Age-groups among the Ika and kindred people

SYNOPSIS The term Age‐group is preferable to those of Age‐grade, Age‐class, Age‐set, for reasons given by Professor Radcliffe‐Brown and Dr. Richards. Age‐grouping is a social device, not a biological recognition of immaturity, maturity and decrepitude. Such divisions are found for instance among bees. If age‐groups were thus biologically based they would be found in all human societies but as age‐grouping is a social device, it is not found in all human societies. Thus it is not normally found among food‐gatherers, nor does it exist among Hottentot or ourselves. Age‐grouping is of two types, the Hamitic and the New Guinea. Hamitic is based on initiation rites at puberty and is claimed by Driberg to have originated among the Galla and to be the only true kind of age‐group. New Guinea type, so called because first described among natives of New Guinea, is found also in Guinea of Africa. In this type persons form age‐groups by birth, without initiation ceremonies. So little is known of this type that it has failed to obtain recognition by such anthropologists as Father Schmidt and Professor Linton. This type is widely spread in West Africa where, in stateless or unorganized societies, it is the matrix of the social structure. An account of the age‐group system and its functions among the Ika, an Ibibio tribe in the Calabar Province, Southern Nigeria, is given by an Ibibio. He shows clearly how the age‐group system functioned as an integrating force in maintaining the order and equilibrium of a village in societies where no law exists because there are no courts. A description of a similar system among the Ijo is given from an unpublished Government report. As it is not possible to have two forms of administration functioning simultaneously, and as the age‐group functions as part of the social structure, it breaks up and disappears when British administration, based on law and courts, is introduced. With the introduction of native courts the age‐groups have ceased to function as institutions and have in many places died out. African systems of government with laws and courts have been able to retain and use the age‐group system for the lower ages and stages of society while retaining the administration and executive and judiciary within the royal or ruling group, e.g. the Nupe Kingdom: the Nguni and Sotho chiefdoms

Age groups · Developmental psychology · Ethnology · Geography · Maturity (psychological · New guinea · Social group · Social science · Sociology · Tribe · Anthropology · Demography · Gender Studies · History · Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management · Land Rights and Reforms · Psychology

• Cross River Studies

  Keith Nicklin•African Arts•1984

  Añadir item

• Mbembe Men's Associations

  Rosemary Harris•African Arts•1984

  Añadir item

• African Age Groups

  Open Access•N Eisenstadt, Ν Eisenstadt et al.•Africa•1954

  Añadir item

• The Masai age-group system as a guide to tribal chronology

  H A Fosbrooke•African Studies•1956

  Añadir item

• The Nyama society of the ibibio women

  M D W Jeffreys•African Studies•1956

  Añadir item

• African Political Systems

  Open Access•Peter Metcalf•Anthropology•2010

  Añadir item

• Further Notes on the Australian Class Systems

  Open Access•A W Howitt, Lorimer Fison•The Journal of the Anthropological…•1889

  Añadir item

• Law and Authority in a Nigerian Tribe

  C K Meek, Lord Lugard et al.•African Affairs•1938

  Añadir item

• Ibo Village Affairs

  M G, M M Green•Geographical Journal•1949

  Añadir item

• The Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences

  Open Access•John A Fairlie•American Political Science Review•1935

  Añadir item

• African Political Systems

  E E Evans‐pritchard, Meyer Fortes•African Political Systems•2015

  Añadir item