We MUST DEcenter the white gaze from our research…
My personal library is filled with books on Igbo culture, philosophy, law, and spirituality. In fact, nearly 80% of the titles I own center on the Igbo way of being, because this is where my deepest interest lies. Whenever I buy physical books, I prioritize works that promise to immerse me in Igbo worldview.
Yet time and again, I’ve noticed something disheartening. You pick up a book with a promising title, eager to learn and expand your understanding, only to be confronted not with the author’s voice or authentic Igbo perspectives, but with long references to white (often long-dead) anthropologists and their observations. Worse still, some of these books lean on biblical verses or comparisons to so-called “holy” traditions, as if to validate Igbo thought by showing it is “not new” but merely an echo of something else.
By the time you finish reading such works, that’s if you even manage to push through, you may realize that 60–70% of the content is devoted not to true Igbo insight, but to external interpretations, distortions, and misconceptions. The very thing you sought out i.e Igbo worldview, is buried under so many borrowed lenses.
This is why I feel compelled to sound this note: if we are serious about raising clear thinkers, sustaining intellectual depth, and cultivating original thought in our communities, then we must begin, NOW, to decenter the white gaze in our texts.
We must write for ourselves, documenting our truths as our ancestors saw and understood them, not as outsiders filtered them through their limited perception. And in doing this, we must summon the courage to set aside the weight of our western education, which too often distorts our vision. This is the only way our civilization can survive and thrive.
If we cannot produce books that stand firmly in our own truth, without pandering to western frameworks or indulging in shallow comparisons, then we must admit we are in trouble. For without originality, there is no hope of real innovation or authentic thought for our people.
We have to do better. And we can do better.
