“White Igbos”: Reflections on the Anyali, History and Culture of Difference in an African Society
Conference: The 23rd Annual International Conference of the Igbo Studies Association (ISA) (2026)
Presenter(s): Kingsley C. Ezeuwa
Tags: Conference 2026
Abstract
The term ‘White Igbos’ refers to individuals of Igbo descent who were born with albinism and consequently identified as the Anyali or Anyabeke. Albinism as the congenital lack of melanin shaped the historical construction of socio-cultural difference in Igboland and several other parts of Africa. The Europeans, William Cole of Liverpool and George Thomas Basden who lived among the Igbo in the second half of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century respectively, shared divergent observations about the status of the Anyali. In Cole’s Life in the Niger (1862), the albinos, noted by physiognomic difference, would be sacrificed on the altar of peace by warring parties, while Basden’s Niger Ibos (1938) presented this group as respectable constituents of an African society. Yet my interviews with select white Igbos in 2025 have revealed the persistence of denigration, dispossession, and mystification, but also the efficacy of albino resistance to systemic exclusion through sound education, efficiency, and resolute self-esteem. I employ the qualitative method of historical analysis to interpret relevant sources, including memoirs, newspaper articles, and oral testimonies. In the spirit of Ọsọ Ndụ Agwụ Ike, this paper contends that the proper integration of the Anyali in the Igbo society depends on a critical approach to both the human nature to represent and dominate and the uncanny attributes of the albinos themselves.
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