Order for Masks
First and foremost this paper endeavors to appreciate the piece of poetry written by Virginia Moreno. Without having any knowledge regarding the author’s life and time, this paper will try to stand on its own as an entity in itself. It is worthy to note that, a lot of patience for the critic as well as for the evaluator is needed to fully understand the meaning of this poem. After the first reading of the poem, I could only grasp how ambiguous the poem could get.
This narrative poem written in free verse speaks about a persona who wears a mask to portray certain as a task to the three men in her life. The narration of the female persona talks to Billiken which is actually a charm doll that represents the “no worry ideal”. The persona asks Billiken to order three masks: the first one is for her brother, the second one to the father and the last one to her lover which will be discussed further in this paper later on to this harlequinade. From the first line, the word harlequinade is to be given emphasis to construct the premise of this paper.
From the term itself, harlequinade is a type of theatrical performance piece which dates back to England in the mid 18th century. Harlequinade could represent what the persona is trying to do which is acting like a clown or buffoon which builds up the idea in line two which says: I wear black tights and fools cap. This means to say that the persona is like trying to play the role of Harlequin who plays the principal part in this play. In the Harlequinade, his everlasting high-spirits and cleverness work to saves him from several difficult situations which his behavior gets him into during the course of the play. But he never holds a grudge or seeks revenge. Hence, as an actor in a harlequinade, the actor needs to have a mask which is stated in line three: 3Billiken, make me three masks Masks connotatively mean a covering worn on the face for protection or disguise.
Why need masks
This suggests that the persona wants to hide something. She wanted to create a new personality through the use of the mask. 4 For the three tasks in my life 5 Three faces to wear 6 One after the other 7 For the three men in my life Each face corresponds to a task that the persona has to perform. Each task requires a corresponding personality for the three men. 8 When my brother comes 9 Make me one opposite 10 If he is devil, a saint 11 With a staff to his fork 12 And for his horns, a crown Lines 8-9 conditions that the mask she needed for her task to her brother must be of opposite personality to her sibling which further strengthened by lines 10-12 that the persona wanted to be of extreme paradox to her brother. 13 I hope by contrast 14 To make nil 15 Our old resemblance to each other Accordingly, lines 13-15 express the persona’s desire to erase her resemblance to her brother.
Thus, when her brother escorts him, his brother will face other people blissful and assured that she’s not a threat to him anymore. 16 And my twin will walk me out It is noticeable in line 16 that the persona used the term twin as allusion to her brother. Perhaps they were really not twins. But this line somehow implies that twin is used to signify that like twins who are in nature born with similar characteristics, each twin would always want to be distinguished from the other. The same thing is applied why the persona wanted to be different from her brother.
In line 16 also, the phrase ‘will walk me out’ will appear again on the following stanzas signifying that the object of the persona will escort her out facing other people. 17 Without a frown 18 Pretending I am another However the last two lines of the stanza (lines 17-18) could mean that the brother is happy that he will not resemble like his sister anymore but ironically, he is not proud. Perhaps it is because of the reason that no matter how they try to be different from each other, they cannot erase the fact that they are brothers and sisters.
Hence, the irony arises that the persona’s attempt to please her brother is futile. 19 When my father comes 20 Make me one so like 21 His child once eating his white bread in trance 22 Philomela before she was raped The second mask of the persona is for her father. From lines 19 to 22, the desire to have the mask designed with a face of innocence, naive and childlike. However, line 21 could mean that the child is in a state of complete mental absorption or deep musing. Seemingly in line 22, Philomela is used again as an allusion to represent the personality that the persona wanted to be like.
In Greek Mythology, Philomela was raped by her sister’s husband, Tereus. The Philomela being referred to in the poem is the one that is virginal, pure and unadulterated. 23 I hope by likeness 24 To make him believe this is the same kind 25 The chaste face he made 26 And my blind Lear will walk me out 27 Without a word 28 Fearing to peer behind In lines 23-25, the persona expresses her yearning towards being like a child she once was. And on line 26, the father this time is compared to King Lear from Shakespeare’s drama—an aging King of Britain whose downfall was caused by his daughters.
