Cultural Unity

There Is - No Isekiri Culture, Ijaw Culture Or Urhobo Culture - Only One Culture.

Agharowu EE (Honsbira)

What is Culture?

          Culture, according to Zimmermann, is the social actualities of a group of people measured mostly in its language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. Broadly speaking, culture has many variants, many sub-groups, so to say. The western culture is the general term given to the culture of European countries and their related peoples - peoples like of with cultures forged out of the European, cultures with roots in the classical and the Greco-Roman era. Western culture also includes those of “Latin, Celtic, Germanic and Hellenic ethnic and linguistic” realities. Another is Eastern Culture, cultural aggregate of the cultures of those in the eastern world - Far East Asia, China, Japan, Vietnam, North Korea and South Korea  and the Indo-Gangetic parts of the world . The greatest ingredient in the eastern culture is Religion. Another group of culture is the Latin Culture, cultural conglomerate of the Spanish-speaking nations of the world. This includes countries of Latin America - parts of Central America, South America and Mexico where Spanish or Portuguese are widely spoken; these cultures are forged out from that of Spain and Portugal, purely European countries. That is not all! Another cultural aggregate is the Middle Eastern culture, cultures of the peoples and countries of the Middle East. It is dominated by Islam and Arabic language. Nor is that all. There is also the African Culture made upon the cultures of North Africa and Africa south of the Great Saharan Desert.  African culture is identifiable by its linguistic diversities. Nigeria alone has over 300 languages. The cultures of the peoples of the North-West of Africa is distinguishable from the rest by its strong European affinity.

          Having said so, it is imperative to say what Isekiri culture, Ijaw culture and Urhobo cultures are and why these are not what they are, but one culture. The Isekiri culture is identifiable by its language, religion, music, occupation and so on. The Ijaw culture, like the isekiri’s is distinguishable from the rest by their common race, language, tradition and history. Urhobo culture is Delta State culture that lays emphasis on language, economy, musical regeneration and growth, and traditional metamorphosis – the process by which a culture moves from one stage to a higher (better) stage.

          Again, having said so,  we shall say why it is not right to say Isekiri culture distinct from Ijaw and urhobo Ijaw culture as distinct from Urhobo culture or Urhobo culture as distinct from all else. A major reason the cultures of these people cannot be classified as distinct from one another is cultural invasion. By cultural invasion, is meant the process by which traits and ingredients from a culture moves into the fabrics of another culture. When this obtains, the travelling culture is said to be invasive while the recipient culture is called the host. Example of cultural invasion in Delta State is the adoption of land farming by Isekiri, a cultural process that originated with the Urhobos; adoption of masquerade displays by Urhobo, a cultural practice of Isekiri and Ijaw origin; and the Urhobo copying of the long wrapper and lace kemije shirt, a practice taken by the Isekiri from the Indians through Sanskrit through the Portuguese since 1472. Isekiri referes to twins as Ibeji, a Yorubic terminology. But now a broad spectrum of Isekiri are using Ejime, an Igbo and Urhobo usage. Urhobo call matches Ogbuna, a copy from the Isekiri Ugbuna – something that catches fire. Ijaws words are not plenty in Isekiri and vice versa, only cultural ideology – dress-types, food items and music habits.

          It is not far to seek, the reasons for these cultural transfers/copy by/from these peoples like in other peoples of the world.  The main explanation, traced to geographical proximity of the lands and the location promiscuity arising from this geography. Other, and more important, factor is Quantum Physics and Quantum determinism. Quantum theory, according to Bohm, states that    quantum events are partly determined by less noticeable factors operating at deeper levels of reality. Bohm is at tandem with John Eccles’ theory that our minds exist outside the material consciousness and interact with our brains at the quantum level. At par, Quantum Theory states that wave and particles, though may be far apart, can influence each other that no reality of one is undeterministic (1980). Quantum Determinism holds that in wave-particle dualistic relations, there is are irrefutable tendencies for the actions of wave to be determined by the actions of particle and vice versa. This tendency is called Quantum Determinism on Quantum Sea.

   How does this explain the Cultural affinity among the people? To be continued.