Nigerian Gods

Nigerian Gods is an enlightening and sobering review of the impact of the introduction of the three main Abrahamic religions on Nigeria's traditional religions, culture and way of life, viewed through the prism of its eleven largest and two of the smallest ethnic groups. Kome Otobo, gives here a factual and acute description and presentation of the main characteristics of the major ethnic groups in Nigeria - historical background and socio-political structures, demography, traditional religions, differing impacts of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and major occupations and modes of existence - which should serve to propel all to a fuller assessment of the complexities of the directions which a Post-Covid-19 World is tending rapidly, ethnically and racially exploited differences jumping to the fore to question erstwhile dominant political ideologies and political arrangements based on them.

"The texts of this book are a collection of legends, stories, incantations and prayers, secretly guarded by the oracle-priests, the babalawo. These texts are treating with wisdom all events and problems which occur in the daily life of the Yoruba. The babalawo ask the oracle for solution of problems, treatment of sickness, repairing of misfortune or advice for the future. The stories give the answer of the gods to the questioner. The babalawo uses a special system of convex and concave signs which is explained in this book to interpret the stories. The book offers more than seventy-one stories and hundred-twenty incantations which are used by the priests. The texts present a large knowledge about the mentality of the Yoruba and reflect the magnific ethical background of an old and great African religious tradition - before its partial destruction by the confrontation between the African und European civilisations. About the author: Dr. Christoph Staewen, born in 1926, a German medical doctor, is specialist of psychiatry, neurology and psychotherapy. In 1963 he began to study in Western Nigeria, amongst the people of Yoruba, the conditions of uprooting of these Africans caused by the increasing confrontation with the technical civilisation of the ""White Man"", and provoking more and more reactions of anxiety and deformations of behaviour. In Nigeria he received texts of the famous, secret Ifa-oracle. Later he worked for more than six years as all-round-doctor for Africans in Niger, Congo-Brazzaville and Tschad, where he continued his research on African psychology. "

From a disciple of the late Chinua Achebe comes a masterful and universally acclaimed novel that is at once a taut, literary thriller and an indictment of greed’s power to subsume all things, including the sacred. Foreign Gods, Inc., tells the story of Ike, a New York-based Nigerian cab driver who sets out to steal the statue of an ancient war deity from his home village and sell it to a New York gallery. Ike's plan is fueled by desperation. Despite a degree in economics from a major American college, his strong accent has barred him from the corporate world. Forced to eke out a living as a cab driver, he is unable to manage the emotional and material needs of a temperamental African American bride and a widowed mother demanding financial support. When he turns to gambling, his mounting losses compound his woes. And so he travels back to Nigeria to steal the statue, where he has to deal with old friends, family, and a mounting conflict between those in the village who worship the deity, and those who practice Christianity. A meditation on the dreams, promises and frustrations of the immigrant life in America; the nature and impact of religious conflicts; an examination of the ways in which modern culture creates or heightens infatuation with the "exotic," including the desire to own strange objects and hanker after ineffable illusions; and an exploration of the shifting nature of memory, Foreign Gods is a brilliant work of fiction that illuminates our globally interconnected world like no other.