IBO RESEARCH

ASSIGNMENT

By Parker Wilson and Adam Crabb

Comparison Thesis Slide 
• Before colonization, farming was the center of the culture and the heart of the community.
They relied on it in every way, as a way of showing power and prominence in the village for
men, simply for food, and as a way of life.  This all changed when the white missionaries
came, which changed the culture drastically, changing the culture to a less farming-based
community and to a more urban culture. 
PRE-COLONIAL:
FA R M I N G  A S A WAY O F L I F E  

• Before the missionaries came to the village,

farming was a huge factor in the lives of the
Igbo people. 
• It was a symbol of  wealth for the adults and a
sort of "coming of age" milestone for the
young men. 
• In chapter four of Things Fall Apart by Chinua
Achebe, it states that "His eldest son, Nwoye,
and Ikemefuna helped him by fetching the
yams in long baskets" (Achebe 32). This shows
how Okonkwo wants to teach his sons about
farming
Image and crop-raising early in life. 
URL: 
http://hellayams.weebly.com/uploads/4/9/5/6/495661
47/915366_orig.jpg
 
PRE-COLONIAL: HOW
FA R M I N G S H O W E D P O W E R
AND AFFECTED MEN 
• Before colonialization, farming played a
large part in the power dynamics of the
culture.
• If you had a very large barn, then you could
afford more yams, a symbol of power and
wealth.
• In chapter three of Things Fall Apart by
Chinua Achebe, it states that "There was a
wealthy man in Okonkwo's village who had
three huge barns..." (Achebe 18). This
shows how barns were seen as signs of
wealth before colonization.  
Image URL: 
https://guardian.ng/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/
Olugbo-of-Igbo.jpg
Pre-Colonial Image URL: 

Farming for http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Fv8WGfBlG8c/UNY

JGl0x0GI/AAAAAAAAEFA/3g9GZMReDIs/s
640/BeFunky_fufu.jpg
Food  • In the  Pre-Colonial times, the Igbo people relied heavily on
farming for food. 
• They mostly ate a diet of yams and other crops, with the
occasional meat dish. 
• The man of the house would farm the yams and the women
would collect the melons, beans, corn, and other "women
crops".
• In chapter four of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, it
states that "Ekwefi ladled her husband's share of the pottage
into the bowl" (Achebe 44). This shows a typical meal, a soup
with pounded yams and other crops. 
 Video URL: 
https://www.gtreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/
frica-market-street-trading-village-Benin.jpg
Post-Colonial: Farming as a  

Way of Life 
• After colonization, the main goals in life
changed drastically for many people. 
• There were a wider expanse of job
choices and careers, instead of the vast
majority just focused on farming.  
• This line of work was also less practiced
due to the lack of land to farm with. Most
of it was used for the “war theater during
the World War II and the Nigerian Civil
War” (Chukwu 2), making this career less
profitable and stable. 
Post-Colonial: How Farming
Showed Power and Affected Men
• When colonization occurred, the culture of the village and of the Igbo
people changed in major ways. 
• Instead of just relying on how many yams you have or the size of your
barn to establish your reputation, the Igbo men now had other factors
in the situation, such as education, position in the church, and overall
wealth.
• In the article "Traditional Igbo Economy: Challenges to Growth and
Development" by Joseph C. Chukwu (Ph.D), it states that "Unequal
opportunities also abound in the non- agricultural sector" (Chukwu 6).
The men of the community had only been taught one way of life, and
changing that was very hard to accept for many of the once prominent
men in the village   

Image URL: 
https://c.pxhere.com/photos/76/4e/business_people_meeting_office
_work_corporate_job_male-1079382.jpg!s
Post-Colonial: Farming for
Food
• Colonization brought both very harmful and negative aspects to the
culture of the Igbo, but it also improved the quality of life for some
people when it came to food. 
• New crops, flavors, and animals were introduced to the Igbo people,
making them not rely on crops just from their area and what they
could grow from their soil and climate. 
• In chapter 15 of Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, it states that
the white men brought strange things such as unfamiliar foods and
"strong drinks" (Achebe 141). This shows how different flavors
reached these villages 
• Also, in the article "Ethnopedology and indigenous farming systems
of Igbo and Nupe, Nigeria" by Ishida Fusako , Kamidouzono Akira,
and Wakatsuki Toshiyuki, it states that "Agbogbuji soil, which Ikwo
farmers evaluated as the best soil, contained the highest amount of
clay, total nitrogen, total carbon and available phosphorus" (Akira 
3). This shows what soil the people of the village were used too, so
when presented with a different type of cuisine from a different soil,
Image URL: 
they were forced to change. 
https://www.secondcity.com/wp-content/uploads/20
Works Cited 
• Uzozie, Levi Chukwuemeka. “Ethnopedology and Indigenous Farming Systems of Igbo and
Nupe, Nigeria.” ProQuest, Feb. 1979
• Fusako, Ishida, et al. “Ethnopedology and Indigenous Farming Systems of Igbo and Nupe,
Nigeria.” Shimane University. 
• Chukwu, Joseph C. “Traditional Igbo Economy: Challenges to Growth and Development.”
Abia State University, 2015.
• Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin, 2017.