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CHAPTER 31 Nimi Wariboko and Martha Anderson Introduction In this chapter, we will attempt to provide an overview of the Ijo Diaspora in North America. The Ijo presence in North America has, at least, four hundred years behind it, and we do not aspire to provide a detailed history of the Ijo throughout this period; rather we will give the reader a quick sense of their long past and a descriptive analysis of their activities from the 1990s. Thus, this chapter is divided into two parts: Part one dwells on the history of early Ijo settlers in North America and Part two focuses on contemporary Ijo political activities. While this chapter looks at the long presence of the Ijo in the Americas it does not give the impression that we are writing about the continuous history of Ijo in the Americas in the last four hundred years in the sense of the story of Ijo slaves and their descendants. Here we are basically narrating the stories of two sets of Ijo settlers. One set came as slaves about four hundred years ago; the other came as immigrants only decades ago. The two stories —arguably should be separated—give us a rough picture of the Ijo Diaspora past and present. In Part one of our study, we used basic historical research methods to generate the data and perspective on the Ijo presence in North America. For the second part, we used a broadly ethnographic approach, using a range of qualitative methods. Specifically, we used participant observation, document reviews (hard and electronic), interviews with Ijo and leaders of Ijo ethnic organizations. For selected association leaders, we combined in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey. In general, the scope of our ethnographic endeavor was limited as it was only meant to be a preliminary first step to a 683 THE I . ZO . N IN NORTH AM E R IC A : H IS T O R Y , P O L IT IC S AND ID E N T IT Y
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The Izon of the Niger Delta: Chapter 31

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Page 1: The Izon of the Niger Delta: Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

Nimi Wariboko and Martha Anderson

IntroductionIn this chapter, we will attempt to provide an overview of the Ijo Diaspora in

North America. The Ijo presence in North America has, at least, four hundred

years behind it, and we do not aspire to provide a detailed history of the Ijo

throughout this period; rather we will give the reader a quick sense of their

long past and a descriptive analysis of their activities from the 1990s. Thus, this

chapter is divided into two parts: Part one dwells on the history of early Ijo

settlers in North America and Part two focuses on contemporary Ijo political

activities. While this chapter looks at the long presence of the Ijo in the

Americas it does not give the impression that we are writing about the

continuous history of Ijo in the Americas in the last four hundred years in the

sense of the story of Ijo slaves and their descendants. Here we are basically

narrating the stories of two sets of Ijo settlers. One set came as slaves about

four hundred years ago; the other came as immigrants only decades ago. The

two stories —arguably should be separated—give us a rough picture of the Ijo

Diaspora past and present.

In Part one of our study, we used basic historical research methods to generate

the data and perspective on the Ijo presence in North America. For the second

part, we used a broadly ethnographic approach, using a range of qualitative

methods. Specifically, we used participant observation, document reviews

(hard and electronic), interviews with Ijo and leaders of Ijo ethnic

organizations. For selected association leaders, we combined in-depth

interviews and questionnaire survey. In general, the scope of our ethnographic

endeavor was limited as it was only meant to be a preliminary first step to a

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H IS T O R Y , P O L IT IC S A N D ID E N T IT Y

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full-scale ethnographic study of Ijo in the United States. Certainly, the findings

and conclusions of this chapter will be strengthened if the scope of the

ethnographic study is broadened. This notwithstanding, our findings are

comparable to other studies on Nigerian immigrants in the United States.

History of Ijo in North AmericaThe Ijo have a long history in North America. There is evidence that theybegan arriving in North American colonies nearly four hundred years ago asslaves. Because efforts to establish the ethnicities of Africans who were soldinto slavery have proved to be nearly as controversial as estimates of theirnumbers (e.g. Inikori 1987; Kolapo 1999; Eltis 1995), this essay can onlysuggest when, where, and how many early Ijo settlers arrived in NorthAmerica. It will also highlight ongoing research that promises to add furtherdetails.

Scholars have traditionally designated the “hinterland” as the source of theslaves exported from the “Calabar Coast,” but have argued about the extent ofthis vague region and the ethnicities it encompasses. Accounts dating to the erawhen the trade flourished often simply list the human cargoes as “Heebos” or“Eboes,” meaning Igbo. Although many African–American historians haveaccepted the Igbo designation at face value (Littlefield 1991; Chambers 1997,2005), others, especially Africanists, have countered that traders, slave owners,and others applied the word liberally to people of varying ethnic origins(Northrup, 2000:14; Hall, 2005: 129). For instance, during the nineteenthcentury in Sierra Leone, Africans from the Kalabari region, who had beenliberated from slave ships caught by the British naval blockade, weredesignated “Ibo” (Northrup 2000: 13).

Some even question the accuracy of the ethnic origins the slaves claimed forthemselves. “Calabar” could connote either New Calabar (Elem Kalabari) orOld Calabar, or serve as an ethnic designation. Gwendolyn Hall (2005: 133)proposes that Caribbean slaves who described themselves as Kalabari orKarabali may have been employing a broad coastal designation rather than anethnic one. Even slaves who self-identified as “Igbo” may not have been Igbo

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in the way that we now use the word. Notions of “Igbo” or “Ijo” as anethno-linguistic identity have developed only recently: slaves often identifiedthemselves as members of smaller communities or defined their ethnicity incontrast to Africans from different cultural backgrounds (Northrup 2000: 1-3,8; Inikori 2002: 78; Hall 2005: 129, 135). As Nwokeji and Eltis (2002:365-366) point out, this situation has parallels in Europe, where notions ofnationhood only existed in Spain, Britain, and France at the time the slave tradebegan.

Studies of the Atlantic slave trade have tended to focus on the role the Ijoplayed as middlemen, and have largely ignored their participation as slaves.Some Ijo slaves may have passed through Itsekiri or Efik hands, but the Ijo,like some of their neighbors, punished individuals for committing certaincrimes, including murder, by selling them into slavery; they also raided otherIjo villages for slaves (Ume 1980: 8). Oral histories record infighting betweenKalabari villages during the sixteenth century, where the most disruptivecommunity, Bile under their ruler Agbaniye Ejika, “got its slaves by sackingneighboring Delta villages, rather than by trades with the hinterland.”(Chambers 1997: 78, 93 n. 22, quoting Robin Horton). Central and Western Ijocommunities continued this pattern of raiding into the twentieth century,keeping some of their captives as slaves and sacrificing or selling others. Thosesold at interior markets could eventually be passed to coastal middlemen:inland buyers who purchased a Brass slave at an Igbo community later soldhim to overseas traders, and he eventually became an interpreter for an 1841Niger expedition (Nwokeji 2000: 643 n. 5).

