and a lot more. 

Thank you, though, for your concern for the fate of women before and after their
loved ones and  partners  pass away.





GE




Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association


Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2022 7:58 AM
Great

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Femi Kolapo

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Apr 23, 2022, 5:20:00 PM4/23/22
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Not superstition if by magun is meant what I once saw shared on Whatsapp video where an unfortunate man and a weeping and terrified woman were stuck to each other at the waist (who unfortunately happened, as the crowd in the Whatsapp video were saying, to be cheating on their respective spouses).   

more likely instances perhaps of patriarchy socially or ritually [or is it psychologically?] weaponizing rare but real instances of penis captivus and vaginismus 


Femi J. Kolapo  | Department of History | www.uoguelph.ca/history   

  

  IMPROVE LIFE 

________  

A thought for the month:

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
"No code is necessary to control the behaviour of matter since matter is apparently not tempted to contradict its own nature but obeys the law of its being in perfect freedom. Man, however, does continually suffer this temptation and frequently yields to it. This contradiction within his own nature is peculiar to man and is called by the Church “sinfulness”; other psychologists have other names for it. " 
Dorothy L. Sayers
 



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segun...@gmail.com

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Apr 23, 2022, 7:41:02 PM4/23/22
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I think the poetic thought of freedom to do whatever the queens/wives of late Alaafin of Oyo want is a misunderstanding of the Yoruba cultural traditions when such Obas are deceased. 
Frankly speaking they are not free until certain rituals are performed on them. The issue of magun must not be taken lightly. It is deadly and l won’t encourage anyone to try it. 
Segun Ogungbemi. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 23, 2022, at 6:53 AM, Toyin Falola <toyin...@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:



samawo

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Apr 24, 2022, 5:36:27 AM4/24/22
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Okey:
Go and try; send us your findings from wherever you end up: heaven or hell 



Sent from my Galaxy

Okey Iheduru

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Apr 24, 2022, 8:06:42 PM4/24/22
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I'm afraid, I don't know who you are, "samawo." I hope you're not trying to sucker a senior citizen to start gloating over some youthful indiscretions. That wouldn't be nice, you know. Just believe me; there's nothing like magun as you've been socialized to believe. Read Bro. Femi Kolapo's post again, Sir/Madam.
Peace be with you.✌

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samawo

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Apr 25, 2022, 11:49:32 AM4/25/22
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Not only have I read all the treads, I have witnessed incidents that can be termed results of magun. If a senior citizen, and I'm a proud one, refuses to be discerning by throwing caution to the winds and flagrantly try to dispel a people's belief and moral checkmate, he deserves what he gets if he engages in experimental novelty. I'm still staying send us your findings from wherever you end up.

Samawo

Cornelius Hamelberg

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Apr 25, 2022, 3:30:37 PM4/25/22
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Many thanks, Chidi! 

These days I have been travelling by Stockholm’s inner city taxi services quite a lot and one of the advantages of this kind of locomotion is that  I’m getting some kind of panoramic education, slowly, a new worldview orientation from the various taxi drivers that drive us around, to the cinema, to the theatre, to family members and friends, and other official visitations such as to renew our passports and ID cards now valid for another five years. Stockholm taxis and the whole bus, train and underground subway system is manned by your worthy immigrants, and everything would grind to a standstill if such noble, stalwart workers were to decide to go on strike, en masse (ditto in London):  the authorities would have to wheedle and deal, get down on their knees to beg and pray for mercy.  So, in the past six weeks of taxiing it’s been opinions and orientations about local and internationaö matters from a total of two taxi drivers from Sweden,  the rest from Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Kurdistan, Ethiopia, Senegal, Iran, Serbia, Kazakhstan, and lastly Ghana ( the Ghanaian  - we speak the same language,  I congratulated him on Ghana going to the World Cup - he told me, “Yes, we beat Nigeria, we beat their ass!”. I corrected him that in Accra it was a draw  0 - 0  and for the return match in Abuja it was 1- 1. In reply to that, he told me that these days many Nigerian miscreants are travelling on Ghanaian passports because Ghaianans are not tainted by that kalabule 419 reputation…

I say many thanks to Chidi - and it’s still about furthering my education and getting new perspectives and orientations, that’s why I’m thanking Chidi more and Ojogbon TF & some of the other alagbas less, in this thread, Chidi of the famous Owerri Motor Park, Chidi the people’s poet, Chidi the always down-to-earth, Chidi who tells the truth and shames the devil, unlike the Great overblown  Professororate of biggest grammar whose academic titles no one is ever going to glean or be able to wade or wobble through. or have the patience to slobber through, not even with the latest Nigerian- English Dictionary….

And, that's one of the ways in which this forum as a classroom also serves to educate even the most indocile of ignoramuses such as yours truly, so with all the yahoo being made about “ Magun”,  I finally got around to investigating what in the name of tarnation it could be that’s getting even Okey Iheduru so worked up. I had of course taken it as for granted that in this rather cryptic poem,  “magun” was one of Chidi’s poetic witticism for “ My gun”  or Magnum,  the Noble Biafran phallus usually used to stir the pot - as in this reggae riddim “ stir it up”,  but as the thread got a little longer I took recourse to Pa Google and got this much by way of explanation: Magun ( Yoruba)  - and there could be some truth in the whole matter when I reconsider what my wife divulged my mother had instructed her about related matters….

And how on earth does one even begin to appreciate Nollywood without an understanding of such fundamental background information?

