An unexpected outcome of the [Re:]Entanglements project was the making of a 70-minute documentary film exploring one community’s re-engagement with Northcote Thomas’s photographs of men with facial scarification marks called ‘ichi’. We initially visited the town of Neni, in Anambra State, Nigeria, in December 2018 to attend the Nka Dioka Cultural Festival. The festival is organised by the Umudioka community of Neni to celebrate their remarkable cultural heritage as the traditional custodians of the art of ichi cutting.
The highly-skilled practice of making ichi scarification marks was the exclusive work of Umudioka. They constituted an itinerant ‘clan’ of surgeon-artists, who travelled throughout Igboland making the marks. The scarification was costly and often performed on boys, commissioned by their fathers. It was an ordeal, surrounded with ritual and song, that marked an important rite of passage and was a necessary step in order for the boys to go on to take various titles as they progressed through life, culminating in the most senior ozo title. Each title involved a transformation in status in the aspiration to live an ‘exemplary life’ and eventually become igbu ndiche – a great ancestor. As the ichi-cutters travelled, they would also settle in different locations, hence there are many Umudioka communities in different towns throughout Igboland, including Umudioka Neni.
“They have ichi on their foreheads!” Stills from Ichi: Marks in Time. Clockwise from top left: (1) Detail from Northcote Thomas’s photograph of Eyisi Ebulue, taken in Neni in 1911 (NWT 2267; RAI 400.15903); (2) Chief Onyukwu Raphael Udeze, grandson of Eyisi Ebulue; (3) Detail of Northcote Thomas’s photograph of “Iyiazi” taken in Agukwu Nri in 1911 showing ichi scarification patterns (NWT 2630; RAI 400.15110); (4) Photo-elicitation with one of the film’s interviewees, Ichie Lazarus Umeokolonkwo of Nanka.
Following the Nka Dioka Cultural Festival in 2018, we visited Neni on several occasions and got to know members of the community, including Chief Onyukwu Raphael Udeze (known also by his ozo title name Nze Eyisi Ebulue II) and Chief Odidika Chidolue. Northcote Thomas had photographed Chief Udeze’s grandfather when he visited Neni in 1911, and indeed it was from this grandfather – Eyisi Ebulue – that he acquired his title name. Chief Chidolue – now sadly late – was the last man in Neni to bear ichi marks. They and other members of the Umudioka community in Neni were especially interested in seeing the many photographs that Thomas made of men with ichi marks, and from this interest arose the idea of a collaboration with the [Re:]Entanglements project.
After considering various ideas, it was agreed that the collaboration would take the form of making a film together to tell the story of ichi and the Umudioka community. A significant motivation was the importance of recording the stories of the last few elderly men who had experienced the ordeal of having the scarification marks cut when they were children in the 1930s, when the practice died out due to missionary pressure. As well as Chief Chidolue in Neni, we were able to trace six other men in neighbouring towns who bore the marks. Alas, since January 2020, when we filmed interviews with them, most, if not all, have passed on to become ancestors.
The Last Men. Stills from Ichi: Marks in Time. Four of the elders who underwent the ichi scarification ordeal when they were children in the 1930s. At the time of filming, they were among the last surviving men who bore the ichi marks. Their stories are at the heart of the film. Clockwise from top left: (1) Nze Edwin Ezeokoye of Nanka; (2) Nze Umeokonkwo of Igbo Ukwu; (3) Ichie Lazarus Umeokolonkwo of Nanka; and (4) Chief Odidika Chidolue of Neni.
The film was part-funded by a charitable educational organisation, the Eyisi Ebulue Foundation, run by Chief Udeze and his family, together with the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. Udeze’s son, Chiedozie Udeze, acted as Executive Producer, while many members of community assisted in different ways, particularly with logistical matters as well as appearing in front of the camera. As with other films and video installations made as part of the [Re:]Entanglements project, such as Faces|Voices and Unspoken Stories, the film was made in partnership with The Light Surgeons and co-directed and co-edited by Paul Basu and Christopher Thomas Allen, in close association with community participants in Neni.
by George Emeka Agbo, Chijioke Onuora and Paul Basu
People of Umudioka dressed in the specially designed uniform at the Nka Dioka Cultural Festival, Neni, December 2018.