Although they are at odds in other respects, two scholars agree about theprevalence of Ijo slaves in the early years of the trade. According to Chambers,the slaves who left the Bight of Biafra before 1650 were mainly Ijo and coastalnon-Ijo, obtained by the pattern of raiding nearby villages mentioned above(1997: 75, citing Alagoa 1992: 10-16; and Jones 1963:12-13). Northrup(2000:8) concurs that in the early seventeenth century, most of the slaves camefrom Ijo communities located within a fifty mile radius of Elem Kalabari,supplemented by “a few Igbo and Efik-speakers.” Noting that the trade was

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very limited during this early period. Chambers estimates that Igbo slavesgradually increased to represent 80% of the overall numbers from this region.In contrast, Northrup—who finds Chambers’ figures to be grosslyinflated—stresses diversity. He notes that in 1805, an agent of the AfricanAssociation at “Old Calabar” mentioned Ijo slaves as well as those fromvarious Efik, Igbo, and Cameroonian groups. He adds that Koelle, a ChurchMissionary Society (CMS) missionary, included Ijo among the 100 languagesspoken by liberated Africans who were resettled in Sierra Leone in the earlynineteenth century (Northrup 2000: 10).

Determining how many Ijo slaves arrived in North America proves extremelydifficult. Calculations based on the number of ships carrying slaves betweenAfrica and North America are not only controversial, but also misleading,because they do not cover voyages organized by slave owners or thetransshipment of slaves from the Caribbean (Hall 2005: 136). For example, ifOuladah Equiano’s account of his origins is authentic, as Paul Lovejoy andother prominent scholars continue to believe, he left an Ijo port for theCaribbean, but spent only a brief time in Barbados before being transported toVirginia by a new owner (Brooks 2004).

Linguistic evidence from the Caribbean and Central America verifies thatIjo-speakers entered those regions as slaves, but comparable traces have notbeen found in continental North America, where Ijo slaves would have beenmore widely dispersed and intermingled with slaves of very different—andwidely assorted—origins. To complicate matters further, North Americanmasters paid less attention to the ethnicities of their slaves than theircounterparts in the Caribbean and Brazil, and rarely recorded their Africannames. Consequently, historians typically have to work with fragmentaryevidence scattered in legal, penal, church, and family records to get even avague idea of slave ethnicities (Chambers 2005:3-4). According to Hall (2005:131, 136), American documents do record Ijo slaves, but they, as well as theirIbibio and Ekoi counterparts, appear to account for only a small percentage ofthe total slave population.

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During the first half of the eighteenth century, the majority of African slaves

shipped from ports in the Bight of Biafra ended up in the Chesapeake region,

which included parts of the English-speaking colonies of Maryland and

Virginia. Once there, they mixed with smaller numbers of slaves from West,

Central, and East Africa to create a Creolized culture. Chambers (2005: 10-11,

1997: 84-87) finds this culture to be “informed by ‘Eboe’ or Igboesque

principles and paraphernalia,” but Northrup (2000:2) finds this analysis to be

“Igbocentric,” noting that it rests on inflated estimates of the number of Igbo

slaves, the survival of a handful of stray words and the “curious” argument that

“previously isolated Igbo-speaking groups not only coalesced into a cultural

nation in the Americas, but they also ‘Igboized’ Africans of other origins.”

Because slaves from the Bight of Biafra included those of Ijo as well as Efik

and Igbo origin, early Ijo immigrants must have contributed their own beliefs

and practices to this Creolized culture.

Detailed slave lists from 1770 and 1827 suggest that Ijo slaves also formed a

small fraction of the slaves imported to the French-speaking colony of

Louisiana. Probate inventories dating from 1770-1789 list 81 Igbo, who

represented 78.6% of all identified Africans from the Bight of Biafra; the

remainder included Efik, Ibibio (including Moko, an Ibibio group), and quite

possibly, Ijo. Hall’s chart of “Africans from the Bight of Biafra Sold

Independently of Probate in Louisiana, 1790-1820,” from the Louisiana SlaveDatabase, lists 75 Igbo, 10 Ibibio/Moko, and 15 “Calabar” slaves (Hall 2005:

136-40). Although Hall does not specifically include the Ijo on this chart, they

may have been mistakenly identified as Igbo or “Calabar.” Furthermore, Hall

(2005:107) notes that “Northwest Bantu Speakers,” the category in which she

places the Ijo, “increased sharply” in both proportions and numbers during the

19th century, after the prohibition against trading in slaves and its enforcement

by the British had altered the pattern of trade; she adds that some of the slaves

smuggled into the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico after 1819 may have come

from the Bight of Biafra (Hall 2005:163).

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A project spearheaded by Nwokeji and Eltis focuses on this period. It draws onrecords kept by international courts in Sierra Leone and Havana; these containAfrican names and personal information for approximately 67,000 Africanswho were liberated from slaving vessels between 1819 and 1844. Nwokeji andEltis (2002) provided written and spoken lists of names to African-basedscholars, including E. J. Alagoa, Robin Horton, Kay Williamson, A. O.Timitimi, and Eldred Green (Nwokeji and Eltis (2002), Nwokeji personalcommunication 2006). According to Alagoa (personal communication 2006),members of the team identified a number of Ijo names on the lists. Once theresults of this data are published, more will be known about the ethnicities ofslaves during this period, and this information can be correlated with the ships’intended destinations.

It may be difficult to trace the early Ijo slaves who arrived in North Americathrough forced immigration, but visitors to Florida can view the HenriettaMarie, the oldest slave ship ever excavated; this English-owned vessel maywell have carried Ijo slaves, because it set sail from Bonny in late January of1700 with 206 captives. When it landed in Jamaica in May, buyers would havepaid about 3000 British pounds—netting the sellers a profit of more than 600%and the equivalent of about US $400,000 in today’s currency—for the 190slaves who survived the arduous journey known as the Middle Passage. Afterfilling the ship’s holds with American products like cotton and indigo, the crewset sail for home in June of the same year, but storms caused the ship tofounder on a reef off Key West, Florida and all hands were lost. Nearly threecenturies later, in 1972, a team of treasure hunters discovered the wreck, butmoved on to look for ships with richer cargoes. Scientists, however, soonrealized that the Henrietta Marie was rich in history, if not in gold and jewels.The shackles, weapons, tableware, and beads from the wreck, as well as anivory tusk, serve as touching reminders of the ship’s human cargo (Burnsideand Robotham 1997: 172-75; Tinnie 1995).

Ijo in North America: Politics and IdentityEarlier we attempted to document the presence of Ijo in pre-twentieth centuryNorth America. They came in as captives, as commodities for exchange, and asproperties of other human beings. In the twentieth century, mainly from the1980s, they came in as free men and women. There are other markeddifferences between these two periods. In the first period, they were not

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expected to keep their Ijo identity, but to blend into the American society asproperty and distinction-less blacks. Beyond the issue of survival, their concernand hope were in freedom, personal freedom, but not self-determination for thewhole Ijo homeland.

