AfricanPoetry have developed within the African people s tradition of poetry. modelled onan urhobo mockery form. The use of indigenous forms has made the poems more http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/anglistik/kerkhoff/AfricanLit/AfricanPoetry.htm
Bibliography On African Traditional Religion Human rights in African indigenous religion, Bulletin of Ecumenical Scriptures of African peoples The Sacred utterances of the Anlo, New York, 1973. http://www.afrikaworld.net/afrel/atr_bibliography.htm
Extractions: , "Reading the entrails: analysis of an African divination discourse", Man Abimbola W., "The Place of African Traditional Religion in Contemporary Africa: The Yoruba Example" in Olupona, ed. Kingship, Religion and Rituals in a Nigerian community: a phenomenological study of Ondo Yoruba festivals . Stockholm,1991, 51-58. Abrahamsson H., The Origin of Death, Studies in African Mythology, Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia III, Uppsala, 1951. Acheampong S.O., "Reconstructing the structure of Akan traditional religion," Mission Ackah C. A., Akan Ethics. A Study of the Moral Ideasand the Moral Behaviour of the Akan Tribes of Ghana, Accra, 1988. Achebe Chinua, "Chi in Igbo Cosmology", in In Morning Yet on creation day, N.Y., 1975. Achebe Chinwe, The World of the Ogbanje, Enugu, 1986. Adagala K., "Mother Nature, Patriarchal Cosmology & Gender" in Gilbert E.M., ed. Nairobi: Masaki Publishers.1992, 47-65.
Ethnicity In Nigeria The Hausa are themselves a fusion, a collection of Sudanese peoples that were They do maintain an indigenous home, however the belt of forest in the http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/nigeria/ethnicity.html
Extractions: The ethnicity of Nigeria is so varied that there is no definition of a Nigerian beyond that of someone who lives within the borders of the country (Ukpo, p. 19). The boundaries of the formerly English colony were drawn to serve commercial interests, largely without regard for the territorial claims of the indigenous peoples (38). As a result, about three hundred ethnic groups comprise the population of Nigeria (7), and the country's unity has been consistently under siege: eight attempts at secession threatened national unity between 1914 and 1977. The Biafran War was the last of the secessionist movements within this period (3). The concept of ethnicity requires definition. Ukpo calls an "ethnic group" a "group of people having a common language and cultural values" (10). These common factors are emphasized by frequent interaction between the people in the group. In Nigeria, the ethnic groups are occasionally fusions created by intermarriage, intermingling and/or assimilation. In such fusions, the groups of which they are composed maintain a limited individual identity. The groups are thus composed of smaller groups, but there is as much difference between even the small groups; as Chief Obafemi Awolowo put it, as much "as there is between Germans, English, Russians and Turks" (11). The count of three hundred ethnic groups cited above overwhelmingly enumerates ethnic minority groups, those which do not comprise a majority in the region in which they live. These groups usually do not have a political voice, nor do they have access to resources or the technology needed to develop and modernize economically. They therefore often consider themselves discriminated against, neglected, or oppressed. There are only three ethnic groups which have attained "ethnic majority" status in their respective regions: the Hausa-Fulani in the north, the
Cover Texts Bayreuth African Studies 51 - 60 by analysing the works of indigenous African writers like Ngugi wa Thiongo,Kibera, He celebrates the spirit of his urhobo culture, he sings of the http://www.breitinger.org/texts/cov51-60.htm
Extractions: Multilinguism is a common phenomenon in Africa: there is hardly one country where only one language is spoken, but there are many countries where various types of mixtures of languages can be heard. There are the mother tongues for communication within the family and with the people of the same origin, there is the official language of bureaucracy and there may also be the language of school education, which more often than not is the former colonial language. There may be other languages spoken by various groups of people within one country like Kisuahili, which also functions as means of international communication, and there may be sociolects of different age- and/or professional groups like e.g. in Kenya Sheng or Engsh. Which is the language one should use to communicate with neighbours, which with teachers, which with foreigners from your own country, which with foreigners from other countries? Which is the language people feel at ease with, in which do they express their feelings, which is the language of the literature they like to read? How does the daily mixture of languages around us affect us, in the language(s) we speak, in our choice of words, in our feeling towards the languages? The papers in this volume discuss the multilingual situation in Africa under various aspects like language shift, language borrowing, language interference, creative language mix, transfer of language patterns and last not least the psychological effect of this language mix on the people who go through this experience.
