Publication Information The main body of the Publication Information page contains all the metadata that HRAF holds for that document.
Author: Author's name as listed in Library of Congress records
Achebe, Chinwe
Title:
The world of the Ogbanje
Published By: Original publisher
Enugu, Nigeria: Fourth Dimension Publishers. 1986. iv, 68
p. ill.
By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication
by Chinwe Achebe
HRAF Publication Information: New Haven, Conn.:
Human Relations Area Files, 2003. Computer File
Culture: Culture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC) with the alphanumberic OWC identifier in parenthesis.
Igbo (FF26)
Subjects: Document-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Magical and mental therapy (755);
Religious beliefs (770);
Magicians and diviners (791);
Congregations (794);
Ethnopsychology (828);
Abstract: Brief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Ogbanje is a 'personality disorder' that describes someone
who is not true to their god-given nature and talents, in spite of an excess of good
attributes. Ogbanje can be extraordinarily handsome or beautiful, achieve meteoric success,
but die prematurely without making any lasting mark. They are believed to be part human and
part spirit; their fate entwined with one of two spirits who intercepted them at birth and
renegotiated their fate to include serving them in the world. In exchange they are given
fame, wealth, or beauty, but always a short life. Achebe reviews the Igbo cosmology,
creation myths, and the concept of CHI, which is the divine, creative spark imbued in
persons by the supreme deity CHI UKWA. NNE MMIRI and ONABULUWA are the spirits whose pacts
contradict a person's CHI and create the alienated personality of the ogbanje.
Document Number: HRAF's in-house numbering system derived from the processing order of documents
37
Document ID: HRAF's unique document identifier. The first part is the OWC identifier and the second part is the document number in three digits.
ff26-037
Document Type: May include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs or chapters/parts of monographs.
Monograph
Language: Language that the document is written in
English
Note:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68)
Field Date: The date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1982
Evaluation: In this alphanumeric code, the first part designates the type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigene, and so on. The second part is a ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data
Psychologist-4, 5
Analyst: The HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection.
Ian Skoggard ; 2001
Coverage Date: The date or dates that the information in the document pertains to (often not the same as the field date).
1982
Coverage Place: Location of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Anambra State, Nigeria
LCSH: Library of Congress Subject Headings
Igbo (African people)