That is why, in lines 26-28, we can see that her father fears to peer behind because he is afraid that his child would also cause his downfall. Again line 26 shows the phrase ‘will walk me out’ which portends that the persona’s attempt to please her father is futile. .29If my lover comes 30Yes, when my seducer comes 31Make me the face 32That will in colors race 33The carnival stars 34And change in shape 35 Under his grasping hands The third mask is for the third man in her life—her love and seducer.
It is noticeable that line 30 is stated in a way as if the persona is really talking to the addressee. And this time, the mask that the persona wanted is a mask fit for a carnival. That is, a mask that would reflect a happy face. However in lines 34-35, the persona wants to make it appear that the lover is in control. She wants the lover to think that the he is still manipulating her but in reality the persona is the one who is in control by making a face that will make him believe she is the person he wanted her to be. 6Make it bloody 37When he needs it white 38Make it wicked in the dark 39Let him find no old mark 40 Make it stone to his suave touch 41This magician will walk me out, 42 Newly loved 43 Not knowing why my tantalizing face 44Is strangely like the mangled parts of a face 45 He once wiped out In this fifth line, the “it” being referred to from line 36-40 perhaps is not the mask anymore but rather the face she’s hiding behind the mask. This goes to show that the face behind the mask is a face without any pretensions.
Line 39 means that the persona is deceiving the lover without his knowledge. It only appears to the lover that he is still the one manipulating her. Line 40 suggests that the face is stern to his caresses and foolishness. And again, as expressed in line 41 that the lover ‘will walk me out’ as ‘newly loved’. Meaning, the lover will escort her as if she has no past. That is why the magician is used as an allusion to the lover who projects a remarkable image to people but in reality a magician fools people with magic his tricks.
Lines 43-45 support the idea that the face behind the mask (the mangled face) is the real face that the persona has and is also the face that the lover has erased from her. ‘He once wiped out’ the true being and identity of the persona. But the irony again lies on the fact that the persona—no matter how hard she tries to create an image to her lover to please him, she cannot deny that deep inside her is a ruined. Finally, the last line of the poem ‘Make me three masks’ gives a feeling that the persona is begging the addressee that she wanted to have the three masks to give herself dignity in her identity.
What plays inside our mind now is the question of why is there a need for the persona to please these three men in her life who are suppose to be close to her and understand the face behind the mask. Siblings should be like best friends not competitor. A father should be the protector not the one disowns her own daughter. And the lover, he is the one who is suppose to make her feel loved and make her feel safe to be herself. Thus the futility of woman’s task to man is evident.
We saw the woman’s task as a sister to his brother as a threat to her masculinity, to her father as an omen to his downfall and to her lover as someone who is being manipulated like a thing. It’s not the poems ambiguous complexities that make this poem a masterpiece but rather the beauty of all the symbols penned magnificently and combined to tell us its message. Having said all that, we see now the central irony of the poem that the real identity of a person no matter how much she tries to conceal it from the people around her, the face is what is important. Indeed, a woman’s grief cannot be hidden under a colorful mask.
Organization Theory Research Paper
Organization theory is about ideas and principles that flow within an association on how work can be done by investigating through different perspective. It is important to study organization as improvements can be carried out to make sure organizations are performing efficiently through developing the organizations structure and mission statement. (Developing an enabling organisational culture, changing organisational culture. ). (See Apendix A for some applications of organizational Theory).
There are three major perspectives-modernism, symbolic interpretive, and postmodernism to look at organisation which provide broad frameworks to guide our thinking and research. In this essay paper, an effort has been made in discussing how the three perspectives assist us in achieving more comprehensive understanding of complex organisation phenomena- culture within organisation. Organization culture has been defined very differently in the literature. All definition agrees that organizational culture has something to do with the people in the organization, their relations with each other and their thoughts.
Some academics stress the uniqueness of each organization’s culture. Organizational culture is a popular but also a very complex concept that has been identified as an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizations. Culture is a very versatile concept, and there are many controversies in both defining and applying it. Therefore, this paper reviews different perspection of organizational culture. (Hatch 2006). Modernists are objectivists who focus on reality of knowledge which is build based upon the conceptualization and the theorization.
