Traditional Religion and African Common Norms: Influence on Igbo Language and Literature

Abstract

A basic persistent trait of African societies is the importance of religion. It falls like a shaft of light across the entire spectrum of life, faced and undifferentiated at one end, and refracted and highly refined at the other. In art, language, law, and so on; religion occurs with authoritative force. African communities have consequently lived, moved and had their being in religion. Igboland, being a part of the African community, equally shares in this high religious consciousness. This paper however, gave the contributions of African traditional religion in shaping the norms, language and the literature of African communities. The writer articulated how the African reality is rooted in African religious expressions and in a complexity of norms and everyday life which together pervade the entire field of human existence. The writer further examined how these African values were shaped by the colonialists and western thoughts. The writer also investigated how the coming together of the African and western traditional values have either hindered or engendered African development so as to chart a way forward for African nations. The study portrayed how Chinua Achebe employs his key characters and scenes to portray Igbo philosophical values in its socio-political, metaphysical, religious and ethical aspects. This will help to strengthen the arguments of this study that Igbo norms and religious values can compete most strongly in substance and form with their western counterparts. Moreover, the scope of this study is Igbo area as one of the ethnic groups in Nigeria. The study employed the use of both primary and secondary sources of data collection.