Patterns of participation

about the human agents while communicating with this sophisticated medium that seem to unite but tear us apart. It simply means that we are connected but cannot relate.

On his part, Agada (1991) asserted that community served as an agent of education by utilizing every incident and ceremony to train children and young adults. (p.18). This implies that Igbo community living helps in communal training of children since all members of the community are useful in imparting knowledge. Agbo (1993) vividly explains that:

Training of children is a community affair and Igbo people spare neither the rod nor the mouth in order not to spoil the child. They correct children through physical punishment, facial expression, scolding, denying them of piece of meat or with holding other little comforts. (p. 49).

But the western culture sees this form of correction as child abuse and would not hesitate to punish parents who correct their children or wards in this manner. The Igbo are well known for maintaining their culture and traditions as well as practicing them anywhere they are, in or outside Nigeria. They regard these cultural practices as part of their traditional beliefs, customary norms, love of family and community as well as love for religion and learning. The love for religion and learning which is now embedded in their pursuit of western education has created a paradigm shift from the old or traditional ideas to the modern day Igbo ideology and philosophy of life.

Following this development, Uchendu (1965) observed thus:

Today, there is an important shift in what is necessary to make a town “get up”.

There is consensus among the Igbo that education is the key to progress as it is now reinterpreted. The educational progress of Igbo land owes much to the missionaries, for there are few Igbo leaders today who did not attend mission schools. On the other hand, the success of the missionaries was in no small part due to the cooperation and the community spirit of the people among whom they worked. (p. 36).

The missionaries and the host community played cooperative roles to make the educational progress a priority for making Igbo to get up. That is helping the Igbo to acquire western

education that prepared them for future roles in national development and professional work.

Hence, the paradigm shift from the Igbo idea of transmitting traditional values and the emphasis attached to the acquisition of wealth, farmlands and yam, marrying of many wives and traditional title taking has influenced most Igbo people because those parents who have been affected by western education are today the champions of this change in their thought and value system. This falls in line with other progressive societies across the globe. Therefore, there is no doubt that traditional education for the Igbo is an indispensable process in the upbringing of the child even before he or she begins to attend a formal school. In the colonial era, they competed about who had the biggest yam barns and farmlands, greatest number of wives, most popular husbands, wealth and domestic animals in the compounds as well as the highest number of traditional titles one had received from his community.

Today, the same motivation and competitive spirit have given dynamism in exploring education. Although they still cherish these traditional aspects of human accomplishments, Igbo parents also bother about how many of their children have gone to secondary school as well as how many have received college and university education. Also, for the Igbo man and woman of today, to have educated children in the family is the greatest asset and legacy to leave with one‟s children rather than having a bunch of illiterates in a family, filled with arrogance and often quarrelling and fighting over some pieces of the so called inherited material wealth.

However, according to Okeke and Njoku (1989), western education in Nigeria served not only the religious interest of the missionaries but also political and commercial interests of Western Europe. Literate Nigerians served as clerks, interpreters and messengers etc. Western education was conceived of and utilized as a potent instrument for converting people to Christian religion. Reading and understanding the Bible so as to appreciate the revealed truths about God was the major concern. Therefore, the schools were to produce teachers, catechists and interpreters for evangelization. Also, the idea and practice of sharing food separately at meals among Igbo

children was a later development that came with western individualism that was brought about by formal education and lifestyle. Children now often eat from their separate plates and use their own specific cups for drinks. Although the table rules of not talking during meals and of sharing still apply today in Igbo families, things are no longer what they used to be for the changes have been very drastic.

Another notable change is the breaking of kolanut. Kolanut (oji) is a very important edible seed among the Igbo. It is seen as a seed that binds the Igbo together. It signifies Igbo hospitality to visitors either at home or at community gatherings and celebrations. In the past, before a traditional Igbo man broke the kolanut, he would first invoke the presence of the spirits of his ancestors (ndichie) to come and participate in it, as well as asking for guidance and protection in his endeavour and for all those who would partake in it. This very practice is today carried out in a modernized form where most of the people have been Christianized. Instead of calling on the spirits of their ancestors to come and participate in the ritual breaking of the kolanut, people now invoke the name of Almighty God to come and bless the occasion and the kolanut so that those who would eat it will be blessed too as well as protected from the evils of the world.

Western education has also influenced the cost of marriage. In most parts of Igbo land today, they now put high price tags on young women who have received tertiary education thereby scaring their suitors away. This is clearly a deviation from the norms, customs and tradition of the people. The Igbo society has fully embraced these modernizations as part of the outcome of formal education which they had freely bargained for with their acceptance of the early Christian missionaries. The goal of globalization is not that the entire world would become westernized and capitalist. Rather the implication is that western culture has become the standard by which all other cultures must be measured.

CHAPTER FOUR

EFFECTS OF GLOBALIZATION ON IGBO LAND 4.1 The Positive Contributions of Globalization to Igbo People

Despite the negative impact of globalization, there are still areas which could be exploited to the advantage of Igbo tradition and culture which have affected Igbo traditional society positively.