There is always lucid definitions on how thing occur, often through the use of data that are collected from tools of measurement, quantitative data. For example, a company earns profits based on the CEO’s ability to make right decisions while investing the money. Hatch and Cunliffe stated that the data which modernists recognize are from the five senses, through what they see, heard, touch, smell and tasted (Hatch and Cunliffe, 2006). The theories and thought of modernist period of management are set against a background of great economic, political and technological change.
For example, there was a great political upheaval caused by the first and second world wars and the great depression of 1929 where national governments were trying to isolate themselves from any fluctuations and effect from international trade. Interestingly enough, managers of business took a similar attitude by trying to isolate their business to outside forces. They treated their businesses as a closed system of operation. This meant external forces operating outside the business such as competitive forces or government changes did not influence the owner’s decision regard to the business. Nixon 2003). In business context, modernist has supported the rationalization of organizational practices, as reflected in management research since the writings of early pioneers such as Max Weber and Frederick Taylor. (Miller 2009). The focus of modernist is always for effectiveness and effeciency. The rational modern mind is trained for ‘progress’, both scientifically and productively. (Mills, Terry, Boylstein, Craig & Lorean, S 2001). Modernist tend to deal with results or organized states rather than complex social processes. Chia 1995). Modernists assume that behavior of individual at work is significantly determined by values, or attitudes, or beliefs, that they hold, and that they can share it with others. Thus behavior of the workforce can therefore be changed to managerial ends by changing their underpinning shared attitudes. (Cooke 1999). Schein describes organization culture as “a pattern of basic assumptions” while Lorsch writes that it is “the shared beliefs top managers in a company have about how they should manage”.
Schein (1984) has graded the things that make up culture from the invisible and preconscious to the more visible. The organizational culture has its roots in basic assumptions about the world, which is manifested in beliefs, values and attitudes. (Lundberg 2008). Schein is recognized as one of the most influential writers on corporate culture. Schein interprets the ‘historical factors’ concerning the origins of cultures through ‘group and leadership theory’ (1985: 148-150).
As a result, he imposes a preordained structure on to the history of organizational cultures, namely the story of a founder. As Schultz (1995: 25) points out, rather than study the specific histories of organizations, Schein invokes psychological theories of ‘the psychodynamic makeup of leaders’ (1985: 172). He uses these to paint an idealised picture of how ‘organizations begin to create cultures through the actions of founders’ (Schein 1985: 221). This rests on an assumption that ‘culture and leadership are really two sides of the same coin (Michael & Stephen 1999).
Modernist believes that there is a positive correlation between organizational performance and the strength of corporate culture. For them, strong organizational culture is getting people to agree. An example of modernist perspective organization would be McDonalds. Workers in a McDonald’s restaurant are given a tight job description with clearly defined `movements? , which also includes guidelines what to say to customers. Modernist therefore, focuses a lot on leader’s power on understanding culture in the organization to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness. (Sedtke, D 2009).
Symbolic-interpretivists are willing to extend the definition of empirical reality to include forms of experience that lie outside the reach of the five senses, as do emotion and intuition. As a result of this subjectivity, their findings cannot be easily replicated by others. The commitment these researchers make is to be true to their personal experience and to honor the accounts and explanations made by others. What is more, symbolic interpretivists focus on meaning and understanding as it occurs in particular contexts; consequently their findings should not be generalized beyond the context in which they were produced. Hatch 2006). Organizational symbolism was associated with increasing disillusionment with quantitative methods in organization studies, which encouraged researchers to separate themselves from the phenomena that made up organizational life and spend limited time in organizations to collect their data. This is because ethnographic research is the product of a relationship between the researcher, the research community, and the actors in the organization being studied, and the role of the researcher ‘in such a relationship, cannot be a passive one.
Organizational symbolists maintain that ‘detached objectivity in organizational research is largely a myth and that a genuine ‘social science perspective is an interpretive framework that is subjectively imposed on the process of collecting and analyzing cultural data. The recognition that ‘the person’ of the researcher is ‘part of the interpretive process results in a subjective style of writing whereby the author is necessarily present in some sense.