On 31 December 2018, the pavilion of the Umudioka Arts and Cultural Centre in Neni, Anambra State, Nigeria was filled by thousands of people who attended the 40th Nka Dioka Cultural Festival of Umudioka, Neni. Ndi Igwe (community leaders), titled men, and state functionaries graced the occasion. A live orchestra, cultural musical troupes (such as Egedege), and masquerades (agbogho mmonwu, otenkwu, etc.) electrified the arena with their performances. The people of Umudioka filed in in groups according to their age grades, all dressed in the same uniform designed exclusively for the occasion. The main motif repeated on this uniform comprised of a man’s face with ichi marks positioned above the tools used for the scarification, framed with the inscription ‘40th Year Nka Dioka Cultural Festival of Umudioka Community Neni’. The motif is a visual articulation of the event, giving insight into the history and culture of this town in Anambra State.
Textile design for the 40th anniversary Nka Dioka Cultural Festival.
Umudioka communities (in Neni and seven other towns among the Igbo) were historically known as specialist surgeons who carried out ichi and nki facial scarification, mbubu (body marking from neck to belly) and iwa eze (tooth filing). Among the photographs that Northcote Thomas made during his 1910-11 anthropological survey of what was then Awka District (corresponding more or less with present-day Anambra State), there are numerous portraits of people with facial and body scarification. Due to its broad social, political, and economic signification, ichi was the most common of these markings. Ichi specialists from Umudioka were invited to various towns across the region to create the marks on those who wanted them. Their clients were mainly male, although certain women, including priestesses, could also obtain the marks. Thomas wrote about the practice in his Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria.
Northcote Thomas photographs of a man named Iyiazi with ichi scarification marks, Nri, 1911. (NWT 2629 and 2930; RAI 400.15109 and 400.15110)Northcote Thomas photograph of a woman with mbubu body scarification marks, Nri, 1911. (NWT 2430; RAI 400.15311)
In the case of families of high social and economic status,ichi marks could be obtained for their children at a relatively early age. In adulthood one can also do it as an expression of one’s wealth and prestige. The ichi scarification process begins with a journey by the Nwadioka (ichi specialist from Umudioka) to the Nwa Ichi (his client). The Nwadioka is accompanied by Nwa Nso, an assistant who carries the the Nwadioka’s tool bag and prepares the ground (mat and wooden pillow) on which the Nwa Ichi lies for the marking. He is also accompanied by the Nwa Mgbado Ichi, a second assistant who holds down the Nwa Ichi’s legs on the mat while the scarification is taking place. It is, of course, painful to receive ichi marks; so, to assuage the pain during the procedure, the Nwa Ichi’s mother or wife intermittently gives him a piece of fish to eat. Words of encouragement and melodious songs are also used to soothe the pain. At the same time, the lyrics of the songs convey various messages about ichi, the dexterity and experiences of the Nwadioka, and the value of the art. Nwa Nso plays the role of a nurse for fourteen days, cleaning the cuts with warm water and administering herbs that facilitates the healing.
Implements (mma nka) used for ichi scarification. Clockwise from top left: (1) ichi knife for marking the affluent; (2) ichi kninfe for marking less affluent; (3) knife for isu nki (the short strokes on the temples and bridge of the nose); (4) knife used for itu mbubu (body marks for women).Northcote Thomas photographed this man in Achalla the day after he received ichi marks, indicating how painful it must be. It was, however, highly dishonorable to flinch during the operation. (NWT 3742 and 3743; TNA CO 1069/60)
Before the incursion of Christian missionary activity, ichi served as a means of protection for those who had the marks. For instance, they were not prone to abduction for slavery which was rampant at that time. The high value placed on ichi also made it a prerequisite for ozo title taking in most Igbo communities. In fact, ichi is seen as a sign of class stratification, not only by virtue of receiving the marks, but by the Nwa Ichi’s ability to ‘hire’ the costly implements used to make the marks. There are two types of ichi knives which do not necessarily produce different results but the use of one attracts higher payment than the other. Thus, there is an ichi knife for the highly affluent and another for the average class. When the Nwadioka completes the ichi cutting, he remits a certain percentage of his pay to the group of retired Nwadioka called Ndi Isimmanka.