Harrow, Kenneth

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Apr 26, 2022, 4:45:46 AM4/26/22
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cornelius, one of the earliest nigerian film i remember seeing is thunderbolt: magun. (kelani's film)
 the whole film turns on magun presumably as a metaphor for aids. if you went into the film a bit, it became clear that the word magun was used for a disease that seemed like aids, and the film came out during the aids epidemic. kelani gives it his own representation.
anyway, with wikipedia, digging up info on magun became easy enough, and no doubt lots of people wrote about the film...and the disease for which it was named.
the film came out in 2001, and was distributed here by california newsreel...
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

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Chidi Anthony Opara, FIIM

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Apr 26, 2022, 5:37:18 AM4/26/22
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The billionaire bought
The bastion of tweets.
He burrowed 
Into the minds,
He tweeted,
"My tormentors 
Can tweet too".

(C) Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

Cornelius Hamelberg

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Apr 26, 2022, 7:30:13 AM4/26/22
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Dear Ken 

Shalom, and many thanks.

I now know where to begin, it will be with your man Tunde Kelani, who you have been praise-singing so much, so, although it sounds a little serious and very depressing (like some Greek tragedy) I’ll finally begin with Thunderbolt: Magun. The outline as you present it promises to be a therapeutic way for that particular culture to come to grips with that HIV Pandemic and for dealing with e.g the tragic death of Fela Kuti, said to have been carried away that way...

I'm sure that like Susan Sontag ( AIDS and Its Metaphors)our more scientifically minded Baba Kadiri won't take kindly to the idea of regarding the HIV-Aids pandemic that was raging through Africa as punishment from either African or foreign gods and goddesses. Closer to the foundations of Western Civilisation (the much-vaunted " Judeo-Christian" aspects) we can not say that such ideas were completely foreign to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef with his special ideas about Divine Punishment and retributive justice.

Nollywood, obviously, there's the good, the bad and the chaff

Harrow, Kenneth

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Apr 26, 2022, 9:22:15 AM4/26/22
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hi cornelius
although magun is central to Thunderbolt: Magun, the film has another theme which is perhaps even more significant, which is the relationship between yoruba and igbo.
you'll see how that plays out.
kelani sees much of his work through the optic of establishing the worth of traditional yoruba values and beliefs. how to do that in a modern age is the problematic of much of his work.
ken

kenneth harrow

professor emeritus

dept of english

michigan state university

517 803-8839

har...@msu.edu

Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 7:21 AM

Emeagwali, Gloria (History)

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Apr 26, 2022, 9:23:59 AM4/26/22
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I saw that movie when it came out. I must confess that I made 
absolutely no connection with AIDS but saw the magun
reference more literally. It would be nice to have the
film maker discuss the movie.

I must have a second look at the movie.



Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department, Central Connecticut State University
www.africahistory.net
Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries
2014 Distinguished Research Excellence Award in African Studies
 University of Texas at Austin
2019   Distinguished Africanist Award                   
New York African Studies Association
Founding Co -Chair. Sengbe Pieh AMISTAD Committee
Founding Director, African Studies, CCSU
 

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Sent: Monday, April 25, 2022 4:13 PM

Salimonu Kadiri

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Apr 26, 2022, 10:07:51 AM4/26/22
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​Myths and fantasies transformed into realties are called science. In Nigeria, like most of Africa, there are many fantastic myths, most of which we have not been able to transform into practical use through experimental science. The difference between Africans and Europeans is, while Europeans have transformed their own fictional (fantasies) ideas into realities, those of Africans remain as fictions. Once upon a time, the Yoruba, for instance, had the fictional idea of shortening travel distances between places called KÁNÒKÒ and which was supposed to transport a person to a distant place in a jiffy instead of walking. Europeans also had the idea of KÁNÒKÒ too, which they transformed into realty beginning with bicycle, and progressing to motorcycle, motor vehicles, aeroplanes and sea vessels. Many centuries ago, the Yoruba had fictional idea of targeted killing called ÀPÈTÁ but while the targeted killing of the Yoruba remains fictional, Europeans have developed their own ÀPÈTÁ into inter-continental ballistic missiles and drones. The Yoruba axioms or hypotheses stating that tortoise never suffers headache, snails never suffer liver pains and fish never suffers cold in the river, remain fictions because, hitherto, no experiments have been conducted to prove or disprove the axioms/hypotheses.

Whenever surgical operation on the clitoris of female Africans are performed, the enraged European world brand it Female Genital Mutilation but when Europeans surgically remove their women's clitoris, they call it Clitoridectomy.  The philomina, MÁGÙN in Yoruba is also recognised in the other parts of world.
Thus, Yoruba MÁGÙN is named VAGINISMUS in medical science. The medical dictionary defines VAGINISMUS as the strict contraction of the vaginal muscles, so strong that the vaginal opening closes up to conscript the penis. The biological occurrence when the muscles of the vagina tighten around the penis much harder than usual so that the man cannot pull out his penis is called PENIS CAPTIVUS. VAGINISMUS is said to occur when a woman has sexual intercourse with guilt, fear or as anxiety reaction before coitus. It may also be caused by injury or dryness of the vagina or inflammation of the vagina or bladder. Through medical science, one gets to know that the physiology of a woman having sexual intercourse with a man other than her husband might out of guilt be altered so that the vagina conscripts the penis in a series of spasms. Vaginismus is a world-wide occurrence not limited to Nigeria and the Yoruba alone and it cannot be caused to happen through native medicine or concoction as it is assumed in Yoruba mythological narratives. So far, MÁGÙN or VAGINISMUS has not been proved cable of being produced artificially.
S. Kadiri

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Sent: 25 April 2022 07:39
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