Ultimately, this can lead to autobiography rather than ethnography, where the interest is in capturing the author’s unique experience of a culture, rather than a reliable description of it. (Michael & Stephen 1999). While organizational culture tends to be mostly tacit and autonomous and rooted in shared practices, symbolic interpretivist thinks that organizational identity is inherently relational which in that requires external terms of comparison and self consciously self reflexive(Fiol et al. , 1998; Hatch & Schultz, 2000, 2002; Pratt, 2003).
According to Fiol (1991), organizational identities, then, provide the context within which member interprets and assign profound meaning to surface-level behavior. Taking seriously the idea that organizational culture acts as a context for sense making efforts, later contributions have underlined how these efforts also include attempts at internal self-definitions (Hatch & Schultz, 2002): ‘Identity involves how we define and experience ourselves, and this is atleast partly influenced by our activities and belief, which are grounded in and interpreted using cultural assumptions and values.
These contributions have emphasized the interrelatedness of organizational identity and culture that manifest as organizational members draw on organizationalculture, as well as on other meaning-making systems such as, professional culture, national culture, etc. ,to define “who we are as an organization” (Fiol et al. ,1998; Hatch & Schultz, 2002). With this emphasis,these scholars have converged with proponents of asocial actor perspective in advancing the idea thatorganizational culture supplies members with cuesfor making sense of what their organization is about—and for “giving sense” of it as well. Ravasi & Schultz 2006). Symbolic interpretivist does not only look at companies’ performance but their main concern is how people come together in organizational culture. They believe that taking part in organizational life and culture is like fulfilling a part in a theatrical play. Organizational symbolism is associated with the view of social theorists that if we are to understand social reality we need to be less concerned with prediction and more with the meanings and interpretations of actors who help to constitute social phenomena such as organizations.
Organizational symbolists are adamant that culture is not the key to predicting the success of organizations. (Rowlinson & Procter 1999). Symbolic interpretivist thinks that if we understand culture and cultural meaning of behaviours, verbal and nonverbal communication, symbols and objects, we come to understand ourselves, others, and our interaction with others more fully. This knowledge can enable organization to engage more effectively with diverse cultures within an external to organizations.
Example of an organization from symbolic view would be Google. The company is famous for its youthful and informal cultureThe influence of this perspective can be viewed by just looking at their corporate philosophy which is ‘You can be serious without a suit’. . The company actively nurtures this culture by e. g. having shared offices. And it clearly yields results – Google is valued at 5 million dollars per employee. (Lundberg 2008).
Postmodernism diverges from the other two perspectives in its unwillingness to seek Truth or to make permanent ontological or epistemological commitments such as those that give rise to modernist forms of scientific endeavor or to symbolic-interpretive descriptions of meaning and human meaning making activity. Seen from these other perspectives, postmodernists seem to flit between philosophical positions. They often refuse to take even a temporary philosophical stand because they believe that doing so privileges some forms of knowledge over others and this violates postmodern ethics. (Hatch 2006).
Whereas modernist philosophers had invoked skepticism in a way that ultimately served to bolster knowledge claims, postmodernists surfaced and criticized unchallenged assumptions within the modernist approach, rejecting aspirations to objectivity and certainty in knowledge and rationality. . (Miller 2009). (see appendix B for modern versus postmodern principles of management). In common with organizational symbolism, post-modernism is associated with the introduction into organizational culture studies of disciplines such as linguistics, psychoanalysis, anthropology, literary criticism, and history.
Foucault’s (1972) influence underlines the realization that concepts such as ‘organization’ and ‘culture’ refer not to objects but to linguistic constructs. Attention to discourse suggests that even if researchers who are interested in ‘culture’ do not appear to ‘have very much in common. organizational culture studies can still be considered as part of the same ‘discursive formation’. (Michael & Stephen 1999). Two of the major influences on post-modernism in history has been White and Foucault (Munslow 1997).
