ARIDON 2014, Vol. 1, Preliminary Pages

Agadama is an Urhobo language-speaking agrarian community in Uwheru clan, Ughelli-North LGA, Delta state, Nigeria which specializes in production of potatoes and other crops in commercial quantity. Rather than experiencing rural depopulation, Agadama community experiences seasonal rural repopulation due to its conscious concentration in the production of commercial potatoes and the magnitude of this activity conspicuously catches the attention of a new entrant (stranger/visitor) into the society. This is a qualitative ethnographic study targeted at exploring the socio-economic potentials and the health of a potato-producing community in the oil-rich Niger-Delta area, south-south Nigeria. The study employed participant observation, key informant interview, and in-depth interview as data collection methods with content analysis involving „thick description‟ anchored on the location theory. The study revealed that, the commercialization of potatoes makes Agadama a melting pot of culture and has potentials of making the community a centre for great economic opportunities, ensuring improved standard of living, healthy population and ethnic integration, if properly harnessed. The study advocates a ruralization of relevant industries that could process surplus agricultural products, provide storage and health facilities which have implication for rural repopulation.

Lay community knowledge of the environment has a major role in the sustainable use and management of natural resources which, though ignored by experts, is increasingly accepted as fundamental to successful implementation of policies and programmes of rural resource management. This paper explores the community experience of changes over time in their environment in the Ethiope Area of Urhoboland using the relatively novel qualitative/participatory social research technique of group discussion with 31representative natural resource users from three clans in the study area. Members were engaged in onceonly integrated group discussion session during which they reflected interactively on how their natural environment has supported farming, fishing, hunting and forest resource gathering activities. The information elicited was appraised contextually; findings reveal that the area is witnessing rapid resource degradation linked to population growth, modernization influences and social transformation in values with the people increasingly demonstrating greater egocentrism in terms of use and attitude to environmental conservation. There are less altruistic concerns that favour common property resource protection for the future longterm needs of communities. Further, „biospheric‟ interests/principles, the concern for protection of nature for its sake, which were widespread in the past have all but been abandoned due to Western-linked modernization influences, population-induced land fragmentationand the intrusion/migration of „outsiders‟ into communities with more aggressive unprofessional resource use techniques that were not in tandem with the indigenous resource use norms of the forefathers. The paper recommends a new policy thrust that recognizes the principles of primary environmental care and with stronger focus on agricultural land intensification drawing on natural inputsin order to achieve sustainability

Recent studies in African literature and history (Chinua Achebe 2001; Cheikh Anta Diop 1991) show that the reconstruction and propagation of national identity are the leitmotif of literatures fostered by colonial and oppressive experiences. Ropo Sekoni (2008) argues that the central mission of literary narratives is to counter-balance one form of hegemony against another. He adds that whenever there is a dominant ideology or worldview, there will always develop discourses that contest the situation. Isidore Okpewho has done extensive work on how the Igbospeaking peoples of the western Niger Delta of Nigeria have employed oral narratives to reaffirm their history and cultural autonomy against the hegemonic claims of the old Benin Empire from the 16th century. This paper leans on these theoretical perspectives to examine how the self-determination struggles of the Niger Delta, the politics of oil and gas production, and the distribution of its advantages and adversities have shaped the ideological outlook of Urhobo popular musicians. In order to place the emerging tradition in perspective, the study provides a background of Urhobo cultural and historical experiences and how they have impacted on the aesthetic thoughts of the popular musicians. There is a brief account of the Urhobo people during British colonial rule (1900-1960), the impact of the petroleum economy from the late 1950s, and the place of music in the articulation of Urhobo national identity. The main body of the study highlights themes in Urhobo musical expression, the socio-economic conditioning of the subjects, the capitalist milieu and commercialisation of musical practice, and how the popular musicians have adapted to the social and technical pressures on their vocation. Songs used to illustrate these ideological battles are sourced from the repertoire of Urhobo musical maestros such as Omokomoko Osokpra, Ogute Ottan, J.C. Ogbiniki, Juju-Udjabor, Johnson Adjan, Okpan Arhibo, Nathaniel Oruma, Lucky Okwe, and Lady Rose Okirigwo of the Onorume Toroh Musical Ladies of Urhobo. The study reveals that music is a powerful instrument of indoctrination and communication of resistance against negative and hegemonic forces that tend to undermine Urhobo identity and values. The analysis of songs and nuances of performance also demonstrates that the poet-musicians are in the rank of Africa‟s postcolonial elite who employ the weapon of verbal arts to explore radical options of exit from the dilemmas that confront neo-colonial situations in the continent

The paper focuses on digital preservation of the Urhobo Language. The paper argues that there is urgent need for digital preservation of the language documents especially since the younger generation hardly speaks the language. The Urhobo language seems to be dying gradually. The paper also discusses Urhobo language endangerment or extinction, importance of Urhobo language preservation, ways of preserving the Urhobo language, digital sustainability of Urhobo language, digital indexing of Urhobo language collections, and challenges of digital preservation. Consequently, we recommend that one pragmatic way of making the Urhobo language function for its speakers is to make it compulsory as first language of the Urhobo child up to secondary school level.To sustain interest in the use of the language, the essay suggests that the Urhobo language content should be on the internet and there should be National digital preservation policy of indigenous languages, including Urhobo in Nigeria.

