Ọ̀kọ̀nkọ̀ Tolls

An Ekpe masquerader in Uzuakoli, present-day Abia State. Photographed by G. I. Jones, 1930s. MAA Cambridge.

Ọ̀kọ̀nkọ̀ members controlled important roads in the eastern Igbo area. British imperial interests ran against this system.

Passing by Abruki, which had, however, to be " dashed " in the usual way, we arrived in the evening at Omo-pra [Ụmụ̀ọpara?], the last mile or two into the town being more like an avenue in England, shaded by splendid trees, than a wild roadway in Africa. […] Under a lowering sky, and in a, slight drizzle of rain, we left Omo-pra early the next morning[.]

"A Famous Were-Leopard"

"A Famous Were-Leopard". Percy Amaury Talbot. Internet Archive.

The power of metamorphosis is generally termed Uworraw-Ukponn, corresponding to the Ibo word Ehihi, and is sometimes inherited, sometimes bought. Since many believe that it is only used for evil purposes, the faculty is not often boasted of, or admitted, by its possessor. Nearly all " strong " animals in the bush, such as leopards, elephants, etc., are credited with being were-beasts, but such can only be recognised by hunters, who, unless bad men, would not shoot them, since their death would entail that of their affinity.

The Okoli Ijeoma Ada War: Agha Ìbenne

Gịnị mè ndị Ọka jì à sọ ènwè?

Enwe Imoka, the mona, Porto-Novo, Benin. Photo: Okouneva Olga via Wikimedia Commons.

Background

Okoli Ijeoma was a 19th-century merchant warlord of the Aro settlement of Ndikelionwu in today’s Anambra State. He was notorious for his recruitment of the militaristic Ada people of the Cross River area for wars against his enemies or for the services of those who paid him. He was the grandson of Ikelionwu who founded Ndikelionwu in the 18th century.

Shrine to Agwụ̀

Titled elder Onyeso of Agukwu Nri washing hands for a rite before a shrine to Agwụ̀, a divinity of doctors (dibị̀à). Photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1911. MAA Cambridge.

Agwụ̀ is an entity of unconventionality and hence creativity that guides the dibị̀à. Agwụ̀ is related to strange occurrences and mishaps. Such occurrences are often signs to individuals that are destined to become doctors.

Ikenga and other Igbo ritual items, French Catholic Mission

Ikenga and other Igbo religious items, French Catholic Mission, perhaps from converts, many artefacts ended up in European museums and private collections this way, not directly looted or bought, but given up and sold and collected in Europe. Friederich, R.P (1916). RAAI Yale University.

The missionary is a revolutionary and he has to be so, for to preach and plant Christianity means to make a frontal attack on the beliefs, the customs, the apprehensions of life and the world, and by implication (because tribal religions are primarily social realities) on the social structures and bases of primitive society. The missionary enterprise need not be ashamed of this, because colonial administrations, planters, merchants, Western penetration, etc., perform a much more severe and destructive attack. Missions, however, imply the well-considered appeal to all peoples to transplant and transfer their life-foundations into a totally different spiritual soil, and so they must be revolutionary.

– International Missionary Council spokesman, c. 1938. "The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World," p. 342.

Òmenàlà

Symbol of Ala, the Earth Mother, among the Eda Igbo, present-day Abia or Ebonyi State. P. A. Talbot, c. 1920s.

Most Igbo people in the past did not perceive themselves as belonging to a religion. The split between culture and religion did not exist. All practices were viewed as duty. This view of duty, compulsory rites that place tradition and service and reverence to ancestors over belief itself, still exists in the kola nut rite, ịche ọjị, for example, which could've been classed as a religious rite.

Igbo Dualism and Àlà

Photo: Ugonachomma Igbo art piece of a man-woman couple, carved to the average person's height. British Museum.

So, in summary, Igbo cosmology is dualism, the universe is ultimately made up of two complementary and opposing primordial forces, often represented as male and female, it is how everything is equally paired.

It's the philosophy of balance, of the mortal realm and the spirit realm, for example, women's and men's parallel and complementary organisations and initiations, okenye, oke ibiri; daada, deede; ọzọ, ịyọm; ọmụ, obi; places for living and sacred groves for nature, etc.

Nne ahịhịa n'agwọ oke ahịhịa, female plants are antidotes to male plants, and vice versa.

