Ivor L Miller
Biographic Data
| ID | 710776 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ivor L Miller |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ivor L |
| FAMILY NAME | Miller |
| SIGNATURE | MILLER I L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Calabar |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1990 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Elephant and Leopard Symbols in the Cross River Region and Its Caribbean Diaspora
Throughout West Africa’s Cross River basin, regional identities developed in recent centuries through trade exchanges among small forest-dwelling communities, from the foothills of the Bamenda Highlands to the port of Calabar (Fig. 1). In the process, the Ékpè “leopard” society was established as the community police of the region, each “principality” having its own lodge (Miller 2009; Miller and Ojong 2012).2 At the top of the food chain, the le…
The Ritual Solidarity of Masked Processions in Calabar, Cameroon, and Cuba
African “art” makes little sense in a glass box on a museum plinth, but can be understood only in its social context of use, as Bob Thompson taught us in African Art in Motion (1974: xii). Wherever we encounter public processions of African body-masks, the performance displays “open secrets” of ritual (procedural) knowledge trans-mitted among initiates, as Wándé Abímbọ́ lá (1973: 43) observed regarding the Ifá cult.1 In each context recorded in t…
Lovejoy Henry B. — Prieto: Yorùbá Kingship in Colonial Cuba during the Age of Revolutions
This book contextualizes the biography of a West African forced migrant in Havana, Cuba from the 1770s to 1835. Following Prieto's life chronologically, the eight chapters start with "Badagry", the lucrative port controlled first by the y empire, then by Fon-speaking Dahomey, and once "Old y " collapsed its subjects became victims of the Atlantic trade. Imaginably, Prieto was carried from Badagry to Jamaica in 1784 before reaching Havana in 1785.…
Kongo Graphic Writing and Other Narratives of the Sign
Based upon decades of research on several continents and in many languages, this is the first study of precolonial Bakongo thought that includes Caribbean developments such as the Palo Mayombe initiation system founded in Cuba from the 1500s onward. The author argues “that multiple, varied communication tools, including written symbols, religious objects, oral traditions, and body language, have consistently been integrated by the Bakongo into st…
Ékpè ‘leopard’ society in Africa and the Americas: Influence and Values of an Ancient Tradition
The Ékpè ('leopard') society represents an ancient African institution that had provided the supreme functions of governance in the communal societies of the forest regions of the Cross-River basin and the hilly terrain to the east. With the colonial intervention in the late nineteenth century, the emergence of modern individualism and western political systems has tended to ignore the important roles which Ékpè played in the past, leading in som…
Bongó Itá: Leopard society music and language in West Africa, Western Cuba, and New York City
The Abakuá mutual-aid society of Cuba, recreated from the Ékpè leopard society of West Africa's Cross River basin, is a richly detailed example of African cultural transmission to the Americas. Its material culture, such as masquerades and drum construction, as well as rhythmic structures, are largely based on Ékpè models. Its ritual language is expressed through hundreds of chants that identify source regions and historical events; many can be i…
Voice of the Leopard: African Secret Societies and Cuba
This book shows how African migrants and their political fraternities played a formative role in the history of Cuba. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, no large kingdoms controlled Nigeria and Cameroon's multilingual Cross River basin. Instead, each settlement had its own lodge of the initiation society called Ékpè, or "leopard," which was the highest indigenous authority. Ékpè lodges ruled local communities while also managing regi…
The Genesis of African and Indian Cooperation in Colonial North America: An Interview with Helen Hornbeck Tanner
Dr. Helen Hornbeck Tanner, a senior research fellow at the Newberry Library, studied American Indian and colonial American history for over six decades. In this interview she discusses little-known themes including African and Indian coexistence and cooperation, beginning in 1619 in the Chesapeake Bay region, and spanning Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, Northern Mexico, Ohio, Spanish Florida, and Texas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, …
Cuban Abakuá Chants: Examining New Linguistic and Historical Evidence for the African Diaspora
The Cuban Abakuá society-derived from the Èfik Ékpè and Ejagham Úgbè societies of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon-was founded in Havana in the 1830s by captured leaders of Cross River villages. This paper examines the process by which West African Ékpè members were able to understand contemporary Cuban Abakuá chants, and indicates how these texts may be used as historical documents. This methodology involves first recording and int…
Religious Symbolism in Cuban Political Performance
When a white dove alights on his shoulder, is Fidel Castro being crowned by Obatalá, a Santería god? What is the relationship between Santería, Cuba's vibrant Afro-Caribbean religion, and Cuba's head of state
A Secret Society Goes Public: The Relationship between Abakua and Cuban Popular Culture
