Studies in Ibo political system: chieftaincy and politics in four Niger states

Date
1973
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Publisher
London: Frank Cass and Company Ltd,
Abstract

Ethnography and History; Social organization and social structure; Rank and status; The Framework of Government I Onitsha, Abo; The Framework of Government II Oguta, Osomari; The Functions of Government I policy making and the legislative process, Onitsha, Abo, Oguta, Osomari; The Functions of Government II The judicial process, maintenance of order, War organization; The Notion of Kingship, Myths of Origin, prerogatives of Kingship, ritual duties, National festivals, rituals of Kingship, Palace Organization; Rituals of Kingship; Installation rituals; Mortuary rituals; The Dynamics of Kingship I The Succession; The Dynamics of Kingship II The King and His Chiefs.

Description
The search for a scientific understanding of the Ibo political system is not of recent date. It has its historical roots in the early 1930s. Interest was awakened by the women’s demonstration against the Warrant Chief System in 1929, and the widespread opposition which this demonstration reflected brought about the decision to study in depth the social organisation of Ibo societies. Over two hundred Intelligence Reports were written by administrative officers, and their reports were written according to specific guide lines given by the then government anthropologists at Lagos. On the basis of these reports a series of Native Administrative Organisations were established and the foundation of modem local government was laid. In 1950 two modern trained anthropologists, Forde and Jones, made an ethnographic survey of Ibo society and classified the people into five cultural groups. The study revealed the extent of these cultural areas', and though the Ibo people possess common characteristics, the differences in the cultures of these ethnic areas which the survey showed brought to the attention of social anthropologists the fact that these Ibo cultural groups are different in size and scale from the cluster of small groups that anthropologists have been used to studying.
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