Omalyce : an ethnography of the Ikwaye view of the cosmos

Abstract

This ethnographic interpretation of the Ikwaye view of the cosmos is based on the following presuppositions: a) human experience of the world as a whole (cosmos) is an a priori ontological fact ; b) a view of the cosmos is a cultural construct expressing the metaphysical conception human beings have of their relation with the social and natural world. For the Ikwaye the cosmos is an anthropomorphic realm envisaged as the body of the male creator Omalyce. The main focus of the thesis is the interpretation of the nature of this conception both as a tacit dimension of everyday life existence and as a more articulate view expressed by one gifted informant. I further show that the Ikwaye view of the cosmos legitimates the ideology of male primacy in the procreation and perpetuation of life . The Ikwaye cosmological notions are tacit and generated through the mythopoeic process. This process is interpreted as a dimension of the Ikwaye lived experience of the world. Since the Ikwaye view of the cosmos is not a structured body of knowledge - an explicit cosmology - I emphasize my active role as an ethnographer in rendering explicit the meanings of their experience of the world. In this task I am guided by phenomenology and hermeneutics. The key concepts in the Ikwaye view of the cosmos are the macrocosmos, microcosmos, and autogenesis. Show more