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“Come on? What is that? Do you mean Igbo? “
The first time I heard these questions was when a girl I met in high school asked me what my tribe was. We had a connection to each other’s green and white heritage, however, all the young Nigerians I met in the years to come would reflect the look of confusion it gave me when I told them I was Ijaw.
There would be little jokes about what my tribe was “unknown” and if I was sure I wouldn’t confuse it with igbo. Although I laughed, being constantly treated as my ethnic identity was nothing more than a disappointing oral mistake.
The three 9th Year Geography lessons devoted to Nigeria drew only a brief surface of the country’s extensive culture and history, and did not mention the existence of unpopulated ethnic groups. It was then that I realized that Ijaw Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa were in the shadows in the UK.
A Nigerian lives in the UK About 200,000 diaspora, the second largest then in the United States. In London, where I live, “Nigerian culture” is almost always synonymous with Igbo or Yoruba.
Their influence in places like Peckham in south London, under the name “Little Lagos” in the UK, has preserved many Nigerian migrants from all tribes, including my family. However, through their own fault, their larger numbers have also created a bubble of invisibility in many smaller tribes. Although the Ijawas are the fourth largest tribe in Nigeria, I feel a curiosity among young Nigerians in the UK.
But my tribe, rich in culture and part of a country that was once subject to British colonial rule, deserves a place in the geography textbooks and in the minds of Nigerian Britons.
Introduction to the Ijaw culture
The Ijaw people, also known as Izon or Ijo, live in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria and are defined by their relationship with the water and the Niger River.
In the oil-rich delta, conflicts, government neglect and Ijaw’s historical dependence on oral history, compared to written records, have helped Ijaw’s presence and culture in Nigeria – and erode darkness in the West.
I emigrated from Nigeria to the UK at the age of two and getting into my culture has never been easier. Being as communal as the Nigerians in London, my mother relied on our culture to cook my Ijaw dishes, such as kekefiyai (a unique banana-like stew pot), or when I made phone calls with a large family. my tribe.
His experience with other Africans is similar to that of Nigerian friends.
“What is Ijaw? I thought there were only three tribes in Nigeria, ”as it eventually became so frequent that I started to get scared to talk about my tribe.
In adolescence, the name Ijaw, Ayibaemi, was mocked for white children, but also for some black children.
Although much of this can be attributed to children’s ignorance, I am now in college and there is still a lack of awareness about Ijawen. I continue to use Ayis, an abbreviated version of my full name, “easier,” but it’s no longer a matter of anxiety. Since labeling myself a “Nigerian” made almost no sense, I began to identify more openly with my tribe.
Water people
Although the origin of the Ijaw is unclear, the Iyawas are usually believed first settlers Of the Niger Delta region. Water is the basis of Ijaw livelihoods and the Niger River serves not only our salvation, but also the tribes of Isoko, Itsekiri, Urhobo and many other tribes in the region.
The Ijawas are known not only for their fishing but also for their textiles and art, the best known example being the water spirit masks used in traditional Ijaw religious practices. The masks, many of which are characteristic of humans and animals, embody the water spirits that are fundamental to traditional Ijaw religions and honor the swamps and river animals found in the delta.
The traditional Ijaw outfit includes printers printed around the waist, as well as handmade coral beads, hats and canes. I grew up admiring the beautiful traditional clothes and sequins she brought to church when my mother emigrated and wore them to church on Sundays.
My mother spent most of her life in Yenagoa, the capital of the southern coastal state of Bayelsa. “To be an Ijaw is to be a water carrier,” says the mother.
His relationship with water has always taken Ijaw as his defining education as a child, such as fishing with siblings, gathering seafood from riverside markets, or swimming in the river with other local children. After a long day at school, he hoped to come home to eat kiri-igina (a rich seafood soup made by cooking with fire using a mortar and pestle) with eba, a staple food made with cassava. .
He speaks Atissa, a dialect of Ijaw, so exclusive to the natives of Yenago that he only speaks to them with his sisters on the phone every fortnight. Since I hardly meet Ijaw in London, I hear a lot more English words in these conversations than before.
My father was born in Ghana (it was also the home of Ijaws), he grew up in the village of Otuan, also in Bayelsan. His area was in poverty but communal. His father was a local fisherman and river merchant, historically the livelihood of most Ijaw.
Her mother had a unique tribal mark on her belly that resembled the sun on her belly, while other women wore forehead marks to distinguish her as Ijaw. Many practices of scarification are still done by many tribes, mostly Yoruba, but today it is rare to find an Ijaw with tribal marks. The oldest memory his father had of his mother was to hear him tell the dō (traditional Ijaw tales) every morning as he prepared to go fishing on his family boat or travel across the Niger Delta. He no longer remembers those folk tales.
Describing the Ijaw people as best he could, he once said to me, “The Ijaw people are very true. The meaning of the word Izon is true, in fact.”
Violence at the hands of the government
In October 2020, Nigerians took to the streets EndSARS a movement to protest against police brutality and corruption. On October 20, in the capital Lagos, when the protests were centered, the Nigerian army fired and killed peaceful protesters The door to escape the toll. Ielsak Bayelsan also he went out into the street, and showed solidarity with the movement – after all, Nigerian Ijaws are well aware of the violence and ill-treatment at the hands of the government.
Despite the Ijawas and other tribes living in oil-rich lands country, The most important communities in Africa an oil-producing region tackling marginalization and poverty and polluting the environment oil spills. In 1998, the young Ijaw entrepreneurs he accepted Kaiama statement, specifying the rights of transnational oil companies and the federal government to land that has been the target of eco-violence and exploitation for decades. Protests continue to recover this homeland today.
In 1992, the creation of the Ijaw Delta Nationality Movement for the Survival of Ethnic Nationalities (MOSIEND) strengthened the existence of our Niger Delta in order to reclaim an Ijawland and challenge the oppression of the Ijaw people. The Ijaw people are among the tribes of the Niger Delta who have created a movement with the aim of keeping their ethnicity and homeland intact.
Caring for Ijaw culture
Language it is often seen as one of the threads that sustains a culture, but more so 10 Ijaw language they are in danger disappearance. The dominant Ijaw language, known as Ijaw or Izon, has few language books for teaching, such as Izon Fie (Speak Izon). This is the first time Ijaw language has been self-taught book and was launched in 2013 by the Bayelsa state government.
Stirring up a broader dialogue on the elimination of the Ijaw tribe and the preservation of ethnic culture is the first step in moving out of the endangered cultural realm, but these conversations between the Ijaw diasporic are few. In the US, among others Ijaw American women provide a safe space for women and promote equality for Ijaw within and beyond Nigeria. Facebook Ijaw many groups They have been inactive in the UK and surrounding countries for some time.
Clubhouse, the application of social media for social media and dialogue, is met with some Nigerian tribes and groups such as the Yoruba or Igbo. Creating Ijaw groups is a way to connect our tribe around the world to raise awareness about who we are and the problems we face.
My parents instilled in me the importance of my tribe and helped me embrace my culture. Nowadays, when I am asked about Ijaw and what I mean by igbo, I no longer feel worried about being educated about who we are.
Achieving the recognition of an ethnic identity that has been wiped out of existence in the Niaspian diaspora cannot be resolved in a flash, but I believe it can be done with the joint effort of Nigerians and British Nigerians like me.
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