Titled Art and Culture among the Igbo of Nigeria and the Ainu of Japan in the Postcolonial Period: a critical survey, it was the recent OYASAF Lecture Series, held few days ago at the Lagos office of OYASAF.
The guest lecturer, Krydz Ikwuemesi is a painter, art critic and ethno-aesthetician, Associate
Professor of Fine Art
at University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
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| Krydz Ikwuemesi and Prince Shyllon during the lecture |
Proem
This paper examines art and culture
among the Igbo of Nigeria and the Ainu of Japan. It problematizes some
supremacist views which hold that non-Western societies did not have art prior
to colonization, in spite of the obvious bio-cultural nature of art. The
presentation focuses on the transmogrification of the notion and practice of
art in Igbo land and Ainu mosir in the colonial period and how this has
impacted the collective identity and memory in postcolonial times. However, the
purpose of the discussion is not to juggle theoretical constructs on
postcolonialism, but to examine how the after-effects of colonialism, disguised
as postcolonialism, continue to shape culture and the art enterprise.
Since the postcolonial derives from the colonial and thrives on hybridity and
contradictions as is reflected in the situations of previously colonised
subjects, the central concern in my work on one hand is the ebbing of Igbo art
enterprise and its systemic divorce from Igbo cultural heritage, and on the
other hand, Ainu’s response to their cultural-political predicament through a
commitment to their arts and cultural production in light of their
history in Japan and the challenges posed by globalisation.
Igbo and Ainu: Historical Background
Igbo people are one of the major ethnic
groups in Nigeria. The archaeology of the Igbo indicates that they are either
an ancient people in Nigeria or the consequence of various migrations with a
current population of over 30 million.1 Available artifacts attest to the long history of the
Igbo in their present locus. When Igbo with other nationalities were jumbled in
1914 to form Nigeria, most traditional practices began to cower in the face of
the imperial culture. Most were labeled fetishes in colonial times. Adiele
Afigbo notes that “A study of the early history of Christianity in Igbo land
reveals that it was marked by waves and waves of iconoclasm in which invaluable
works of art and culture were destroyed…”2 The same sense of nihilism and iconoclasm has endured beyond
independence in 1960 to the present.3 The sorry state of Igbo art in general is, perhaps, an
index for the cultural self-hate that is prevalent among the Igbo today4
As for the Ainu, when scientists from
Europe and the United States first met them in the late 1800s they could not
place their origin because the Ainu had curly hair and pale skin and looked
more like Europeans than Japanese or other Asians.5 The Nihon Shoki (日本書紀 [sometimes translated as The
Chronicles of Japan]), the second oldest book of classical Japanese
history, contains the first recorded mention of the Ainu, a society of
hunter-gatherers, who settled Hokkaido and lived mainly off fish and plants.
The Ainu saw themselves as distinct from plants and animals and kamuy (gods
or divine beings), hence their choice of the name Ainu, literally “Human
Beings.” They also proudly named their homeland Ainu Mosir, “the great, quiet
land where human beings dwell.”6 Historically they spoke the Ainu language and related
varieties and were also found in the Kurile Islands and much of Sakhalin. Like
the Igbo, the Ainu were also thought to be one of the “lost tribes of Israel.” 7 Yugo Ono observes that
Ainu culture seems to have originated
from the earlier Jomon and Epi-Jomon cultures whose peoples had developed
special adaptations to the natural resources of the Hokkaido environment and
persisted in this essentially nonagricultural tradition, with only limited
growth garden farming, until the nineteenth century.8
Ainu culture dates from around 1200 CE
and recent research suggests that it is a complex that originated in a merger
of the Okhotsk and Satsumon cultures.9 Following years of contact through trade and socio-political
commerce dating from around the 13th century, Ainu-Japanese relation
tended to favour the Japanese much more than it did the Ainu. This
imbalance continued in the years of colonisation, amplified by the subsequent
repression of Ainu culture and discrimination against the people. Since
the colonisation of the Ainu was from within, it is not easy to pinpoint the
date of their independence. While 1997 could be considered in principle because
of the passing of the Ainu Shimpo10 that year, the consummation of the freedom symbolised
by that law may be found in the Japanese Diet’s declaration of the Ainu as
indigenous people of Japan in 2008.11 Though they lost territories and suffered economic and social
hardship during colonisation, they did not lose their culture. Because their
