Historiography of Igbo Migrations and Diaspora

Abstract

Migration is a universal phenomenon in the history of mankind as people have continued to move from one place to another perhaps for some socio-political and economic reasons. It may appear on the surface that the search for explanations of migration, as a social process, is a search for the obvious, yet historians and scholars of migration studies are still struggling to arrive at a consensus on the explanation of this concept and its changing dimensions. As a social process, migration discourse requires more than just a peripheral examination. There is then a need to look at the various dimensions and trends associated with this phenomenon. It is apparent that most migrations in Africa, and to an extent the world, are usually explained on economic and political forces, yet there are other dimensions and reasons why people leave their homes for another. Migration discourse therefore must seek to explain three inter-related issues; why people leave their homes for another, how they identified and see themselves in their host societies, and most importantly, why this phenomenon is a recurrent one.

Historians have sought the explanation of migration using the push and pull factors.^[1] The push postulates that there are detracting factors that pushes people away from their homelands to another. The pull factors are those attractions that draw prospective migrants to a place. These might be economic, environmental, political and other social issues. From the studies reviewed below, the major pattern of migration include the rural-urban, and Diaspora migrations. They could be classified as internal and external migration. Scholarship on Igbo and Nigerian migration  has tended to focus on the ‘why’ of migration laying much emphasis on economic explanations of voluntary  internal and external migrations in the area, thereby  paying less attention, if at all, on forced migration. Some historians subscribe to the argument that people used the political disturbances in Nigeria as a subterfuge to achieve their economic and social desire to migrate to more developed societies. The discussions on Igbo and Nigerian migrations outside the country also changed from explanations and justifications of migration to issues like ethnic identity formation of Igbo and Nigerian groups at their host societies and Diaspora discourse.

This paper will examine migration dimension in Igboland, Nigeria and Africa in historical perspective and relate it to the contemporary global context. It argues that less attention has been paid to Igbo migration historiography on forced migrations especially the emigrants displaced as a result of political strife during and immediately after the Nigerian/Biafran war.

[1] Chukwuemeka Onwubu, Etnic Identity, Political  Integration  and national Development, The  Igbo Diaspora in Nigeria”, Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 18. No.3.1973..403