Book
Tiv economy
Northwestern University Press • (20) • Published In 1968 • Pages: viii, 265
By: Bohannan, Paul, Bohannan, Laura.
Abstract
The Tiv economy is divided into three separate and ranked spheres of exchange: those of subsistence, prestige and kinship. The subsistence economy is based on a three year cropping cycle of yams, millet and beniseed, a cash crop which provides money to pay taxes. All men have rights to land through their membership in a lineage, but the actual allocation of acreage is based on the size of one's household. Women do most of the agricultural work and sell surplus crops and prepared foods in local markets. Men are involved in more long distant trade between markets, both within and outside of Tivland. Ibo and Hausa traders also tap into Tiv markets, selling to Tiv foreign goods and buying their crops for urban and foreign markets. Tiv also exchange prestige items such as cattle, horses, and brass rods, and in former times, slaves. The ultimate objective of all these transactions is to secure the necessary wealth in both goods and prestige to obtain wives, who along with their children are the final measure of Tiv wealth.
- HRAF PubDate
- 1998
- Region
- Africa
- Sub Region
- Western Africa
- Document Type
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ; 1996
- Field Date
- 1949-1953
- Coverage Date
- 1909-1953
- Coverage Place
- Benue State, Nigeria
- Notes
- Paul and Laura Bohannan
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-257) and index
- LCCN
- 66017013
- LCSH
- Tiv (African people)