PERSONHOOD IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION: UNDERSTANDING THE NGAS PERSON

Nenman Danjuma Wapwera

Department of Religion and Philosophy,

University of Jos, Nigeria.

Email: nwapwera@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

The search for the meaning of the concept ‘personhood’ has generated a huge debate in various disciplines and religions for a long time across the globe. This article examined the concept of personhood in Ngas traditional religious thought and also how the Ngas person is made. Persons are at the centre most worlds’ religions and in Ngas traditional religion they also occupy the centre stage. Understanding the Ngas person will give one the opportunity of understanding the Ngas religion. To carry this anthropological research, the researcher was able to use the ethnographic method of data collection. Interviews were conducted mostly with practitioners of the religion and also some elders who were part of the religion before now. Participant observation was also employed. Secondary sources of data from existing literature were also used for the compilation of this work. This research work has brought into lime light the understanding of the Ngas person, his identity and also that the status of a person amongst the Ngas is not something that one is birthed with but rather a status that one acquires as he/she grows in conformity with the laid down rules and procedures of the community. Rite of passage plays an important role in this capacity. The researcher recommends that more scholarship be carried out in this field for future of the tradition.

Keywords: Personhood, Ngas, Traditional Religion

Table of Contents

The Space of Internet in Transposing Mwaghavul Orature

Peace Sorochi Longdet, Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok, and John Akosu Adeiyongo    1-27

African Culture and Migration in Contemporary Time

Leonard C. Opara, Bolaji Musa Agunbiade & Ajobiewe Jamiu Olatunji         28-39

The Importance of a Functional Bus Terminal in Port Harcourt

(Rivers State)                                                                                                    

Douglas Sogbeye Henry                                                                                  40-52

Personhood in African Traditional Religion: Understanding the NGAS

Person

Nenman Danjuma Wapwera                                                                          53-83

THE IMMPORTANCE OF A FUNCTIONAL BUS TERMINAL IN PORT HARCOURT (RIVERS STATE)

Douglas Sogbeye Henry                                                                                 

Department of Architecture

Rivers State University Nkpolu-Oroworukwo (RSU)

Email: henrydouglas80@gmail.com                                                                                                                            

ABSTRACT

The importance of public transit system has been growing increasingly in order to achieve smooth traffic in urban areas. One of the most used transit systems is the bus transit system. In this study, the focus will be on the role of bus transit system as public transportation. The first point is to review how to treat and to clarify the significance of bus transit system with exclusive bus-ways in public transportation planning. The second is to examine, through comparative analysis with other transit systems, the relationship between the approach of planning and operation of infrastructure and the transportation service offered. Despite the increasing popularity of luxury buses transportation in this country, little or nothing is available in regards to provision of terminal facilities to cope with the resultant explosion in the number of buses.

Keywords: Architects, movement, transportation, terminal, bus, human, travelers.                                                                                          

AFRICAN CULTURE AND MIGRATION IN CONTEMPORARY TIME

¹Leonard C. Opara, ²Bolaji Musa Agunbiade & ³Ajobiewe Jamiu Olatunji

¹Department of International Law & Jurisprudence, Faculty of Law, Nigeria Police Academy, Wudil, Kano State, Nigeria.

²Department of General Studies, School of Communication &General Studies, Ogun State Institute of Technology Igbesa, Ogun State.

³School of Communication &General Studies, Ogun State Institute of Technology Igbesa, Ogun State

Email:chinardslaw@gmail.com, ayobolaji2013yahoo.co.uk, tunjiajiobiewe@yahoo.com.

ABSTRACT

African has a long history in terms of population mobility both regionally and internationally. Over the years African people have migrated in response to demography, economic, political and other factors, including environmental disasters and conflicts; Africa migration has been intra and inter (internal) movements of people within the region; movement of people from outside the region into the African continent and otherwise. The migrants have always considered the various sub-regions as single economic units within which trade in goods and services flourish. But more importantly intra-regional migration sustained by poverty, economic recession and the consequences of macroeconomic adjustment measures. The paper shall examine the impact of culture in African migration and the dominant trend of internal migration in recent times for economic purpose. It shall recommend that the import of migration of our intellectuals to other continent in search of economic power has reduced our empowerment and in promoting our African cultures and thus promoted neo-colonization in Africa. Furthermore, the migration of rural to urban areas is the hallmark of decency in our traditional heritage as it relates to culture and cultural values, conflicts, norms in our contemporary society by the future generation.

Keywords: Migration, Culture. Economic Factors, Conflicts, Contemporary Society.

THE SPACE OF INTERNET IN TRANSPOSING MWAGHAVUL ORATURE

^1*Peace Sorochi Longdet, ²Uwemedimo Enobong Iwoketok, and ³John Akosu Adeiyongo

Department of English,

 University of Jos, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria.

Email: peacelongdet2011@gmail.com, .iwoketok@yahoo.com, ³jadeyongo@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The ever-changing and widening arc of human society brings about innovation in the retrieval, production, transmission, and performance of cultural elements. The technological advancement in the 20^th and 21^st centuries has given new impetus to discourses on the Africanverbal art (with a particular interest in Mwaghavul Childlore).  Thus, this work examines the role of the cyberspace in preserving and disseminating Mwaghavul oral culture as observed in their Childlore. Every district of Mwaghavul land abounds with a rich oral tradition of folktales, oral songs, riddles, jokes, and local myths and legends related to the local history, place, and nature formations. These oral traditions have been a source of value education as well as entertainment in the Mwaghavul African traditional rural societies, and they hold the essence of our unique culture and tradition. Sadly, is the fear that these invaluable oral traditions are in danger of extinction due to the sweeping forces of globalization, Christianity and commercial entertainment which have already flooded even the rural areas of Mwagahvul communities. With the help of examples limited to folktales, this paper provides a brief analysis of the traditional values transmitted by Mwaghavul folktales and the functions these tales serve in Mwaghavul society. Conclusively, this paper offers some practical recommendations for collecting our folktales in the form of text, audio and video using the currently available digital technology to create the first comprehensive and dynamic ‘Mwaghavul Folktales Online Database’. The ethnographic collection and expository of translated Mwaghavul folktalesform the data and basis for explaining certain salient issues concerning children. The interpretation of the symbolic undertone of these folktales provides a basis for understanding the need to leverage technology and preservethe African Childlore in general and the Mwaghavul Childlore in particular in the digital world.

Keywords: Internet, Ethnography, Childlore, Culture, Mwaghavul, Orature, Digital World, Cyberspace