Baker, TM;
(1954)
The social organisation of the Birom.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D.), University of London.
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Abstract
The Birom are one of the 'pagan' tribes living on the Jos Plateau of Nigeria, and number approximately 80,000 persons. They originally lived in a state of technological trhe’ir backwardness - and in fact still do - but territory has become the scene of large scale tin mining. The presence of Europeans and their culture, the opportunities of wage earning in the mines and the imposition of a British Administration have affected the traditional social and political structure. The Birom live in small villages each of which used to be politically independent rudimentary states; there was no single Birom government although the people had a common culture and traced their descent, in most cases, from a common source at which the annual religious ceremonies were first performed each year, the other villages following in a fixed cycle. Today the Birom have been unified under the British-imposed Native Administration and the chiefs are attempting to fuse their traditional roles with those demanded by the new administrative system. The Birom village is composed of a number of lineages but the villages themselves were not segmentary in structure. In the political sphere the village iB the unit, administered by its chief; the priests perform the religious rites for the whole village or for individuals. Even marriage is not a matter for the complete lineage. The lineage has few corporate activities. In an Appendix is examined the frequency of marriage and divorce and the factors which appear to govern such rates.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D. |
| Title: | The social organisation of the Birom |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10217202 |
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