There are differences and similarities in their plight with regard to ethnicidentity. The two groups have to contend with the issue of what ethnic identityto keep in a foreign land. The slaves were not given a chance to define what itwould mean for them to be Ijo people in North America. But the immigrantsare confronting these identity-formation questions. “Who is an Ijo person in thecontext of the diverse, multiracial society of the United States? Who is an Ijoperson in America in the light of the homeland being threatened by politicaloppression and ecological disaster? Put differently, what does it mean tobelong to “Ijo community” in North America? Ijo immigrants do not want to bejust Africans, Nigerians or blacks in North America. In addition to identityissues, they are confronted with the ongoing Ijo struggle for political autonomyor control over their natural resources.

Ijo immigrants are grappling with the modalities of building and sustaining anIjo identity in a foreign land, and how best to support the socio-politicalstruggles of the Ijo in Nigeria. In their dealing with the twin issues of identityformation and political struggle, the immigrants are dealing with the sameproblems as their Ijo brothers and sisters in Nigeria. According to KathrynNwajiaku (2005), the ongoing demand for resource control among the Ijo inthe Niger Delta has forged a strong link between ethnic identity formation andpolitical struggle. Although Ijo ethnic identity has existed long before thecurrent political struggle, the conflicts over resources control since 1998 havehelped to promote the identity of the Ijo as they have galvanized disparatemembers around a common plight.

In this second part of our study we will explore two related ethical and political

issues. These are Ijo identity formation in a foreign land and identification with

the struggle for self-determination in the homeland. In a sense the issue of

identity formation is an ethical issue for the Ijo—what is the implication for

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behavior in forging a pan-Ijo national identity in America? The issue of

struggle for self-determination is obviously political—not only in the sense of

political activism, but also in the old-fashioned sense of politics as seeking the

common good of one’s polity. We combine these two aspects of Ijo life in this

essay because we consider them to be closely related. One can only answer the

question “What am I to do?” or “what good can I do?” if one can answer the

prior question, “Who am I and what community or narrative do I find myself a

part?” The good to be done in any given historical juncture is not a free

floating, context-less good. It is always the good as done for, appropriated, and

interpreted in a specific community. Aristotle considered ethics as a branch of

politics. In his Nicomachean Ethics, he argued that ethics is the science of the

good and politics is the science of the highest or supreme good of the polity.

The analysis of Ijo politics in this study will be limited to a discourse of

selected political organizations and the kinds of reflection their leaders bring to

bear on Ijo social practices and activism in the United States. It was Paul

Lehman (1998:85) who stated that “politics is activity, and reflection upon

activity, which aims at and analyzes what it takes to make and to keep human

life human in the world.” Owing to space limitations, the “ethical” in this

study is limited to the description of the identity-formation practices which aim

to develop “virtuous citizens” for the Ijo polis.

There are four sections in this part of the chapter. In section one, we will

describe the structure of the political organizations of the Ijo. Next, we will

describe the activities of these bodies as they relate both to building an Ijo

identity and also to supporting the Ijo struggle. We will also attempt to

delineate the nature of the struggle as seen through the eyes of Ijo Diaspora. In

section three, we describe how the Ijo define their self-identity through the

concept of community. For it is in the community that an individual comes in

sight and find him or herself involved in politics. We bring the chapter to a

close with concluding comments.

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Structure of Ijo Political OrganizationsThese are often political, welfare, and cultural organizations wrapped into one.They work to foster unity among their members, create a sense of communitywithin their members, offer welfare assistance to one another, promote Ijoculture as well as advance Ijo interests in Nigeria and the world. Theseorganizations are at four interrelated levels, with their names often grounded inethnic or geographic origins. The hierarchical structure reflects the politicalstructures in traditional Ijo ethnic group. First there are compound or wardassociations like Ikiri Johnbull (Erekosima) War Canoe House Inc. of Ikirifamily members of Buguma resident in the United States. Second, there are thetown associations like Bonny Island Foundation that cater for the political,economic, and social interest of the town indigenes in the United States. Theselocal associations are springing up as a result of the increase in immigrantsfrom the Niger Delta. These associations were formed primarily for thedevelopment of the towns or villages of origin of the immigrants. They are likethe town associations in Nigerian cities working to improve the physical andsocial development of their members’ places of origin. In the past somescholars have seen the town associations in Nigerian cities as “villagization” ofthe cities. We are attempted to see the town associations as “ijonization” of thealien American social space.

Our research showed that the motivation of Ijo immigrants to help their placesof origin is not only driven by the impulse to “develop” their homeland, butalso by a sense of guilt. Immigrants feel the urge to do something for theirhomeland because they are burdened by thoughts that they have abandonedtheir brothers and sisters in quagmire of poverty while they are “enjoying” theriches of the American economy. One Ijo woman said: “Our people are dyingand our culture will eventually disappear if we do not do something for ourpeople back home.” Another Ijo female, a pharmacologist and health policyexpert, Dr. Anne Medinus, who helped to found the African Community HealthInitiatives (ACHI) lamented the radically poor state of medical facilities in Ijotowns and villages. The ACHI is set up “to support and improve the health ofsub-Saharan Africans living in Massachusetts by promoting access to quality,

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culturally competent health and social services through education, research andcommunity partnerships.” She said: It is very unfortunate that our people dropdead for diseases that can be easily cured here. If I can find honest and reliablemedical organizations in Port Harcourt and in the local communities I wouldlove to do what I am doing for Africans here in Boston for my own people athome.

At the next level of the four-layer hierarchical structure, we have the ethnicassociations, like Kalabari National Association, Igbani Awo Associations,Ibani Furo Awo, Wakrikese, Izon Ebi Association, and Andoni Forum USA.There is often more than one association claiming to cater for the interest of anethnic group’s members in the United States. The town and village associationsare integrated under the ethnic associations. Also integrated under the ethnicassociations are chapters that cater for ethnic members living in the samelocation or region in the continental United States. Yearly, during annualconventions, members are integrated into one body in a physical locale.Usually during late spring and in the summer months members travel hundredsof miles to meet in one place to deliberate on the affairs of the association inthe past one year, set the agenda for the next, discuss the history and traditionsof their people, and treat themselves to heavy doses of cultural displays andrevivals. In 1995 for instance, the Oki masquerade and Iria were on display inBaltimore, Maryland. The masks used were hand-carved by Ijo members of theRivers Forum under whose aegis the masquerade festival took place.

At the apex, we have several organizations that draw membership from all Ijaw

ethnic groups. Here we have Ijaw National Alliance of the Americas (INAA),

Ijaw National Congress, and Ijaw Foundation, just to name a few. One of the

motivating factors at this level—and it is by no means the only one—is human

emotion. There is a combination of raw human emotions of both fear and hope.

