Growing up, the rhetoric drilled into the Nigerian education handed to us by our colonial masters was that Africans were illiterate. Apart from the Egyptian hieroglyphs, whose inscriptions were found all over walls and stone tablets in Egypt, not much was recorded about any other writing systems in Africa.
We were told that Africa was a dark continent, not just in terms of the colour of our skin but also as a metaphor for ignorance and our lack of education as we roamed naked in dense rainforests filled with mosquitoes.
“If you want to keep information from a black man, hide it in a book,” is one of those sayings that highlighted the mainstream’s harmful belief at the time that Africans couldn’t read or write but only pass information by mouth.
Research done around the twentieth century and beyond has discovered and documented several writing systems, some dating to more than 2000 B.C. One such writing system is Nsibidi.
Origins of Nsibidi
The world was introduced to Nsibidi through the works of T.D. Maxwell in 1904. Since then, over 500 of the 1000 have been discovered. The origins of Nsibidi can be traced to the people of Cross River, Nigeria, and according to Reverend Macgregor, it was handed to them by baboons.
Legend has it that the people used to light fires at night to keep themselves warm and drive away predators but soon got visited by baboon-like creatures which were attracted to the fire. These creatures were called the Idiok, and as they advanced, people fled except the Uguakim.
The Uguakim observed these ape-like creatures and noticed that they drew symbols in the sand and made hand and body gestures to match these symbols. They were taught the written and sign languages, which came to be known as Nsibidi.
Nsibidi spread from the south-south to the southeastern parts of Nigeria in areas such as Ohafia, Arochukwu, and Abakaliki, and the Western part of Cameroon. This was mostly due to the trading systems between these cultures.
Ikom monoliths, which are a series of stone structures in Cross River, are said to have been engraved and have Nsibidi inscriptions which date as far as 200 CE.
Though Reverend MacGregor’s theory was dismissed, an obvious connection between writing being imparted by the divine, as with other origins of writing systems, cannot be refuted.
What is Nsibidi?
It is a language system that has characters that symbolize the idea of a thing without indicating sounds that may be used to pronounce it. Though the characters are not as numerous, it can be compared to the Chinese lettering used in Mandarin.
The symbols are not read from any direction but by reading them together to understand the message being passed. Nsibidi was written on walls, on pots, on calabashes, and even directly onto the body.
It was used to send messages between communities, in which the messenger is given an oral message which is also tattooed onto his body to ensure the accuracy of the message. In cases in which secret information had to be passed, the messenger could have an oral message while the secret information could be written onto his body.
It could also be written onto bodies of masquerades during festivals to pass messages among members without getting the public involved.
Guardians of Nsibidi
Two types of Nsibidi were used before the civil war broke out. The Public type was taught in schools and communities. This type had symbols that communicated information on matters such as trade, romance, gossip, and other day-to-day affairs.
Nsibidi could also be adorned on children and young girls’ foreheads and bodies using black vegetable oil as depicted on the cover of Nnedi Okorafor’s fantasy book, ‘Akata Witch’.
Another form of Nsibidi, which was guarded by the Leopard society known as the Ekpe Society, was the sacred Nsibidi. The Ekpe society is an all-male elite society that spread across the Efik, Ibibio, Oron, Igbo, and Cameroon cultures. They are the custodians of culture and establish rulers, order, and trading systems within their communities.
The members of the Ekpe society distinguished themselves during occasions by adorning the ‘Ukara Ekpe’, a wrapper which is made out of cotton with Nsibidi inscriptions written on it, against an indigo dye. The wrapper was typically made by the women of the society with Nsibidi inscribed on them, which represented the various totems of the Ekpe society.
As a member of the society increases in rank, his knowledge of the sacred Nsibidi broadens. The sacred Nsibidi is said to contain symbols that are connected to spirituality, manifestation, and divination.
Nsibidi within the diaspora
Compared to the Egyptian Hieroglyphs, which were popular and used by the general public, the secrecy surrounding some aspects of Nsibidi may have contributed to its decline during the colonial era. The English language was imposed on us by the British, and the public Nsibidi that were taught were discouraged as a means of control.
The transatlantic slave trade also contributed to the dispatch of Nsibidi in areas such as Cuba and Haiti. In Cuba, Nsibidi is used among the ‘Abakua, ’ who are largely connected to the Ekpe society in Africa. They represented a resistance against colonial rule at the time.
Nsibidi Today
As the world becomes more invested in spirituality and more people are interested in learning about their roots, Nsibidi seems to be reviving and thriving.
Nnedi Okorafor drew her inspiration from Nsibidi for her fantasy book series, with its symbols depicted on the faces of the characters on the book cover.
The award-winning movie Black Panther also depicted the throne room covered in Nsibidi. A nod to Africa’s literary history and representation of authority within Wakanda.
Attempts have been made to convert Nsibidi into a programming language to write code as a way of merging the ever-advancing technology with culture.
Conclusion
Nsibidi remains a testament to the intelligence and depth of our ancestors who developed an Ideogram to communicate information, which eliminates the confusion that comes with words that have the same spellings but different meanings.
As we rediscover the captivating beauty of Nsibidi, its rightful owners are leading the charge, opening up a world of limitless possibilities in entertainment, art, and culture!
Imagine a future where we proudly embrace our unique writing system—one that could inspire creativity and expression like never before. Just think of a future with a powerful saying like: “If you want to keep secrets from the world, write them in Nsibidi.” This is our moment to celebrate and enlighten the rest of the world.
References
- Gregerson Edgar A. 1977. Language in Africa:An Introductory Survey.
- Slogar, Christopher. 2007. “Early Ceramics from Calabar, Nigeria: Towards a History of Nsibidi”.
- Nwosu, Maik. 2010. “In the name of the sign: The Nsibidi script as the language and literature of the crossroads.”
- Desowitz, Bill. 2018. “Black Panther: How Wakanda got a written language.”
- Asante, Molefik. 2007. The History of Africa: The Quest for Eternal Harmony.
- Derick Ofod. 2021.TheMedicineShell.