struggles have been rewarded by survival, they remain a viable people with much
to teach the world.12
Culture
It is difficult to agree with the
postmodern view which inscribes culture as an imagined homeland. As
globalization claims to melt down geo-political maps and boundaries, cultural
traits and trends continue to define peoples, regions, and nations. Society and
culture tend to shape and define each other and are both affected by temporal
realities for better or for worse. This fact is vividly reflected in the
continuity and transition of Igbo and Ainu cultures from colonial times through
postcoloniality. Thus, we would agree with Edward Tylor’s 1871 definition of
culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals,
law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member
of society.”13 Also
noteworthy is the definition by G. Ferraro, W. Trevathan and J. Levy,
describing culture as “what people have, think and do as members of society.”14 This is echoed in
Marvin Harris description of culture as “the total socially acquired life-way
or life-style of a group of people (consisting) of the patterned, repetitive
ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that are characteristic of the members of
a particular society or segment of a society.”15 These definitions are
in consonance with Peter-Jazzy Ezeh’s view that culture refers to “all the
perennial strategies and practices devised by human groups for the organization
and sustenance of their societies.”16 The word “organization” links Ezeh’s view to Ali
Mazrui’s as he defines culture as “as system of inter-related values, active
enough to influence and condition perception, judgment, communication and
behaviour in a given society.”17 Culture, therefore, shapes society and its people and is in
turn shaped by them. Usually transition and change in culture can be induced by
internal factors or by culture contact described by Mazrui as “two systems of
values being introduced to each other and beginning to be aware of each other’s
peculiarities.”18
For the Igbo and the Ainu, colonial and other contacts have laced the
autochthonous culture with extraneous values. For the Igbo, there are various
outcomes ranging from what Simon Ottenberg calls “receptivity” to what Ali
Mazrui identifies (for Africa generally) as “culture conflict.”19 With respect to the
Ainu of Japan, we may speak more of resistance than of receptivity. A brief
outline of Igbo and Ainu cultures is presented below based on their life cycle,
education, religion and worldview, and social order and justice.
A. Igbo Life Cycle
Generally, Igbo life-cycle is marked and
circumscribed by a series of rites beginning from birth and culminating in
death. It must be mentioned here that stages or markers in the life cycle are
often calibrated in consonance with the Igbo calendar as reflected in the
vernacular week system: Afo, Nkwo, Eke and Oye (Orie).
For the Igbo, birth ushers the
individual into the world and provides a basis on which he/she is admitted to
the membership of mankind in general and a community in particular.
Circumcision is very important for sexes.20 Naming gives meaning and essence to the child’s personality
and thus anticipates his/her character and destiny through the significations
of the given name. Next is puberty when boys are initiated into manhood and
women attain the nubile age. This is followed by marriage, parenthood,
grandparenthood and old age which are highly coveted. In old age, men can take
certain titles such as the ozo or nze titles which add to their
status and prestige. In some communities, influential women can also take the
title of Iyom which is regarded as the female equivalent of the ozo
title. Death brings material life to an end while providing a spin-off to
otherworldly existence, including ancestrality. Thus, death is only calamitous,
not necessarily final,21 as is affirmed in the anatomy of Igbo funeral.
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| Participants after the lecture |
B. Igbo
Education, Religion and Worldview
Igbo people had education in the form of
oral tradition. Indigenous knowledge and life skills were passed down from
generation to generation. The Igbo cosmos is hinged on a dual perception of
reality and phenomena. Things are considered to be in twos. Thus, “Ife
kwulu, Ife akwudebie” (when something stands, another thing stands beside
it) is not necessarily a proverb but a symbolic verbalization of the dual
essence of being. In Igbo world, therefore, being is seen from the broad
binary of “enu na ani” (sky and earth), with ani (ana/ala)
believed to command more import, both as the physical prop on which humanity
and the world subsists and as the centralizing spiritual force in the politics
of personal and communal existence. For this reason, customs and traditions are
known as “omenani” or “omenala” (literally: that which is
obtainable on the ground) as against “nso ani” (literally: that
forbidden by earth), that is, taboo or abomination.
