Publication Year: 2010
Published by: Indiana University Press
Nwando Achebe presents the fascinating history of an Igbo woman, Ahebi Ugbabe, who became king in colonial Nigeria. Ugbabe was exiled from Igboland, became a prostitute, traveled widely, and leaed to speak many languages. She became a close companion of Nigerian Igala kings and the British officers who supported her claim to the office of headman, warrant chief, and later, king. In this unique biography, Achebe traces the roots of Ugbabe's rise to fame and fortune. While providing critical perspectives on women, gender, sex and sexuality, and the colonial encounter, she also considers how it was possible for this woman to take o . . .
Ekene / Acknowledgments
The Igbo have a saying that coming and going keeps the road from getting cold. Like that insightful proverb, my jouey into researching and writing King Ahebi’s world has required several comings and goings to navigate and complete. I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, friends, and colleagues who have all in one way or the other supported and nurtured my jouey.
Nkwado / THE PREPARATION:All Trees Grow in the Forest, but the Ora Singled Itself Out
The Discovery. No one will grant you a Ph.D. for writing another history of the women’s war. With this ste chastisement and a dry chuckle, my mentor and advisor, the late Professor Boniface Obichere, plunged me into a state of nervous trepidation. It was a sunny afteoon, that day in March 1995, and the women’s war my mentor so ungraciously denounced, was of course, the Igbo women’s war of 1929.
Nkowa / THE INTRODUCTION: Unspoken, Blame the Mouth; Unheard, Blame the Ear
The remembered history of the people of Nsukka Division from the earliest times can be sorted into a series of memorable events, definite landmarks or, put differently, "public disasters of the greatest magnitude" 1 that have been passed down orally from one generation to the next. In some cases these events were recorded by the first British administrative agents.
ONE Oge Nwatakili: The Time of Childhood, ca. 1880–1895
Umunne na Umunna: Genealogy and Naming in the Ohom Eguru Elechi Clan What has survived of Ahebi Ugbabe's family genealogy is at best imprecise and at worst sketchy. However, much like the Igbo philosophy of naming, igu afa, the Ugbabe family observed a similar ethos in their selection of names for their descendants. The family's choice of names tell us something about the circumstances of birth, as well as the .
TWO Mgbapu Ahebi: Exile in Igalaland, ca. 1895–1916
The Igala monarchy, one of the oldest and most formidable king-doms in central Nigeria, is centered on the office of the attah-Igala, who was regarded as the "father" of all Igala people.1 However, one of the earliest attah-Igalas (kings of Igalaland) in living memory was a woman named Ebulejonu, meaning "woman" (Ebule) "that became chief or .
THREE Performing Masculinities: Homecoming—and She Becomes a Man, ca. 1916–1930
Oge Otikpo / During the Time of the Destroyer: The Creation and Consolidation of a New Govement By 1914, most of Igbo country had been subjugated by the British. It would take until 1920, though, to bring the expanse of land in the northemost coer of Igboland effectively under British control. In chapter 2 we saw how the British relied on intelligence information provided by members of the groups they were attempting to conquer. Ahebi Ugbabe .
FOUR Inside King Ahebi’s Palace, ca. 1916–1948
King Ahebi's palace grounds were large. The palace was a gated com-munity of sorts, with a market, a court, a prison, a school, a "retraining" house, a masquerade house, animal stables, several residential homes, guest houses, and a brothel. Samuel Apeh, a retired army sergeant and one of the pupils who attended King Ahebi's palace school, equated the .
FIVE Mastering Masculinities:Ekpe Ahebi Masquerade—the Final Insult, ca. 1931–1948
The underlying reason that the elders encouraged schoolteacher Jacob Elam to move out of Ahebi's palace was that they had had enough of her antics and abuses. It was not simply that Ahebi had eroded the traditional leadership of male elders by transforming herself into a British-sanctioned and imposed headman and warrant chief and then into an .
Mmechi / THE CONCLUSION: Ahebi Today—the Works That We Do Are the Things by Which We Are Remembered
The Ahebi Primary School: Reflections on a 1996 Visit It was a relatively cold day that harmattan moing of November 23, 1996. Being a Saturday, the Ahebi Primary School was closed. However, the trip to Umuida enabled me to take a self-guided tour of the layout of the elementary school named after the female king I was researching. From my vantage point on Ahebi Ugbabe Road, I could see the large .
