Gone with the wind: Ibo identity crisis In America the multiracial and multicultural origins of its people has added much to my understanding of the human of the racial differences in ways unknown to me in Africa, that in a pluralistic society, one must learn to coexist with a variety of peoples. Here in the U.S. all races are represented and almost all languages have someone capable of speaking it within its borders. Yet, the history of America has made it the grave yard of foreign languages. What I gathered from this finding is that languages could disappear for a people but residual tribalism or ethnicity may continue to linger. This is becoming the fate of most white nationalities that emigrated to the U.S. during the last two centuries. Any culture without language is like a fish without water. Language is a critical tool at our disposal. It defines our world of consciousness and affects the way we look at ourselves and the people living beyond our cultural zone. Language is the identity of a people. I know it is not easy to make it in the Western world, but losing your identity makes the situation a double-whammy. If youre not comfortable with whom you are but want to be completely different from whom youre then you have a big problem. Because you will never be those you pretend to be and those you pretend to be will never accept you as one of them. Period! I am motivated to write this article after attending a graduation party organized by an Igbo family, the gests were mostly young Igbos. The more I listened to conversations the more curious I became to understand the dynamic of an Ibo social life. I began to interact with some the young people. At a point I asked some of them to find out how much they know about their culture. To my surprise, none of them speak Ibo, majority of them told me they understand but cant speak it. One actually proudly told me she doesn’t speak Ibo, but speaks fluent Spanish. I told her it was cool to speak Spanish; but quickly asked her how many of her Spanish friends speak Ibo. She said none. Again, there was another lady at that party; her two kids live in Nigeria. She said her children do not speak Ibo although the live in Nigeria and have never been outside Nigeria. Also I have a niece who does not speak Ibo, she and her parents live in Enugu, Anambra state and have never lived anywhere else apart vacationing in other places in Nigeria. So the phenomenon of a not-speaking Ibo is not peculiar to the US alone, it is a tragedy that faces every Igbo around the world. Any Yoruba or Hause children born in or outside Nigeria speak their language. But an Igbo child, speaking a different language over Ibo is social status. No wonder then the Ibo language is gradually being blown away by the wind.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 17:39:17 +0000
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