article

The demon superstition: abominable twins and mission culture in Onitsha history

Ethnology40 (1)Published In 2001 • Pages: 13-27

By: Bastian, Misty L..

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In the colonial period, the Igbo found themselves between a rock and a hard place with regard to the practice of twin killing. Animal-like multiple births (UMU EJIME) was an abomination (NSO ANI) against the earth deity ALA/ANI and infanticide a Christian sin. Bastian examines the discourse surrounding this confrontation and changes in Igbo thinking once twins safely raised in Christian Children's Refuge grew up to become prominent citizens.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Missions
Difficult and unusual births
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Igbo
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2003
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
article
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.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Ian Skoggard ; 2001
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
not specified
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1890-1950
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Anambra State, Nigeria
NotesAdditional notes
Misty L. Bastian
Includes bibliographical references (p. 27)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
64005713
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Igbo (African people)