Caryn Livingston

13 April 2016

Egwugwu and Igbo Politics

My first experience with the concept of honoring or worshipping departed ancestors occurred during last semester’s reading of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Though Achebe’s novel makes it clear that the people in the Igbo society are aware on some level that the masked egwugwu are men of renown in their community, it is clear, based on the fear and respect the masked figures are afforded, that the ritual is more than merely a masquerade. Reading about a similar ritual practice in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman relating to the Yoruba people piqued my curiosity about the idea of ritual incorporation of ancestors into the lives of a community through masking and performance. In regards to the Yoruba, my focus was primarily to understand the different roles of men and women in the sort of ritual depicted, but in Achebe’s novel the court scene that is presided over by egwugwu representing departed ancestors most fascinated me. Although the people residing over the court are in fact living men in the community, albeit men of high rank, there is an element of invoking an ancient wisdom from the community’s revered ancestors that I wanted to further investigate. My goal during this assignment is to understand the role of the egwugwu in the decision making and judicial procedures depicted by Achebe.

My early research into the topic of egwugwu yielded few useful results. Most online searches through Google returned results from poorly sourced high school projects on Things Fall Apart, and therefore did not point me to any useful scholarly investigation into the topic. However, I eventually located a website hosted by the University of Iowa Museum of Art, with a section on Igbo culture that discussed religion and ancestors. According to the entry there, before colonialism and Christianity took hold, “most Igbo practiced some form of ancestor worship, which held that in order to gain success in the world, one must appease the spirits of the deceased.” This is generally consistent with what is described in Things Fall Apart, and what is hinted at in the novel but detailed on the museum’s page is that “one of the primary ways of showing respect for the dead was through participation in the secret men’s society,” which had different names in different regions occupied by the Igbo. The men in the society are responsible for funereal services that both honor departed ancestors and induct ancestral spirits into the spirit world “so that they would no longer cause mischief in the village.” This was useful in clarifying the sort of interactions expected between the living people and the ancestors. However, it stopped short of explaining what positive actions the ancestors might take in the world of their living descendants, which led me to move my research in a different direction.

From here, I shifted to Igbo society and its understanding of the place ancestors held in it. The library was useful in directing me toward books on Igbo society and how ancestors fit into it, as well as revealing other Igbo terms for ancestors, namely Ndiishii and Ndi-mbu. In The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria, Victor Uchendu stressed that in Igbo society, “there is constant interaction between the world of man and the world of the dead; the visible and invisible forces” (11-12). In their society, Igbo ancestors are no less a part of the real world than living members of the society are, as the Igbo see existence as “a dual but interrelated phenomenon involving the interaction between the material and the spiritual, the visible and the invisible,” which necessarily means the ancestors will have involvement in the social and political worlds of the Igbo (Uchendu 12). Ancestral lineage, with an emphasis on the patrilineal side, plays an important role in maintaining continuity in the society. The lineage is extended to the dead, while “the principle of seniority makes the ancestors the head of the lineage” and establishes stability within the community (Uchendu 12). Stability is then maintained based on the idea of interdependence, which permeates Igbo social life and demands those in the society practice beneficial reciprocity. This is extended even to the ancestors who have died, through the honoring of ancestors by sacrifice and the sort of rituals depicted in Things Fall Apart. Uchendu also noted that the concept of reciprocity that is the foundation of Igbo society “imposes on the ancestors the obligation of ‘prospering’ the lineage, protecting its members, and standing with them as a unit against the machinations of wicked men and malignant spirits” (12). Another library book on Igbo politics further explained how ancestors’ obligations to the living for the honor paid to them via sacrifices translates into the resolution of community issues depicted in Achebe’s novel.

The book Igbo Political Culture, by Elechukwu Njaka, immediately supports the importance of ancestors to the society that has been asserted by other sources, stating that “the ancestor is the most ubiquitous presence in the Igbo concept of man” (33). It also echoes Uchendu’s point that ancestors have a major responsibility to their living descendants and play an active part in the living world to fulfill their obligation. Ancestors “protect those on earth from evil spirits, enemies, and misfortunes, [and] intercede on their behalf before Chukwu [the Supreme Being]” (34). They also play another important role in the world of the living that most closely parallels the scene in Things Fall Apart. According to Njaka, it is the responsibility of the ancestors to “see that only the right people return to earth as the spirits of ndiishii to carry on the duties they have left unfinished” (34). As we saw in Things Fall Apart, the concept of reincarnation is taken very seriously in Igbo society, and it is left to the ancestors to determine whether or not a person’s actions in life have proven that person worthy to continue to interact with the living world once they have left it. “In political matters this concept is of great significance, because it is a strong determinant in the process of self-regulation, participation, and reciprocity” (Njaka 34). The ancestors are considered to be well-suited as the guardians for this sort of responsibility, as Njaka noted, “justice and fair play seem to be their most exemplary qualities,” (34) making their influence in the adjudication depicted by Achebe especially meaningful in the society.

In conclusion, the Igbo understanding of reality as one where living descendants and departed ancestors use their respective strengths to care for one another clarifies the adjudication scene in Things Fall Apart. Though the egwugwu in some ways inspire fear in the Igbo people and especially in the women, the Igbo view of their ancestors’ place in the society is described as so all-encompassing in daily life and the nature of their reality that it makes sense that they are entrusted to look after certain concerns of daily life. It truly does seem to be a reciprocal relationship, where the living make sacrifices to and honor their departed ancestors, and the ancestors use the abilities they have in the spirit world to look after their living descendants and ensure the continuation of their traditions. If I continued my line of investigation into the relationship between the Igbo and their ancestors, I would be very interested in finding more information about the secret societies men participate in. Achebe’s novel hinted that Okonkwo was a participant in one such society, but the sources I located did not focus on them.

Works Cited

“Igbo.” Art & Life in Africa. University of Iowa Museum of Art, 2014. Web. 9 April 2016. https://africa.uima.uiowa.edu/peoples/show/Igbo

Njaka, Elechukwu N. Igbo Political Culture. Evanston: Northwestern U. Press, 1974. Print.

Uchendu, Victor. The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc., 1965. Print.