That being said, it's now a question of whether Chi na Eke were seen as ontological concepts rather than deities, if the former, then Chi na Eke (and Chukwu) is not the supreme Igbo deity, Àlà, Ànà, Àlị̀, Ànị̀, the Earth Mother, is the recognised supreme Igbo deity in general.

Ọ̀gwa - Igbo shrine hall

An ọ̀gwa, an ancestral meeting and reception shrine hall of household patriarchs photographed by P. Talbot around or before the mid-1920s in reference to Ogwashi Ukwu. Ogwa Nshi Ukwu means the great ọ̀gwa of founding Nri-Igbo migrants.

Chi and Equiano

[…] Equiano’s constant references to destiny, providence, and faith fit into the Igbo concept of Chi (a spiritual entity or personal god, often perceived as a person’s double). As the determiner of destiny, a person’s chi acts as the intersecting force that connects the mundane with the spiritual, wherein the core values of Igbo culture – “‘individuality,’ 'achievement,’ a belief in 'destiny’ – are lined to the supreme being and creator 'Chukwu’ or 'Chineke’. [...]

– Chima Jacob Korieh (2009), "Olaudah Equiano and the Igbo world." p. 77.

[Image: The Slave Ship by the British artist Turner, an abolitionist painting which alludes to the particular case of the Zong massacre in November, 1781 when 133 enslaved African people loaded onto the slave ship Zong were thrown overboard, murdered by drowning to save drinking supplies and to eliminate sick slaves that would sell poorly at the destination at Jamaica. The murder by the crew and owners of the ship was in part to receive insurance placed on enslaved Africans. Olaudah Equiano, a prominent abolitionist by then, of Igbo origin, shocked England with his exposé on the slaver Zong whose crew were ultimately ruled against in court. The painting was first exhibited in 1840, well after Olaudah Equiano's passing.]

Arụsị

Alụsị with its priest and its ritual iron belled staff, Ösü (Orsu), West Isuama Igbo. Photo by G. I. Jones, 1930s. MAA Cambridge.

The attitude towards what are termed alụsị / arụsị, etc. varies among Igbo people. Generally, the nature spirits are handled by dibia and by family heads. They were set up in order to protect the community or provide for some need of the community, like fertility, or were temporarily used like in times of war; in that case, the etymology of alụsị / arụsị may point towards the Igbo view of these entities, where arụ [work] sị [emphasis] may refer to a spirit that has been built up into the community through dibia work.

Four nzụ (chalk) lines.

In most cases, just as how arụsị have been 'built up' is also how many can be taken down since many do not necessarily represent a fundamental part of worship in various Igbo communities.

Eight nzụ lines.

Some entities referred to as alụsị or agbara, etc., depending on the Igbo community may be a focal point of worship, speculatively some of these entities may be stand-ins for the fundamental elements of the universe in Igbo worldview such as Anyanwụ and Ala, it does not appear that a fundamental entity like Ala can be taken down.

Model of Igbo Cosmology

Some of the ideas are theoretical like the placement of the days. Some of the structure and ideas are partly via Obiakoizu A. Iloanusi (1984) and from the Kongo cosmogram.

The sun is an analogy, if that's the right word, for a person's life through the mortal (elu ụ̀wà) to the spirit (Àlà mmụọ), a person may be reincarnated with a unique Chi and the Ekè (characteristics) of their ancestor, and may pass through morning, afternoon, and evening.

When the person has a complete mortal cycle (reaching ụ̀wà mgbèdè, the evening of one's life), they enter the spirit realm awaiting burial, a second burial guiding them to ancestorhood, and then ancestorhood awaiting reincarnation.

The Chi and Ekè duality is repeated, or represented, in or by several other principals of the universe, the numbers 2, 4, 8, as alluded to in another post, are important numbers.

(The circle, the path, may be likened to, or represent the Igbo allusion to ụzọ̀.)

Chi nà Ekè

Interior of Chi shrine at Nkarahia, an Isiokpo Ikwere settlement. Photo: P. Amaury Talbot, early 1910s.

An interview of an Urata man about the High God:

“Chineke molded the world; then Eke divided the world. Eke came out of the hands of Chi, so they became the same. They are the same mother. It is like the creation of the world: the world is one. That is the way Eke came out of the hands of Chineke. But they are the same.

