The character of Chi in Obioma’s "An orchestra of minorities" in the context of Igbo cosmology

• Authors: Husain Aarfa , Semwal Sakshi
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

With the growing concern for revisiting the cultural roots in contemporary African literature, this article explores the concept of chi in the Igbo belief system as manifested in literary sources. Specifi c emphasis is put on the Chi character in Chigozie Obioma’s novel An orchestra of minorities. The article focuses on exploring Chi’s role as narrator, guiding spirit, and orator who transcends all spatial-temporal boundaries. Being a representative of an individual human being in the spirit realm, he is an active companion and guide of his host. The study aims to showcase the metaphysics of being and existence in the Igbo world through the journey of reincarnating spirit chi who transcends the conventional narrative techniques and presents his host’s testimony in the eternal land.

Keywords

EN

chi; guiding spirit; narrator; oral tradition; Chigozie Obioma

• Publisher: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Studies in African Languages and Cultures
• Year: 2024
• Volume: 58
• Pages: 207-226

Contributors

author

Husain Aarfa

author

Semwal Sakshi

• Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorke

• https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3293-2721

References

• Abiola Irele, F. 2001. The African imagination: Literature in Africa and the Black Diaspora. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Achebe, C. 1975. Morning yet on Creation Day. (1st ed.). United States of America: Anchor Press.
• Achebe, C. 1990. Hope and impediments: Selected essays. New York: Anchor Press.
• Achebe, C. 2001. Things fall apart. UK: Penguin.
• Ajibade, K. 2019. “I am interested in the metaphysics of being and existence”. Chigozie Obioma in conversation with Kunle Ajibade. Journal of the African Literature Association 13(2). 255-262.
• Asante, M.K. & A. Mazama. 2003. Afrocentricity, the theory of social change. Chicago, IL: African American Images.
• Asante, M.K. & A. Mazama. 2009. Encyclopedia of African religion. Los Angeles: Sage Publication.
• Atkins, G.D. 2010. T. S. Eliot and the essay: From the sacred wood to four quartets. Texas: Baylor University Press.
• Boehmer, E. 2009. “Achebe and his infl uence in some contemporary African writing”. Interventions 11(2). 141-153.
• Booth, W.C. 1983. The rhetoric of fi ction. London: The University of Chicago Press. Chukwumah, I. 2015. “Retheorizing the pharmakos: The Nso concept in narratives of the Igbo of Nigeria”. Journal of Literary Studies 31(4). 23-41.
• Chukwukere, I. 1983. “Chi in Igbo religion and thought: The God in every man”. Anthropos 3(4). 519-534.
• Cobo-Piñero, R. 2023. “Queering the black Atlantic: transgender spaces in Akwaeke Emezi’s writing and visual art”. Cultural Studies 37(2). 280-297.
• Datta, S. M. 2020. “Silence is the tool of the unconcerned: An interview with Chigozie Obioma”. Wasafi ri 35(1). 57-62.
• Herman, D. et al. (ed.). 2005. Routledge encyclopedia of narrative theory. New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis group.
• Ejizu, C.I. 1992. “Chi symbolism as a potent mirror of Igbo indigenous worldview”. Anthropos 87(4/6). 379-389.
• Ekwealor, C.C. 1990. “The Igbo world-view: A general survey”. The humanities and all of us, ed. by E. Oguegbu. Onisha: Watehword. 29-33.
• Eliot, T.S. 1919. “Tradition and individual talent”. The Egoist 6(4). 54-55.
• Emezi, A. 2019. Freshwater: Faber & Faber.
• Ferris, W.R. 1973. “Folklore and the African novelist: Achebe and Tutuola”. The Journal of American Fo lklore 86(339). 25-36.
• Finnegan, R. 2012. Oral literature in Africa. United Kingdom: Open Book Publishers.
• Gikandi, S. 2001. “Chinua Achebe and the invention of African culture”. Research in African Literatures 32(3). 3-8.
• Gunner, L. 2007. “Africa and orality”. In African literature. An anthology of criticism and theory, ed. by A. Quayson & T. Olaniyan. Blackwell Publishing. 67-71.
• Iyasere, S.O. 1975. “Oral tradition in the criticism of African literature”. The Journal of Modern African Studies 13(1). 107-119.
• Kanu, I.A. 2013. “The dimensions of African cosmology”. Filosofi a Theoretica: Journal of African Philosophy, Culture and Religion 2(2). 533-555.
• Kanu, I.A. 2014. “Igbo Proverbs as embodiments of Igbo-African philosophy”. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science 4(1). 164-168.
• Kanu, I.A. 2020. “‘Igwebuike’ as conceptualization of Igbo-African worldview”. The Catholic Voyage: African Journal of Consecrated Life 17(2). 35-50.
• Magaqa, T. & M. Rodwell. 2021. “Decolonizing queer sexualities: A critical reading of the ọgbanje concept in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater (2018)”. African Studies Quarterly 20(3). 24-39.
• Mbiti, J.S.1970. African religions and philosophy. Anchor Books.
• Nwoga, D. 1981. “The Igbo poet and satire”. Oral poetry in Nigeria, ed. by U. E. Abalogu. Lagos: Federal Ministry of Culture.
• Obioma, C. 2019. An Orchestra of Minorities. London: Littlebrown.
• Odamtten, H.N.K. 2009. “The signifi cance of Things fall apart to African historiography”. Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 11(2). 161-165.
• Ogede, O. 2023. Nigeria’s third- generation literature content and form. London & New York: Routledge.
• Onwuatuegwu, I.N. 2021. “Igbo cosmologic-ontological conception and belief in reincarnation: A philosophical reflection”. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts 9(4). 4467-4479.
• Onyibor, M.I.S. 2020. “The role of Chi in self-actualization in traditional Igbo”. Nnamdi Azikiwe Journal of Philosophy 11(1). 84-100.
• Osunde, E. 2022. Vagabonds. Fourth Estate.
• Quadri, Sh. 2019. “‘I conceived the book as a cosmological novel’: Chigozie Obioma on An orchestra of minorities”. Scroll. Online: https://scroll.in/article/946274/i-conceivedthe-book-as-a-cosmological-novel-Chigozie-obioma-on-an-orchestra-of-minorities [2.08.2024].
• Sackey, E. 1991. “Oral tradition and the African novel”. Modern Fiction Studies 37(3). 389-407.
• Scheub, H. 1985. “A review of African oral traditions and literature”. African Studies Review 28(2/3). 1-72.
• Shelton, A.J. (ed). 1968. The African assertion. A critical anthology of African literature. New York: The Odyssey press.
• Taiwo, O. 1976. Culture and the Nigerian novel. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
• Ude, D.M.C. 2021. “Cunning of Reason and the Igbo concept of Chi: Towards a philosophical rapprochement with Hegel”. South African Journal of Philosophy 40(1). 34-45.
• Ukwamedua, N.U. & M.K.E. Edogiaweri. 2017. “The typology of spirits in Igbo-African ontology: A discourse in existential metaphysics”. Idea. Studia nad strukturą i rozwojem pojęć filozofifcznych 29. 317-331.
• Watts, J.L. 2010. ‘“He does not understand our customs”: Narrating orality and empire in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Journal of Postcolonial Writing 46(1). 65-75.

Identifiers

DOI

doi.org/10.32690/SALC58.9