Department of Theatre Arts and Film Studies

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Browsing Department of Theatre Arts and Film Studies by Subject "Aladimma"

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    Dying Traditions in Igboland: Iku Ofo and the Modern Justice System
    (Nigerian Journal of Oral Literatures, 2016-08) Iwuh, John
    This paper examines the neglect of some traditional methods of punishment that prevented crimes and sustained the ethics and moral codes of the Igbo people before the modern institutional legal process. The dying practices of ikwa ala, ipa mkpo, and iku ofo are three obvious methods that guarded against incest, crimes like stealing and other forms of wrongdoing. Also threatened are eshe and ituaka that honour the dead at burials in order to maintain or restore the dignity of a family as well as prevent envy and attack of ancestral spirits. However, Christianity is opposed to these practices. This paper interrogates the dilemma of the Igbo society caught between these practices and the constitutional legal practice in the 21st century, which has greatly reduced the practice of these effective traditional methods of punishment in most communities. It thus questions the hope of a crime-free society in the foreseeable future given the allowances of modern justice system and the conflicts posed by questionable moral culture of modern Nigerian society. With illustrations, the paper examines some of these punishments in (ancient) Igbo land, how they kept crimes in check, some reasons for their decline, and the attractions of the modern justice system in the Nigerian society
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    Dying Traditions in Igboland: Iku Ofo and the Modern Justice System
    (Nigerian Journal of Oral Literatures, 2016-08) Iwuh, John
    Abstract This paper examines the neglect of some traditional methods of punishment that prevented crimes and sustained the ethics and moral codes of the Igbo people before the modern institutional legal process. The dying practices of ikwa ala, ipa n:kpo, and iku ofo are three obvious methods that guarded against incest, crimes like stealing and other forms of wrongdoing. Also threatened are eshe and ituaka that honour the dead at burials in order to maintain or restore the dignity of a family as well as prevent envy and attack of ancestral spirits. However, Christianity is opposed to these practices. This paper interrogates the dilemma of the Igbo society caught between these practices and the,constitutional legal practice in the 21' century, which has greatly reduced the practice of these effective traditional methods of punishment in most communities. It thus questions the hope of a crime-free society in the foreseeable future given the allowances of modern justice system and the conflicts posed by questionable moral culture of modern Nigerian society. With illustrations, the paper examines some of these punishments in (ancient) Igbo land, how they kept crimes in check, some reasons for their decline, and the attractions of the modern justice system in the Nigerian society.