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This volume encompasses over forty years of scholarly research on African art, both traditional and modern, by the anthropologist, Simon Ottenberg. Focus is on the arts of the Afikpo, an Igbo group in southeastern Nigeria and on Bafodea Limba of northern Sierra Leone. The essays discuss art objects and music in the context of their use in performance and ritual, and the symbolism of aesthetic forms and behavior. Stress in the writing is placed on obtaining Africans’ conceptions of their own arts blended with Western viewpoints. The writing is based on extensive research in Africa.This two-volume collection of essays is a significant milestone in the discourse of African Studies and an insightful summation of the career of a distinguished scholar of African anthropology and art history. The books testify to the originality of Ottenberg's insights and chronicle his transformation from a young anthropologist observer to a valued member of the Afikpo-Igbo society. -Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, art historian, University of California, Santa BarbaraThis book presents us with an invaluable snapshot of the emergence of a uniquely innovative approach to the study of African cultures, peoples, and histories, an approach which privileges the sensibilities, priorities, and changing social dynamics of the African people without casting their universe in the language of insular exceptionalism. -Ebe M. Ochonu, Vanderbilt University ... Read more

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Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human and ecosystem health, something global culture is once again trying to rediscover under the label of sustainability. A spiritual resource for sustainable living, these verses record the inimitable practicality of stories and proverbs told by the Igbo people of West Africa. If you imitate the upright, Then you will be upright;If you imitate the crooked, Then you will be crooked.The collection of sayings is based on life in villages, farms and forests, treating birds, insects and animals as everyday familiars. The stories offer moral instruction about greed, power, and the natural human trait of being ruled by transient appetites. Jabez L. Van Cleef takes foundational texts from many oral traditions and religions and creates a common poetic format to preserve, promote and disseminate the values of these cultures. For more information visit www.sustainyourspirit.com ... Read more

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A member of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria who became a nun and trained as an anthropologist, Joseph Therese Agbasiere had a unique opportunity to transcend some of the preconceptions and subjectivities inevitable when an "outsider" studies a native society. Her richly detailed ethnography examines kinship practices, marriage customs, and women's responsibilities in the house and the community, establishing the tremendous influence that Igbo women wield in public affairs. ... Read more

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Charts new trends in gender studies through a compelling analysis of Igbo society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great Book
Nzegwu does an excellent job of showing the problems about theorizing from a Western perspective, and yet, in turn making judgments about non-Western cultures (e.g., Igbo family).In this book is a very interesting dialogue where she shows how Western perspectives have misundestood Igbo culture.In chapter 5, she provides a very provactive solution (i.e., dual-sex system) to the problems raise by liberal equality in America. ... Read more

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Things Fall Apart is the most widely read and influential African novel. Published in 1958, it has sold more than nine million copies and been translated into fifty-two languages. African culture is not familiar to most American readers however, and this casebook provides a wealth of commentary and original materials that place the novel in its historical, social, and cultural contexts. Ogbaa, an Igbo scholar, has selected a wide variety of historical and firsthand accounts of the Igbo historical and cultural heritage. These accounts illuminate the historical context and issues relating to the colonization of Africa by European powers, in particular Britain's colonization of Nigeria. Fascinating materials bring to light the novel's cultural context--folkways, language and narrative customs, and traditional Igbo religion. Among the documents included are a slave narrative, interviews, journal and magazine articles, and historical essays. Each chapter is followed by questions for class discussion and ideas for student paper topics. A selection of maps and photos of Igbo culture complement the text. ... Read more