Documents
eHRAF is comprised of thousands of ethnographic sources including monographs, journal articles, dissertations and manuscripts. Use this page to find relevant documents by searching or filtering. Each document in eHRAF also contains a Publication Information page with added metadata including brief abstracts written by HRAF analysts who have subject-indexed the file.
Double descent in an African societyBook 1968 • Ottenberg, Simon
Igbo • Africa > Western Africa
This source is a description of the anomalous situation of double descent among the Igbo of Afikpo village-group. It contains descriptions of patrilineages, matrilineages and matriclans, the descent groups within the larger structure of the village a...Leadership and authority in an African societyBook 1971 • Ottenberg, Simon
Igbo • Africa > Western Africa
This source contains a lucid and lengthy description and analysis of the social structure of the Afikpo village-group. The author builds his discussion from the smallest units (lineages, age sets, and secret societies) on out to larger units includin...Masked rituals of Afikpo, the context of an African artBook 1975 • Ottenberg, Simon
Igbo • Africa > Western Africa
This source is a synthesis of the author's knowledge of the masking tradition among the Afikpo. It is an example of the genre of anthropology that describes art in terms of its cultural context. The description of the use of masks in their ritual con...Boyhood rituals in an African societyBook 1989 • Ottenberg, Simon
Igbo • Africa > Western Africa
This is a study of the traditional aspects of boyhood in the Afikpo village-group in southeastern Nigeria, with a focus on the village of Mgbom. The author's original intention was to analyze the boy's initiation ceremonies at adolescence, but he soo...