According to Herbert Cole and Chike
Aniakor, the Igbo have a concept of Chukwu (supreme god) which is not
necessarily the same as the Christian God. Although some Igbo scholars,
including Donatus Nwoga, argue that the concept of Chukwu was
derived from the ubiquity of the Arochukwu people, Ibiniukpabi
(which the Aro had worked hard to establish before the British came), Chukwu
(supreme god) is a contraction of Chi ukwu (great god) and is
“a concept as well as a deity or proper name.”22 There is no
Igbo equivalent or concept of devil as envisioned in the colonial faith of
Christianity. Ekwensu, as the devil’s equivalent in Igbo Christian
thought, is a misnomer and hence contrary to Igbo religious canons and
cosmology.23 Nor does Chukwu or Chineke
form a binary with Ekwensu.24
Beyond the established deities, personal
and communal ancestral connections also define Igbo religion, spirituality, and
social sphere. This is why death is seen as a steppingstone to ancestrality
(that is, if the dead has died well),25 which ensures a continuation of life, albeit on
transcendental terms. For the living and the dead, death is a connecting door,
one that effectively opens from one side. The import attached to this
connection is part of the overt and covert meanings of some Igbo names.26
Igbo concept of dualism can also be seen
in Igbo vernacular medicine which perceives the human person and health from
standpoints of biology and spirituality. To be healthy is to be physically and
spiritually sound. Public/community health required a balance between the
demands of this world and the otherworld. For instance, improper handling of a
bad death, or the miscarriage of funeral rites can incite the dead against the
living and thus affect communal health adversily.27
Communalism is an important factor in
Igbo thought and community, as it is a defining factor in the extended family
system as well as in the social sphere. Although individualism is highly
cherished and commended, social network and networth count heavily. To this
extent, polygyny, a feature of most African societies, thrives among the Igbo.28 A retinue of wives
translates to a large number of children, and both contribute to the family
industry and economy on one hand, while symbolizing a man’s sexuality on the
social stage on the other hand.
C. Igbo Social Order
and Justice
Igbo communalism was also reflected in
the community arrangement and settlement patterns. Related families and kindred
lived close together. Architecture (mainly mud and thatch before now) and
living arrangement may differ from region to region, but basic similarities
abound in their reflection of gender balance, the notion of dualism, and male
domination. In other words, Igbo architecture, until recently, was a truly
social art that reflected Igbo worldview.
Apart from Onitsha and Nri, Igbo
communities had no king until some decades ago. Igbo society was a consensus
society where opinions of elders were aggregated in search of patterns and
principles upon which the affairs of society would depend. However, individual
achievement is also encouraged as a counter-force to the possible excesses of
ambitious elders who may usurp power and abuse the consensus principle.29 Igbo judicial system often relied on the
consensus of a college of elders acting in consultation with medicine men,
oracles, and deities, while relying on ofo the important “medicinal
object in Igbo life.”30 Ofo is a symbol of maleness and paternity held by family
heads to represent justice, the authority of the ancestors and the truth
embodied by ani and Chukwu. They may be lumpy stalks of
sacred trees or other materials fashioned “as anthropomorphic works of art.”31 The Igbo consensus
system is also reflected in the social structures and politics. Social
structuring begins with families, and then go up to the lineages, followed by
clans, villages and towns. Owing to Igbo receptivity to change, their
customs and traditions are threatened by the corrosive tendencies of
neocolonialism.32
Ainu Life Cycle
Among the Ainu, the family was the basic
unit for existence and social commerce. Marriage as well as procreation were
valued. Like the Igbo, Ainu were polygamists. Ainu polygamy is hinged on the economics
of biology. Although the Ainu were not originally an agriculture-oriented
group, extra wives/mistresses and many children held added economic advantage.33 The Ainu name for this world is Uaremoshiri,
“the multiplying world” where people are placed to “increase and multiply.”34 Childlessness was
considered a divine punishment and men could divorce their wives for not
bearing children. Birth and death are important landmarks in the life cycle as
opposites in the trajectory of life; they also form a binary in the perception,
meaning and cultural significations of health. A good life enhanced the
individual’s smooth transition to otherwordly prestige through the logic of
ancestrality, which was reckoned through both the male and female lines.35
Marriage offers the Ainu a means of
procreation and a basis upon which children were valued. Names were determined
by a person’s character traits or the circumstances of his/her birth. At times,
they may be whimsical, as Batchelor suggests.36 A man could do as he
pleased with his wives or children, but as a member of a village he, at times,
has to consult with others.37 As
in Igbo culture, Ainu marriage is a social contract that binds the concerned
families and parties together. But unlike in the traditional Igbo setting where
parents could have an upper hand in their children’s marriage, Ainu youth could
have their way when parents disapproved.38 Betrothal, a common phenomenon among some Igbo communities,
was also practiced by the Ainu, although marriage thereof was not binding
on the parties.39 A
married woman retained her maiden name and was simply identified by the name of
her children, that is, by being called “mother of so and so.” Ainu did not have
surnames. Like for the Igbo, Ainu surnames are a product of colonization.
