CONl~ENTS

Preface by ~1. J. Herskovits . \'11

Editors' Note xvu List of l\'laps and Figures xx1 List of Tables xxii lntroduction by Paul Bohannan and George Dalton . I

THE GUINEA COAST AND THE CONGO

I'. The Rural '"' olof of the Garn bia . 29 David Ames

2. African Traders in Central Sierra Leone 61 Vernon R. Dorjahn

3. Traditional Market Economy in the South Dahomey . 89 Claudine and Claude Tardits

4. The Yoruba Rural Market . I O::J B. W. Hodder

5. Afikpo Markets: 1900-1960. 118 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

6. The Bulu Response to European Economy. 170 George R. Horner

7. Trade and Markets Among the Kuba. 190 Jan Vansina

8. Lele Economy Compared 'vith the Bushong: .A. Study of Economic Back,vardness . 211 Mary Douglas

THE WESTERN SUDAN

9. Trade and l\1arkets among the Mossi People . 23i Elliott P. Skinner

l 0. Social and Economic Factars Affecting l\'larkets in Guro Land . 279 Claude Meillassoux

11. Exchange and Marketing atnong the Hausa. 299 Michael G. Smith

12. Trade and l\1arkets in the Economy of the N omadie Fulani of Niger (Bororo) 335 Marguerite Dupire

THE HORN OF AFRICA

13. Trade and lVIarkets in N orthern Sornaliland . 365 I. 1\tl. Lewis

CHA.PTER 5

Afzkpo Markets: 1900-1960 •

BY SIMON AND PHOEBE ÜTTE~BERG

In the sixty years covered by this account the A.fikpo Ibo have changed frotn a self-sufficient group of warriors and head-hunters living at a borderline subsistence Ievel to a prospering connnunity of farmers, fishennen, and traders, with econon1ic ties \Vith many parts of Nigeria and the outside world. The transition has been made from a close inward-looking people to a population including many outsiders; gerontocracy has been largely replaced by government by elected representatives; and from a group of farming villages the beginnings of an urban community have emerged.

Herewe attempt to trace some aspects of this change in a description of the market system of Afikpo village-group. Following a brief dis­cussion of the social and cultural setting, ·we descri be the market at the beginning of the present century, trace its development up to 1952, when we first carried out field research at Afikpo, and then ana­lyze it in detail as of 1960, in terms of how it is constituted and with reference to its relationship to the numerous tnarkets surrounding Afikpo. Noteis also taken of certain major economic activities which are peripheral to the marketing system or completely separate from it.

Afikpo is one of more than two hundred independent village­groups that comprise the lbo-speaking peoples of southeastern Ni­geria, whose total population is more than five million. Traditionally autonomaus and relatively self-sufficient, these village-groups possess local markets, have a marked interdependence ·within local areas, and often take part in wider trade relations. Afikpo is one of sixteen village-groups forming Afikpo Division,2 a11 but nvo of which are Ibo. Its population in 1953 was 26,305 (Nigeria 1953 : 25), with a density that we estimated tobe slightly over four hundred persans per square mile. Located on the west bank of the Cross River in the

(1) The authors carried out fieldwork in Afikpo from Deccmber 1951 to February 1953 a~ Area Research Fellows of the Social Science Research Council of New York, wirh the aid of a grant-in-aid from the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University. Funher investigation was conducted from September 1959 to May 1960. Mr. Ottenbcrg's rcscarch during the sccond period was madc possiblc by a Research Grant of thc National Science Foundation, \Vashington, D.C.

(2) \Vhen the tenn Afikpo is uscd alone it will bc undcrstood to rcfcr to Afikpo village-group. Afikpo Division will be referrcd to by this dcsignation.

5. Afikpo l\1arkets: 1900-1960 119

Eastern Ibo area, it is in a transitional region between tropical forest and savanna (Forde and Jones 1950 : 51-56). In the villages nearest the river, n1any of the tnen are fishern1en and tnay be on the river from January to J uly or August. The people of other ,·illages are farn1ers, gro,ving mainly root crops. The land is hilly, composed of a serics of sandstone ridges separated by swampy valleys. The soil of the area is poor, and Afikpo has never been a productive agricultural rcgion. This fact is important in terms of the type of market system that has developed there. Similarly, while forest products, particularly palm kernels, palm oil, and palm 'vine, are found in the area, they are not available in large commercial quantities and, for example, there is no po,ver operated palm oil mill in the Afikpo region for the processing of oil and kernels, though such mills are common in some other areas of sou thern Nigeria.

