Competencias profesionales docentes

The key informants pointed to their personal observation of everyday cultural practices as an important source of the idea which they reproduce in Igbo monarchy films. In other words, the idea of what they represent as Igbo royalty is drawn from what they have personally observed from their Igbo environment. In the words of Omeh Johnson:

When you talk about source, as an Igbo man our culture, tradition and way of life are with us. I do not need anyone to teach me that when I wake up in the morning I greet my elders. I do not need anyone to teach me that I have to do some chores at home. I have seen an Igwe and I know he is a powerful man. When we do things in the village, they use ogene (metal gong) to call us out through the town crier. So, as you are watching, you are observing. You do not need anyone to sit you down and teach

you. We have natural intelligence; as those things were happening we were observing. We have our elders to consult when we do not understand things.

Peace Egwu observed that the Igbo culture as observable by anyone is her source of idea of royalty as a scriptwriter. She affirmed that one’s cultural root should ideally be his/her source of cultural knowledge. “You must have a background, you must have a root. So where you are coming from is what you want to showcase. This is where we are and that is what we want to showcase, and that is what inspires us,” she contended. Thus, the idea of royalty as found in the films becomes a product of informal learning or socialisation in Igbo culture.

Another source pointed out by the respondents is Igbo written and oral literature. This refers to Igbo folktales, poems, songs and proverbs whether transmitted orally or written down. Wendy Imasuen spoke on this:

So for the Igbo culture, the theme has become so relevant … it started with Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. I think we have a lot of stories; traditional stories from the Igbo side, which when told in movies are interesting. I think the Igbo has a lot of war stories because the Igbo really fought wars and their monarchy system was not here in time; what they had were clan leaders and they had conflicts over land and basically that is what you see in the epic royal movies.

Cornel Nnonyelu similarly submitted:

Also, there are these folklores and folk stories about our culture; these things build things into our mindset especially if you grew up in the village. And by the time you know it, they are things you put together as an adult and make your stories from. For instance, there are some movies (I did Akwaugo and Ugegbe Oyibo) in which I tailored it to those stories I was told so many years ago as a child. I bring them out and make them as an Igbo film.

Nonetheless, Ernest Obi and Stan Amadi argued that the ultimate source of royalty idea represented in films set in Igbo culture is other cultures outside Igbo land, as Igbos originally did not have monarchy. Obi contended that “historically, monarchy never actually existed (in Igbo land) … because every freeborn felt he has a right over his immediate family so … we could have clan leaders but not kings.” This view in part aligns with the position in literature that most part of Igbo land originally had no king prior to European contact (Afigbo 1986). He described his attitude to Igbo royalty films as a producer:

… I want to do anything that has to do with the monarchy, the Igbo line, I am always very careful; I try to be close to historical truth as much as possible. So I might come down maybe to early 1920s when royalty existed. My mum is from Nnewi, Otolo Nnewi, she used to be the oldest daughter of Igwe Orizu, so there is royalty there and since 19 something there has been royalty there. So I key into that to be able to tell my story. But to go beyond that like 1900 or 1800, no, I do not do that. I tell the story like the way it should be told.

Stan Amadi, on his part, while agreeing that monarchy is largely a later development in Igbo land, argued that since culture is dynamic and not static, royalty as borrowed by Igbos from other cultures has come to be a legitimate part of the people’s culture. He observed that though kings ab initio largely did not exist in Igbo land in the same way they existed in the Benin and Oyo empires as well as the Sokoto Caliphate, globalization has brought about a change to this culture:

We will not deny the fact that globalization has impacted on the Igbos and culture is not cast on stone. People decide that this is our way of life in the first instance for certain reasons. The same people decide to adjust. So to some extent, the royalty depicted in Nollywood movies reflect the real way of life of the Igbo people.

The foregoing view does not necessarily contradict the view that filmmakers gain their idea from their observation of their environment and through oral and written literature. It rather insists that wherever this idea is gotten from, it must have originated from other cultures ultimately. In other words, observable contemporary Igbo practices as well as oral and written literature cannot be the original sources. If this view is upheld, then what goes on in the Igbo monarchy films is cultural hybridisation. Cultural hybridisation explains the process whereby elements of one culture mix with those of others whether in practice or in representation in art forms such as literature, film etc to generate a supposedly new cultural experience (Kraidy, 2002; Idogho, 2015). Generally, the reality of cultural hybridisation in Nollywood films has been widely admitted in scholarship (Agba, 2014; Idogho, 2015; Omijie, 2015).

The key informants claimed that in leveraging these sources of idea of Igbo royalty, they engage in research. According to Wendy Imaseun, this research is key in his role as a director. “When I direct a movie, I do research, consult books, the Internet and ask a lot of questions to guide me through the production.” Similarly, Peace Egwu stated; “We grow, we want to know more, we

ask questions, and we want to teach the younger ones how it was done in the ancient days. This is what actually informs our going deeper and digging deeper to bring out those things of the ancient times.” Stan Amadi described such research as indispensable, advising that filmmakers should prioritise it in their attempt to portray aspects of Igbo culture including royalty.