Literature is generally identified by the language in which it is written or by the people who write it. This paper is a survey of the imaginative literature of Urhobo writers who write in English. It is on the basis of their ethnicity that these writers are seen as Urhobo. As a people, the Urhobo have their unique experiences, worldview, sensibility, folklore, and other specific modes of living that make them an ethnic group. The selected writers will be examined on how they incorporate their Urhobo heritage into their writings. It will be seen that they exhibit their Urhobo-ness in varying degrees and use their respective knowledge of Urhobo in their writings according to their talent and passion for the culture. Thus, consciously or unconsciously, the writers whose works form Urhobo modern literature or literature in English show, in one way or the other, diverse aspects of their Urhobo experience.

A discussion of a language‟s etymology involves an examination of the nature of its words. The knowledge gained from this study helps to indicate the history of its speakers, the contacts they made along the way, and their settlement patterns. That is why a people‟s language is about the most important aspect of their culture because the language carries their unique identity, philosophy, worldview, knowledge, experience, and reality through the words which have become signifiers of meaning. An oral culture as the Urhobo the language assumes even greater significance as it becomes the repository of the people‟s indigenous history, knowledge and ontological experience as well as their values, mores, and morals. The Urhobo language is thus a most crucial aspect of Urhobo Studies and its etymology thus needs to be explored in a meaningful discussion of the ethnic group‟s experience and reality.

The spectrum of female song-poets in Africa, though in high proportion, has been shown little interest by African scholars. In the Urhobo musical repertoire, male musicians have dominated the foray of academic output; whenever mention is made to female song-poets/ensembles, significant details about the content and functions of their songs are not considered. However, the steady growth of professional/semi-professional Urhobo female musical ensembles in recent times has provided vents for critical evaluation of their songs. This paper therefore examines the contribution of Urhobo female song-poets to the development of African music and Urhobo popular music tradition. It discusses aspects of the Urhobo popular music genre as a form that replaces the satiric/classical traditions such as udje and ighọvwan. Extensive references are made to early female musical ensembles like the igbe-emete (maiden dance-songs). We adopted the formalist and sociological approaches in the examination of the compositional mechanics of the selected song-texts in relation to the society. It concludes that more researches should be carried out on female musicians in Urhobo land in order to popularize the form as well as encourage new entrants.

Autobiographical study is a leading tradition in academic scholarship to recreate the artistic voyages of world‟s leading writers/artists. It affords the public the opportunity to benefit from insights of the socio-historical background that informs the choice of artistic strategies as well as the biases in the diverse experiences from which the writer/artist‟s creativity derives. This artist‟s self-presentation is therefore a celebration of the artistic career of one of Africa‟s greatest printmakers, Bruce Onobrakpeya. It examines the evolution of his professional experience, challenges, successes, and the demand for artistic continuity and adventures. The aim is to challenge the younger generation of artists to explore all positive avenues to develop their talent and skills and, in so doing, contribute to the artistic achievement of the country

Light falls on stage to reveal Major Walker, Mr. Lambert, and Mr. De La Mothe having a drink at a corner of a night party. They seem to be expecting a fourth party. Major Walker, at intervals looks at his wrist watch.

“Ishani,” a poem “Ilovo gbo n’ishani” (Sally Young, Obo-ile Urhobo)

Within the Nigeria context of home videos, the Urhobo film is relatively new. This creates the need to seek and make some clarifications on what constitutes the Urhobo home video; as a home video shot in Urhobo language, or one that concerns the ways of life of the Urhobo people, or one shot on Urhobo soil?In discussing these parameters, this paper attempts to look at the Urhobo nation and how the filmic experience has enabled a rapprochement of its development and sustenance in the face of huge socio-political, economic and sundry challenges. The analyses of select films are expected to assess the adversarial environment which some of them reflect vis-à-vis the culture of the people in the face of contemporary global confrontations.As an emergent form, it is hoped that the home videos about the Urhobo would help to internalize the aspirations of the people even as they grapple with the demands of the Nigerian state.

The discourse on African Traditional Medicine has over the years been given little attention by scholars who dismissed it as either an area without serious empirical merit or as superstitions resulting from ignorance. African Traditional Medicine (TAM) represents an important aspect of the people‟s indigenous knowledge handed down from ancient times. It sustained the people‟s life in times of serious health challenges even before the advent of western education. This study therefore examines the beliefs as well as the mechanics of ritual performances and divination in TAM and its place in modern medicine. The study draws insights from the scholarly views of experts such as H. Beatie and Robin W.G. Horton and argues that traditional African beliefs, especially those relating to African medicine, are representations of accumulated experiences in matters of wellbeing and illness. It adopted the participant observation method as the theoretical framework to enable us obtain adequate information from the society and interpret it with regard to the metaphor of ancestor-spirit-anger on the people and the ritual efficacy in ameliorating problems. From this study, it appears the basic principle around the practices of TAM is the knowledge from experience that chronic illness can have its roots in the mind, in sustained emotional distress. Hence the need for this principle to be examined in the quest for solutions to the many intractable health challenges in contemporary Africa.