Appendix: Select Criminal and Civil Cases in Nsukka Division, in which Ahebi Participated 1918–
Glossary of Chronological Terms
Glossary of Igbo and Igala Words
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Published by: Indiana University Press
Nwando Achebe presents the fascinating history of an Igbo woman, Ahebi Ugbabe, who became king in colonial Nigeria. Ugbabe was exiled from Igboland, became a prostitute, traveled widely, and leaed to speak many languages. She became a close companion of Nigerian Igala kings and the British officers who supported her claim to the office of headman, warrant chief, and later, king. In this unique biography, Achebe traces the roots of Ugbabe's rise to fame and fortune. While providing critical perspectives on women, gender, sex and sexuality, and the colonial encounter, she also considers how it was possible for this woman to take o . . .
Ekene / Acknowledgments
The Igbo have a saying that coming and going keeps the road from getting cold. Like that insightful proverb, my jouey into researching and writing King Ahebi’s world has required several comings and goings to navigate and complete. I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, friends, and colleagues who have all in one way or the other supported and nurtured my jouey.
Nkwado / THE PREPARATION:All Trees Grow in the Forest, but the Ora Singled Itself Out
The Discovery. No one will grant you a Ph.D. for writing another history of the women’s war. With this ste chastisement and a dry chuckle, my mentor and advisor, the late Professor Boniface Obichere, plunged me into a state of nervous trepidation. It was a sunny afteoon, that day in March 1995, and the women’s war my mentor so ungraciously denounced, was of course, the Igbo women’s war of 1929.
Nkowa / THE INTRODUCTION: Unspoken, Blame the Mouth; Unheard, Blame the Ear
The remembered history of the people of Nsukka Division from the earliest times can be sorted into a series of memorable events, definite landmarks or, put differently, "public disasters of the greatest magnitude" 1 that have been passed down orally from one generation to the next. In some cases these events were recorded by the first British administrative agents.
ONE Oge Nwatakili: The Time of Childhood, ca. 1880–1895
Umunne na Umunna: Genealogy and Naming in the Ohom Eguru Elechi Clan What has survived of Ahebi Ugbabe's family genealogy is at best imprecise and at worst sketchy. However, much like the Igbo philosophy of naming, igu afa, the Ugbabe family observed a similar ethos in their selection of names for their descendants. The family's choice of names tell us something about the circumstances of birth, as well as the .
TWO Mgbapu Ahebi: Exile in Igalaland, ca. 1895–1916
The Igala monarchy, one of the oldest and most formidable king-doms in central Nigeria, is centered on the office of the attah-Igala, who was regarded as the "father" of all Igala people.1 However, one of the earliest attah-Igalas (kings of Igalaland) in living memory was a woman named Ebulejonu, meaning "woman" (Ebule) "that became chief or .
THREE Performing Masculinities: Homecoming—and She Becomes a Man, ca. 1916–1930
Oge Otikpo / During the Time of the Destroyer: The Creation and Consolidation of a New Govement By 1914, most of Igbo country had been subjugated by the British. It would take until 1920, though, to bring the expanse of land in the northemost coer of Igboland effectively under British control. In chapter 2 we saw how the British relied on intelligence information provided by members of the groups they were attempting to conquer. Ahebi Ugbabe .
FOUR Inside King Ahebi’s Palace, ca. 1916–1948
King Ahebi's palace grounds were large. The palace was a gated com-munity of sorts, with a market, a court, a prison, a school, a "retraining" house, a masquerade house, animal stables, several residential homes, guest houses, and a brothel. Samuel Apeh, a retired army sergeant and one of the pupils who attended King Ahebi's palace school, equated the .
FIVE Mastering Masculinities:Ekpe Ahebi Masquerade—the Final Insult, ca. 1931–1948
The underlying reason that the elders encouraged schoolteacher Jacob Elam to move out of Ahebi's palace was that they had had enough of her antics and abuses. It was not simply that Ahebi had eroded the traditional leadership of male elders by transforming herself into a British-sanctioned and imposed headman and warrant chief and then into an .
Mmechi / THE CONCLUSION: Ahebi Today—the Works That We Do Are the Things by Which We Are Remembered
The Ahebi Primary School: Reflections on a 1996 Visit It was a relatively cold day that harmattan moing of November 23, 1996. Being a Saturday, the Ahebi Primary School was closed. However, the trip to Umuida enabled me to take a self-guided tour of the layout of the elementary school named after the female king I was researching. From my vantage point on Ahebi Ugbabe Road, I could see the large .
Appendix: Select Criminal and Civil Cases in Nsukka Division, in which Ahebi Participated 1918–
Glossary of Chronological Terms
Glossary of Igbo and Igala Words
Notes
Bibliography
Index