The major root crops are yams, grown almost exclusively by men, and cassava and coco yams, which are women's crops (P. ''· Ottenberg 1959 : 205-23). In addition, corn, another 'vomen's crop, and rice, grown by both sexes, are cultivated as weil as other crops of lesser importance. The main farming season is from February, 'vhen clear­ing of the fields begins, until December, 'vhen the yams and most other crops have been harvested. Cassava, however, matures the year round. Cattle cannot be kept in the area long except for the tsetse­resistant dwarf cattle (muturu), but these have been banned from Afikpo because they are a menace to the crops.

The social groupings are of a type characteristic among the Eastern Ibo. There are nventy-three Afikpo villages, each forming a separate cotnpact living area with well-defined borders. The villages are com­posed of groups of compounds, based on residential patrilineal lineages cl ustered around sq uares which are the meeting places of the men's secret society of each village. These villages are grouped into five subdivisions of the village-group: Ozizza, Mkpoghoro, U~'ruago. Oha Isu, and Itim, each of 'vhich forms a geographic and social division of Afikpo and has its o'vn tradition of origin. 'Vhile tw·o of the five subdivisions and several individual villages are larger and more inßuential than others, no one village or subdivision dominates the village-group, \Vhose corporate activities are carried out chießy by age groupings that dra'v their tnembers frotn n1ost of Afikpo. The traditional government of the village-group is based, as are the village governments, on an age-set organization without well-defined chiefs or heads.

Certain features of the social systetn, such as nonresidential matri-1 ineal corporate groups that are the n1ajor Iandholding groups in Afikpo, and village secret societies and title societies, are of less

120 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

itnportance to the tnarket study than the age groupings and have been described elsen·hcre (S. Ottenberg 195i; P. \,'. Ottenberg 1958). Others 'vill be discussed herein tenus of their relevance to the tnarket.

Afikpo is closely related historically and culturally to four neigh­boring Ibo village-groups, each of which has its o\\rn systen1 of n1arkets. These are Unwana, to the south; Edda, to the soutlnvest; A.tnaseri, to the ";est; and Okpoha, to the north,vest. It is 'vith these four gToups that n1uch of the ..-\fikpo's trade "ras carried out in the past and still is today. The non-Ibo gToups of Ag·ba, to the north, and Nkumuru, to the east, also possess tnarkets, but until the last nvo decades .A.fikpo clid not trade a gTeat deal lvith then1 because of hos­tilities and n1utual suspicion.

Five basic factors are important in the consideration of the Afikpo rnarket system. The first is the systern of tin1e division into the four­day Ibo 'veek, the days of 'vhich are orie) aho) nkwo) and eke. There is no tradition of a daily rnarket at Afikpo, and the main Afikpo market meets on ekeJ 'vhile those of surrounding village-groups meet on other days of the Ibo week. The markets are all within "\valking distance of one another, so that one can go to a different market each day of the 'veek ... Afikpo farm on alternate days, o1·ie and nkwo) and eke and aho are nonfarm days. The whole idea of trade and exchange is geared to the four-day ·week as the basic unit of time.

Second, Afikpo market is part of a vast net,vork of markets, large and small, found throughout southeastern Nigeria, usually 'vithin five to fifteen miles of one another. Traditionally, each Ibo village­group controlled at least one market 'vithin its area. Since there was no formal political superstructure, such as a state or kingdom, uniting these groups, the control of most Ibo, and even non-lbo, markets in Eastern Nigeria has generally been highly localized. Through these markets, meeting on different days of the Ibo 'veek, a great variety of goods and foodstuffs fto,v, freq uently passing through the hands of middlemen before reaching their ultimate consumers. We believe that Afikpo market is typical of some of these and may serve as one type case of the Eastern N igerian and Ibo market.

Third, within Afikpo Division, Afikpo is the most acculturated village-group, mainly because of the presence of the divisional ad­ministrative headq uarters there. The form of the market and the nature of the economic exchanges found within the village-group are clearly related to this fact.

Fourth, the Afikpo women tend to take a larger part in economic production than the men, and they appear to \Vork harder. Men are responsible for the gro,ving of yams, for the collection of palm products, and, in the riverine villages, for fishing. Women grow all

5. Afikpo .1.'larkets: 1900-1960 121

other crops except son1e newly introduced ones, such as ricc, and thcy do virtually all the processing of food Jor ho1ne consutnption and for sale, as well as n1aking large nun1bers of pots. l~hey arealso the major carriers of heayy Ioads fron1 the farms, to and fron1 the markets, and as carriers for contractors and river traders. ~len control the ma jor ritual and ceretnonial activities in Ahkpo, and have more Ieisure than won1en. Formerly, however, because of enclemic \Varfare benveen village-gToups, the tnen \Vere much occupied ,,·ith fighting and pre­parations for \varfare.

