By
Obododimma
Oha
Chinua Achebe articulates the place of the mother in the construction of the
Igbo idea of ideal refuge, a place where we all run to and are safe, a place of
solace where whatever is pursuing us should stop, think, and turn back, our beginning
and end of our worries. Where else is that very well shown than in Things Fall
Apart where Okonkwo mistakenly shoots and kills a human being and the narrative
says that he runs to his mother’s people and lives among them as required by tradition.
Not that they condone his shedding of blood but are there to signify that they
are the last refuge he has. As his last refuge, his last hope, mother’s people
provide him with the required restoration. Call it comfort. Mother’s people are
there to remind him of his beginning. If we can recall this beginning in our
difficulty, we have achieved a great therapy. It is this great therapy that he
receives for the period and is restored enough to return to Umuofia. Umuofia is
not indeed his home clan; it is actually a place of the real exile and he has to hesitate to
return to this place of exile with all it offers.
Umere nne (mother’s place, literally translated) is a
place that is like no other. The nwadịala of that umere can invade any farm and walk away after
harvesting plantain, coconut, pear, or any other crop that offers itself to the
outsider-insider! Imagine, where the fellow did not sow! No one would have the heart to press a charge or make noise
that his or her property has been violated; the wise ones only beg. With nwadiala (literally “son of the land”), there is no trespass in the
kingdom of that kinship. In fact, one should be happy that the nwadiala has
extended his or her blessing to the owner of that property.
Sounds
strange, not so? Especially if one has grown up in Western individualistic
culture that privileges selfishness and does not understand extended family “nonsense.”
Imagine that fellow entering our farm as if it is his or hers and cutting that
plantain courageously! It is theft! Nothing else! I will sue the fellow’s
arse! What a shitty nonsense! Let me just call 911 or get a good attorney! I
will sue the fellow’s arse!
Do you see one
area where African (Igbo) tradition still clashes with Western life? Do you see
that the Igbo who have lived in the individualistic West may have a problem
with this and so also the courts, a hybrid system combining Western and local
African laws, also in a predicament. In fact, in many cases, one could
safely call that system imperialistic and colonial. The West may still be
ruling its African colonies from the courts, privileging Western legal life
over the African? That ruler that imposes foreign laws on you is ruling you
still. Do you see that Oduche symbolically imprisoned his community and not
just the royal python in the box? Africans have, in the so-called “postcolonial
period,” continued their colonization by taking over the imperialistic
instruments and enforcing them. Today, when they go to Chatham House to chatter
and try to legitimize their nonsensical enslavement, the West applauds that
these are the real mumu they want. So, descendants of Oduche, what is that
prisoner is your ancestral box?
Umere nne is not in conflict with ụmụnna, except that if ụmụnna
raise unnecessary dust and make us uncomfortable, umere nne can ask why. The umere
nne, as a strong voice, would rise to give voice to the nwadiala. The umere nne would ask on behalf of nwadiala and ụmụnna
cannot ignore that voice. Umere nne is
a strong voice.
Umere nne reminds one about mother as a symbolic presence.
It is not a presence that the wise should dispense with in that culture. It is
not just a satellite of one’s space; it is core. What bothers me is that some
modern Igbo are quick to wave it away and are waving away a great value, or do
not try to service this great beginning standing in symbolic relation with the
womb from which one has emerged. But umere
nne is waiting, always waiting with open arms to receive Okonkwo back and
restore him.
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