The Fathers of My Children: the Genealogy and Lifestyle Changes of the Umorens of Asong in Eastern Nigeria: The Tale of Africans in the Diaspora

By Joseph A. Umoren

The Fathers of My Children: The Genealogy and Lifestyle Changes of the Umorens of Asong in Eastern Nigeria describes the ancestral origin of the Umorens and the existing lineal connection with all Africans in the Diaspora, regardless of their different migrational pathways in which they found themselves outside of Africa, particularly in North America. The book is also a description of the total African experience throughout human history and of the human motivation in the African voluntary and involuntary migrations. The causes and effects of such migrations are delineated to include the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Partition of Africa, and the Colonization and Decolonization of Africa. In part, it is a story of the African holocaust, which spans over four hundred years. While the book does not call for an African retreat from the New Wave of globalism and the individual quest for greener pastures, it serves to remind all Africans of the need to reverse African economic and cultural deprivation, the decay of the African villages and traditional lifestyles through their renewed Africanism that connects one to another and rebuilds the communities they left behind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 9, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514414132

Joseph A. Umoren

This author, Joseph A. Umoren, PhD, is a practicing health-care professional in Washington, DC, area. He is a graduate of American University with a doctorate degree in educational administration with a strong interest in cultural diversity and multicultural education. His academic background also includes two master’s degrees in industrial technical education and personnel administration and a bachelor’s degree in business administration. He is the author of “Democracy and Ethnic Diversity in Nigeria,” published by the University Press of America. Also, having authored several scholarly journal articles in economics and health-care, he has served as a guest speaker in health-care conventions and has provided several staff training seminars relating to health-care administration and cultural diversity in organizations. His current book, entitled “The Fathers of My Children: The Genealogy of the Umorens of Asong in Eastern Nigeria,” is motivated by his strong view in the preservation of each individual culture and tradition in the age of globalism.

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Copyright © 2015 by Joseph A. Umoren.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2015916370

ISBN:       Hardcover       978-1-5144-1446-0

       Softcover       978-1-5144-1414-9

       eBook       978-1-5144-1413-2

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Rev. date: 10/08/2015

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CONTENTS

Preface

Scope of the Text

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 The Change in Asong Village Lifestyle before 1900

Chapter 3 The Asong Village Lifestyle, Livelihood, and Governance in the Historical Perspective

Chapter 4 The Crossroads of Religion and Change in the Traditional Village Lifestyle after 1900

Chapter 5 The Family Tree of the Umorens of Asong

Chapter 6 The Patriarchal Birth Order in the Asong Sociocultural Perspective

Chapter 7 Summary and Comments

References

LIST OF MAPS,

PHOTOGRAPHS, AND GRAPHS

Map of Africa before the Berlin Conference 1882

Map of Africa after the Berlin Conference 1884–Present

Map of Africa Showing the Location of Asong, Nigeria

Map of Nigeria Showing the Location of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Map of Nigeria Showing the Location of the Ibibio People of Nigeria

Map of African Countries Showing Where Africans Were Abducted for Slave Trade

The Genealogical Tree of the Umoh Ekaete-Umorens of Asong

Homemade Photographs of the Umorens of Asong

The Pie Chart of the Psychological Field and Life Space of Most Immigrants

A Letter from My Father: The Glory and Agony of a Son’s Migration Page 1/2

A Letter from My Father: The Glory and Agony of a Son’s Migration Page2/2

A Man and His Shadow Demonstrating the Ancestral Being Residing in All of Us

To all the Umorens of Asong and in the diaspora;

to my late parents,

Chief Aaron Essien and Madam Cecilia Ukpong Umoren, without whom I would not be or become who I am;

and

to all our beloved ancestors, in constant, thankful memory of our

cultural heritage they planted and cultivated in us

PREFACE

The objective of this booklet is multifold: to provide our future generations of the Umorens of Asong with a factual written document of our family tree that captures the village lifestyle and culture of Asong in Eastern Nigeria before and after foreign influence; to give all Africans in the diaspora the encouragement and inspiration to retrace their ancestral roots; to keep faith with our fathers that their children will never forget them, in keeping with an African proverb that states, No matter how high a bird flies, its legs always point to the ground; and finally, to find answer and meaning to the question that our ancestors are asking about the whereabouts of their children and why their villages are now empty. Therefore, no matter what life vicissitudes exist, whether economic, social, religious, or involuntary induction, that cause the children to stray from their ancestral fathers, like the biblical parable of the prodigal son, the children will always, in the end, return home. I will rise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father I have sinned against heaven and before you (Luke 15:18). Our sin of transgression on our ancestors for straying from home is also referenced in the parable of the lost coin and that of the lost sheep, which serve as examples of our heavenly and earthly fathers’ unconditional love and forgiveness to their children when they repent and return to them.

Our intention is to create a psychological, educational, and an inspirational pathway for Africans to reconnect with their ancestors by emphasizing the importance, value, and knowledge of African heritage and lineage in our lives. Before science invented the DNA and the use of heredity to study human behavior, the phrase It is in our blood was popularly used to describe the source of an individual’s values, traits, and unique personal characteristics. Today, the phrase that is commonly used and carries the same meaning is It is in our DNA, emphasizing our genealogical traits as indelible. Therefore, our family tree, which describes and traces both our lineal intergroup connections and intragroup dynamics, can serve as an important step toward our self- awareness and identity.

Throughout history, great scientists, thinkers, and philosophers have called the family genealogy the family tree. The concept of a tree usually points to the intrinsic meaning and importance of its roots, the trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit of that tree, analogous to describing the past, the present, and the future generations of the human family respectively. In comparing the human family to a botanical tree, the root represents our ancestral past, how nurturing, sustaining, strong, and deeply rooted they were. The trunk represents family solidarity and togetherness, and finally, the branch and the fruit represent the state of well-being of the offspring of the lineal family. The Bible states, By their fruits you shall know them. Tyler Perry, through his character Madea, compares the people in your life to the structure of a tree. He stated, I have this tree analogy when I think of the people in my life. Even though it is not clear