Ijo are afraid. Ijo are hopeful. They are afraid that the Niger Delta, if the

present level of ecological disaster and neglect continue, will become a

desiccated husk; like the remains of a once juicy orange sucked dry and left out

in the African sun. They are afraid that with the increasing political

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marginalization their culture, lifestyle, and human worth will count for nothing

in Nigeria. Ijo are afraid that the powerful military machinery of the Nigerian

government is determined to crush them into silence. With each military

intervention and killing, their trust in the Nigerian polity collapses into fear,

and distrust engenders new quests for control over their future. Yet the Ijo are

also driven by hope. They are hopeful that their struggle will lead to the

elevation of the quality of life in their homeland, if not outright political

autonomy. They are driven by hope for equality with freedom. The Ijo are

motivated by what they see in America: citizens developing their own

communities and stridently advocating for their political, civil, and economic

rights and succeeding at it. The current struggle is a promise, even if, more

deeply; its value rests on its being the pathway to control over Ijo natural

resources and being a claim on future human flourishing (eudaemonia) in the

homeland. In the words of Dr. Ebipamone N. Nanakumo, the president of Ijaw

Foundation:In my view, an Ijaw man or woman in North America is someone in

forced total or partial exile from his or her beloved Ijaw homeland

that is being oppressed, plundered and destroyed by neocolonial

Nigerian and international powers. The Ijaw person in North

America or elsewhere in the Diaspora is praying and seeking for the

emancipation of the Ijaw homeland so that he or she could return

home to enjoy the beauty, bounty and very rich and unique Ijaw

cultural heritage in peace and prosperity (personal communication,

August 2007).

It has not been possible for all the Ijo to come under one unified central

political body and speak with one voice. Even at the apex level as we have

described it there are multiple organizations, each focusing either on an issue or

drawing its members from a portion of the continental North America. Take for

instance INAA which was founded in 1995, it is actually a regional

organization. It is based in and draws its membership from northeastern United

States. On the other hand, Ijaw National Congress is based in southwest USA.

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Recently, an Ijo organization has emerged to pull other Ijo organizations under

a central umbrella: it is the Ijaw Foundation. It is one organization that is

articulating the conflict between the Ijo on one hand and the federal

government of Nigeria and the oil companies on the other on a pan-Ijo

nationalist platform. We shall discuss it further in the pages below.

The four levels of segmentation or hierarchy we have described are alsoobservable among the Igbo, Yoruba, and other Nigerian groups in the UnitedStates (James Ogundele 2005; Dennis Cordell and Garcia y Griego, 2005).When the first set of immigrants arrived, they tended to see themselves asAfricans and then Nigerians. Later ethnic associations started forming in the1970s. The ward, compound or extended family associations started in the1990s. Common Ijaw associations did not start until the mid-nineties ingeneral. This emergence of pan-Ijo associations was brought about, amongother things, by the agitation for better oil revenue derivation formula andconsciousness raised by the ecological devastation of the Niger Delta, thebrutalities of the Abacha military dictatorship, and resentment against what theIjo in North America see as the marginalization and oppression of the Ijo inNigeria.

Given the degree of fragmentation, the building of a common identity wouldinvolve weaving these various levels and types of identity into a coherentwhole. It is, therefore, not surprising to find that Ijo political leaders in theirorganizations’ websites and in their speeches emphasize the need for unityamong all Ijo. For example, the official website of INAA states that “Ourmission is to promote unity and encourage the economic and socio-culturaladvancement of Ijaw people….” It went on to emphasize the importance ofnurturing dedication to the Ijaw struggle “through dedication to one another asmembers of a family.” The good intentions of the leaders not withstanding,dedication to the struggle appears to be weakened, if not undermined, by theprocess of segmentation and fragmentation mentioned above. Mr. DawariLongJohn, the president of INAA, states that “people tend to focus more on thetowns, weakening the larger ethnic and national groups. The problem with

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central organizations like the Ijaw Foundation or INAA is the weakness of itscomponent organizations. We are so fragmented at various levels”.The present reality of fragmentation has raised the question of how best to

structure the quest for Ijo self-determination here in the Americas. Three views

have emerged on this issue. There is one school of thought that says each

individual can pursue the common good of Ijo by pursuing excellence in his or

her own affairs. Another argues that one strategy is to strengthen the ethnic

groups so long as they are pursuing individual and collective flourishing based

on a common vision. The point being made is that a strong pan-Ijo nationalist

identity needs to be rooted in strong ethnic identities. Still others argue for a

strong and powerful central body to quickly pursue and realize the common

good of all the Ijo. Leaders like Dr. Ebipamone Nanakumo, Mr. Dawari

LongJohn, Dr. Matthew Sikpi (general secretary of INAA), and Dr. Tonye

Erekosima who are strong advocates of common pan-Ijo leadership paradigm

realize that there is a problem of Ijo consciousness. There are persons in the Ijo

community who are yet to have a strong Ijo-nationalistic consciousness, to

think of themselves as Ijo. The issue is how can the ordinary person grasp the

meaning of pan-Ijoness? He or she, perhaps, first needs to grasp the meaning

before it can grab him or her. The leaders’ apparent frustrations are not being

helped by the fact that many of the immigrants have to first learn to be

Kalabari, Ibani, or Nembe not to talk of Kalabari-Ijo, Ibani-Ijo or Nembe-Ijo

before they can become Ijo. As shown by studies of other immigrants in

America, some persons become “Irish” or “Italians” for the first time when

they are outside their provinces. It was after this stage that they became

“Irish-Americans” or “Italian-Americans.” It took them time to shed provincial

identities in order to garb national identities (Northrup 2006).

Beneath each of these three options (individual, group/hyphenated Ijo, and

pan-Ijo) there is a lively ferment of intellectual inquiry, self-critiquing, ethnic

differences, and racial tensions. Implicit in the first option is the whole issue of

the Ijo person—discriminated and marginalized first as a black person and

second as a third-world immigrant—being compelled to prove his or her worth

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in the Americas. People are just so engrossed in the art of personal economic

survival and staying ahead of racist putdowns that sometimes there is hardly

any energy left for ultra-individual struggle. Added to this is a concern about

freedom of individual Ijo to dissent or diverge from what those advocating

pan-Ijo nationalism present as common Ijo-interests. The undercurrent of the

second option is the ethnic and clannish tensions brought from the homeland.

The impatience with the first two options is rooted in the recognition that

adherence to anything less than pan-Ijo national identity has tended to ignore

the grave problems of oppression which threatens to sweep the livelihood and

civilization of Ijo into irrelevance.Indeed, given the manifest and subterranean arguments, it is not an easy task toclassify Ijo members and their leaders as to where they consistently andfaithfully stand. There is no idealist stance, but only pragmatic attachment toany of these positions. Most, if not all, display ambiguous attachment to anyone of the three positions. Actually, their practices often diverge from theirlegitimizing discourses and rhetoric. For example, those who promote the ideaof membership in pan-Ijo group also actively participate in their compound,town, and ethnic associations. In fact, leadership in ethnic associations providesa stepping stone to offices in pan-Ijo groups. Those who express theindividualist views also find good reasons to participate in ethnic associationmeetings and annual conventions of umbrella pan-Ijo organizations. Thereasons often given are the need to introduce their children to Ijo culture and tomeet with old friends from home. Kathryn Nwajiaku (2005: 491) whoconducted a micro study of Ijo in Bayelsa state in 2002 also observed theambiguity of attachment:

Many of those engaged in the protests can be seen to displayan ambiguous attachment to the idea of belonging to apan-Ijaw group, preferring to reserve benefits of protest to oilproducers, and when push comes to shove, to members of theirvillage, and when really under pressure to members of their“community,” family and so on.

