Social structure and acculturation among the Kanuri of northern Nigeria

Rosman, Abraham

Book

Social structure and acculturation among the Kanuri of northern Nigeria

University Microfilms Publications • Ann Arbor, Michigan • Published In 1966 • Pages:

By: Rosman, Abraham.

Abstract
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.

Acculturation and culture contact

Retail marketing

Labor supply and employment

Status, role, and prestige

HRAF PubDate

1998

Region