The Igbo intellectual tradition : creative conflict in African and African diasporic thought /

This excellent book covers the contributions of 11 iconic Igbo figures: Olaudah Equiano, 18th-century abolitionist whose slave narrative touched upon life in Africa and slavery in the Americas; Nnamdi Azikiwe, heroic journalist and politician who served as Nigeria's first indigenous governor-general and president from 1960 to 1966; Mbonu Ojike, major politician and nationalist; Anthony Nwedo, famed Catholic bishop; Kenneth Dike, pioneer historian and educator; Adiele Afigbo, distinguished historian of the Igbo; Pius Okigbo, economist and public servant; Ben Nwabueze, constitutional scholar; Chinua Achebe, global creative writer; Flora Nwapa, novelist and advocate of women's rights; and Helen Chukwuma, feminist critic. Chuku, the indefatigable editor, wrote six of the chapters, which give coherence to the book. Chapters cover how these icons provided a substantial set of ideas along with how their values and contradictions may be subjectively reconciled with Western-derived ones. The book's strength is in the inherited issues: thinking about the place of the Igbo in a pluralist federation, the complicated choices of drawing from traditional and Western ideas, and the reconciliation of new technologies with traditional practices. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. T. O. Falola University of Texas