Cultural Views of Wealth in Traditional and Contemporary Igbo Society: Perspectives from Maduekwe’s “Ego na-ekwuâ€

Abstract

Wealth is a social capital pursued by people in order to boost their status or enhance their livelihood in virtually every human society. However, wealth has the tendency of becoming a tool of power and control in society. Many Igbo writers have written on cultural conflict, as a result of colonialism, but the contributory impact of wealth to such cultural conflict has not been fully explored. Consequently, the present study examines the values attached to wealth in traditional Igbo world in contrast to the contemporary period. This is with a view to evaluating the attitudes and behavior of the wealthy coupled with the influences they exert in the society. The study is guided by Social Power Theory, one of the Marxist theories of social conflict, by Max Weber (1922). Maduekwe’s poem titled “Ego na-ekwu†was purposively selected from Ụtara Ntị, an anthology of Igbo poems edited by Nolue Emenanjo. The result shows that, in traditional Igbo society, grey-haired elders, the custodians of Igbo culture, were venerated, as they upheld truth and other virtues that promote growth and development of society. In contrast, in the contemporary period, the erstwhile elders have been displaced by a class of wealthy few who are now the objects of reverence and adoration. This displacement has brought about social and cultural dislocation in the Igbo society as evidenced in greed, criminal acts, prostitution, lawlessness, fraud, falsehood, restiveness, and other social vices. The poet opines that the pursuit of the white man’s wealth has upset the balance of power and Igbo socio-communal order to the point that wealth is literally in control of the society, and those possessing the material god are the wielders of power in contemporary times. It is the poet’s tacit conclusion that, a society controlled by the nouveau riche rather than cultural sages and judicious intellectuals is doomed.