Nsibidi (Pre-colonial Nigerian Writing System/Script)

Northern Son

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Just found about about this. Very interesting...

Nsibidi is an ancient system of graphic communication indigenous to the Ejagham peoples of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon in the Cross River region. It is also used by neighboring Ibibio, Efik and Igbo peoples. Aesthetically compelling and encoded, nsibidi does not correspond to any one spoken language. It is an ideographic script whose symbols refer to abstract concepts, actions or things and whose use facilitates communication among peoples speaking different languages.

Nsibidi comprises nearly a thousand symbols that can be drawn in the air (as gestures), on the ground, on skin (as tattoos), on houses and on art forms, such as masks and textiles. Though it is enjoyed as an artistic practice by the general public, deeper knowledge of the nsibidi symbols is restricted to members of men's associations, which once controlled trade and maintained social and political order.

Nsibidi continues to inspire the work of many Nigerian contemporary artists such as Victor Ekpuk, whose lyrical, densely-scripted works are on view in this exhibition.

Nsibidi (also known as nsibiri,[2] nchibiddi or nchibiddy[3]) is a system of symbols indigenous to what is now southeastern Nigeria that is apparently ideographic, though there have been suggestions that it includes logographic elements.[4] The symbols are at least several centuries old: Early forms appeared on excavated pottery as well as what are most likely ceramic stools and headrests from the Calabar region, with a range of dates from between 400 and 1400 CE.[5][6

Nsibidi.b.jpg


Nsibidi.jpg







http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsibidi

http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/inscribing/nsibidi.html

@Don Drogo @Marvel @emoney
 
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emoney

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nice!

We have something similar in Ghana with the Akan Adinkra symbols.

It's a shame these are not actual writing systems or scripts. If they were we could ditch Latin or Arabic and write our languages in an indigenous African script.

African people (excluding Amharic people) only developed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideograms and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logographic

Adinkra (Akan), Nsibidi (Igbo), and Hieroglyphs (Ancient Egyptian) are all symbols that represents ideas and concepts as opposed to writing systems like Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Nagari, etc.
 

2Quik4UHoes

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You know, come to think of it I think I may have seen these symbols in one of Cheikh Anta Diop's books I think it was Civilization or Barbarism. A lot of those symbols look real familiar, they'd make nice tats tho. :ehh:
 

Benjamin Sisko

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Great find! Disproves that Sub-Sahara Africa had no writing systems of their own, which their way of discrediting black civilizations.
 

emoney

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Great find! Disproves that Sub-Sahara Africa had no writing systems of their own, which their way of discrediting black civilizations.

this was not really a writing system, but more ideograms and pictograms

like if I wanted to, I could not write a book in the igbo language using the nsibid script
 

Sinnerman

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nice!

We have something similar in Ghana with the Akan Adinkra symbols.

It's a shame these are not actual writing systems or scripts. If they were we could ditch Latin or Arabic and write our languages in an indigenous African script.

African people (excluding Amharic people) only developed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideograms and/or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logographic

Adinkra (Akan), Nsibidi (Igbo), and Hieroglyphs (Ancient Egyptian) are all symbols that represents ideas and concepts as opposed to writing systems like Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Nagari, etc.

The bolded of your post just popped in my mind for some reason lol, what do you think we can do for the future?
 

Tommy Knocks

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The bolded of your post just popped in my mind for some reason lol, what do you think we can do for the future?
Nothing at all. Its far too late. English has a tight hold on globalization. The earth is one now, and english was the language that was there for it. Could have been arabic, chinese, spanish but english hit the lotto. Most countries are teaching english and using letters. Even in China, altho they still have their characters of course, and that will NEVER go away, they still use letters at the end of the day. For texting, typing on their keyboard, all of that. Japan has it, and now china has it (pinyin), korea however is still hermit, but they'll come around.

Just like we all use the same arabic number system.
 

Sinnerman

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Nothing at all. Its far too late. English has a tight hold on globalization. The earth is one now, and english was the language that was there for it. Could have been arabic, chinese, spanish but english hit the lotto. Most countries are teaching english and using letters. Even in China, altho they still have their characters of course, and that will NEVER go away, they still use letters at the end of the day. For texting, typing on their keyboard, all of that. Japan has it, and now china has it (pinyin), korea however is still hermit, but they'll come around.

Just like we all use the same arabic number system.

read a couple articles like this a while back

http://www.voanews.com/content/francophone-west-Africa-English-language/1545406.html
 

Tommy Knocks

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Yea its a growing trend man. How do you think I navigate through all these random countries and never seem to have a problem communicating? English is every where. Even if they dont know english, they know some words. water, bathroom, help, thank you, food. Everyone subconsciously absorbs these words even just watching hollywood flicks, which are broadcast globally. All expats communicate via english, every single one of us, from Kazakhstan to India to Brazil to Zambia to Korea to Norway, when we're all in a bar in China or Japan or Argentina, we communicate with each other by way of english. Proof it has become the global language.

They all know they need it, I mean nobody says it, but we just know. For example, ATM in china, there's only 2 languages, chinese and english. If I were french and couldnt read english...how the fukk would I get money out? you see?
 

2Quik4UHoes

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Yea its a growing trend man. How do you think I navigate through all these random countries and never seem to have a problem communicating? English is every where. Even if they dont know english, they know some words. water, bathroom, help, thank you, food. Everyone subconsciously absorbs these words even just watching hollywood flicks, which are broadcast globally. All expats communicate via english, every single one of us, from Kazakhstan to India to Brazil to Zambia to Korea to Norway, when we're all in a bar in China or Japan or Argentina, we communicate with each other by way of english. Proof it has become the global language.

They all know they need it, I mean nobody says it, but we just know. For example, ATM in china, there's only 2 languages, chinese and english. If I were french and couldnt read english...how the fukk would I get money out? you see?

1000% truth. When I was in Ethiopia they knew a lot of the basic shyt even the most uneducated ones. I guess as long as the native tongue is protected then it's not a bad thing for English to be a universal language. I guess the Brits won the colonial contest. :skip:
 

Tommy Knocks

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Just read the article. damn Rwanda went full english, I heard they sent entire classes to western countries like spies to obtain university level education and go back home, in return their country compensated them with HUGE brand new homes (clever tactic to have a high return rate). Someone posted a video of their capital a few days ago, man they're looking hella good. We got beef with them, but I cant knock their hustle man, their country is nice, it looks alot like Brazil now, and in the next few years it'll be first world status. It helps that they are a very small country so its easy to manage. Congo is just too damn big, its going to take awhile to start fixing the east and north. west is looking good tho, not as good as Rwanda or Botswana or Nigeria but for our size we're doing good.
 
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