Let us provide another perspective on these debates. Indeed, the various

perspectives are not really irreconcilable if they are viewed from the deeper Ijo

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worldview that undergirds them. Rather than being seen as incompatibles, they

should be viewed as tensions “promising resolution of outstanding differences

as the ultimate state of affairs between them,” to borrow a phraseology of

Lehman (1998:251). Ultimately, the “individualistic” approach is not in

conflict with that of the group, and both the group and individualist stances are

not in any deep conflict with the pan-Ijo position. Indeed, the paramount goal

of the traditional community is not just concerned with community well-being.

The concern for the community’s or group’s well-being is simultaneously a

concern for what the individual person can do and can be if such a person is

not limited. There is the belief that every individual has been endowed by God

with certain gift to bless his or her community, and the community needs to

help the individual to fully realize this potential.

Even without looking deeper to highlight commonalities in the various

positions, we could have discerned efforts underfoot to turn the fragmentation

and segmentation process into a potent force for good. There is an ongoing

debate on how to shape this process for the common good. The political and

philosophical matter being addressed by the leaders is how to generate an

ascending love of the compound, town, and ethnic groups for the pan-Ijo

collectivity and how can the love of the higher express itself in care and love

for the lower? As Dawari LongJohn stated, “you have to give something for

persons to identify with and also ensure that there are material and emotional

benefits from the object of identification. We pay visits to Ijos during

bereavement and other life-changing events.”

In section three, we will attempt to connect these debates to the issue of

identity formation. In the interim let us focus attention on practical social,

cultural, and political activities of Ijo organizations. For they provide sites for

working out issues about political strategy and identity formation. It is within

this kind of perspective that co-joins the search for personal identity and the

identification with the political struggles of the homeland we will give an

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account of the activities of the Ijo. We will gaze at both directions at the same

time or at least in rapid succession.

Socio-Political ActivitiesThere are as many activities in Ijo political life as there are reflections onactivities. Since the struggle is relatively new in the Americas and thedynamics are very fluid, praxis goes pari-passu with reflection on it. There areactivities and activism and there are reflections on how to organize, reorganize,and position them for effectiveness. There appears to be no template and theleaders and their followers are inventing theoretical and practical paradigms asthey go along. It is a running conversation between practice and theory, historyand present, tradition and novelty.

It thus appears that a majority of the Ijo organizations in North America areJanus-faced. They invite and encourage their members to adopt the doublevision of looking both to the past and to the future. They look to the past torecognize heroes and heroines and to the future for political liberation. Theyteach themselves about their past and present heroes, the culture and history ofthe homeland, as well as learning to draw lessons from the past to guidetoday’s struggle. We see this penchant for amalgamating the past and present inthe activities of INAA. This association came up with the Boro Day concept in1998.14 It built on the activities, energy, and tradition of Isaac Jasper AdakaBoro’s (1938-1968) friends and colleagues who were gathering every May tohonor the memory of Boro and all that he and they fought for. The first fivecelebrations of Boro Day were done in Kaiama (1998 and 1999) and Yenagoa(2000-2002) in Nigeria and from 2003 it shifted to New Jersey, United States.It is now being celebrated in Britain as well. According to Dawari LongJohn,“to call it Boro Day was to build on those who were gathering in Kaiama toremember Boro at that time. We were looking for something that was symbolicthat all Ijos can identify with. It is not intended to worship Boro, but only tosay we need to acknowledge, recognize, and remember our heroes and to getIjos to focus on themselves.” The concept of Boro Day has been adopted by thegovernment of Bayelsa state. In 2000, the then governor of the State, Dr.Diepreye S. P. Alamieyeseigha announced the Boro Foundation.

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During the Boro Day celebrations in the United States, the annual “service anddevotion” awards are given to “well-deserving Ijaws who serve Nigeria andhumanity and have by that become ambassadors of Ijaws to the world.” Pastrecipients of the INAA service and devotion award are Isaac Boro (1998),“Victims of the Crisis in Ijo land” (1999), Chief Alfred Diete-Spiff (2000),Brigadier-General George Kurubo (2003), Chief Edwin Clark (2004), ChiefJoshua Fumudoh (2005), Chief Melford Okilo (2006), and Chief (Captain)Samuel Owonaro (2007). During these occasions there are masqueradedisplays and dancing, drinking, and eating to Ijo music. Members come out tothese events in gorgeous traditional outfits, celebrating life, and renewing theélan vital for the struggle as well as old friendships.

The first Boro Day celebration in the United States in 2003 led to the

establishment of the Ijaw Foundation. The Foundation with headquarters in

Brooklyn, New York City, started as a platform to forge a common response to

the oil-exploration induced ecological crisis in the Niger Delta. It describes

itself as a “collaborative project of the Ijaws and Ijaw organizations in the

Diaspora,” and states its mission thus:Ijaws in the Diaspora hereby establish Ijaw Foundation to raisethe much-needed Funds for the dire humanitarian needs of thefourteen (14) million Ijaw people of the Niger Delta region ofNigeria, who are amongst the world’s most impoverishedpeoples despite their abundant God-given wealth of naturalgas, crude oil, marine resources and forestry resources; andprovide funding for projects that will protect, restore andpreserve the Ijaw habitat that has been severely devastated andrendered barren by exploration for natural gas and crude oil.”

Today, the Ijaw Foundation has moved into a platform for collective politicaland environment actions and has emerged as the umbrella voluntaryorganization for all Ijo (individuals, ethnic group associations, social clubs, andeven pan-Ijo groups). The following America-based Ijo organizations are

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participating members of the Ijaw Foundation: Bayelsa State Associations(USA); Ibani Furo Awo; Igbani Awo Association, Inc. Kalabari NationalAssociation, Inc.; Wakirikese (USA); Ijaw International Alliance (Dallas,Texas, USA); Ijaws of Northern California (USA); Izon Association ofSouthern California (USA); Ijaw United Fund (Texas, USA); Ijaw NationalAlliance of the Americas (INAA); Ijaw National Congress, North America(INCNA); Andoni Forum USA; Ijaw Women Association, Texas USA,Minnesota Ijaw Community Organization, USA, Ogele Club, Ijaw Institute of Strategic Studies (IJAWISS), Sons and Daughters of Buguma, AbonnemaFoundation, and Izon Council for Human Rights.

According to the president of Ijaw Foundation, Dr. Ebipamone Nanakumo, oneof the highlights of the struggle is the formation of the Foundation.