If it were only for the hands of Chineke no one would die a violent death. It is Eke who divided the world and after that people died in power [probably transliterated from ‘ọ́nwụ́ íké’, literally meaning "powerful death”, but metaphorically a painful suffering death]. Eke is the tricky one who portioned out these things. Chineke is straight and long, and he [no gendered pro-nouns in Igbo] made the lives of the people upright and good. Eke played this trick we are now inside.“ [in notes: (Parts of creation stories related by the cult priest of Afo at Umuoye Etche)] [Igbo group in southern Imo, northern Rivers states of Nigeria].

[Cole:]

Chineke (or Chukwu) [in notes: (In many parts of Igboland, as in Owerri, the high god is also called Chukwu, an ellision of chi and ukwu ("great”), but in Owerri Chineke is the more common usage.)] is the creator, the high god. Though distant and not the object of images or direct sacrifices in Owerri, he is often addressed by name in prayer and does receive offerings indirectly. He knows what people are doing but does not himself intervene or punish. The etymology of his name suggests that he is both a deity and a concept, for “Chineke” is a contraction of chi, na (“and”), eke: chi apparently meaning “god” or “soul”, with eke approximating “creation” or “division”. Chi and eke are also personifications, as suggested by the quotations above and the words of another informant: “Chi and Eke represent male and female. Chineke—I don’t know if he is a man or a woman. He is up, up, up, and we don’t see him.”

– Herbert M. Cole. MBARI: Art and Life among the Owerri Igbo (1982). p. 54. Indiana University Press.

Òsu

Photo: "Alusi The same shrine with its priest (seated) and it’s osu (“juju slave”), Orsu, West Isuama Igbo". G. I. Jones, 1930s. Jones Archive, Southern Illinois University.

Osu has been described as a ritual outcast or caste system. People who are deemed osu are discriminated against in terms of who they can marry, political representation, and they are restricted from particular spaces.

Osu were people who 'belong' to certain divinities. They performed certain rights and services in shrines where they usually lived. The osu received part of the sacrifices to the shrine. Under the protection of the divinity, the osu were secluded from the rest of the community.

The extent to which people considered osu were protected by a divinity, and their ritual role in shrines may point towards an older concept of osu as more of a priestly role, rather than a ritual slave one.

The osu responsibility for tending shrines supports the suggestion that the institution represented a priestly function before the Atlantic slave trade, but that the trade changed its character[.] […] Every market had a priest who was also called osu, after the name of the market that he served. Thus, there were Osueke (for the Eke market), Osuawho (Awho market), Osunkwo (Nkwo market), and Osuoye (Oye Market). In other words, Aro people used the term osu to designate the priest.

– G. Ugo Nwokeji (2010). The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra. p. 198.

There's a history of people who were not considered osu living near or incorporating those considered osu. It appears the protection osu gained from a divinity also protected them from being sold into slavery. So, the Atlantic slave trade may have a hand in bringing about or making worse the discrimination against osu. People fleeing oppression or those marked as committing a crime sought protection by becoming osu, particularly during the slave trade because osu were exempt from enslavement and were also exempt from being charged for certain crimes and social duties.

It is on record that the "Osu" was not threatened for paying tax or community development levies; not because they were not well-off to pay but because they were neither asked to pay nor disturbed for failure to do so, since there was nobody that dared make such demand.' It is this immunity that the "Osu" enjoyed that gave them the courage sometimes to tamper with peoples' property and go free.

Henry Chukwudi Okeke (2020). The Spirituality of the Igbo People of Nigeria…. p. 87.

It may have been the case that the influx of people fleeing persecution into osu singled out osu as a discriminated or outcast group. An example of how some attitudes towards people deemed osu may have been different:

Thus, the Aro embraced a group which central Igbo people rejected. Why then did the institution emerge in Arondizuogu toward the end of the century?

If the Atlantic slave trade changed the character of the institution in other parts of Igboland, it was the ending of the trade that generated these changes in Arondizuogu. […] One free family, running away from their creditor, sought refuge in the Haba deity in another lineage-group. At the destination deity, the refugee would say the ritual:” Arusi, mbaa!” (Shrine, I submit myself to your protection).

– G. Ugo Nwokeji (2010). The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra. p. 199.