Ainu Social Structure and Organisation
The Ainu lived in basic villages or
communities commonly known as Kotan. Villages were mostly established
close to rivers, by related families. Although one house could stand as a
kotan, most villages consisted of a few or more houses.40 The traditional
living house of the Ainu is called cise and is constructed entirely of
thatch, with walls of about 30 centimetres. The house was kept almost always
warm from a fire made to burn constantly from an open fireplace located at the
centre. There is a pen for the bear cub used for the i-oman-te (spirit
sending) ceremony as well as a place reserved for prayer. Near the house is
also found a dock for the boat, a source of water, and a graveyard. A cluster
of villages are described as poro kotan (big village) and each village
was in charge of its own ioru, that is, the territory where it could
fish, hunt or gather fruits, vegetables and other edibles.
A kotan usually had a leader
called kotan-kor-kur. The kotankor-kur was chosen for his skills
in hunting, fishing, or negotiation. As Wako, my informant, someone told
me in Hokkaido in 2009, the Kotan-kor-kur must be a great warrior (rametokuru),
an orator (payetokuru), and a wise man (wayash nup).41 Some of these
qualities were also expected of all men if they must enjoy a good social
standing within the community. The kotan kor-kur had no dictatorial
powers but was expected to act as “a coordinator for the entire village.”42 He could act as a
priest, resolve disputes, and much like the Igbo chief, represent the community
in occasions, ceremonies, and negotiations. Above all, he was expected to take
difficult decisions, take care of widows, the aged, the sick, the physically
challenged, and the poor.43 The chiefs, therefore, were expected to be wealthy if they
were to meet up with their responsibilities.117 Some kept slaves, utare,44 in addition to their
many wives and children, to enhance their economic situation.
A. Ainu Education,
Religion and Worldview
Every people have a system of education;
education is not merely the ability to read and write. If education is a
conversation between generations, oral tradition must be seen as a veritable
means of education among the Ainu and the Igbo as well. As Toshimitsu has put
it, “All people of the world have a history of wisdom, culture, religion, and
art that had been preserved orally before they used a written language.”45 In other words, in
most non literate societies, such as precolonial and colonial Igbo and Ainu
societies, education was carried on through oral tradition and apprenticeship.
It could go on in in informal places and situations. As Batchelor observes, “Ainu
children used never to be troubled by schools or schoolmasters. The mountains,
the rivers, and the sea were their school-house; necessity was their
instructor; inclination and the weather were the only forces which made them
work.”46
Ainu parents, like their Igbo counterparts, were in charge of their children’s
education. Mothers taught girls; fathers taught boys. Girls learnt the art of
housekeeping and the art of motherhood, dressmaking, and body painting. Boys
were taught hunting, fishing, war skills and carving. And above all, morals,
values and taboos were handed down in this way.
As it happened among the Igbo,
colonization disrupted Ainu traditional education with the introduction of the
alien system. This created a gap in which postcolonisation thrives. It is
not clear what role Christianity may have played in the erosion of Ainu
culture and belief system. But it is likely that Christianity in Hokkaido, as
in much of Japan, did not meet with much success given the number of churches
and Christians found in Hokkaido today.
In spite of the adverse effects of
colonial education on Ainu culture, Ainu religion continues to survive. Ainu
life was circumscribed by devotion to their deities, kamuy. Life itself
and mundane living were anchored on sustained interaction with the gods through
prayer. The dualism of Ainu worldview is reflected in the classification of
being into Ainu (human being) and kamuy (gods). The same dualism
also extends to Ainu vernacular medicine in which the human person is perceived
in biological and spiritual terms. Most illnesses and bio-social misfortunes
are considered the handiwork of malevolent spirits or even the gods. There is
no hierarchy of gods, but the apehuchi kamuy, the god of fire, remains
very important, as it is represented in every cise (house) through the
central hearth. Prayers to apehuchi kamuy may precede other prayers,
considering that it is believed to be the one to transmit the prayers to other
deities.
One cannot discuss Ainu culture
and religion without a mention of the i-oman-te, the
spirit-sending ceremony of the Ainu people. Generally all things among the Ainu
are considered to possess spirits which are sent back to the abode of the gods
when the things could no longer be used or, in the case of animals, when
they died or are killed. This ensured that the gods would continue to
supply the people with these items or animals as much as possible. Of all the
spirit-sending ceremonies, the bear festival is the most significant, perhaps
because the bear itself is considered to be god of the mountains (Kim-un-kamuy).