The Abakmi Society for men is derived from the West Mrican Ekpe Societies of the Cross River region.It was founded in Havana, Cuba, in 1836 to resist slavery, and has since been active in many aspects of Cuban culture.Although hermetic and little known even within Cuba, an analysis of Cuban popular music recorded from the 1920s until the present reveals Abakua influence in nearly every genre of Cuban popular music.Abakua lore is orally transmitte…
We, the colonized ones: Kukuli speaks
Creolizing for Survival in the City
world. To regain control over the subways, New York mayors Lindsay and later Koch initiated and sustained multi-million dollar campaigns to erase the paintings and arrest the painters. While the passionate and bold murals have vanished from New York's subways, the art form has become a world-wide phenomenon with adherents in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and all major U.S. cities. In New York the original who are mostly male, still call themsel…
If It Hasn't Been One of Color: An Interview With Roy DeCarava
DECARAVA: There is a black aesthetic-it comes out of a cultural history. Blacks brought with them part of their history and philosophical ideas. In Africa there was always an emphasis on the spiritual, the mythic. Art was a facet of communication with the gods, a part of everyday life. think that Africans brought some of those ideas and memories with them and handed them down. This creates a different attitude toward life than a European's. The b…
A Secret Society Goes Public: The Relationship between Abakua and Cuban Popular Culture
The Abakmi Society for men is derived from the West Mrican Ekpe Societies of the Cross River region.It was founded in Havana, Cuba, in 1836 to resist slavery, and has since been active in many aspects of Cuban culture.Although hermetic and little known even within Cuba, an analysis of Cuban popular music recorded from the 1920s until the present reveals Abakua influence in nearly every genre of Cuban popular music.Abakua lore is orally transmitte…
Ékpè ‘leopard’ society in Africa and the Americas: Influence and Values of an Ancient Tradition
The Ékpè ('leopard') society represents an ancient African institution that had provided the supreme functions of governance in the communal societies of the forest regions of the Cross-River basin and the hilly terrain to the east. With the colonial intervention in the late nineteenth century, the emergence of modern individualism and western political systems has tended to ignore the important roles which Ékpè played in the past, leading in som…
Cuban Abakuá Chants: Examining New Linguistic and Historical Evidence for the African Diaspora
The Cuban Abakuá society-derived from the Èfik Ékpè and Ejagham Úgbè societies of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon-was founded in Havana in the 1830s by captured leaders of Cross River villages. This paper examines the process by which West African Ékpè members were able to understand contemporary Cuban Abakuá chants, and indicates how these texts may be used as historical documents. This methodology involves first recording and int…
Creolizing for Survival in the City
world. To regain control over the subways, New York mayors Lindsay and later Koch initiated and sustained multi-million dollar campaigns to erase the paintings and arrest the painters. While the passionate and bold murals have vanished from New York's subways, the art form has become a world-wide phenomenon with adherents in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and all major U.S. cities. In New York the original who are mostly male, still call themsel…
Bongó Itá: Leopard society music and language in West Africa, Western Cuba, and New York City
The Abakuá mutual-aid society of Cuba, recreated from the Ékpè leopard society of West Africa's Cross River basin, is a richly detailed example of African cultural transmission to the Americas. Its material culture, such as masquerades and drum construction, as well as rhythmic structures, are largely based on Ékpè models. Its ritual language is expressed through hundreds of chants that identify source regions and historical events; many can be i…
If It Hasn't Been One of Color: An Interview With Roy DeCarava
DECARAVA: There is a black aesthetic-it comes out of a cultural history. Blacks brought with them part of their history and philosophical ideas. In Africa there was always an emphasis on the spiritual, the mythic. Art was a facet of communication with the gods, a part of everyday life. think that Africans brought some of those ideas and memories with them and handed them down. This creates a different attitude toward life than a European's. The b…
If It Hasn't Been One of Color: An Interview With Roy DeCarava
DECARAVA: There is a black aesthetic-it comes out of a cultural history. Blacks brought with them part of their history and philosophical ideas. In Africa there was always an emphasis on the spiritual, the mythic. Art was a facet of communication with the gods, a part of everyday life. think that Africans brought some of those ideas and memories with them and handed them down. This creates a different attitude toward life than a European's. The b…
Creolizing for Survival in the City
world. To regain control over the subways, New York mayors Lindsay and later Koch initiated and sustained multi-million dollar campaigns to erase the paintings and arrest the painters. While the passionate and bold murals have vanished from New York's subways, the art form has become a world-wide phenomenon with adherents in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and all major U.S. cities. In New York the original who are mostly male, still call themsel…
We, the colonized ones: Kukuli speaks
Religious Symbolism in Cuban Political Performance