Nigeria Delta Crisis Reports, 6/13/99 The africa Fund 50 Broad Street, Suite 711 New York, NY 10004 USA Tel (212) But until the legitimate demands of the peoples of the Niger Delta for http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/apic_61399.html
Clark-Bekederemo, John Pepper - Profiles Contemporary africa Database People Born of both urhobo and Ijo ancestralorigins, Bekederemo received his early education at the Native http://people.africadatabase.org/en/profile/3758.html
Extractions: Contemporary Africa Database ::: People Home About Contact CAD Help ... Lists People: A B C D ... Z John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo main page On this page, profiles by Profiles in the Contemporary Africa Database have been commissioned, reproduced with permission, or written by visitors to this web site. Opinions expressed by contributors are theirs alone - they do not reflect the opinions of the Africa Centre, London. 30 Oct 2002, by Neville Grant - Educational writer and consultant John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo was born at Kiagbodo in the Ijaw country in 1935 - the same region that features in The Ozidi Saga. He was educated at Government College, Ughelli and obtained an English degree from University College, lbadan. For a while he worked as a newspaper editor, before going to Princeton University in the United States where he was a Parvin Fellow. On his return to Nigeria he became a Research Fellow at the University of lbadan. He spent ten years as editor of the highly influential literary magazine Black Orpheus. He then moved to the University of Lagos, as Professor and Head of Department. Clark-Bekederemo remains a controversial figure in some respects, but there is no doubting his prowess as a poet. Many critics claim that his most lasting contribution is likely to be his translation and reconstruction of The Ozidi Saga, an Ijaw traditional drama cycle - a major contribution to the rehabilitation of the oral tradition.
Africa Book Centre Ltd Politics PEOPLECENTRED DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA? The Search for Alternative Systems of A collection of essays looking at the role of indigenous modes of social and http://www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/Politics.html
Extractions: mwatts@socrates.berkeley.edu www.fpif.org Foreign Policy In Focus www.fpif.org In the wake of the September 11th attack and the Iraq war, Nigeria's geopolitical significance to the U.S. has come into sharper relief. In March and April 2003, militancy across the Niger Delta radically disrupted oil production in this major oil supplier nation. News of these actions, following conflict-ridden national elections, has reinforced the notion that Nigeria and the new West African "gulf states" in general are matters of U.S. national security. The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) weighed in on these events in the May 2003 edition of its publication CSIS Africa Notes . Since it is one of the most influential Washington think tanks, CSIS analysis matters in the formation of U.S. foreign policy. The brief article "Alienation and Militancy in Nigeria's Niger Delta" by Esther Cesarz, Steve Morrison, and Jennifer Cooke will command attention and this merits a serious response. As the authors properly say, the recent oil crisis highlights "more profound national challenges" now facing the reelected President Obasanjo and his government. In their view, the recent conflicts in the Niger Delta mark a watershed, distinguished in particular by the prospects of "an upward spiral of violence." The new levels of weaponry and criminal activity on the part of a "frustrated and angry youth" suggest "new ambitions and capacities" among the Ijaw, who have taken on the characteristics of an armed militia. The authors see the specter of Colombia now haunting Nigeria. U.S. companies, they believe, will become targets of terrorist activity, and Nigeria's national stability and cohesion will be threatened.