I-oman-te in its widest sense means the “sending of kamuy” and is
seen as an important aspect of the Ainu spirituality. To an outsider, the
logic of i-oman-te must be a bizarre and contradictory one. To
appreciate the i-oman-te ritual, it must be considered from the
point of view of animal sacrifice that is a feature of many contemporary
religions.
B. Ainu Justice
and Social Order
Ainu society was essentially masculine,
but the women certainly wielded a complementary presence. Men ruled politically
and socially and were also in charge of the justice system. Ainu society was
largely maintained by taboos which had religious connections. Injunctions
believed to be handed down by ancestors were taken seriously. Katopaku
(crime) or Uenburi (bad conduct) could be the violation of a village law
or contravention of religious morals. Punishment could take various forms,
including ordeal and torture in ways similar to the ancient Japanese Kugatachi.47 Trials were open to
the public and verdicts were reached through the elder’s consensual decisions,
in light of precedence and custom. When the death sentence was handed down as a
punishment it was executed in a manner that ensured that the accused suffered
severely before dying, since death in itself was not seen as a punishment. At
times settlements took the form of compensation (tsugunai or ashinpe).48 Generally, disputes
between parties were resolved through a system of debate called caranke or
charanke (to drop words or to argue). The debate could last for days or
weeks until one of the parties gave up. The chief or an elder (ekashi)
would be present to give judgment or broker reconciliation.
From the foregoing, the Igbo and Ainu
naturally perceived culture as a way of life and the instrument or
phenomenon which shaped society and its members, giving character to art and
defining aesthetic taste. Beyond colonization, some of these cultural codes and
values persist; others are hybridized in the conflict of postcolonisation,
while others are lost in the waves of globalisation. One area where these
changes and transitions are reflected is the arts of these peoples.
Art among the Igbo and Ainu
Art’s origin is often associated with
ancient rituals whose essence was partly a negotiation or renegotiation of
reality. From the beginning of time, all peoples had different means of
responding to the mysteries and exigencies of being through the use of symbols
and images. If art is a bio-cultural phenomenon or behaviour as posited by
Ellen Dissanayake,49 then
art and society are co-eval realities. Art in most non-Western societies did
not need to exist on its autonomous value. If it did, it would approximate “another
piece of deodorised dog shit”, as Chinua Achebe
has noted.50
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| Shyllon and Ikwuemesi |
The Igbo believe that art and life are
complementary. This relates to what Seiji Oshima calls “an aestheticizing of
life” in his discussion on the meaning of ars in the Roman world.51 Oshima’s view
of ars captures the concept of art and creativity as it was held by
different societies, including the Igbo and Ainu, in earlier times.
For the Igbo, the word nka has a general meaning covering “art”, “artistry”,
“creativity”, “skill”, “technology” and all the other notions having similar
meanings in Western thought and perspective.52 Aesthetic principles may differ from one society to another,
since they may be hinged on specific cultural codes. Among the Igbo art was not
the monopoly of anyone; the ability to create belonged to everyone; so was the
capacity to appreciate and enjoy art. The separation of art from society is a
fallout of the colonial project.
For the Ainu, art was intertwined with
life itself. The perception and purpose of art among the Ainu are, for
instance, not different from those of most traditional societies. The Ainu had
no word for art among the Ainu. Art was immanent in human nature and
experience, a situation that reflects the “bio-social” essence of art, as
discussed by Ellen Dissayanake.53 That art is a biological behaviour is true of all
societies, both primitive and industrialised. The Japanese notion of art which
had been affected by its contact with the West, no doubt, influenced the Ainu
concept of art in the colonial period and beyond, such that the Ainu still see
much of their artistic productions as craft.54 Ainu aestghetics was expressed in the notion of “pirika
noka” (beauty in relation to forms and shapes) as commonly held by the Ainu
people. “Nuye” as a description of the act of inscribing straddled both
writing and drawing. Hence the derivatives “nuyepu” (writing materials),
“inuye” (the general term for handcrafts and carvings) and “shinuye”
(body drawing or tattoo) all harbour creative sentiments. Although the
Ainu now live in modern homes like the Japanese and have adapted to the
Japanese society, much of the traditional Ainu items are still produced in
abundance today mainly as tourist/airport/popular art, within the bounds of “inuye”
as a boon to Ainu cultural identity.