White is associated with the stream in postmodernism that ‘is informed by a programmatic, if ironic, commitment to the return to narrative as one of its enabling presuppositions’ (1987: xi). Post-modernism has shifted the emphasis away from seeing archival research as the historian’s craft towards a view that it is the conventions and customs of writing that constitute the craft of history (White 1995: 243). (Michael & Stephen 1999). Example of postmodern application in organization is Disney World’s monorail is perhaps the best-known monorail system in North America.
Disney world is the ultimate showcase for postmodernism and postmodern society because of the way it uses simulation to create the illusion we can overcome the limits of time and space, self and society. Disney World also invites visitors to escape the fallen state of society and the self. (Disney world) In conclusion, all the three perspectives are important in undestanding the complex organization culture. All three perspectives has to be used in order to be both efficient and socially responsible.
Modernist perspective is important for the survival of the company, symbolic interpretive is important to make people work together in a team and to understand each other, and finally postmodernist perspective is important to be socially responsible and to protect the bottom line workers from top management’s power. 1987 Words References Chia, R 1995, ‘From Modernism to Postmodernism Organizational Analysis’, Organization Studies, Vol. 16 Issue 4, p579, EBSCO. Cooke, B 1999, ‘Writing The Left out of Organizational Theory: The historiography pf Management of Change’, Organization, Vol. , No. 1, p81-105, Sage. Hatch, M, J 2006, ‘What is Organizational Theory’, Organizational Theory, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Lundberg, J 2008, ‘Nature and Substance of Organizational Culture’, viewed 20 January 2010, http://users. ox. ac. uk/~sedm3306/essays/organization-culture. pdf. Michael, R, Stephen, P 1999, ‘Organizational Culture and Business History’,Organization Studies, vol. 20: pp. 369 – 396. Miller, K, D 2009, ‘Organization Risk After Modernism’, Organization Studies ,Vol. 30 Issue 2/3, p157-180, Sage. Mills, Terry,L.
Boylstein, Craig,A, Lorean, S 2001, ‘Doing organization Culture in Saturn Corporation’, Organization Studies, Vol. 22 Issue 1, p118, EBSCO. Nixon, L 2003, ‘ Management Theories- an Historical perspective’, EBSCO. Ravasi, D, Scultz, M 2006, ‘Responding to Organization Identity Threats: Exploring The Role of Organizational Culture’, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 49, No. 3, 433–458, Sedtke, V 2009, ‘What does “Critical Thinking” represent? A Discussion’, Occasional Working Paper Series, Vol. 1, Issue 2. Appendix A Table 1. 1 Some applications of organization theory Strategy/Finance
Those who want to improve the value of a company need to know how to organize to achieve organizational goals; those who want to monitor and control performance will need to understand how to achieve results by structuring activities and designing organizational processes. Marketing Marketers know that to create a successful corporate brand they need to get the organization behind the delivery of its promise; a thorough understanding of what an organization is and how it operates will make their endeavors to align the organization and its brand strategy more feasible and productive. Information technology
The way information flows through the organization affects work processes and outcomes, so knowing organization theory can help IT specialists identify, understand and serve the organization’s informational needs as they design and promote the use of their information systems. Operations Value chain management has created a need for operations managers to interconnect their organizing processes with those of suppliers, distributors and customers; organization theory not only supports the technical aspects of operations and systems integration, but explains their socio-cultural aspects as well.
Human resources Nearly everything HR specialists do from recruiting to compensation has organizational ramifications and hence benefits from knowledge provided by organization theory; organizational development and change are particularly important elements of HR that demand deep knowledge of organizations and organizing, and organization theory can provide content for executive training programs. Communication
Corporate communication specialists must understand the interpretive processes of organizational stakeholders and need to address the many ways in which different parts of the organization interact with each other and the environment, in order to design communication systems that are effective or to diagnose ways existing systems are misaligned with the organization’s need. Source: Hatch, M, J 2006, ‘What is Organizational Theory’, Organizational Theory, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Appendix B [pic] Source: Nixon, L 2003, ‘ Management Theories- an Historical perspective’, EBSCO.
