Akwansisi Cultural Heritage and the Creation of a National Identity: The Cross River Monoliths, Nigeria

Abstract

In a small region of the Central Cross River, culturally and linguistically designated ‘Bakor’, lie columns of stone carvings (monoliths), in human forms. These carvings are referred to locally as Akwansisi (stones of the departed), by the Nta and Nde groups and Atal (stones), by other Bakor speaking groups. This stone culture stretches to parts of the Benue valley, Boki, Obubra, Ogoja and the Nigerian Cameroun border. The culture zone is historically the homeland of the great Bantu or semi Bantu people of African history. Anthropological and other scholarly surveys by foreign observers and commentators have attributed the origins of the Cross River monoliths to the creative ingenuity of wandering Hamites or alien occupants who are today not within the culture zone. This paper attempts not only to ward off the lingering appendage of Hamitic and outside-in interpretation of internal developments, but to show evidently that the artistic and impressive columns of stone carvings are the handiwork of the ancestors of the present occupants of the region stretching back to antiquity. Akwansisi are a heritage of African arts and culture with historical, religious and social significance to the groups who inhabit the region; they are a symbol of Bakor identity. The paper also decries the abysmal neglect of the nation’s cultural artifacts, antipathy for cultural heritage and the lack of a maintenance attitude even in this age of cultural tourism.

LWATI: A Journal of Contemporary Research, 9(2), 81-88, 2012