Igbomen in Europe! Why!!!
THE IGBO-NIGERIAN NOMADISM
In international politics, one of the most burning issues is the question of the presence of a people in a “foreign land” – a land other than their land of origin. There are many reasons for which a person can locate himself in another land; commerce, search for greener pastures, search for knowledge of foreign cultures etc.
This tendency of “moving out” of original environment is not new. In fact, it is part of the nature of every living thing to search for a better condition which can enhance its life. It is interesting to study the lives of animals and especially certain birds and fish which travel thousands of kilometres to find better habitations in case of change of climate. Examples of such animals are inexhaustible!
The case of man is the most interesting. Right from prehistoric times, man has always been in constant movement. So much so that it is almost impossible for any man to claim with veracity that his family has always been in a particular place.
Even after the confines of nations were created, a certain people came to be identified as “nomads” – people without nationality and locality, people always in movement, people in constant search for trade and adventure. This was a way of life and a necessary condition for survival.
The Greek species vividly elaborated by Werner Jaeger (cf. Paideia, la formation de l’homme grec, Gallimard, Paris, 1964, p.345) was a virtuous normadism whereby the “sophist travellers” moved from city to city without any nationality and home; free to acquire as much culture as possible. They were the masters, reputed to be the wisest having acquired the knowledge of all cities. They were always welcomed in every city as scientists and philosophers.
On the other hand, the Hebrew version seems to represent that based on necessity. A situation where being a nomad was to be a poor rat without home and without name. The covenant between God and Abram was that of giving him “a land” and descendants. In the whole of the Old Testament, the Israelites were always to be reminded that God constituted then a people with land and name.
In the world of today, a study of the immigration of the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria presents very interesting sociological and political questions. The Igbos can be called nomads in the sense that they are more and more in circulation outside of Igboland. Especially the young generation seems to be with all eyes out for opportunities of travelling out of their land. Through the infinite richness of the historical noun “nomad”, we wish to study the causes, dynamics and factors surrounding the presence of the Igbos outside of their land.
The word “nomadism” derives from the noun “nomad” which refers to a people in flux – a people in a constant search for a better life, without fixed place of existence. Nomadism however goes beyond this notion to include an openness to “the other” – in the sense of an openness and eagerness for new places, new experiences, new ideas, new systems, new cultures and new persons. It is only in this sense can we qualify the polarity of immigration of the Igbo people of the eastern Nigeria.
At Amsterdam just as at Rome, at London just as at Berlin, at Sidney just as at New York, in fact; in all the whole world, tick populations of Igbo people continue to grow! At the same time, the home of the Igbo people continues to be emptied of young people who flock all the western embassies in search of visas. Yet, these people have never lost their roots in their land of origin. Where ever they go, what ever they do, they have always conserved their home identities.
This capacity to be the other without ceasing to be ones self is the novelty of an Igbo “nomad”. It is also the fulcrum of our research. The question is, how can I be a true Igbo and a citizen of America at the same time? What right have I to such an existence? What are the difficulties and advantages?
To capture this phenomenon very well we have chosen to call it “glocal nomadism” (glocal from the words global and local). This is to put on the fore, the tension between the globalizing tendency of deterritorization and the localizing tendency to have a definite identity and name.
Our study is to be based on the European Igbo communities and the home community. We want to study the sociological background of their immigration, the international political questions concerning their integration in foreign cultures, the best socio-political intervention to curb the side effects of glocal nomadism especially in the case of the Igbos.
In international politics, one of the most burning issues is the question of the presence of a people in a “foreign land” – a land other than their land of origin. There are many reasons for which a person can locate himself in another land; commerce, search for greener pastures, search for knowledge of foreign cultures etc.
This tendency of “moving out” of original environment is not new. In fact, it is part of the nature of every living thing to search for a better condition which can enhance its life. It is interesting to study the lives of animals and especially certain birds and fish which travel thousands of kilometres to find better habitations in case of change of climate. Examples of such animals are inexhaustible!
The case of man is the most interesting. Right from prehistoric times, man has always been in constant movement. So much so that it is almost impossible for any man to claim with veracity that his family has always been in a particular place.
Even after the confines of nations were created, a certain people came to be identified as “nomads” – people without nationality and locality, people always in movement, people in constant search for trade and adventure. This was a way of life and a necessary condition for survival.
The Greek species vividly elaborated by Werner Jaeger (cf. Paideia, la formation de l’homme grec, Gallimard, Paris, 1964, p.345) was a virtuous normadism whereby the “sophist travellers” moved from city to city without any nationality and home; free to acquire as much culture as possible. They were the masters, reputed to be the wisest having acquired the knowledge of all cities. They were always welcomed in every city as scientists and philosophers.
On the other hand, the Hebrew version seems to represent that based on necessity. A situation where being a nomad was to be a poor rat without home and without name. The covenant between God and Abram was that of giving him “a land” and descendants. In the whole of the Old Testament, the Israelites were always to be reminded that God constituted then a people with land and name.
In the world of today, a study of the immigration of the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria presents very interesting sociological and political questions. The Igbos can be called nomads in the sense that they are more and more in circulation outside of Igboland. Especially the young generation seems to be with all eyes out for opportunities of travelling out of their land. Through the infinite richness of the historical noun “nomad”, we wish to study the causes, dynamics and factors surrounding the presence of the Igbos outside of their land.
The word “nomadism” derives from the noun “nomad” which refers to a people in flux – a people in a constant search for a better life, without fixed place of existence. Nomadism however goes beyond this notion to include an openness to “the other” – in the sense of an openness and eagerness for new places, new experiences, new ideas, new systems, new cultures and new persons. It is only in this sense can we qualify the polarity of immigration of the Igbo people of the eastern Nigeria.
At Amsterdam just as at Rome, at London just as at Berlin, at Sidney just as at New York, in fact; in all the whole world, tick populations of Igbo people continue to grow! At the same time, the home of the Igbo people continues to be emptied of young people who flock all the western embassies in search of visas. Yet, these people have never lost their roots in their land of origin. Where ever they go, what ever they do, they have always conserved their home identities.
This capacity to be the other without ceasing to be ones self is the novelty of an Igbo “nomad”. It is also the fulcrum of our research. The question is, how can I be a true Igbo and a citizen of America at the same time? What right have I to such an existence? What are the difficulties and advantages?
To capture this phenomenon very well we have chosen to call it “glocal nomadism” (glocal from the words global and local). This is to put on the fore, the tension between the globalizing tendency of deterritorization and the localizing tendency to have a definite identity and name.
Our study is to be based on the European Igbo communities and the home community. We want to study the sociological background of their immigration, the international political questions concerning their integration in foreign cultures, the best socio-political intervention to curb the side effects of glocal nomadism especially in the case of the Igbos.
posted by TOBIAS CHIKEZIE IHEJIRIKA @ 01:57
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