Ekwensu

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Ekwnesu is the Igbo language word for the "Devil." Ekwensu is believed to be an opposite or countervailing force to Chukwu (God).

In parallel to Chukwu, Ekwensu is believed to have, and to exercise power over, a hierarchical structure of minor deities and spirits. However, unlike Chukwu's forces, Ekwensu is said to be interested only in accomplishing evil deeds in the world. Although deities and spirits may be said to be under the influence of Ekwensu, the moral responsibility for evils that actually occur in the world are always attributed to individuals. This is because Igbo religion, like many African Traditional Religion, conceives of "evil" as essentially moral (e.g., what humans do) rather than natural (e.g., earthquake). Ekwensu's forces can tempt persons to evil deeds, but it is assumed that a person with virtuously educated conscience can successfully resist the temptation.

The incorrect translation of the Christian Devil as the conceptual equivalent of the Igbo heroic deity, Ekwensu, when in actual fact the Igbo cosmology has no provision for any deity or spirit force that stands as challenger to the Almighty God. This translational error has caused many Igbo families who answered to the name Ekwensu to change their reverred ancestral names which with the advent of Christianity into Igboland were soon labelled "devilish". The attempt to classify genres of traditional verbal arts among the Igbo has also led to some conceptual confusions, where the practices of translation from Igbo to English has led to ontological gerrymandering of Igbo thought systems.

[edit] Further reading

• Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (New York: Doubleday, 1993).
• Damian U. Opata. Haunted Ontologies: Translation and Trauma in Postcolonial Igbo Society of Southeastern Nigeria.