UN & Conflict Monitor, Autumn 1999: Africa E-Z However, indigenous societies were rapidly disintegrating according to human More than 2200 people had been killed in oilrelated riots or disputes http://www.brad.ac.uk/acad/confres/monitor/mntr5_africa2.html
Extractions: This Issue On 4 September, Ethiopia rejected a revised peace proposal with Eritrea on the grounds that the new terms contradicted the original Organisation of African Unity (OAU) formula, which required the complete withdrawal of Eritrean forces from areas governed by Ethiopia before the conflict broke out on 6 May 1998. On 1 September, Ethiopia had accused Eritrea of launching an offensive at Zalambessa, although Eritrea denied that any battle had taken place. GUINEA Paradoxically, peace in Sierra Leone might have encouraged instability in neighbouring Guinea. Ostensibly, Guinea was democratic, incorporating opposition deputies in a ruling assembly; there has been little violence between societal groups and never a rural uprising against the urban elite. Such stability was largely due to the strict leadership of Ahmed Sekou Touré from 1958-84, who maintained a strong centralised army, a tightly controlled administration and pliable local leaders. His successor, General Lansana Conte, with international encouragement, eventually introduced multi-party democracy in 1993 and opened trading links and access to Guinea's mineral deposits. However, in early 1996, the discontent of the army was revealed in an attempted coup. Conte won a second presidential term in January which was followed by a repressive clampdown: the leader of the Rally for the Guinean People (RPG), Alpha Conde, was arrested and was still in prison awaiting trial, while several party activists were also imprisoned.
Black Looks: Conflict Mining/Resources The Middle East aside China s involvement in africa s oil sector reaches fromAlgeria and Lybia Diamond MineOwners Violate indigenous People s Rights http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/conflict_miningresources/
Extractions: Reading through the life of Audre Lorde. De Veaux breaks through the myths and iconic status of Lorde and takes us on a journey of Lorde's transformation from lesbian "gal" to poet. social activist, cancer survivor and finally black feminist lesbian warrior poet. A homage to a great Black lesbian feminist woman - no one has come near Audre Lorde as yet - De Veaux is nonetheless brave enough to give us details of the not so pleasant side of Lorde such as her taking of amphetamines and bouts of abusive anger. She also lays open Lorde's relationship to white women which up to the last 10 years, dominated her friendships and affairs and her somewhat ambivalant relationship to Black women. All of which makes Lorde even more of an exceptional human being given that she had flaws like the rest of us. Excellent first biogrpahy.
Nigeria Report On The Crisis In The Niger Delta The Africa Fund But until the legitimate demands of the peoples of the Niger Delta for Founded in 1966 by the American Committee on africa, The africa Fund works for a http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/imf/africa/nigeria/990610crisis_ni
Extractions: Nigeria: Report on the Crisis in the Niger Delta The Africa Fund 50 Broad Street, Suite 711 New York, NY 10004 USA Tel: (212) 785-1024 Fax: (212) 785-1078 Nigeria Transition Watch Dateline: Lagos, Nigeria, June 10, 1999 Report on the Crisis in the Niger Delta by Michael Fleshman Human Rights Coordinator, The Africa Fund The violence that has devastated the city of Warri near Chevron's Escravos tank farm is only the most recent and most tragic manifestation of the rage sweeping the impoverished communities of Nigeria's oil fields after decades of repression and exploitation by military dictatorships and western oil companies. Since the current violence began in late May, 600 homes have been destroyed, as many as 300 people have died and thousands more have fled the city center and outlying residential districts to escape attacks by hundreds of young men in military uniforms armed with machine guns and assault rifles. The days old civilian government of newly elected President Olusegun Obasanjo rushed thousands of troops into the area and declared a dusk-to-dawn curfew on June 8 in an effort to contain the fighting. The Nigerian pressreported yesterday, June 9, that a tense calm had been established, punctuated by sporadic clashes between the opposing sides and with the security forces on the outskirts of town. The immediate cause of the crisis was a 1997 decision by now deceased dictator General Sani Abacha to relocate a Local Government Authority (effectively a town council) in Warri from a district occupied by the majority Ijaw people to that of the minority Itsekeris. The move was made to bolster the despised dictator's political fortunes and to punish the Ijaw community for its increasingly visible opposition to his regime. Resentment in the Ijaw community boiled over on Inauguration Day, May 29, when Ijaw activists protested the installation of an Itsekeri politician at the head of the disputed LGA, triggering clashes between the communities and spilling over to the Urhobo community, whose young men have also battled armed Itsekeri youth. Western press reports and the oil companies have focused on the ethnic character of the violence to portray it as "tribal warfare" unrelated to the decade-long struggle by the various minority peoples of the Niger Delta oil fields against the oil companies and military rule. