Native Anthropologist

How much should one get involved with the field? Don’t get me wrong, this is not about activist ethnography, at least not explicitly.

One of the problems of being a native anthropologist is the presence of the possibility of being co-opted by the field. As you probably know already, I am a Nigerian doing fieldwork with Nigerians in Cotonou, Benin. One afternoon, one of my friends called to invite me to write an article in the magazine that is going to be published by the Nigerian community in Cotonou as part of the 48th Nigerian Independence Day celebrations in Cotonou. He asked whether I could write an article on the contributions of Nigerians in Benin to the Beninese economy. I know much about that, as that actually forms a part of my research: there is no studying informal trans-border trade between Nigeria and Benin without studying the impact of Nigerians on the economy of the country, so I could reel them off right away. But then, I know that the audience of the magazine is made up of Nigerians, and most likely of officials of the Nigerian state. I am also quite aware of the ‘official’ stance of the Nigerian state towards smuggling, and even towards Nigerians who trade, in Cotonou, in goods that are banned in Nigeria. I had to find a way to write an article with enough meat to qualify for publication in the magazine, and therefore make my friend proud, but with just enough not to incur the wrath of the Nigerian embassy in Cotonou, or to call undue attention to my research.

The compromise was to write a one-page article about the impact of Nigerians in Cotonou by focusing on the social. When I wrote about the economy I had to make sure I mentioned only goods that originate in Nigeria and so contributed to the official economy of the country. My friend explicitly asked me not to write about certain goods that are imported into Benin chiefly to be re-exported, informally, to Nigeria. The questions: was I unethical by agreeing to write the article at all? And was I wrong by agreeing to be selective in the goods I mentioned? Who has ever been in this kind of situation?

Oh, by the way, my friend and I decided to share the credit for the article.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Thanks Owen for checking in on me! It is nice to know that some people get around here.

I am in the last few weeks of fieldwork, and it has got really intense. I am discovering holes in my knowledge, and I am trying to plug them before I leave. I realise that I cannot have all the information I would like to have, but that understanding does not stop me from trying anyway.

So, I am around, and I know that I should update regularly, but according to a Yoruba saying, It is the mountain over here that blocks our view of the one behind it.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 03:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Researchers familiar with Nigeria would know that the Igbo have the reputation of being the money-loving, money-making, industrious people of Nigeria. The stereotypes go this way: The Igbo are the traders, the Yoruba are your average school-goers who look forward to a comfortable future earning predictable salaries, and the Hausa rule the country (never mind Nigerian minority groups). The Igbo for instance also join in essentialising themselves. They often say that they (the Igbo) are simply natural traders, and that their ‘republican spirit’ and lack of recognition of central authority predispose them to becoming great businessmen.

In Benin, the Beninese Yoruba describe themselves in exactly the same terms. I hear expressions like: ‘No matter what a Yoruba man does, even if he studies in the university, he has to come back to trade. It is simply in our blood.’ Those are about the same words with which the Nigerian Igbo describe themselves. Or, ‘Ha… Yoruba’s love money so much!’ Just like the average Nigerian says about the Igbo.

So, if trade is in the Yoruba blood, how come the Yoruba don’t have that kind of reputation in Nigeria? I point this out to many Beninese Yoruba and they normally don’t have anything to say about it. I then tell them that one has to pay a closer attention to history, and the particular development of each country, in order to be able to understand how each ethnic group came to acquire the description. One has to accept it that the stereotypes are largely true, especially about Igbo businessmen of Nigeria and the Yoruba businesswomen of Benin. Yea, Yoruba businesswomen; gender scholars have a lot to deal with in that.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 09:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Today I decided to use google's blogsearch tool to look for blogs that have entries on actor-network theory. I got this returned. I was kinda surprised that most of the blogs that have entries on ANT are written by graduate students (this, this and this are examples). Is there going to be a boom in its application in the near future? What is the main attraction?

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I just got in from a trip to Lomè, Togo, where I went to interview some veterans in the used clothing business. The interviews went pretty well, and I left feeling really good because I can finally see many things falling into place in my research. It is one of those moments when I can feel the research moving fine, and I am savouring it.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 08:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

AEGIS (Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies) has issued a call for paper for its third European Conference on African Studies. According to the conference website:

The conference is open to all disciplines and methodological approaches representing the Social Sciences and Humanities. However, at the same time the Steering Committee is strongly inviting panel proposals which look into the re-scaling and re-shaping of Africa through the various references which are being – or have been – made to the spatial dimensions of human action (social, symbolic, imagined or otherwise). This includes processes of globalisation, regionalisation, transnationalisation, re-nationalisation etc. – at all levels and across time.

Panels are expected to consist of four papers, with a chair and a discussant. Larger panels may be accommodated over more than one session. At this stage the Steering Committee invites potential panel organisers to provide a title and some of the names of participants to be considered for inclusion in the programme. A 50 word abstract and 250 word description should be included. The official conference language is English (contributions in any EU language are possible, but there will be no translation services offered, except for key note speeches).

You can check the site for details

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 09:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

While reading through the ASA blog, I got thinking about the case of the migrants I work with. It is somehow interesting how the discussions on immigration rarely touch on that kind. The case of the Igbo cross-border migration is especially interesting. For one, the argument about colonial borders that partition people of the same ethnic extraction into two different countries does not apply. The Igbo are not found in the southwestern part of Nigeria – the part of the country that shares the same border with Benin – but at the southeastern part of the country. And the case of the attraction of the richer country (think of the Mexico-US border) rarely applies here. Another interesting point is that many of the migrants are part of the community in many ways – for instance many of them speak the local languages (in fact, it is a requirement for the apprentices to immediately devote time to learning the language in Lomè, Togo) and French, many make sure that their kids also learn the languages. It is also interesting, on the other hand, how they are not part of the community.

One advantage of this kind of case is that it would be difficult to fall into the pit of explaining away migration by giving the two reasons in the earlier paragraph. Any discussion of the case would have to factor in different nuances of economic interests, contextualized in historical realities. The same with discussions on identity. One cannot simply run away with explanations that simplistically make identity markers – like languages, for instance – the same as the explanandum; one has to pay attention to identity shifts at particular instances and situations. Of course, this has been suggested by many scholars, but it really comes home when one is in the field.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)