It has been able to bring many disparate organizations togetherto pull resources and talents for the struggle here in the UnitedStates and in the United Kingdom. The Ijaw Foundation haswaxed strong to be the platform for collective action by allIjaws and Ijaw organizations in the Diaspora and the Ijawhomeland. Virtually all Ijaw organizations in the UnitedStates, United Kingdom, and Europe are memberorganizations of Ijaw Foundation” (personal communications,August 2007)

Further, Nanakumo pointed out that the transatlantic cooperation under theaegis of the Foundation led to the crafting and the adoption of the “IjawAgenda for Self-Government” during the 2006 Boro Day Celebration in NewJersey. During a teleconference on April 21, 2007 that drew participants fromthe United States, United Kingdom, and Nigeria the Agenda was inauguratedand commissioned. Also on that day four committees were set to pursue theimplementation of the self-government agenda. One of the committees isworking to formally present the Agenda to the United Nations; another is hardat work in seeking the endorsement and ratification of the Agenda by all Ijocommunities in Nigeria.

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The Agenda which came out before the new civilian Yar’Adua-Goodluckfederal administration came to power used very strong language to express thecall for self-government. For the sake of clarity, let us quote some of thestatements:

Nigeria’s proven intent to exterminate us is an absolutecontraindication for us to continue to be part of Nigeria! It is avery strong warning for us to part ways with Nigeria before itis too late. By its ungrateful and evil actions against the Ijaws,Nigeria has made its separation with Ijaws inevitable.The Ijaw Nation refuses to be part of a country whereby it isoppressed and marginalized by opportunists; whereby itsdevelopment aspirations are subverted; whereby its resourcesare plundered; whereby its habitat is recklessly destroyed, andwhereby its very survival is seriously threatened by ecocideand genocide…. Separation has become inevitable to eliminate oppression,suffering, animosity, and violence so that we can forge a newrelationship based on love.”

The strong language of the Agenda does not translate into a call for anyforceful disengagement from the Nigerian polity. On page 9 under the section,“The Ijaws Want Peace,” it states that “we the Ijaws…[are] engaged in a nobleand heroic Struggle for Peace by protesting against this horrendous violenceand terror that have robbed us of our peace.” In the next page, it also states,“we want a peaceful disengagement. We urge our fellow Nigerians and theNigerian government to support our peaceful agenda for self-government.” Itthen calls on the United Nations “to establish a United Nations Committee forSelf-determination for the Ijaws to: (a) mediate our negotiations with theNigerian State for our peaceful separation from Nigeria; (b) provide us with thetechnical assistance to conduct our Referendum on Self-government; (c)oversee our transition to self-rule.”

While there is some consensus on defining the struggle, there is yet noconsensus on the possible ultimate goal of the struggle or even on how to

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proceed with the agenda for self-government. There is a serious reflection anddiscussion going on Ijo political activism. The conversations, according to Dr.Tonye Erekosima, have pointed up three principal foci of strategies, despite thecommon predicament. There is the view that the Ijo should work with theFederal government to achieve Ijo goals gradually, believing that the Nigeriangovernment can help the Ijo. There is the argument that the Ijo should demandto pull out of Nigeria immediately in order to attain autonomy and nationhood.The third group views any of these stances as flawed. Those in this groupconsider persons holding the first position as corrupt individuals looking foravenues to enrich their pockets. They also argue that there is not enoughleverage to survive any retaliatory measures from the federal government if thesecond option is adopted. Their position is that the Ijo should work to set up themodalities for true federalism that will give maximum autonomy to the Ijo.According to Dr. Nanakumo, president of Ijaw Foundation:

The overwhelming majority of Ijaws would agree to remain inNigeria if Nigeria gives the Ijaws their self-governing geopoliticalunit along with the power and responsibility to control theexploitation and management of their God-given resources andhabitat. However, the Ijaws do not have any rights or power underthe Nigerian system to obtain this concession that requires approvalby up to two-thirds of the entire Nigerian political/electoralconstituencies and/or National Assembly! (personalcommunication, August 2007)

A close reading and deconstruction of Ijaw Foundation’s recent press releasesrevealed these tensions and internal debates about the struggle. All threepositions seem to be reflected or alluded to in its public statements. Consider itspress release of June 18, 2007, applauding the Nigerian federal government forthe release of Muhajid Dokubo-Asari from detention. On page 2 of the releaseit calls for self-government:

Dokubo-Asari’s release is an important step in the rightdirection to resolve the Niger Delta Crisis. However, it cannotbe over-emphasized that the only just and effective solution tothe Niger Delta crisis is the granting of political autonomy ofthe Niger Delta people to enable them have control and

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responsibility for the exploitation of their natural resources,including oil and gas, as well as the protection of the NigerDelta habitat on which they depend for their survival.

Reflecting the position of those who argue that immediate pull-out will bedisastrous for the Ijo, the June 18 press release calls for an immediate“sovereign national conference to restructure Nigeria to give politicalautonomy to every ethnic nationality with a view to enthroning truefederalism.” The writers of the press release later went on to take a swipe atIjaw activists whose form of activism threatens their conception of the natureand purpose of the struggle. The June 18 press release added that:

Ijaw Foundation takes this opportunity to request all our IjawRights Activists in our creeks to follow the exemplaryfootsteps of Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro and Dokubo-Asari touphold the Ijaw Heritage of Righteousness by acting withutmost integrity and refraining from any acts that will bringdishonor to the Ijaw Nation and the noble Ijaw struggle forSelf Determination, socio-economic justice, environmentalprotection and survival. Furthermore Ijaw Foundation calls onour Ijaw Rights activists to eschew self-destructivefactionalism and work together in indestructible solidarity andsincerity of purpose to actualize the ultimate goal of the nobleIjaw Struggle.”

From the public statements and interviews with the Ijo leaders in the UnitedStates, we are able to tentatively decipher that emerging core solution appearsnot to be “separation” from Nigeria but some reconfiguration of Nigeria’sfederal system to give each of its ethnic nationalities or geographical units thecontrol and management of its respective natural resources.

According to Dr. Erekosima, there is now emerging a fledging fourth focus ofstrategies, with aims which transcend the limitations of each of the threeoptions as well as become immanent in their individual and collectivestrengths. He argues that this fourth perspective, which he calls the

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“integrative-organic approach,” comes from a critical study of the civil rightsmovement in America. He elaborates extensively and it bears to quote him atlength here:

Each of these groups has a valid place within the agenda forself-determination. The extremists, those who have given upon Nigeria, have a place but I am not part of them. There is alesson to be learned from the American civil right movement.Had it not been for Malcolm X, the Black Panther movement,and the Black Muslims espousing violence the whites wouldhave not done anything. The whites before then were onlythinking of integration of select blacks into white structures.But for those extremists in the creeks who have shed theirblood no one would have listened to us today or recognize us.

Martin Luther King, the nonviolence wing of black strugglegenerated public energy and commitment to civil rights.Thurgood Marshall and other legal luminaries translated theenergies generated by Luther and Malcolm into law and legalinstruments of the U.S. constitution. There were three streamsthat flowed into the ocean of liberation. And this is how wehave to recognize the nature of the Ijo struggle—this is theway we have to see what is going on in Ijo land.

