I’ve never had to give a public talk about being Igbo. That will change on Sunday 8 September when I will be keynoting Omenaimo ImoDay 2024 in Dublin Ireland.
I’d be deploying some personal narratives and some social theories in a storytelling format to try to do justice to the topic of #inculturation #identity #culture #interculture. Here is a pretaste of what #Umuimo #Ndigbo and #Nigerians in Ireland 🇮🇪 can expect from me:
When Mazi Utuagbaigwe insisted that he is not giving Adaeze’s hands in marriage to his Belgian son-in-law, if he does not perform the Igba Nkwu rites, was he being insensitive to the culture of his host country or being chauvinistic? Can it be judiciously argued that inviting his in-laws to negotiate his daughter’s bride price is an affront to European laws and culture? And what about his rebuke to his daughter and her husband that among the Igbos, marriage is an affair for both the immediate and extended family and he cannot have any of them question whoever he decides to identify as that extended family? What about tutoring his son-in-law that under no circumstances should he even think of calling him or his Lolo by their first names, he must call them what he hears Adaeze calls them! How does any of these strongly held positions hamper integration into their host community in Europe?
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I love this bold move to ensure continuous acculturation of Ndi Igbo in the diaspora. I have no doubt you will do justice to this subject in your keynote. Udo diri gi.