Correcting Misrepresentation: Igala Names as Evidence Against External Narratives of Negative Meaning
Abstract
Names are never neutral; they carry the weight of a people's culture, history, and self-understanding, yet unfamiliar names are routinely misread, diminished, or dismissed by those standing outside the culture that produced them. It is this problem that motivates this paper on "Correcting Misrepresentation: Igala Names as Evidence Against External Narratives of Negative Meaning." The paper examined the structural and semantic composition of Igala personal names, to identify and evaluate the external and internalised narratives that attribute negative or evil meanings to them, and to present verified documentary evidence as a corrective against these narratives. It adopted Afrocentricity theory as its theoretical framework, privileging indigenous self-testimony over externally imposed judgement in determining what Igala names actually mean. Methodologically, the paper adopted a systematic review, synthesising sociological, linguistic, and field-documentary sources on Igala naming alongside comparative literature on name-based discrimination and colonial misrepresentation. The paper showed that Igala names are deliberately constructed grammatical and ritual units encoding theological, historical, and moral instruction; that claims of negative meaning persist through both colonial-era mischaracterisation and internalised self-doubt within the Igala community; and that independently corroborated evidence overwhelmingly attributes courage, gratitude, faith, and honour to these names rather than the alleged negativity. The paper concluded that the prevailing negative narrative is factually unsustainable, and recommended formal documentation of name meanings, targeted community sensitisation, and further peer-reviewed compilation of verified Igala naming data.
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