All three agree on the same goal: the liberation of Ijo people.So there is unity of purpose among them. The amalgamationof the current three approaches, each having its due place, andthe movement of these three toward the final outcome is theway forward. It is not an either-or situation. We need torecognize and give place of value to each of the approaches.We need the three parallel lines of activism to flow together(personal communication, August 2007).

The political activism and the intellectual debates which are defining thenature, meaning, and strategies of the struggle are the manifest, formal part of

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the Ijo efforts at self-determination. There is a layer that is not so obvious, butis aimed at the same good of the polis. There is an undercurrent of theceremonial and mundane that supports the manifest mission. Dr. MatthewSikpi, the current general secretary and past president of INAA described hisorganization as not only political, but also cultural. According to him, theINAA’s flagship event, the annual Boro-Day celebration, is designed to bringthe political and cultural dimensions of the struggle together.

One of INAA’s goals of the annual Boro-Day Celebration is topromote Ijaw culture. Therefore, Ijaw cultural dance andmasquerade displays are major components of the celebrationeach year. Besides Americans and other nationalities, it isimportant that our children born in the United States(Ijaw-Americans) know about our culture. Therefore, weexpose our children to the Ijaw culture during the Boro-Day(personal communication, August 2007).

The ceremonial aspect of Ijo culture has remained intact in two major ways,despite decades of sojourn in America for some of the Ijo. First, they haveretained the symbolic cultural instruments of dress, music, masquerade, food,and dance to reinforce both their identity and the energy for the struggle.Second, they mark life transition situations like birth, graduation, wedding, anddeath. Listen to Erekosima: “We are supposed to be evolving intoAfrican-Americans, but it is not really happening. We have been here for 20-30years and we are still dressing in our traditional clothes. A lot of people aregetting Americanized, but we are doing a different kind of Americanization byretaining our identity at the cultural levels.”

Becoming Ijo in the United StatesThe debates about political strategy reported in the previous sections overlaymuch more crucial debate about what it means to be an Ijo person in the UnitedStates. What does it mean to participate in Ijo community? The thinking is thatif only they knew what it means to be an Ijo person in the United States or forthat matter in a far-away foreign land, it would be easier to reach a consensuson political strategy. Undergirding this concern is an age-old question about the

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relationship between one’s conception of human nature and one’s politicalphilosophy. But those in the midst of a struggle for self-determination like theIjo leaders in the United States do not often have the time to sort outphilosophical quandaries or treat matters sequentially. Ideas and issues are bestworked out in praxis and attendant questions are worked on simultaneously.So while debates and thinking are going on about political strategy what itmeans to be Ijo in the United States is also being defined and contested.

In the midst of the struggle for self-determination, it is no longer enough to beborn or culturally raised as Ijo in Nigeria to be Ijo in the United States. The Ijoin America is not one who is simply here in the United States. In the opinion ofone of Ijo leaders, “the Ijaw person in North America or elsewhere in theDiaspora is praying and seeking for the emancipation of the Ijaw homeland sothat he or she could return home to enjoy the beauty, bounty and very rich andunique Ijaw cultural heritage in peace and prosperity.” Both the “prayer” and“seeking” parts of the Ijo involves communal efforts. In 2004, Ijo Christians inNew York invited their fellow believers to pray for God’s intervention in theNiger Delta crisis. There is also a branch of the Nigeria-originated Izon PrayerNetwork in the United States. This Christian group believes that the NigerDelta crisis is also a spiritual one and unless the spiritual aspect is dealt withthe crisis will not be solved.

As we have already seen with other thoughts about strategy and solution to thecrisis, there is also a searching inquiry about how to appropriate the spiritual tothe Ijo cause or forge socio-spiritual framework for generation of solutions. Dr.Erekosima who is also a Christian minister maintains the “spiritual” is not onlyabout praying to divinity, but also releasing the creative energies of the Ijopeople to solve their own problems. He argues that “we need to get ourselvesout of a mental block and generate an ideology of vision that is translatable intopractical programs. We have to start recognizing the need to start from adifferent worldview. We have been so captivated by western worldview thatwe remain dwarfed and unable to use our creative energies for ourdevelopment” (personal communication, August 2007).

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The “seeking” also involves creating networks of members for support andpulling together of resources. An Ijo person participates in Ijo affairs andstruggles; let him or herself be encountered and be counted. Ijo-ness cannot justbe deduced by biology. The whole conception of Ijo-ness floats in the air untilsome aspects of the life of the individual is related to the collective flourishingof the people by participation in the common good. “A person is not one whofeeds himself and his family, but who does that in addition to giving to hiscommunity,” according to Dr. Erekosima. Ijo-ness—and for that matter an Ijoperson—has no real presence in the foreign land apart from thefellowship-creating relationship in which one gives himself to another andreceives the other in communal praxis. It is within this ethical reality of thecommunity that an answer to the question: what am I, as a biological Ijo personand now residing in a foreign land, to do to create and sustain my Ijo identity?begins to come into view.

The idea of the community becomes both the melting pot within which thedifferent groups can be forged to become ostensibly one nation (pan-Ijonational identity) and also serve as the vehicle for creating personal identity. Ofcourse, individual identity is of multiform character, and it is often forged andexpressed in communal practices as well as discourses and interactions. Everysingle identity, though it is personal and individualist, is of a particularcommunity’s identity. Identity is always formatted, reflecting traditions, socialpractices that define and sustain the traditions, and historical period. Identitywhich is completely free-floating and no particular community’s identity is tobe found nowhere. Ijo identity qua Ijo identity, as against say just being a blackperson or an African in the United States, is an expression of allegiance to aparticular society and its tradition, values, and the experience of an Ijo personin the United States is the experience of the impact of that tradition on one’slife. This experience is accessed and sustained through communal practices.

The Ijo are not just receiving American culture as an imposition; they are notacting as mere receptacles. They have used various cultural practices acquiredat home to navigate the transition to civil life in America and fashioncommunities for themselves. There is cultural continuity through religion

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(indigenous and Christianity), food, language, dress, masquerade displays, andmusic, just to name a few. At most cultural events, whether organized by Ijo,Nigerians, Africans, even Americans, Ijo men and women and their childrenwear traditional Ijo attires They do thisnot only to acknowledge and remember where they come from, but also to passthe culture to their children. Wearing ethnic clothes, they say, gives them asense of pride and it is part of their struggle to keep their culture alive. PastorElsie Obed, a Kalabari woman living in New York City stated that she makes ita point of duty to take her children every year to Nigeria and to Rivers State sothat they would not forget their roots and to instill in them a sense of pride asblack persons. Just as in the homeland where women are custodial of theculture and primary agents in the reproduction of cultural identity, it is thesame in the United States. Ijo women are very crucial in the reproduction of Ijoidentity and defining cultural boundaries as they stand ready to correct and putright both men and children.

Another area of continuity is that at certain celebrations and gatherings, specialethnic Ijo foods are cooked and served. On such occasions, usually there isabundance of food. Ijo women coming to the occasions will make all efforts tobring foods to the occasion. Ijo men and women have been known in theUnited States to travel miles to buy fresh fish to make dinners (or fulo). Duringmeetings when food and drinks are served, prayers are made: often libation willbe poured to the ancestors and then supplications directed at the Christian God.

