The evolving face of ‘Iwa Akwa’

The paper examines the Igbo traditional coming of age festival, the ‘Iwa Akwa’. More specifically, it focuses on a scene of spontaneous modern, creolized and eroticized choreography danced unexpectedly by a group of children in Umukpa, Obowo, Imo State, Eastern Nigeria in January 2012 at a family friend’s celebration. Observation of this scene conjured questions about tradition and its preservation. The paper considers the effect of popular music and dance culture on the ‘Iwa Akwa’. In a world where technology has made cultural exchange more mobile, the author considers the survival of traditions as they increasingly contend with the modern era. Bibliogr., sum. [Journal abstract]