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nigerian human rights and environmental activists, trade union and religious leaders and elected officials say that the failure of both theAbacha and Abubakar military regimes to redress local grievances, the deliberate manipulation of ethnic tension by the military and gross economic exploitation and environmental destruction of the minority communities by the oil companies have driven the indigenous peoples of the region to the very edge of survival and fueled a desperate competition between them for what little resources are available. Warri, like other towns in the oil fields, presents a harsh contrast of staggering wealth and appalling poverty.Heavily guarded oil company compounds with paved streets, swimming pools, satellite telephones and supermarkets sit yards away from villages without electricity, running water or a school. By law, Nigeria's oil wealth and the land above it is owned by the Federal government, not by the local communities. For decades Nigeria's ruling generals and the oil companies have extracted billions of dollars a year from these communities and returned virtually none in the form of jobs, health care, or education. Oil spills and decades of pollution and acid rain from gas flaring have destroyed the livelihoods of the indigenous people. Compensation for the devastating effects of oil production is always inadequate, often unpaid, and commonly stolen by corrupt traditional leaders beholden to the Federal government in far-away Abuja for their positions, and to oil company patronage for money. The small sums of money doled out by the national government to LGAs for salaries and administration are often the only real source of income in local communities, making control of local governments a life-and-death matter, dividing communities along ethnic lines and weakening collective action against abusive government and corporate policies. The reality of the current tragedy was summed up in an commentary in the current edition of the respected weekly Tempo newspaper. "The animosity, actually, is not among the feuding communities. Rather it is a sort of resentment against the state which exploits the oil yielding billions of dollars and leaves the area underdeveloped. And when such animosity lasts too long, the concerned people start suspecting one another of collaborating with the enemy or of being too passive with him. Hence the inter-communal clashes, which only justice in the sharing of oil revenue can solve in the long run." The outstanding head of the Nigerian oil workers union Pengassan, former prisoner of conscience Milton Dabibi, told me last night that only the immediate intervention of the Obasanjo government, and the establishment of a credible dialogue between the communities, the government and the oil companies on a fundamental restructuring of economic and political institutions in the region can bring an end to the bloody crisis in Nigeria's oil fields. In recent weeks he has traveled extensively throughout the Niger Delta, including Warri, to establish just that dialogue. His initiatives deserve the full backing of the international community. But to date the major multi-national producers, Shell, Mobil and Chevron have refused to support it. Dabibi had high praise for President Obasanjo's efforts to resolve the Warri crisis. The President is expected to fly to Warri on Friday to meet with leaders of the communities in Warri to end the fighting. But until the legitimate demands of the peoples of the Niger Delta for control of their land and resources, for economic and social justice and for an end to repression are met, the political fires raging in the Delta will continue to burn. Michael Fleshman is traveling in Nigeria for a month. Founded in 1966 by the American Committee on Africa, The Africa Fund works for a positive U.S. policy toward Africa and supports African human rights, democracy and development. Contact: The Africa Fund, 50 Broad Street, Suite 711, New York, NY 10004 USA. Tel: (212) 785-1024. Fax: (212) 785-1078. E-mail: africafund@igc.apc.org website: www.prairienet.org/acas/afund.html.
