Book
Social structure and acculturation among the Kanuri of northern Nigeria
University Microfilms Publications • Ann Arbor, Michigan • Published In 1966 • Pages:
By: Rosman, Abraham.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This doctoral dissertation examines the issue of acculturation. In it the author explores the question: How does acculturation differ among differing groups in an urban community? He describes Kanuri social structure and focuses on how it guides and directs acculturation. His independent variable, the social structure, is however itself undergoing change concurrently, and this is the author's second theme. Thirdly, he examines the mechanism whereby the existing Kanuri social structure retains its essential integration, during the ongoing process of change. To provide a background for exploring the above issues in acculturation, the author first describes the general features of Kanuri culture. Thus, the first half of this work includes discussion of the Kanuri economy, the political organization, religion, and Kanuri social organization, beginning with the family, the distinctive Kanuri household, and the kinship system. Special attention is paid to the system of social stratification. This study of the Kanuri of Bornu, a province in northern Nigeria, has two primary aspects: 1) A community study of a large town in Bornu; and 2), a presentation and analysis of data concerning the extent of acculturation in a sample of 44 Kanuri. There is a lengthy and a sound presentation of the theoretical issues underlying the author's approach to the process of acculturation. A preponderance of the material is based on Rosman's one year field research. The author and his wife, a trained psychologist, employed participant observation, questionnaires, and intensive interview of 44 Kanuri adults, on whom he offers extensive data based upon an instrument he devised to measure acculturation. Material on the history of the Kanuri is very meager. (A very adequate coverage of Kanuri history can be found in source 1: Cohen, Ronald, MS14 Kanuri.) A weakness in his methodology (the procedure in selecting the sample size) is discussed and held by the author to be minimal. This aspect of the study, along with the size of some of the groups in his sample, warrants further scrutiny.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Acculturation and culture contact
- Retail marketing
- Labor supply and employment
- Status, role, and prestige
- Marriage
- Household
- Towns
- Districts
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Kanuri
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 1998
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Irving Rosenthal ; Helen Gunsher Bornstein ; 1970-1972
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1956-1957
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1956-1957
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Borno State, Nigeria
- NotesAdditional notes
- by Abraham Rosman
- Thesis (Ph.D.) -- Yale University, 1962
- UM 66-2677
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 375-379)
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Kanuri (African people)