Finally, \Votnen have long taken an actiYe part in tnarketing ac­tivities at Afikpo. They \Villingly carry heavy Ioads for many miles to market, and \vork long hours making pots and processing palm oil, cassava, or rice to earn a few pennies. lf they do not dominate the economic and social aspects of market life, they have a major share in them. As an infiuential Afikpo man said lvhen asked \vhy \vomen had a spirit shrine in the market place: "\Vhy shouldn't they? They take the market to be their village sq uare and they can do anything there."

1900

The earliest market Afikpo remernher is that which existed about 1900, nvo years before a British military expedition "opened up" A.fikpo and established an administrative headquarters that has re­mained until the present. The main Afikpo market, ahia eke ukwu (market-day of Ibo "reek-big), met at a place benveen and central to the ma jor Afikpo villages. A few years before it had been moved to this location fron1 about a mile a\vay as a result of a dispute benreen the Mkpoghoro subdivision, \vhose villages \vere nearest this earlier market, and the rest of the village-group. The dispute arose over a perennial claim of the Mkpoghoro villages, particularly the largest. Ndibe, to be the "rulers" of Afikpo, a claitn discounted by a great tnany of the Afikpo but maintained to this day by the people of rvfkpoghoro. In the memory of the Afikpo this dispute is but one of aseriesthat have arisen benveen these villages (especially Ndibe) and the rest of the village-group over issues such as the O\\'nership of palm groves, the right to regulate the time of yatn planting and harvesting in the village-group, and, n1ore recently, the right to appoint a traditional chief to represent Afikpo in the Eastern House of Chiefs.

At the titne the tnarket was tnoved. the ~'lkpoghoro Yillages had been trying to dominate it, frequently charging tolls, seizing traders' goods, ancl other,vise atten1pting to exert their inßuence. The rest of the Afikpo, in retnoving the n1arket about a tnile further a\\ray

122 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

fron1 Ndibe, hoped to prevent further interference "'ith trade. For a time the l\·Ikpoghoro villages attetnpted to xnaintain their o'''n market outside Ndibe, but it failed, and gradually persons froxn these villages began to use the xna jor tnarket again. Th us the n1arket, like other institutions of .A .. fikpo, 'vas involved in intervillage rivalries lvithin the village-group.

In its ne'v site the market 'vas considered the corporate property of the village-group, and the land on \vhich it stood \Vas regarded as belanging to all Afikpo, including the l\Ikpoghoro villages. The market \Vas a visible sytnbol of the village-gToup, a people sharing a con1mon culture and dialect, and considering thexnselves distinct from, though related to, the neighboring Ibo gToups to the north, west, and south.

The market met on eke, a day when traditionally no one in Afikpo \vent to fann, except perhaps in the early n1orning to collect food to sell at market. Elders 'vho remernher the n1arket at that time have said that it \Vas n1uch smaller than the market of 1952, 'vhich was in turn considerably sn1aller than that of 1960. The variety of goods sold was also less, and the distance goods traveled to market ·was, in general, shorter than in 1952. Niost of the food 'vas locally grown and was sold unprocessed. Yams, coco yams, edo (a vine-borne vegetable resembling the potato), and palm oil were major food products. Cassava and rice, later so important to the Afikpo economy, 'vere not gro'vn at Afikpo then, nor \Vere maize, coconuts, and other foods that subsequently became important. Intertribai rivalries on the Cross River kept Afikpo fishennen close to their home area, so that while dried fish 'vas available in the market it 'vas not available in ]arge quantities. Soap, either native or imported, was not known in Afikpo at this time, \Vashing being clone by soaking and rubbing. Pottery was produced in large quantity by Afikpo women and sold by them in the market, and mats, made by young boys and men, were also sold there. Men of certain Afikpo patrilineages living in different villages were blacksmiths, selling knives, machetes and hoe blades at the market or at their place of work.

Certain additional products 'vere obtained by direct or indirect trade from nearby Ibo village-groups, for example, pink chalk used for body marking and rope for fishing nets from Edda, to the south­west, and native salt from Okposi, in the northwest. While the products from Edda were exchanged directly, the Okposi salt was traded through Amaseri and Okpoha village-groups, which lie be­tween Okposi and Afikpo. Other goods such as iron, gunpowder, and European Iiquor were traded up the Cross River from the coastal areas through several tribes to Afikpo.