Unlike traditional Ainu art which was created in response to personal and
social needs, contemporary Ainu art is mostly commercialised, in spite of the
artists’ concern with identity and cultural survival. When the fisheries,
agriculture and construction (the main industries in which the Japanese
exploited Ainu labour) cheapened Ainu labour in the Meiji period, many Ainu
turned to art and craft for economic survival. Others who could not create
visual arts resorted to performance, playing the role of kankoAinu55 as means of
livelihood. Although kanko living is despised by some Ainu, it has
helped to preverve Ainu heritage and art, as Simon Coterill has observed.56
Having said this, what are the art types of the Igbo and the Ainu? How much
transformation have they undergone in postcolonial time? The Igbo have masks
(which incorporate sculpture, painting, textile, installation and performance),
sculpture, drawing, painting, textile, and pottery/ceramics. These art types
have evolved through colonial time and are still practised by contemporary
artists most of whom are university trained. Other forms of art like
printmaking and installation are also part of the modern techniques.
However, in the flux of postcoloniality and globalisation, the Igboness of
these genres cannot be based on the identity of the artists, but on the essence
of style, form and iconography. For not only have the artists to address more
global concerns and audiences, they are also objects of sundry influences and
challenges that are mirrored in their works.
For the Ainu, traditional art modes include drawing, sculpture and textile.
While these art forms persist among men and women in Hokkaido, a modern
fine art tradition, including printmaking, is also developing, with some
artists engaging art in less traditional ways, yet keeping to the Ainu spirit
through their theme and content. These artists, unlike their Igbo counterparts,
are not university products, but they seem to be abreast with the fleeting
realities of contemporary art.
Igbo and Ainu arts have thus transmogrified in postcolonial time. For instance,
although the influence of religion has waned, masks, gods, and otherworldly
issues still inform art as ripples of the past. In both societies, new arts may
reflect the postcolonial condition in their often hybrid character and content.
In Igbo art, the limits of this situation is often reached in the artists’
receptivity to Western ideas. But for Ainu artists, the embrace of
Japanese and Western influences seems more measured than suicidal.
Art, Culture and the Postcolonial
Condition
Whereas colonisation and neocolonisation
have taken a terrible toll on Igbo art traditions and left them struggling
between death and survival, art and cultrual production thrive among the Ainu
in Hokkaido. An important factor in this situation is religion as a crucial
factor in the evolution of peoples and cultures. Colonisation in Igbo land was
quick and dogged in displacing Igbo autochthonous religion through the
instrumentality of Christianity. Although a number of Christian missionaries
lived and worked in Hokkaido, Christians in Hokkaido today remain very few and
far between. The Igbo situation readily typifies H.D.A. Major’s assertion that “When
the religion of a civilization dies, the death of the civilization speedily
follows.”57 Major’s
statement provides a good reason for the decline of Igbo art and heritage in
postcoloniality.
For the fact that Western anthropology,
in its heyday, saw many non-Western societies as “primitive,” it logically
underestimated their ability to make art in the Western sense. Individualism
was not the hallmark of art in native societies, even in the cases of art
objects that were made by individuals. Perhaps it is for this reason that the
early Western anthropological studies focused on the collective significations
of the art rather than on the “aesthetic qualities of the individual objects”.58 Colonialists think
alike. They are dynamic and changing, while the colonized, whether in
Africa, Asia or elsewhere, is “static and unchanging, detached from the flow,
pace and dynamism of the rest of the world…until the arrival of… (the)
colonizer,”59 be
they European or Asian. Consequently they were unable to appreciate that
the colonised societies, as Franz Boas insisted, had their own aesthetic taste,
set of judgment and values, which may differ from the colonisers’ but which
still were an indicator that “all societies had art.”60
Igbo and Ainu arts continue to survive in various degrees. In spite of
modernization and technological advancement of both societies, their arts derive
much inspiration from nature as is common with ethnic art. Plants, humans,
animals, rivers, rains, and other things remain possible elements in Igbo and
Ainu art. To different degrees, both art traditions abhorred realism or figural
representation as the case may be. For Igbo art, representation was not totally
ruled out, but realism and resemblance were not highly encouraged for fear of
witchcraft. Thus both human and animal figures featured alongside organic and
other forms but in often abstracted modes. This is not exactly the case in Ainu
art where pure abstract forms and symbols are favoured also for the same reason
of witchcraft and other taboos rooted in religion.
Although Chisato Dubreuil insists that
most animals and their philosophic significations are not common in Ainu
religion and mythology and could not have inspired the works of Ainu artists,61 is it possible
that artists subtly alluded to some of these animals in their works from an
abstract standpoint, knowing that a realist approach would run contrary to
age-long taboos and the dignity of kamuy? After all, gods, goddesses and
spirits are celebrated in much ethnic art without necessarily being depicted
realistically. Perhaps this accounts for some morew (whorl) designs in
Ainu art which vividly evoke a pair of owl’s eyes, albeit in an abstract
manner.