The Tiv Concept Of A Good Man: An Essay In African Ethicst
INTRODUCTION
Obviously, the concept Goodman calls to mind the knowledge of ethics. It tries to draw the attention of every one to the ethical theories, in relation to value placement. These theories such as Hedonism, utilitarianism Epicureanism, eudemonism to mention a few, evolve around the consideration of what is good to be done and acceptable and what is evil or bad to be avoided and rejected. Thus, in Tiv conception, what is bad is regarded as “kwagh u bo”. He who does what is good is said to be “or u dedoo” (Goodman) or “or u eren kwagh u dedoo”.
The knowledge of what is good “dedoo” or “doo” is concluded with the generic experience of the people. The yardstick is thus what is generally accepted as “doo”. The knowledge of what is bad-“ubo” is also guaranteed within the prerequisite of generic experience of the people. To this effect Anshi observed that, “that which is generally rejected as “u bo” (bad) stands as abominable within the Tiv society (52). It is on the above notion that this paper tends to discuss the Tiv concept of Goodman bringing out the qualities in question, taking cognizance of the African ethical perspectives.
AFRICAN TRADITIONAL MORAL VALUES
Obviously, the term moral, etymologically is derived from Greek “ethos or ethikos” meaning character or manners. The above etymologies suggest that the ethic refers to one’s own relationship to his and other manners or customs. Moral deal with the question of what is right and good, and what is wrong and evil in human conduct. Thus, just like other races, African peoples have a deep sense of right and wrong.
In one of his writings mbiti postulates that people have produced customs, rules, laws, traditions and taboos which can be observed in each society” (175). In as much as African world view is concerned, their moral values embedded in the system of behavior and conduct. According to African belief system, the individual does not have an independent moral conscience of his own, so to say. His moral consciousness is tied to the laid down traditional precepts of the society. As long as he obeys them he is considered a good man. This he enjoys the benefits of obedience.
In the instance of deviation he is considered a bad person and thus is responsible for the severe consequences (Anshi 55). It is known that morals deal with human conduct. This conduct has two dimensions; there is personal conduct, which has to do specifically with the life of the individual. For example, he would ask himself whether it is right or wrong for him to eat, work in his field to visit the doctor or medicine man when he is sick and so on. Then it is certain to note that there is social conduct. It is important to recall that greater number of moral have to do with social conduct.
That is the life of society at large, the conduct of individuals within the group or community or nation. The African morals lay a great emphasis on social conduct, since the basic African view is that the individual exists only because others exist. It is the belief of Africans that because of great emphasis on one’s relationship with other people, morals have been evolved in order to keep society not only alive but in harmony. It therefore means that one’s conduct has to conform with the general conduct or behaviour of the entire society he finds himself.
Thus such a person would earn himself the description, a good man. Thus, when we talk of African ethics, we simply mean the set of rules or code of conduct by which the African society is governed or regulated. It covers those aspects of actions that are in agreement or disagreement with the way in which an African should act. It is a system of mores which spell out the behaviour of those who are Africans and which essence is to promote the interest, the general harmony and well being of its members. (Ihuah 134)
A GOODMAN IN TIV CONCEPTION
Discussing the concept Goodman in general and in Tiv in particular is a matter of concern to all. Thus, before getting into the main task of this segment, it is pertinent to briefly trace the word Tiv and then consider what they (Tiv) acknowledge as Goodman. It is also worthy of note that understanding who the Tiv people are, is necessary for providing the background to this paper. A lot of literatures abound concerning the origin and migration of Tiv into the present Benue valley.
However, the rallying point is that, the Tiv ancestry is traceable to ANYAMA ZENGA, the father of TAKURUKU, who with his wife ALIWE gave birth to Tiv, who in turn gave birth to two sons ICHONGU and IPUSU; from where all Tiv people have emerged (Qtd in Anshi 62). The Tiv people have great respect and protection of their institutions. The Tiv man is proud of his land, earth (tar), which is why he waves off the western customs and ideas and would proudly and openly tell the white man that before his advent, everything in the Tiv land was better. The white man has only spoiled the land “vihitar” (Anshi 5).