Africaresource.com: Scholars - Sola Fasure Educational Portal on africa includes ejournals, hiphop, AIDS, HIV, He especiallyput up a spirited defence for his urhobo ethnic group and the Niger http://www.africaresource.com/scholar/fasure.htm
Extractions: Sola Fasure Established Scholars IN DEFENCE OF BALA USMAN Sola Fasure Dr. Bala Usman has been under severe criticism for his essay titled " Ignorance, Knowledge and Democratic Politics in Nigeria ". At a time when fiscal federalism is in the front burners of national discourse following the rescue of Nigeria from the brink of collapse and the gradual lifting of the siege on the Niger Delta by rapacious military marauders, his essay could not have been anything but provocative. Let me state clearly and ab initio My position, however, is that though I may not like Balas politics, I do not have to confuse that with his thoughts. We are always under constant impulse to commit the fallacy of ad hominen by dismissing a scholars work on the grounds of his politics and person.
NEA: FY 2004 Museums Grants To support the touring exhibition Beauty of the Gods urhobo Art in a Modern World, sensitive interpretation of the art of indigenous American people. http://www.nea.gov/grants/recent/disciplines/Museums/04museums.html
Extractions: NEA Home Chairman's Forum About Us Grants News Room National Initiatives Lifetime Honors Publications NEA Partners Resources Features Support the Arts Search/Site Map Some details of the projects listed below are subject to change, contingent upon prior Endowment approval. Challenge America Creativity
Exhibitions Today: A Guide To NEH-Funded Exhibitions For 2004 An interpretive trail, which demonstrates how indigenous people in and adjacentto the Where Gods and Mortals Meet Continuity and Renewal in urhobo Art http://www.neh.gov/projects/et-index.html
Extractions: During 2005, 38 traveling exhibitions and 114 long-term exhibitions funded with NEH support appear in 44 states and the District of Columbia. To find out more about the exhibitions near you, click on the name of a state on the map or browse the alphabetical listing below. NEH also sponsors a number of traveling exhibitions. To view a list of the exhibitions and their itineraries for 2005 and beyond, click here. If you would like to visit any of these exhibitions, please contact the host institution to confirm times and dates. Questions about NEH-supported exhibitions can be addressed to the Division of Public Programs at publicpgms@neh.gov Alabama Birmingham Public Library
151299_pamphlet_en - Humanrights.de They linked up with other indigenous peoples organisations in the world and The urhobo declaration states that the urhobo land has yielded over $25.7 http://www.humanrights.de/doc_en/archiv/caravan/151299_pamphlet_en.html
Extractions: Introduction This small pamphlet, is actually a first step, that will eventually lead in the next few months to a larger documentation of the actual facts about the present and true political situation in Nigeria. It is being diffused over the Internet as Olusegun Obasanjo the successor to one of the worst dictators Nigeria has ever seen arrives in Germany. The purpose of this visit is to attract more international investment. Which is a euphemism for increased riches for the already wealthy, ruination for the poor, terror for those who resist and destruction for the environment. We welcome the participation in our project of all democratic individuals and groups who oppose this naked pillage protected by military force. What we are seeing is the re-enactment of a century old scenario. The transfer of riches from the oppressed Nigerian masses to giant western multinationals and a handful of brigands in Africa. With the difference however that unprecedented technological means and propaganda are being mobilised to carry out the plunder on a scale never before seen. This is why we believe it is more than ever important for progressive forces in the west and in Africa to join hands.
