Professor Ernest Nneji Emenyonu: The Voice That Traced Igbo Literature Back to 1857

Professor Ernest N. Emenyonu at a library. Source: Igbostudies.org. “Okwu bụ ndụ.” (Words are life). The old proverb could well summarise Emenyonu’s life's work. To him, literature was not simply art; it was history, language, and identity woven together like the intricate threads of akwete cloth. From Umuahia to the World Born…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu1 day ago0Comments

Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo. Credit: Alchetron

Biography Historical Studies

Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo: The Historian Who Gave Igbo History Its Memory

In the annals of African scholarship, some names echo not just through academic corridors but also through the living soul of a people. One such name is Professor Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo, the soft-spoken yet intellectually unyielding historian who gave Igbo history its structure, its scholarship, and its soul. Professor Adiele Eberechukwu Afigbo — the historian who…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu1 day ago0Comments

Biography

Walter Ofonagoro: The Voice of Alaigbo in Nigeria’s Public Sphere

When Nigeria’s airwaves were filled with competing voices and the nation searched for balance after years of political turbulence, one voice stood out, articulate, unyielding, and deeply rooted in the values of Alaigbo. That voice was Sir Dr Walter Ibekwe Ofonagoro, historian, journalist, statesman, and cultural advocate. Through academia, broadcasting, and public service, he…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu4 days ago0Comments

Historical Studies

From Living in Bondage to Nollywood: The Rise and Retreat of the Igbo Language in Film

In 1992, a new kind of sound echoed across Nigeria’s television screens. It was not the Queen’s English of colonial echoes, nor the accented Yoruba banter of Lagos streets. It was Igbo, spoken with unfiltered cadence and ancestral rhythm. The film was Living in Bondage , produced by Kenneth Nnebue, and it didn’t just…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu4 days ago0Comments

Igbo bride kneeling and offering palm wine to groom.

Cultural Heritage

Igba Nkwu: Understanding Igbo Traditional Marriage Rites

In Igboland, marriage is more than just two hearts joining; it’s the uniting of two families, two lineages, and two worlds. The ceremony known as ịgba nkwu nwanyi (the bride’s wine-carrying) remains one of the most cherished cultural expressions of love, respect, and community among the Igbo people. Bride and Groom in Traditional Igbo Wedding…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 26, 20250Comments

Historical Studies

The 1949 Aba Assembly: When Nnamdi Azikiwe Called for Igbo Unity and African Freedom

Nnamdi Azikiwe. Public Domain Image On a bright morning in 1949, the town of Aba in southeastern Nigeria stirred with uncommon energy. From Nsukka to Onitsha, from Owerri to Enugu, Igbo men and women gathered to witness something extraordinary. They came not for celebration but for a cause; a call to destiny. At the centre…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 26, 20250Comments

Historical Studies

The Man Who Starved for Freedom: The Story of Sunny Okafor in Japan

The Igbo say, “Afọ anaghị egbu onye, obi ka egbu ya” ( it is not hunger that kills a man, but the heaviness of his heart). And somewhere in Nagasaki, Japan, in 2019, a man named Gerald “Sunny” Okafor died with an empty stomach but a full heart because he refused to swallow humiliation.…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 20, 20250Comments

Cultural Heritage

Between Faith and Heritage: The Catholic Priest Protecting Igbo Traditional Artifacts

Father Paul Obayi. Image: thestreetjournal.org The Igbo say, “Ọnụ anaghị atụ egwu, ọ na-agwa mmadụ eziokwu”( the mouth that tells the truth does not tremble). And in Nsukka, one man dares to tell the truth about a forgotten part of Igbo identity, the truth hidden behind wooden masks, dust, and silence. Father Paul Obayi, a Catholic…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 20, 20250Comments

Nigerian-American author Nnedi Okorafor speaking at a podium during a book reading.

Biography Cultural Heritage

The Journey of Nnedi Okorafor: From Comics and Paralysis to Black Panther

Nnedi Okorafor. Source: Americanlibrariesmagazine.com The Igbo say, “Nwata bulie aka gbagbuo ozu, o mara na ọ bụ ihe dị ndụ o buliri” ( when a child lifts what he believes to be a corpse and it moves, he learns it was alive all along). That is how Nnedi Okorafor’s journey began with a love…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 20, 20250Comments

Anthropology and Ethnography Ethnohistory

Akalaka: The Progenitor of the Ogba, Ekpeye, and Ikwerre People

A dancer Ogbukele festival, Ekpafia Igbo. Photographed by G.I. Jones The figure of Akalaka occupies a central position in the collective memory of the Igbo people of Ogba, Ekpeye, and Ikwerre peoples of present-day Rivers State, Nigeria. His story blends history, oral tradition, and ethnolinguistic continuity, linking three closely related…

ByIdenze EzemeOctober 19, 20250Comments