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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:An Igbo Esperanto: A History of the Union Ibo Bible, 1900-1950
Author:Fulford, Ben
Year:2002
Periodical:Journal of Religion in Africa
Volume:32
Issue:4
Pages:457-501
Language:English
Geographic term:Nigeria
Subjects:Bible
translation
African languages
Igbo
Igbo language
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Religion and Witchcraft
History and Exploration
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581603
Abstract:The Union Ibo Bible was more or less the Bible for the Igbo people of southern Nigeria from 1909 to 1970. The creation of Thomas Dennis of the Church Missionary Society and his co-workers, it has been, since its first conception in 1905, a source of ongoing controversy: the development and unification of the Igbo language was at stake. This article reexamines the history of this Bible, its conception, translation and early reception, and argues that the source of its short-comings lies deeper than the method of translation or the contemporary Igbo desire to learn English. The Union Bible is the product of the missionary conception, fleshed out by a comparison with the Yoruba, of a single Igbo people speaking a single language. The failure of that translation is the result of the premise consequent to this conception of the Igbo, namely that the Igbo language was ready to be 'united'. Bibliogr., ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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