In Igbo names the use of osu as in a devotee of a deity comes up in names such as Osuala and Osunjoku. The stereotypes associated with people deemed osu, including luck, wealth, beauty, etc., supposedly brought about by the protection of their divinity, do not seem to fit with people treated as a low-caste or outcast group. It seems, in some communities at least, that the slave trade may have changed the attitudes towards the osu institution.

The avoidance of osu, and their ritual death or sacrifice to a deity is reminiscent of or similar to that of some Igbo titles such as eze. The two roles ritually limited both classes of people in a similar way. The Eze Nri, for instance, goes through a ritual death, was, for the most part, confined to an area, could only die from approval of authority holders, and was generally avoided.

The status of an osu as a sacrifice meant that they were avoided as ritually 'dead' people who the 'living' should avoid.

This is why, when the life of an "Osu" was spared, he was still considered dead in all aspects of social life, so much so that anyone interacting with him, was believed to incur a ritual impurity which bears a consequent social contamination. In this belief then, he could not intermingle with the 'living', and thus could not attend the assembly of free-born.

Henry Chukwudi Okeke (2020). The Spirituality of the Igbo People of Nigeria…. p. 88.

The general treatment of osu was quite different from titled people, however. The osu, for example, were not given proper burials in some communities at least due to the belief that they were disconnected from a lineage and therefore an afterlife. Titled wealthy people had large funerals and were the icons of their lineages.

The following is a description of osu initiation.

The actual sacrifice of an Osu may be preceded by the sacrifice of a cow or a goat, especially when the sacrifice is being made on behalf of the community. The following are the major steps:

(i) Before the shrine of the deity, the designated Osu is asked to open his mouth. A piece of chalk (nzu) taken from the shrine, is put into his mouth.

(ii) The ear of the victim is split with a razor and blood is drawn and smeared on the divinity. Blood symbolizes the essence of a being: to offer the blood of an animal therefore, is to offer the whole animal.

(iii) He is next carried on both limbs and dropped gently seven times before the shrine.

(iv) The officiating priest takes the ofo [In notes: The ofo is the Igbo traditional system of justice and truth. It occupies a prominent place in Igbo traditional religion.] stick and hits him on the head.

(v) The oil-palm frond (omu-nkwu) or any other object or shrub taken from the shrine, may be tied on him.

(vi) Finally, he is completely shaven. During all these ceremonies, the victim generally makes no resistance, for resistance is useless. If he tried to escape by force, he could be killed. In any case, if he were to escape, he generally would not know where to go.

– S. N. Ezeanya (1967). The Osu (Cult-Slave) System in Igbo Land.

Whatever the historical treatment of those considered osu, the fact remains that in recent times, at least, their treatment is discriminatory, as those of people barred from main society. The height of people becoming osu was during the Atlantic slave trade due to the influx of people seeking refuge from slavery. This factor may reveal the extent to which the current function of (or need for) a group of people seen as osu is a legacy of that particular era.

Unidentified people [Eze?]

Unidentified people photographed by Henry Crosse with the Royal Niger Company, c.1886–1895. MAA Cambridge, the two men in the forefront may be members of the Agbala Nze priestly title association of Onicha (Onitsha) or Eze-titled men from Asaba since many of the photos taken by Henry Crosse were in Onicha and Asaba.

Colonial Note on the Asagba of Asaba

The origin of the Asagba (Eze Agba?) and the Eze of Asaba and environs according to research of British colonial government anthropologist Northcote Thomas in his study of the Igbo west of the Niger River c. 1914.

Photo: "ORHENE (PRIEST) OF ONIRHE AT ASABA." – Northcote Thomas.

Kings.—Originally Asaba had a king known as Eze; the first was Ezenei, grandson of Nevisi [or Nnebuisi], then came Ezobome, the son of another grandson of Nevisi, then Ezago, Ago, Amarom, and Odili, but in the time of Amarom quarrels broke out owing to jealousy between different quarters who should have had the kingship in turn, and five or more men took the title of eze. After this the custom of taking the eze title spread, until now in the neighbouring town of Ibuzo, where the movement was also taken up, 800 men have taken the title in one year. As a result of this unsatisfactory state of things the town decided to elect a head chief, and Afadie of Ajaji was selected with the title of asabwa [Asagba, perhaps Eze Asaba nwe Agba]. The present asabwa, a man of about 60, is the grandson of Afadie, who was succeeded by his second son Adanjo, who left a son Ezogo. Ezogo did not take the title because he could not afford to make the necessary payments, and it passed to the children of a younger son. The first appointment of asabwa, therefore, dates back 100 years or more. Three kings went to Idu [Benin City?] to have their titles confirmed, the first being Ezobome, and one king, in addition, paid dues without going. This would leave an interval of one or two generations at most before the asabwa was appointed.