One factor that has had considerable
influence on the arts of both people is religion which is central in both
cultures. In Igbo art, gods and totems can be the subject matter and can be
depicted formally or alluded to aesthetically and iconographically; they can
also be celebrated thematically. But in Ainu art, the role and place of gods
may not be as direct. Ainu carvers have to give thanks to kamuy before
they begin a work, even at the very point of felling a tree intended for
carving, but they may not carve kamuy as subject matter traditionally.
However, the flourish of airport art, especially bear and salmon carving, seems
to have subverted this taboo. So has the emerging fine art tradition in
Hokkaido. And talking about religion, one cannot discuss religion as a source
of inspiration in postcolonial Igbo and Ainu art without a mention of
Christianity, especially for the Igbo. In the Igbo world, Christianity has
taken a great toll and has had positive and negative influences on art. For the
Ainu, Christianity has very little or no impact on their lives and art. For in
spite of the work of John Batchelor and other Christian evangelisers who lived
and worked in Hokkaido at different times, Christianity is a minority religion
in Hokkaido and Japan as a whole. But one cannot rule out the possibility that
a few churchgoers in Hokkaido are Ainu and that Christian elements may stray
into their works. A young amateur artist and cultural actor told me in Hokkaido
that she read the Bible and that she found it very comforting. Is it possible
that some of the cruciform motifs found on some Ainu textiles are indeed
Christian elements?
In recent decades, however, the Third
and Fourth worlds have been transformed drastically due to activities and
influences in and from their former colonizers and other parts of the world.
Caught in the crossfire of cultural conflicts, ethnic and native peoples have
to grapple with the demands of tradition on one hand and the challenges of
glocalisation and globalization on the other. Not only is this reality now
reflected in the shift in subject matters, especially for the Igbo artists, it
can be seen in the formal, aesthetic and iconographic elements of many works.
For the Ainu artists also, there is every indication that sources of
inspiration will widen and deepen as “the power of religious restrictions on
the use of animal and human images (weaken).”62 This is already
evident in the works of some contemporary Ainu artists such as Bikky Sunazawa,
Moriyuki Kaizawa, Nuburi Toko, Takeki Fujito Shizue Ukaji, Noriko Kawamura,
Koji Yuki and others whose works form the nucleus of the emergent Ainu fine
arts. As Japanese and other influences wear out the veil of tradition and
religion that once shrouded Ainu artistic production, new art forms and more
exciting talents are emerging in Hokkaido. As Igbo and Ainu modern art are
relatively at different levels of infancy, their greatest challenge in the
postcolonial dispensation or what Simon Coterill calls “a consciously hybrid
culture,”63
may be how to keep their identity in the face of the realities of globalization
as a West-policed phenomenon.
Conclusion
Between the colonial and postcolonial
trajectories, transition, change and continuity have defined art and culture
among the Igbo and Ainu, although change, for the Ainu, has been very minimal.
It is clear that Igbo and Ainu societies have had art throughout their
histories, although ante-colonialism, they did not have a single totalizing
word to describe the art experience. Both societies viewed art and the general
ability to create as gifts from the gods which should be committed to the
service of religion and the gods themselves. This obviously accounts for the
religious essence in Igbo and Ainu art and also reinforces Karen Armstrong’s
assertion that “religion and art were inseparable from the very beginning.”64 Of course, the
connection between art and religion, as can be seen from Armstrong’s comment,
is one that cuts across all humanity, but most vividly portrayed in native
societies even as they go through colonisation, postcoloniality. This
fact is further buttressed in the countless images found in the over three
hundred decorated caves in Lascaux, Altamira and other parts of Southern France
and Northern Spain.65
These labyrinthine images have been linked to ancient Shamanism believed to
have flourished in Africa and Europe in the Paleolithic period, spreading later
“to Siberia and thence to America and Australia, where the Shaman is still the
chief religious practitioner among the indigenous hunting peoples.”66 If the European and
African cave arts harbour images that share some commodities, they lend
credence to some of Ellen Dissanayake’s theses about the connection between
art, biology, culture, the human species, and society in her two major books on
the subject of art, its origins and essence.67
The commonalities and divergences in
Igbo and Ainu arts are, therefore, only a micro pattern of the macro qualities
that define the human species, as homo religiosus and homo aestheticus.68 The concept of art in
its narrower Western perspective came into Igbo and Ainu consciousness through
the instrumentality of slavery and colonization, and persists in the postcolonial
period. Although the art of both peoples suffered from non-recognition by their
colonisers in their different historical and political developments,
postcolonial Igbo art seems to have attained more recognition as art
internationally than has Ainu art. While the international recognition of Igbo
art is due in part to the flourish of African Studies Centers and some major
exhibits of African art in the Western world, especially from the 1980s
onwards, the poor perception of Ainu art persists as a result of the attitude
of Japanese curators and art historians as well as the inability of Ainu
artists themselves to see theirs as art.69 This is evidenced in most catalogues of Ainu art exhibitions
where the word “craft” has been preferred to “art” or is used interchangeably
with art, thus creating image and status crises for Ainu art and artists.70 However, in spite of
the above fact, the Igboness of Igbo art is not as intact as the Ainuness of
Ainu art. Although Westernisation can be blamed for the Igbo situation,
difference in population also counts. With a population of about 15 million,
the Igbo are the subject of more infusion and diffusions; hence the apparent
loss of Igboness in Igbo art. With less than 20,000 Ainu in Japan today,
cultural essence remains at the heart of much Ainu art.