In the mid-twentieth century, the ichi marking tradition was disrupted by
the expansion of Christianity, which held that it was a fetishistic practice. Following
the consequential decline, and after much controversy, the ichi tradition was, however, reinvented in Neni in 1978. From then
on, ichi marks would no longer be
received in the actual sense of cutting the skin, rather it became a symbolic
practice performed annually at the Nka Dioka Cultural Festival. We witnessed
this reinvented tradition being performed at the 40th anniversary of Nka Dioka
in Neni on 31 December 2018. Two men received the symbolic marks that day. Then
men were carried on the backs of attendants and laid on mats where the ceremony
took place. The marking ceremony was accompanied by the traditional ichi songs and the Nwa Ichi were given
fish to eat as in the original ceremony. The marking itself, however, did not
involve cutting; rather the ichi
knife merely traced the patterns on the men’s foreheads, leaving no visible
trace.
Scenes from the symbolic ichi marking ceremony at the Nka Dioka Cultural Festival, Neni, December 2018. Left: Nwa Ichi being carried on the back of an attendant; right: the symbolic cutting being performed.
Northcote Thomas was not the only ethnographer to make a study of ichi scarification among the Igbo people. The anthropologically-minded missionary, George Basden, who spent most of his career working in the Awka/Onitsha area from 1900 to 1926, discussed ichi scarification in his 1921 book Among the Ibos of Nigeria. In particular, Basden noted the important role of Umudioka (which he spelled Umu-di-awka) communities in the practice. He observed that the men of Umudioka ‘hold a sort of monopoly of the profession [of ichi cutting], and travel all over the country for the purpose’; further noting that ‘judging by the number of those bearing the ichi marks, it must be a prosperous business’ (1921: 183).
It was, however, a later Government Anthropologist, M. D. W. Jeffreys, who made a more extensive investigation of facial scarification as part of a study of ‘the magico-religious beliefs of the Umundri’. Jeffreys identified two distinct ichi patterns, one associated exclusively with Ndri, another which he termed the ‘Agbaja Pattern’. In his article, ‘The Winged Solar Disk of Ibo Itchi Facial Scarification’, published in 1951, Jeffreys provides a detailed account of ichi from a man named Nwora from Nibo, who was an old man when interviewed in 1930, when he recalled having the ichi operation in his youth. Nwora explained that the Eze Nri had told the Umudioka to cut other towns differently to Nri, and it is forbidden to use the Nri pattern elsewhere.
Figures I, II and IV from M. D. W. Jeffreys’ article ‘The Winged Solar Disk of Ibo Itchi Facial Scarification’, published in 1951. Figures I and II show the differences between the Ndri (Nri) and Agbaja ichi patterns. Figure IV shows the Ndri (Nri) pattern as it appears on the face. Compare this with Northcote Thomas’s photograph of Iyiazi taken in Nri in 1911.
Ichi patterns were not only cut into people’s forheads. The same patterns are used to decorate a wide range of objects, including wooden door panels, ancestral figures, stools, masks and pottery used for ritual purposes. Thomas photographed many such objects during his survey work, and we have also come across examples in the artefact collections he made, which are cared for by the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. We will be including a section on ichi in the [Re:]Entanglements exhibition in 2020 when we will display some of these objects alongside contemporary artwork by Chijioke Onuora, who is developing a series of batik paintings drawing on ichi motifs documented in Northcote Thomas’s photographs and collections.
Ichi patterns carved into objects in the N. W. Thomas collections at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Clockwise from top left: ‘Pot used for giving Ndicie palm wine’ from Nibo (MAA Z 13800); Ngene shrine figure from Nibo (MAA Z 14234); base of wooden ozo title stool from Awgbu (MAA Z 14011).Ichi designs on ‘uwho’ shrine figure at Nri, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911.
As can be seen in the Nka Dioka Cultural Festival in Neni, ichi is celebrated as an important part of Igbo cultural heritage – especially among Umudioka communities. In this respect it is interesting to note how Chief Odidika Chidolue (also known as Oke Iwe Adimma) is revered by the community as the only surviving man in Neni who has actual ichi marks. As a valued part of Neni’s living heritage, he receives a monthly stipend of 15,000 Naira from the Eyisi Ebuluo Foundation, which supports the preservation of local culture. In the course of our fieldwork we had the privilege of talking with Chief Odidika Chidolue as well as Nze R. O. Udeze (Eyisi Ebulue II) and Fidelis Igwilo, and were fortunate in being able to record some of their traditional ichi songs.
