‘DÉ-COÏNCIDING’ Igbo Masquerade Aesthetics: Rethinking Ecological Sustainability in Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

The aesthetics of Indigenous Igbo masquerade are critically examined in this article using François Jullien's dé-coïncidence theoretical paradigm, which holds that when routine behaviours deviate from the normative or habitual, authenticity and renewal must take place. Masquerade in southeastern Nigeria has historically represented metaphysical presence and communal renewal, but its material practices today increasingly undermine this philosophical underpinning. There is growing conflict between spiritual symbolism and environmental cost due to high-level ecological extraction involved in costume creation, which includes animal species depletion and deforestation for raffia, bark and wood. Instead of being an agent of de-coincidental innovation, masquerade in its current form looks more like extractive economies of unsustainable cultural reproduction. The argument proposed in this article is that Igbo masquerade must reconsider its ecologically exploitative material conditions and rethink its aesthetic and ritual frameworks in order to remain valid and relevant in the face of ecological disaster. Based on a transdisciplinary methodology that balances environmental field observation, Indigenous ecological morality and performance analysis, the work identifies important avenues for sustainable dé-coïncidence, including the use of biodegradable materials, regenerative costume making, the enforcement of environmental laws and community-based conservation strategies. Finally, Igbo performance art (especially the masquerade) must undergo de-coincid-ental change that strikes balance between ecofriendliness in Southeast Nigeria and historical respect for ancestors. François Jullien's dé-coïncidence ideals provide a profound lens which indigenous Igbo performances could leverage on in the teeming search and yearning for post-humanist consciousness as planetary health assumes universal concern.