All told, what emerges from the study of
Igbo and Ainu art and culture is not a case of cultural diffusion between the
two groups, as they are both distanced from each other without any contact. The
study only foregrounds a good example of simul-development and thus inscribes
art and culture as pan-human phenomena. In doing so, it underscores the
uniqueness of the human species in spite of the diversity that defines the
world.
Notes and references
1. Adiele Afigbo, Ropes of Sand; Studies In Igbo History And Culture. (Ibadan: The Caxton Press [West Africa] Limited, 1981), p.41; see also J. Okoro Ijoma, “Igbo Origins and Migrations,” Uwa Ndi Igbo. No 2, (June 1989), p.68.
2. Afigbo, Ibid, P. 341.
3. Simon Ottenberg, “A Modern Religious Movement and Indigenous Traditions” in C. Krydz Ikwuemesi (ed), Astride Memory and Desire: Peoples, Cultures and Development in Nigeria (Enugu: Abic, 2012), pp. 65-80.
4. Chidi Ugwu, “Indigenous Strangers: The Social Psychology of the Perceptions of Culture in Nigeria” in C. Krydz Ikwuemesi (ed) Ibid, pp. 51-64; see also Peter-Jazzy Ezeh, “Religion, Cultural Hegemony and Post-Colonial Social Order in Africa,” in C. Krydz Ikwuemesi, ibid, p. 81-94.
5. Barbara Aoki Poisson, The Ainu of Japan (Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co, 2002), p. 14.
6. Miyajima Toshimitsu, Land of Elms: The History, Culture and the Present Day Situation of the Ainu People. (Cleaveland: United Church Publishing House, 1998), p. 10.
7. Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, The Ainu Of the NorthWest Coast Of Southern Sakhalin. (Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 1974), p.1.
8. Yugo Ono, “Ainu Homelands: Natural History from Ice Age to Modern Times.” In William W. Fitzhugh & Chisato Dubreuil (Eds.), Ainu: Spirit of a northern people. (Washington, DC: University of Washington Press, 1999), pp.32-33.
9. Richard Siddle, “Ainu history: An overview,” in William W. Fitzhugh and Chisato Dubreuil (Eds.),Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. (Washington, DC: University of Washington Press, 1999), pp.67-73.
10. The Ainu Shinpo, otherwise known as the Act for the Promotion of Ainu Culture, was a result of actions and struggles by the Ainu over several years. Enacted on July 1, 1997 to replace the outdated Hokkaido Former Aborigines Act of 1899, it retained some of the objectionable features of the 1899 act, contained unsavoury characteristics of its own, and fell short of expectation, especially as it did not address political and rights issues.
11. See Masami Ito, “Diet officially declares Ainu indigenous.” Accessed December 17, 2012.http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20080607a1.html.
12. William W. Fitzhugh, “Ainu, Ethnicity: A History,” in William W. Fitzhugh, and Chisato Dubreuil (eds)Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. (Washington, DC: University of Washington Press, 1999), p.26.
13. Chidi Ugwu, in C. Krydz Ikwuemesi (ed), 2012, p.52.
14. G. Ferraro, W. Trevathan and J. Levy quoted in Chidi Ugwu,Ibid, p.52.
15. Adam Muller (ed), Concepts of Culture: Art, Politics and Society. (Alberta: University of Calgary Press, 2005), p49.
16. P-J Ezeh, quoted in Chidi Ugwu, in C
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