Masquerade displays are a staple part of Ijo cultural celebrations in Nigeria.Here in the United States they have also emerged as an invaluable part ofannual conventions of various Ijo ethnic associations or pan-Ijo gatherings.Sometimes, the men hand-carve and decorate the headpieces from scratch tofinish with materials procured in the United States; and at other times they areimported from Nigeria. The music, instead of being life, is supplied byelectronic instruments. As part of its efforts to promote the cultural heritage ofthe Ijo in North America, the President of Ijaw Foundation, Dr. Nanakumo,informed us that there are plans to “organize tours in North America and

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Europe for various Ijaw musicians, the Bayelsa State cultural troupe and otherIjaw cultural troupes to promote pan-Ijo identity.”

The Christian church in particular is one of the vehicles African immigrantshave used to manage their transition into American society and maintain theircultural identity. The Ijo are not different. The Ijo participate actively inchurches. They are pastors of African churches and some even have Christianradio ministries in America. An Ijo male headed one of the biggest RedeemedChristian Church of God (RCCG) churches in North America for over nineyears. He founded the RCCG, International Chapel in Brooklyn, New York in1998 and later planted five other churches in the same city. He was also on theboard of the coordinators (the highest decision-making body) of RCCG inNorth America and oversaw 14 churches in the states of New York and NewHampshire. Pastor Obed founded the Lilies International Christian Outreach(LICO). She organizes Christian music festivals (“Worship His Majesty”) inworld famous arenas like the Madison Square Garden and Waldorf AstoriaHotel in New York City. In such meetings, adorning Ijo kilali sun(coral-beaded hat in a crown shape), she would sing gospel songs in bothKalabari and English. In 2006, she even released a Christian CD, Ibakam, tocommunicate the Christian message in multicultural worship. Earlier on, sheand her husband, Olusegun Obed, had opened RCCG churches in Tallahassee,Florida, and New York City. LICO also runs radio ministries in New York andan international Christian school for children. In the philosophy of contributingto the homeland, Pastor Elsie’s school has a branch in Buguma, Rivers State.Pastor Biokpo Harry is another Ijo person who founded and is running a church(“Mountain of Prayer and Revival Ministry) in New York City.

Music in the church and at cultural gatherings has become a veritableinstrument for the reproduction of ethnic identities or cultural continuity.Traditional Ijo music serves as a source of cultural inspiration and a lubricantof the limbs on the dance floor. At the 2007 Boro Day celebration in New YorkLaGuardia Airport Marriot Hotel, New York we observed as the dance floortoo quickly and too long filled up when such old Rex Jim Lawson (1930-1969)tunes as Jolly Papa, Love me Adure, Serre Nene, Osuala Oru Enene, and Aye

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Muba Udeaja were played. As Lawson’s voice filled the hotel’s cavernousballroom, an Ijo male on his way to the dancing floor whispered that there is amysterious way that the home music gets into his spirit catapulting him intorapturous excitement. The atmosphere was almost spiritual; the dancing bodieswere like those in contemplative activity such that any rational comment oftheir excitement and concentration would be like a profanation. In fact, in someIjo political circles, Lawson’s memorable songs, Bere Bote and Ene Bateinspire mystery, awe, and fascination as they appear to be calling their Ijolisteners to wake up because bere (trouble) has come to them.

As part of the process of defining Ijo identity, Dr. Erekosima maintains thatthere is an urgent need to change the mentality of Ijo who think of themselvesas a minority group in Nigeria. He stated that “we are not a minority. We arethe fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria and a people whose resources sustainthe whole country cannot be termed a minority. We have been so mentallydiminished, expropriated for so long”. Important for this project of changingIjo perception and conception of themselves and their place in the Nigerianpolity are Ijo nationalist discourse and the creation of pan-Ijo ethnicassociations around the common theme of Ijo oppression and marginalization.This project of identity formation by shirking off “the minority paraphernalia”is also taking place among Ijo in Nigeria (Nwajiaku, 2005: 470).

While the Ijo in Nigeria are only shirking off the minority label, those of theirbrethren in the United States also have to “shirk off” the terrorist label. OftenIjo organizations dealing with the government of the United States have toconvince state agencies that they are not part of the so called “terroristnetwork” of the Niger Delta. The Ijaw Foundation was incorporated as anonprofit charitable organization with the New York State on August 24, 2003.Between this period and 2006, it applied to the United States Internal Revenuefor routine tax-exempt status. According to its leaders, they were put throughrigorous investigation before the status was granted in April 2006. The wordsof Nanakumo: “the Foundation was put through a protracted process ofclarifying questions and issues about terrorism, violence and hostage-takingregarding the Ijaw struggle. It was ‘mission impossible’ but we triumphed.”

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Many of the Ijo leaders we talked to have several stories like this to narrateabout their experience with government officials in America.

Narratives and story-telling are part of the cultural equipment used to create Ijoidentity. The immigrants and their children have one more resource to accessIjo traditions and moral life in specific historical contexts. “There is no one totell the Ijo story; inform the world about the Ijo plight. We have to do it,” saysLongJohn. So all gatherings and celebrations like Boro Day and IjawFoundation annual meetings, historians and other eminent personalities areusually invited to tell and retell the stories. The Ijaw are trying hard to tell theirstories to the world. The stories they tell are crafted to reveal or disclose thetruth about Ijo and its traditions and predicament; are meant to script theactions and words of their children, and educate them into salient virtues.

Concluding StatementsOur descriptions have simplified what is otherwise a very complex interplay ofcultural resources imported from home and conditions the Ijo encountered inNorth America. They are constructing new identities that are shaped bytraditions and solidarities, economic and political changes in Nigeria, imaginedgains from control over their natural resources in the homeland, andsocio-economic contexts of America within which they are emerging. As theIjo are re-conceptualizing their Ijo identity in the United States, they areborrowing from cultures and adding new elements. The addition and constantre-juggling are done with an eye to survival under the physical andpsychological circumstances in the host-land. It is an ongoing process ofcreation of group identities out of preexisting cultures. Our presentation is onlyan attempt to take a snapshot of a moving object.

In conclusion, this chapter has presented three descriptive analyses of the Ijo inNorth America. The first is a narrative of the presence of Ijo in North America.Studies of the Atlantic slave trade and even Ijo “collective memory” havetended to focus on the role Ijo played as middlemen, and have ignored theirparticipation as slaves in the early years of the trade. Second, our researchshows that Ijo immigrants are engaged in a struggle to control their own natural

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resources that is rooted in history and facilitated by current politicalorganizations, ethnic forms of mobilization, identity-based politics, andemerging strategic discourses. Therefore, our third analysis is an examinationof the techniques the Ijo are using to reconstruct their identities on a pan-Ijonationalist platform to bolster their demand for resource control and increasedpolitical recognition in Nigeria.

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