War of Words: Dr Kperogi, Dr Abah disagree on the word “tribe”
Follow @bamasvictoria Dr. Farooq Kperogi and Dr. Joe Abah on Sunday had a disagreement on the meaning and usage of the word “tribe.” Abah, who is a technocrat had tweeted that “I am not a “detribalised Nigerian”! I have a tribe. I am Igbo. Even my soul is Igbo. I am more likely to resurrect […]
Abah & Kperogi
Dr. Farooq Kperogi and Dr. Joe Abah on Sunday had a disagreement on the meaning and usage of the word “tribe.”
Abah, who is a technocrat had tweeted that “I am not a “detribalised Nigerian”! I have a tribe. I am Igbo. Even my soul is Igbo. I am more likely to resurrect from the dead at the sound of the Ogene than Angel Gabriel’s trumpet. I am proudly Igbo, but I am not a bigoted Nigerian. Important difference!”
In response Farooq, a scholar who writes a grammar column “Politics of Grammar” said “Tribe means a group of primitive, preliterate pple. Modern Igbo are clearly not a tribe. Detribalize is a verb, not an adjective, and it means to civilize, to take away from a tribal, i.e., primitive setting to a civilized setting, as d British did to some Aborigines in Australia”
This lead to a lot of back and forth between them.
See tweets below:
1.
I am not a “detribalised Nigerian”! I have a tribe. I am Igbo. Even my soul is Igbo. I am more likely to resurrect from the dead at the sound of the Ogene than Angel Gabriel’s trumpet. I am proudly Igbo, but I am not a bigoted Nigerian. Important difference!
— Dr Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) September 9, 2018
2.
Tribe means a group of primitive, preliterate pple. Modern Igbo are clearly not a tribe. Detribalize is a verb, not an adjective, and it means to civilize, to take away from a tribal, i.e., primitive setting to a civilized setting, as d British did to some Aborigines in Australia https://t.co/Dg157akYyk
— Farooq Kperogi (@farooqkperogi) September 9, 2018
3.
You must have created your own dictionary then. The recognised dictionaries define ‘Tribe’ thus: pic.twitter.com/IoiKvJe6pZ
— Dr Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) September 9, 2018
4.
Look beyond the first meaning of a word in the dictionary. Also look at its usage and context. See the usage note in the Oxford Dictionary attached. That's why there is no German tribe or Finnish tribe, etc. pic.twitter.com/5VvMPo28nd
— Farooq Kperogi (@farooqkperogi) September 9, 2018
5.
I thought we were talking definitions? If you are talking usage and political correctness, and you read carefully, it is telling you to be careful not to offend others. I am of the Igbo tribe of south eastern Nigeria. You don’t offend me if you say so. I cannot offend you either.
— Dr Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) September 9, 2018
6.
This is actually an old debate. Tribe is used only for nonwhite people in contemporary times. Have you ever heard Germans called tribes? or Jews called tribe, except in reference to their dim & distant past? Even the definition you quoted isn't a faithful description of Igbo ppl
— Farooq Kperogi (@farooqkperogi) September 9, 2018
7.
I understand his point although I don’t agree with it. Celts are a tribe, using my definition. The Basques in Spain are a tribe. The Roma are a tribe. Tribes are not necessarily defined by national boundaries. Dispersion can remove the homogeneity necessary to be called a tribe.
— Dr Joe Abah (@DrJoeAbah) September 9, 2018
8.
It's not my "point." To communicate, you have to speak d same language. The native English speaker understands "tribe" as a group of primitive people; you understand it as an ethnic group, & use it to describe yourself. Well, you're authorizing your denigration. It's that simple
— Farooq Kperogi (@farooqkperogi) September 9, 2018
9.
Kingsley, no one can see your tweet except people who follow you. Change your settings. Well, no one has codified the meaning of tribe that @DrJoeAbah used in Nigerian English. Plus, I became aware of him when someone tagged me to a tweet where he "corrected" a Nig English usage
— Farooq Kperogi (@farooqkperogi) September 9, 2018
10.
First, Igbos–and most Nigerians–no longer live in traditional society. They are not all united by blood ties nor do they speak the same dialect, and they certainly don't have one recognized leader. So even at the literal, definitional level, the word is woefully inadequate
— Farooq Kperogi (@farooqkperogi) September 10, 2018