Oyinbo
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Oyibo is an Igbo word used to refer to white people.[1][2][3] The word is popular in Nigeria among other groups as well and variation of Oyibo is also used. The word is generally understood by most Nigerians and many Africans due to popularity of Nollywood and Nigerian pop culture.
Etymology
[edit]The word was first used by the Igbo people to describe the white people. It would later extend to all Europeans. Many years later, the word became used for anyone influenced by European tradition, customs, and culture, especially once-enslaved returnees. Oyibo is generally used to refer to a person of European descent, African perceived not to be culturally Igbo, or to people of the Human race who are light-skinned. The word later was later used by the Igbo people of Nigeria through linguistics exchange.
To find the term or "White Man," Koelle [who?] consulted hundreds of African groups.[citation needed] His Yoruba sources included people from Ọta, Ẹgba, Okun, Ijẹbu, Ifẹ, Ondo, Itsẹkiri, and more while his Igbo sources were from areas such as Isuama, Ishielu, Agbaja, Aro, and Mbofia.[citation needed] The Igbo respondents consistently used the term oyibo or Onyeocha for "White Man." In contrast, all the Yoruba participants stated their term was Oyibo.[4] These candid testimonies from the Igbo sources indicate that the term “oyibo” or “onyeocha” is related and exclusive to white skin|first=DAVID |title=Mel Languages in the Polyglotta Africana |date=2014-09-11 |work=African Language Review |pages=129–135 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203042878-12 |access-date=2024-11-13 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780203042878-12 |isbn=978-0-203-04287-8}}</ref>
Oyibo is also used in reference to people who are foreign or Europeanised, including Saros in the towns of Onitsha and Enugu in the late 19th and early 20th century.[5] Sierra Leonean missionaries, according to Ajayi Crowther, a Yoruba, and John Taylor, an Igbo, descendants of repatriated slaves, were referred to as oyibo ojii by the people of Onitsha.[6][7]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Matthias Krings; Onookome Okome (2013). Global Nollywood: The Transnational Dimensions of an African Video Film Industry, African Expressive Cultures. Indiana University Press. p. 267. ISBN 9780253009425.
- ^ Toyin Falola; Ann Genova (2005). Yoruba Creativity: Fiction, Language, Life and Songs. Africa World Press. ISBN 9781592213368.
- ^ Elisabeth Bekers; Sissy Helff; Daniela Merolla (2009). Transcultural Modernities: Narrating Africa in Europe Volume 36 of Matatu (Göttingen) series, Journal for African Culture and Society. Rodopi. p. 208. ISBN 9789042025387.
- ^ "Koelle's Polyglotta Africana - Concept White Man". polyglottaafricana.clld.org. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
- ^ Njoku, Raphael Chijoke (2013). African Cultural Values: Igbo Political Leadership in Colonial Nigeria, 1900–1996. Routledge. p. 20. ISBN 978-1135528201.
- ^ Lovejoy, Paul E. (2009). Identity in the Shadow of Slavery. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 61. ISBN 978-1441193964.
- ^ Okwu, Augustine Senan Ogunyeremuba (2010). Igbo Culture and the Christian Missions, 1857-1957. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 95. ISBN 978-0761848844.