– Northcote Thomas (1914). "Anthropological report on the Ibo-speaking peoples of Nigeria, vol. IV: Law and Custom of the Ibo of the Asaba District, S. Nigeria." p. 10.

[Today some majority Igbo-speaking states which had a handful to no Eze now have hundreds, so history does seem to repeat itself and the handling of the Eze title pretty much shows the attitude to authority by the Igbo people.]

Trees in Igbo Society

Photo: Bread Fruit Tree Ikorofiong, Calabar, Nigeria, ca. 1900-1910, Unknown photographer.

Trees are important in Igbo spirituality as symbols of life and channels to the earth force. Trees are symbols of life and channels to the earth force and are often at the centre of shrines.

In Igbo tradition, a child’s umbilical cord is buried with a newly planted fruit tree (ili alo); this becomes the child’s tree of life (nkwu alo) which secures lands, confirms the child’s blood relation to the patrilineage, and forms a bond between the child and the Earth Mother, Ala. Many settlements were named after plants and trees, such as achara (bamboo), uga (Anacystrophyllum opacum), and ahiara (giant leaf grass), many of these settlements started at the base of large trees or with some of these plants as their main natural feature. There are so many trees with ritual symbolism in the Igbo area, the ogirisi often used for the deceased, the abosi, the ngwu tree which is a symbol of wisdom (where the term okongwu comes from) and from which okpesi ancestor statues are sometimes carved, the agba tree, the ogbu (fig tree) often used for the living, and so on.

Akpu

Akpu is a sacred silk-cotton tree which is a way to the unseen world of ancestors and spirits, it is where spirits of children stay and sitting under this tree is said to increase the chances of pregnancy. This is different from cassava which was introduced by Europeans from the Americas in the last 500 years, the akpu’s leaves resemble cassava leaves, so it’s possible the name was loaned to cassava when it was imported.

Oji

Oji, most commonly known by the Yoruba name Iroko, is a very large tree considered to have mystical powers like many trees. The oji was planted near shrines to give the same impression as a cathedral. Oji also stands as a metaphor for strength, nobility, and resilience. Its wood is used for titled men’s stools, compound doors/gates, and large ikoro slit drums, as well as other important ritual items.

Achi

The achi is noted for its size and the amount of shade it provides, it has similar symbolism to the oji (iroko) tree in terms of spirituality and ritual, but it is mostly prized for its fruit. Like many large trees, it houses spirits and is a portal for the ancestors. It is a symbol of resilience, strength and virility.

Uburu

Uburu, or ubulu, is a totemic tree which was central to many Igbo settlements and has lent its name to several such as Ubulu-Uku (Igbo: ’the big ubulu’) in p.d. Delta State where the tree is revered and the original one which the town is named after still stands in the middle of this town from where the first families spread out from hundreds of years ago.

Ofo

The ofo is the tree from which the staff of justice of the same name is hewn from, it is generally forbidden to cut or place a knife against a living ofo tree or use its branches for firewood, so the ofo branches had to naturally fall off in order to be used as a staff of justice, such sticks would have to be consecrated through a ritual known as isa ofo. The ofo serves as a connection between the living and the ancestors and the spirit world. A family’s ofo staff is entrusted in the care of a first son of the family whose father has transitioned, additionally there are ofo for organisations and deities. These trees also serve as shrines.

Other crops and trees that were introduced in the last 500 years in addition to cassava (yuca) are maize (corn), plantains, potatoes, pineapples, tobacco, papaya (pawpaw), most of these from the Americas.

Ishi Nwa Njọkụ

Photo: Shrine with human skull at Obieni, in today's Cross River State, probably the revered head-pieces of deceased family heads, from Charles Partridge (1905). Cross River Natives. p. 64.