This follows from the fact that the Tiv people have great consideration on ethical values and ideas which are held commonly. Tiv traditional ethics like that of other Africans is based purely on their tradition, customs, norms and prohibitions of actions which one ought to do and those things considered bad to be avoided. Thus, Tiv ethics is expressed in the norms, which regulate relationship between individuals and social groups. Meanwhile, it is in view of the above tradition that this segment considers the concept of “Goodman in Tiv conception”. The word Goodman is the combination of two words; “good” and “man”.
Good is an adjective positively qualifying the noun, (man). This entails the nature of the noun (man) in question. In Tiv conception, Goodman is a mark of honour accorded to some one for his good deeds. According to Elder John Azulo (oral interview) Goodman in Tiv is a two-way traffic. On one hand is a person who has passion, concern or consideration on people he lives with, a person who is a philanthropist. The informant (Azulo) observes that a Goodman always shows concerned for the welfare or benefit of others and support good causes whether in kind or cash.
For instance, putting smiles on the faces of orphans, and widows in community he lives, paying pride price for those young men who have no one to help them. On the other hand, the informant informs that, Goodman is one who is too submissive. One who doesn’t react even when he is being cheated or hurt? That, he is an object of “use” when the people around him want to achieve self centered goal(s). This kind of Goodman, the informant describes it a mockery sort of. Following the line of argument established above, one may be convincingly prompted to ostulate that, Goodman in Tiv conception revolves around the characters of a person in question.
Speaking on the issue, Azer Tionkwange (Oral interview) contended that what qualifies one to be called “Ordedoo” (Goodman) is how such a person lives his life…his characters speak for him, he imbibes the virtue of honesty, humility, kindness and sincerity. He further buttressed that “Ordedoo” always occupies himself with the desire to do good and avoid evil. Taking tent with the above informant, Tyu Abeghe (Oral interview) observed that, Ordedoo is one who lives exemplary life.
One who at a given time, sacrifices himself or personal interest for the safety or benefits of his people. Abeghe gives illustrations such as leading in community development work like constructions of local roads and bridges, effective representation for his community as well as welcoming and accommodating visitors, taking good care of them. Thus, in Tiv belief system, when good or right conduct is maintained in society, there is good relationship with the sacred, the source of goodness itself and who demand such from man.
It is also important to point out here that; right actions promote equilibrium in the created order. While evil or negative actions disrupt the created orderliness and breed suffering and sickness among others. According to Gbenda, Tiv people identify an ethical person by his hospitality, love for other persons, concern for common good, mercifulness, sympathy, respect, justice, objectivity, forgiveness and impartiality (177). While the opposite, such as greed, selfishness, injustice, theft, criminal, arrogance, fornication and adultery is generally frown at.
The belief system of Tiv has shown that “gba-Aondo” (God’s creation) is the determinant of the morality of an act for the general interest of the individual and his community. The propositions “u eren kwagh sha gba-Aondo” (doing something according to God’s created order) is a guiding principle to which morality is maintained. Certain names such as; ormbatsav, (wizard) ormbaiv, (thief) orifer, (wicked man) and so on, are bad names that are not just rejected or to be avoided but has follow by adequate punishment. It is also important to state that, discussing Goodman in Tiv conception as being established above is embracing.
Man in this context includes “nomsoor”(male) and “kwase” (female). That is man and woman. That is to say in this discussion, man is used in the generic sense. It is worthy of note that a woman who is humble, honest, sincere and accommodating is accorded much respect by her husband and people around her. Such a woman is said to be good. Furthermore, it is interesting to pompously assert that what is really good finds expression in the harmony between the intrinsic and extrinsic qualities of that particular object.
For instance, a really beautiful woman is one whose intrinsic qualities of good manners like, honesty, hard work, chastity and above all, fertility are complemented with her extrinsic qualities of good works proportional body built. Thus, the description of Shido in Adan wade by Suemo Chia, translated by Tyohsua Akosu is an indication of a beautiful (good) woman: …. Shido’s appearance and character was the joy of all who knew her or just met a humble woman. She had compassion, a quality most often lacking in women of her kind. She never snubbed people and was never too conscious of her attractive appearance.
