Don calls on Ndigbo to be broad-minded in self-determination

The Ndi-Igbo have been called upon to be critical and broad-minded in their creativity and self-determination narratives.

Director of the Menkiti Institute for Comparative Global Studies, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, Prof. Uchenna  Okeja made the call at the Igbo Studies Association (ISA) 19th Annual International Conference and Meeting which was held recently.

The call, the Don said, is imperative because “when survival eclipses the task of meaning-making, no one survives”.

Professor Okeja was speaking on the importance of stories in the formation of human identity and culture on a lecture themed “Onye Aghana Nwanne Ya: Everyone Counts,” at the three-day virtual event of intellectual engagement and interaction of the USA-based association to foster active collaboration among academics and professionals towards the promotion and advancement of Igbo society, culture, language, and history.

The conference enabled the participants to deepen their discourse on inclusiveness and equality, “in the spirit that everyone counts, that we are equal not only in the eyes of God, but also in the classical Igbo democratic spirit”.

ISA President, Prof. Chielozona Eze in his welcome remarks implored members to work together for peace in Nigeria which “has been going through turbulent and violent times” lately in Igboland”.

The program director at Social Science Research Council, New York, USA, Dr. Cyril Obi and Ihechukwu Madubuike gave the keynote lecture and the featured lecture, respectively, “Concept, Creativity and Meaningful Life,”

The academics, independent scholars, and students who participated in the virtual conference from three continents – Africa, Europe, and North America – delivered different papers on history, literature, linguistics, media and communication, cinema and theater, African studies, and religious studies, among others.

Meanwhile, the association has announced that its 20th International Conference will hold in May 2023 at the Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois, USA.