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)

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)

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)

In the previous blog I wrote that I was consulting some literature on Igbo history. Since I am researching in Cotonou, Benin, I have been looking for materials on Igbo migration into West Africa. Funnily, I have not been able to get any book or article on the subject. I wrote 'funnily' because the Igbo are very famous for migration, and I didn't expect that it would be that hard to find any book on their migration into West Africa. It is important to me because, on different levels, the history of the trade in used clothing in Benin is linked to the history of migration.... If anyone knows of any book on the topic please let me know.

And last Monday, I gave a paper at a seminar in my old university, the University of Ibadan (had my BA there). The paper attempted to explain the reasons for the problems one finds in the institution of apprenticeship among the Igbo. It drew from my ongoing fieldwork with the used clothing traders.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I have decided to dedicate this month to historical research. This means that I am spending time interviewing Nigerian pioneers in the trade in used clothing in the Republic of Bénin. I want to understand the initial motivations for the trade, the way the trade was structured then, and since many of them are still involved in the business right now, the way the business has changed over time. Yes I know, the main focus of the research is on the way the trade is organized, but we all know that the work would be the poorer if the ethnographic past is not factored in. So this week, apart from spending the time interviewing elderly persons, I will also be going into archives, reading historical documents, and consulting works of historians of the Igbo. Oh yea, while I am at it, I probably should also mention that I am consulting historical materials on the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

These past couple of days, I have been in Abuja, trying to learn about the trade policies of Nigeria and that of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (the ECOWAS headquarters is in Abuja). Today, at a meeting with a trade policy official at the Nigerian ministry for commerce and industry, after some discussion, I chanced to mention that I am an anthropologist. He looked at me and asked. 'What is an anthropologist doing with trade policy?'

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 08:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I am not a football fan but I spent much of last night watching football at the house of a friend who is a Manchester United fan. We were about 7 in the apartment - three were Manchester United fans, and the other three were Chelsea fans. I am not really a fan of any club, mainly because I know very little about the game. But since the friend in whose house I was watching the game was a Man U. fan, and since my younger brother too is, I decided to support Chelsea. As you all probably know by now, the match ended in a tie, and it had to be decided by a penalty shout out. It was really interesting to watch the reaction of my friend when Cech caught Ronaldo’s kick. He went pretty lame and quiet, and he stayed that way until Terry lost his. Yea, it turned in Man U’s favour during the second round of the shoot out. My friend and the other two Man U supporters – around here they are called MUF (Members of the United Family) – leapt up and had a really crazy dance. My friend invited us out for a drink, and spent the next one hour making congratulatory calls to other MUFs

I later learnt that there was a pub down the road where Chelsea fans had paid for all the drinks, and where only Chelsea supporters were allowed in. That shows the popularity of the clubs among Nigerians. I have been asking questions about the reason for the popularity of the English Premier League in Nigeria but nobody has ben abe to give me any satisfactory reply.

This morning I went to eat in at a bukateria ,and the main topic of discussion was last night’s game. One of the customers said that Man Utd was destined to win the match. Another replied that he too thought so. Didn’t we notice that Chelsea ‘pressed’ Man Utd in the second half of the match? He was pretty sure that Man Utd was going to win when two shots from Chelsea men hit the bar during the second half. Then I got thinking about what we mean by destiny. Is it simply one of those terms/concepts people throw around when there are things they cannot explain?

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

After stumbling on Cicilie's and Mary Stevens' blogs, I have decided to blog about my ongoing fieldwork. My PhD research is on informal transborder trade between the Republic of Benin and Nigeria, and I am currently on fieldwork in the used clothing market in Cotonou, the border area between the two countries and the retail markets in Lagos. Will keep adding things as they come up.

Posted by Olumide Abimbola at 03:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)