Her relationship with others was dominated by commitment, care and respect. Farming was no problem to her and she work earnestly. She was the shining example to be referred to by all women who wanted to bring up their daughter. (89-90). Such harmony as establish above is an example of a really beautiful woman.
REWARDS FOR BEING A GOODMAN IN TIV THOUGHT SYSTEM
Precisely, the Tiv people have respect to a person who has distinguished himself in character wise. His characters are valued in the community he lives. He is accorded respect and recognition. He stands to gain his good deeds either directly or indirectly. In Tiv thought system, it is believed that good deeds are always accompanied by reward. Commenting on the issue, Azulo (oral interview) reveals that, sometimes some body (Goodman) may be on the farm, kinsmen will call him and crown him a king. People believe in you and in you they lay their trust. The informant put forward a common proverb in Tiv language that; ‘wan-ye u a eer ave tsembelee yo, ngu aya kwagh a mbatamen’.
This can be translated in English as, a child who washes his hands thoroughly eats with elders. This does not mean physical hands per se, but characters. That is to say if you live good life (characters) you will be given good recognition. On the same note, James Tavaku (oral interview) opines that, those who live good life live in peace. In his explaination, he revealed that those who always buried their minds for doing well and running away from evils always lived a peaceful and happy life. This implies that, good life attracts good reward while bad life attracts punishment.
More on the issue of benefits, it is the belief that, people who are reckoned as good men proceed to the world of ancestors when they die. In Tiv Traditional religion, the criterion for becoming ancestors is the ability of an elder to command great respect due to his high moral life and dignity. In one of his writings, Gbenda contends that the Tiv have various ways of describing a person of high moral life and dignity as: Afa kwagh kpishi – he is perfectly good (it emphasizes good manners) Awa iyuhe ga – he is not jealous Ka or u ifer ga – he is not a wicked man (92) The above contentions indicate moral stand, qualifying one to achieve ancestorship in Tiv Tradition.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the contemporary problem of moral decadence which is a constraint for one to identify a good man it is always demanding for every one to strive for better. Meanwhile, in order to be reckoned as good man in Tiv ethical consciousness, the following recommendations are seen as remedy; It is much rewarding for man to live examined life. To this effect Socrates attests that “the unexamined life is not worth living”.
In his ethical principles, Socrates observes that “what I ought to do is what is good for me and what is good for me is what is useful to me” (kerker and Anshi,64). Thus, in Tiv conception, one is accorded honour as good man based on the right conducts or manners, exhibits by such a person, therefore if all people will strive to acquire such honour our societies shall experience peace and harmony. It is also worthy of note that, one should not be carried away by materialistic nature of our societies, but the philosophy of “live lets live” should be cultivated. Man cannot live a complete life in isolation from others.
If men would always think of imparting to people around them, life would be pleasurable and worth living. CONCLUSION By way of conclusion, it is important to point out emphatically that the Tiv understanding of man and his existence is that of struggling to maintain the harmony desired of him, chaos or evil is highly rejected. In Tiv context there is a classification between good person and bad person. Just as earlier stated in this paper, one identifies an ethical person by his hospitality, love, concern for common good, mercifulness, sympathy, respect, justice, forgiveness, impartiality and so on.
Thus, Tiv people generally frown at greed, selfishness, injustice, theft, criminal activities, killing cruelly, disrespect, arrogance, fornication and adultery. If a person is engaged in the aforementioned, such a person is considered as bad person (or u bo). It is also worthy of note that Goodman in Tiv context is judged based on the character of the person in question.
WORKS CITED
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- Gbenda, J. S. Eschatology in Tiv Traditional Religious Culture. An interpretive Enquiry, Nsukka; chukka Educational publishers, 2005.
- Ihua, Alloy S. “Rethinking an African Ethical System: Between Change and Continuity” in Humanities Review Journal 2 Vol. 1 Humanities Research Forum. 2002.
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- Mbiti,John Introduction to African Religious, London; Heinemann 1975