Around [the yam title, by the yam title society Ndi Eze Ji] is the theory that certain male and female children called Njoku and Mmaji respectively, may be born only to members of this society. ... As the human representatives of the yam deity, Njoku and Mmaji are entitled to privileges. They have a right to any yam they may demand from the Oba [yam barn].

Wherever they occur, Njoku claims the bride-wealth of Mmaji no matter who the mother may be. ... Mmaji must be the first wife of her husband [and] the only [Mmaji].

Their heads may not touch the ground at death. At burial, there is a raised platform to which a solid receiver is attached ... in order to collect the head as it falls out after decay. The head is then ritually dug out, washed, put away in a box which is placed on a raised platform for the purpose.

Njoku or Mmaji heads ... are loved as "status objects" but hated for the problems they create on their death. ... No member of the family may eat yam until they are ritually buried; a very costly affair. A Njoku or Mmaji ... must find a female or male opposite to marry.

– Victor C. Uchendu (1964). "The Status Implications of Igbo Religious Beliefs." The Nigerian Field. vol. 69. p. 32.

Azu Anya Mmuo

Photo by Northcote Thomas in Öka (Awka), 1910-11. MAA Cambridge.

Azụ anya mmụọ, the 'eyes of the spirits,' a wooden openwork panel that stays in the shrine area in front of an obi in the north-central Igbo area. The panels represent the presence and protection of ancestral forces. They can be seen outside from the front of an obi facing the compound entrance from which the spirits protect against and ward off any encroaching evil. In turn, the spirits on the altar in front of the azụ anya mmụọ gain access to the outside world through the holes in the panels.

The rest of the buildings and the walls of the compound elaborate on the designs of the obi. In front of the azụ anya mmụọ, in the interior of obi, lay religious objects such as ọfọ, okpesi ancestral memorial statues, Ikenga, title-staffs of ancestors such as ngwụ agịlịga and alọ, and carefully packaged horse skulls and other sacrificed animals, these animals may also include those specially sacrificed by an ancestor, for instance, in a title-taking ceremony.

The obi as the main abode and meeting place of the patriarch of the compound is the site of the main ancestral shrine, the handling of such shrines throughout the Igbo area, regardless of the presence or absence of azụ anya mmụọ, is the exclusive right of patriarchs whose fathers have passed away and are therefore in the spiritual world, before then a son usually relies on a patriarch who is the direct son, and subsequently the closest male descendant to the ancestors, to handle ancestral work.

Ten Circular Structures at Ugwu Uto, Nsude

A together, ten pyramid-like structure photographed by G. I. Jones in 1935. MAA Cambridge.

In the neighbourhood of Ngwo, Nsude and Agbaja [Ọwa] in the Udi Division, at intervals, the people construct quaint circular pyramids. Clay is used for the purpose. The bases are about sixty feet in circumference and two to three feet in height. Then another section is laid about forty-five feet in circumference and so on until the pinnacle is reached. They are erected to the honour of Ala and to indicate ownership of land.

G. I. Jones in front of the structure, 1935. MAA Cambridge.

Two rows of five are built parallel to one another which means that 'Ala' gives children with the right hand and the left. The god (or goddess) dwells in the pinnacle and, thus, is in a position to detect any person committing evil. Such a person will be caught by the god and secured with shackles; these are represented by small sticks inserted in the clay near the tops of the pyramids.

— G. T. Basden (1912). Among the Ibos of Nigeria. p. 109.

[There were other pyramids, sometimes larger, in other areas of Igboland such as around the Abam. The ten Ugwu Uto pyramids no longer stand, although it seems as though their original site is known.]

If you look closely at the shape of these mounds, they look somewhat like stylised breasts with prominent nipples at the top. It is also interesting to note that the ten mounds were aligned five-by-five in two rows, so each was paired up. There is an established Igbo tradition of using mounds to represent feminine divinities like Akwali of Öka, could these pyramids actually be elaborations on the mound, along with the other supposed pyramids in other Igbo areas?

"Two rows of five are built parallel to one another which means that 'Ala' gives children with the right hand and the left."

Mgbe Worker

[An Igbo] spirit worker painting the walls of an mbari nearing completion. Note the double Mami Wata images at left. Photo 1930s, [Near Owere]. - Herbert Cole, 1988.