Do you hear me? It is me, Akiga: 'Akiga's story' and Akiga Sai's 'History'

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Periodical article

Title:	Do you hear me? It is me, Akiga: 'Akiga's story' and Akiga Sai's 'History'
Author:	Fardon, Richard
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Africa: Journal of the International African Institute (ISSN 0001-9720)
Volume:	85
Issue:	4
Pages:	572-598
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	Tiv intellectuals writers biography
About person:	Akiga Sai
External link:	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0001972015000595
Abstract:	The publication of a new translation of Akiga Sai's History of the Tiv invites reappraisal of Akiga himself as a local intellectual. This essay presents a biographical account of this early Tiv convert to Christianity, locating his celebrated History in its social, cultural, ethnic and historical contexts, and presents a provisional narrative of his career subsequent to the publication of Akiga's Story, the version of the History edited by Rupert East. As such, it is intended as an invitation to a full biography. The essay reconstructs, insofar as sources permit, the complex relationship between Akiga, East, the Dutch Reformed Church Mission and the International African Institute that led to the publication of Akiga's Story in the form known until now, comparing that version with the complete translation. Akiga's History emerges from this re-examination as a compellingly contemporary narrative engaged with the lived experience of ethnic identification under colonial rule. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French [Journal abstract]