Video documentation of song traditionally sung during ichi marking. Performed by Chief Odidika Chidolue and Fidelis Igwilo, January 2019.Many thanks to our friends in Neni: Chief Odidika Chidolue (also known as Oke Iwe Adimma, the only surviving member of the community to have ichi scarification marks), Nze R. O. Udeze (Eyisi Ebulue II) and Fidelis Igwilo.
We look forward to continuing our research in Neni and, through the [Re:]Entanglements project, exploring other opportunities for documenting this fascinating cultural heritage for the benefit of future generations.
References Basden, G. T. (1921) Among the Ibos of Nigeria. London: Seeley, Service & Co. Jeffreys, M. D. W. (1951) ‘The Winged Solar Disk or Ibo Itchi Facial Scarification’, Africa 21(2): 93-111. Thomas, N. W. (1913) Anthropological Report on the Ibo-speaking Peoples of Nigeria, Part I: Law and Custom of the Ibo of the Awka Neighbourhood, S. Nigeria. London: Harrison & Sons.
George Agbo (right) interviewing Chiri Izu Igwilo and Odidika Chidolue in Neni, Anambra State, Nigeria. Photograph by Glory Chika-Kanu.
Field research in West Africa is an important part of the [Re:]Entanglements project. This research, which will be one of the main activities of the project’s second year, involves retracing parts of the journeys made by Northcote Thomas during his anthropological surveys in Nigeria and Sierra Leone between 1909 and 1915.
One of the objective of this fieldwork is to reconnect with the communinties that Thomas visited over 100 years ago, and, where possible, to deposit copies of Thomas’s photographs, sound recordings and other archival materials with the descendants of those he documented. The historical archives and collections provide a medium through which to build relationships in the present. As well as ‘repatriating’ the archive, we are learning a great deal more about its content. The photographs, sound recordings and material culture collections are remarkably well contextualised compared with other ethnographic archives, but still there is much we don’t know. The return of the photographs and sound recordings provide occasions for telling the history of the settlement or community, explaining what is going on in a particular scene, or indeed correcting errors in Thomas’s documentation.
Paul Basu (left) conducting fieldwork with elders, including David Ormoruyi Egonmwan and Ekhaguosa Aisien, at Idunmwowina, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Photograph by George Agbo.
In our initial travels with these archives, we have found, of course, that much has changed in the areas in which Thomas worked a century ago. Places that were villages surrounded by forests have become neighbourhoods in conurbations. Thatched, mud-brick houses have been replaced by concrete and glass. Christian churches have often supplanted local shrines and traditional religious practices. And yet the continuities are also striking. Older members of the community still recall the old buildings from their youth; the names of photographed ancestors are known – a family resemblance is detected their descendants’ faces; the sacred grove is still somehow sacred.
Iyowa elders, including Mr James Aigbuza and Ambassador Etiuosa Ighodaro, pictured with their respective forebears Agbuza (NWT 1250), Idodaio (NWT 1244) and Odiaisi (NWT 1246). Photographs by Paul Basu.
We will post longer accounts of our fieldwork here on the project blog, but please also follow our progress by joining the project Facebook Group, where we post more frequent updates.
Represencing the past
Ghosts of past landscapes? Idunmwowina on the outskirts of Benin City. While Idunmwowina has changed much in the 110 years since Northcote Thomas visited with his camera, we were able to locate many of the exact locations he photographed. Here, for example, is Thomas’s photograph of the gate that once marked the entrance to the town superimposed on the scene as it appears today. Photographs by N. W. Thomas (NWT 332, RAI 15494) and Paul Basu.
Continuity and change
Agukwu Nri, Anambra State, Nigeria – Then and Now. Much has changed in the 108 years since N. W. Thomas visited Agukwu Nri, but there are many continuities too. Here, for example, is the Nri town crier of 1911, whose name Thomas recorded as Nriaka, and Edechi Chidokwe, who is the Nri town crier today. The wooden gong they carry is called ekwe ogbo in Igbo, and today they are often inscribed with the name of the owner’s age grade. Photographs by N. W. Thomas (NWT 2671, RAI 15167) and Paul Basu.
Eke Market, Agukwu Nri in 1911 and today. Photographs by N. W. Thomas (NWT 2240, RAI 15841) and Paul Basu.