When a white dove alights on his shoulder, is Fidel Castro being crowned by Obatalá, a Santería god? What is the relationship between Santería, Cuba's vibrant Afro-Caribbean religion, and Cuba's head of state
A Secret Society Goes Public: The Relationship between Abakua and Cuban Popular Culture
The Abakmi Society for men is derived from the West Mrican Ekpe Societies of the Cross River region.It was founded in Havana, Cuba, in 1836 to resist slavery, and has since been active in many aspects of Cuban culture.Although hermetic and little known even within Cuba, an analysis of Cuban popular music recorded from the 1920s until the present reveals Abakua influence in nearly every genre of Cuban popular music.Abakua lore is orally transmitte…
Cuban Abakuá Chants: Examining New Linguistic and Historical Evidence for the African Diaspora
The Cuban Abakuá society-derived from the Èfik Ékpè and Ejagham Úgbè societies of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon-was founded in Havana in the 1830s by captured leaders of Cross River villages. This paper examines the process by which West African Ékpè members were able to understand contemporary Cuban Abakuá chants, and indicates how these texts may be used as historical documents. This methodology involves first recording and int…
Voice of the Leopard: African Secret Societies and Cuba
This book shows how African migrants and their political fraternities played a formative role in the history of Cuba. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, no large kingdoms controlled Nigeria and Cameroon's multilingual Cross River basin. Instead, each settlement had its own lodge of the initiation society called Ékpè, or "leopard," which was the highest indigenous authority. Ékpè lodges ruled local communities while also managing regi…
The Genesis of African and Indian Cooperation in Colonial North America: An Interview with Helen Hornbeck Tanner
Dr. Helen Hornbeck Tanner, a senior research fellow at the Newberry Library, studied American Indian and colonial American history for over six decades. In this interview she discusses little-known themes including African and Indian coexistence and cooperation, beginning in 1619 in the Chesapeake Bay region, and spanning Louisiana, Minnesota, New York, Northern Mexico, Ohio, Spanish Florida, and Texas in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, …
Bongó Itá: Leopard society music and language in West Africa, Western Cuba, and New York City
The Abakuá mutual-aid society of Cuba, recreated from the Ékpè leopard society of West Africa's Cross River basin, is a richly detailed example of African cultural transmission to the Americas. Its material culture, such as masquerades and drum construction, as well as rhythmic structures, are largely based on Ékpè models. Its ritual language is expressed through hundreds of chants that identify source regions and historical events; many can be i…
Ékpè ‘leopard’ society in Africa and the Americas: Influence and Values of an Ancient Tradition
The Ékpè ('leopard') society represents an ancient African institution that had provided the supreme functions of governance in the communal societies of the forest regions of the Cross-River basin and the hilly terrain to the east. With the colonial intervention in the late nineteenth century, the emergence of modern individualism and western political systems has tended to ignore the important roles which Ékpè played in the past, leading in som…
Kongo Graphic Writing and Other Narratives of the Sign
Based upon decades of research on several continents and in many languages, this is the first study of precolonial Bakongo thought that includes Caribbean developments such as the Palo Mayombe initiation system founded in Cuba from the 1500s onward. The author argues “that multiple, varied communication tools, including written symbols, religious objects, oral traditions, and body language, have consistently been integrated by the Bakongo into st…
Lovejoy Henry B. — Prieto: Yorùbá Kingship in Colonial Cuba during the Age of Revolutions
This book contextualizes the biography of a West African forced migrant in Havana, Cuba from the 1770s to 1835. Following Prieto's life chronologically, the eight chapters start with "Badagry", the lucrative port controlled first by the y empire, then by Fon-speaking Dahomey, and once "Old y " collapsed its subjects became victims of the Atlantic trade. Imaginably, Prieto was carried from Badagry to Jamaica in 1784 before reaching Havana in 1785.…
The Ritual Solidarity of Masked Processions in Calabar, Cameroon, and Cuba
African “art” makes little sense in a glass box on a museum plinth, but can be understood only in its social context of use, as Bob Thompson taught us in African Art in Motion (1974: xii). Wherever we encounter public processions of African body-masks, the performance displays “open secrets” of ritual (procedural) knowledge trans-mitted among initiates, as Wándé Abímbọ́ lá (1973: 43) observed regarding the Ifá cult.1 In each context recorded in t…
Elephant and Leopard Symbols in the Cross River Region and Its Caribbean Diaspora
Throughout West Africa’s Cross River basin, regional identities developed in recent centuries through trade exchanges among small forest-dwelling communities, from the foothills of the Bamenda Highlands to the port of Calabar (Fig. 1). In the process, the Ékpè “leopard” society was established as the community police of the region, each “principality” having its own lodge (Miller 2009; Miller and Ojong 2012).2 At the top of the food chain, the le…
History (9 works) · Law (9 works) · Political science (9 works) · Geography (8 works) · Politics (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Art (6 works) · Ethnology (6 works) · History (6 works) · Law (6 works)