VoS - Voice Of The Shuttle Academic Info African American History Studies (directory of online Arctic Circle (info on the indigenous peoples and cultures of the Arctic, http://www.english.ucsb.edu/faculty/ayliu/research/talks/DCP2002/browse.asp?id=2
Nigeria: PEOPLE, POPULATION AND SETTLEMENT - Oyo State Their lifestyles in relation to clothing, food, religion, indigenous speaking people of Nigeria are amongst the most urban of all black African peoples. http://www.onlinenigeria.com/links/Oyostateadv.asp?blurb=356
Abstracts Disillusion by the people of africa as result of lack of moral/ethical ownership . Traditional southern and eastern african indigenous culture is with http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/2003/abstracts.html
Extractions: Not until recently women had been invisible in many spatial analysis and from the discussion of development theory and practice. The different experience of women as been frequently been marginalized. This is because socio-spatial data which is usually based on sampling of the heads of households who are in most cases males is assumed to take care of the female spatial experiences. If women are discussed, brief recognition may be given to gender differences, but their significance is dismissed in making generalizations. Recent researches bases on sex differentiated data mostly I the developed countries, have shown clearly that there is gender differences in spatial experiences and tat this differences between women and men run through all aspects of urban life: in commuting patterns and transportations use, in patterns of housing and homelessness, in labour force participation and work opportunities and in the use of urban social space.
Introduction Of A Book Titled Warri, Land, Overlords, And Overlordship (a) that all talk of Agbarha indigenous people of Warri Local Government Areabeing settlers or customary LEGAL STATUS OF AGBARHA urhobo PEOPLE TODAY http://www.waado.org/CulturalUnits/AgbarhaAme/WarriEthnicProblems/ObiomahOnUrhob
Extractions: The pain that plagues another, says the adage, is a light burden. Consequently, the Itsekiris have found joy and sport in inflicting no end of pain on the Agbarha, Urhobo indigenous people of Warri Local Government Area, deriding, depriving and repressing them. But it is they notwithstanding who cry wolf. This discourse meets the dual purpose of bringing into the limelight what Itsekiri protagonists have glorified as respectable court judgements, and buttressing the claim of the Agbarha people of Warri Local Government Area to ownership of their lands that they are nobodys vassals, and are entitled to full citizenship rights without any derogation whatever for the enjoyment of pretenders. For some time now the people have been consistently losing ground in their struggle against the Itsekiris and are threatened by the ever-growing danger of being turned into vagabonds and worthless dregs without recognition in their own home and in their country. There is no doubt in the mind of the average Agbarha person that the Itsekiris have set this as an objective and are working systematically towards it. Instances abound if references are to be made to the utterances and conduct of Itsekiris in authority.
The Africa Fund by Michael Fleshman, Human Rights Coordinator, The africa Fund And when suchanimosity lasts too long, the concerned people start suspecting one another http://acas.prairienet.org/alerts/nigeria/nigeria1.html
Extractions: by Michael Fleshman, Human Rights Coordinator, The Africa Fund The immediate cause of the crisis was a 1997 decision by now deceased dictator General Sani Abacha to relocate a Local Government Authority (effectively a town council) in Warri from a district occupied by the majority Ijaw people to that of the minority Itsekeris. The move was made to bolster the despised dictator's political fortunes and to punish the Ijaw community for its increasingly visible opposition to his regime. Resentment in the Ijaw community boiled over on Inauguration Day, May 29, when Ijaw activists protested the installation of an Itsekeri politician at the head of the disputed LGA, triggering clashes between the communities and spilling over to the Urhobo community, whose young men have also battled armed Itsekeri youth. Western press reports and the oil companies have focused on the ethnic character of the violence to portray it as "tribal warfare" unrelated to the decade-long struggle by the various minority peoples of the Niger Delta oil fields against the oil companies and military rule. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nigerian human rights and environmental activists, trade union and religious leaders and elected officials say that the failure of both theAbacha and Abubakar military regimes to redress local grievances, the deliberate manipulation of ethnic tension by the military and gross economic exploitation and environmental destruction of the minority communities by the oil companies have driven the indigenous peoples of the region to the very edge of survival and fueled a desperate competition between them for what little resources are available.