5. Afikpo Markets: 1900-1960 123

Certain aspects of trade in Afikpo were dominated by a group of Ibo traders, the Aro, 'vho came or whose ancestors came originally from Aro Chuku, about forty miles to the south. These men '"ere active in trade and colonization in many parts of Ibo country (S. Ottenberg 1958), and they were the first real commercial agents at Afikpo. Here they lived scattered about the various villages and tnade frequent trips to their homeland, taking Afikpo as clients to consult their farnaus oracle, lbini okjJabe (the "Long Juju") to find solutions for various tnisfortunes and disputes, or as laborers to carry their wares to and frotn Aro Chuku at previously determined 'vages. The Aro had long dominared the slave trade in this part o[ Nigeria, and they traded slaves throughout much of eastern Ibo country. Despite the prevalence of raiding and 'varfare, they 'vere relatively free to travel lvherever they 'vished because they were greatly feared and respected. In Afikpo, slaves 'vere not sold in the market but in the houses of the Aro. They could be selected by the buyer in Afikpo or could be procured on order from other parts of Ibo country. Afikpo occasionally also sold to the Aro some of their o'vn people, particu­larly younger sons and daughters and social misfits, as 'vell as outsiders captured in 'varfare or petty fighting. Afikpo usually exchanged sla\'es and sometimes other goods 'vith Aro traders living in their o,,.n villages. The Aro also recruited mercenaries for villages and village­groups who desired to fight others, and they were kno"•n as peace­makers benveen various Ibo groups. They "•ere, on the ,,•hole, weal thy and feared, and in their position of dotninance they did not themselves farn1 or n1ake 'var. Though they did not totally dominate Afikpo trade or politics, they 'vere very influential.

In addition, the Aro 'vere the most itnportant traders in a nutnber of other products which they frequently sold at eke market. These included European cloth, gunpo,vder, guns and iron, rope, tobacco, and snuff, traded from the coastal area of Nigeria; natiYe cloth from the Nkalagu area about forty miles nortlnvest of i\.fikpo; and son1e native iron and iron products frotn the Nkwerre region, an Ibo area to the 'vest of Afikpo that is fan1ous for its blacksn1iths. lt "·as through the Aro that the Afikpo first obtained European goods, even before they had even seen a European. Although the .. ""\ro trade dealt with products frotn the coast, these "'ere traded tnainly by land, rather than up the Cross River. Afikpo was one of their n1inor trading centers, linking the large Uburu tnarket to the nortln,·est "•ith Aro Chuku to the south.

At the turn of the century tnost of the trade in Afikpo tnarket 'vas by harter. If a person 'vished to buy son1e paln1 oil he brought an article, perhaps a yan1, to exchange for the oil. Bargaining "'as an

124 Simon and Phoebe Ollenberg

integral part of the exchange process. as it is today. i\loney existed in the forn1 of brass and copper rods about three feet long, but these represented relati\·ely large denotuinations, so that they "'ere used rnainly in the purchase of expensive iten1s, particularly slaves. The rods \Vere carried on the head. bent double ancl "Tapped in native cloth in order to conceal the extent of the owner's \Vealt h. Co\vries and n1anillas. itnportant fonns of currency in other sections of eastern :\J igeria, were ne,·er used as n1oney at A.fikpo. The rods "'ere not pro­duced in Nigeria but can1e from European traders along the coast, :1nd the .Aro were their n1ajor distributors in the r\fikpo area. A brass rod ( okpogho loghologho) is saicl to have been \VOrth three shillings at the tirne of European occupation, and a copper one ( tnkjJola)) six­pence. These rocls \Vere used for gifts and for payn1ents in funerals, titles, and other ceremonies, as \vell as for trade. A n1an \vho possessed a fe\v pounds' \Vorth of brass rods \vas considered \Vealthy. Ho\vever, the basic pattern of Afikpo economic life "'as corporate O\vnership of property by lineages, clans, and residential groups; sharing of food­stuffs ancl other goods \Vithout trade or the use of money \vas common. Title societies, for example, \vere based mainly on the distribution of large q uantities of foodstuffs at ceremonial feasts.

Despite the presence of Aro traders, eke market was relatively isolated as compared \vith later years .. A.fikpo \Vomen traded pots and son1e food to the neighboring Ibo markets at Un\vana, Edda, and Okpoha village-groups, \vhich met on ahoJ t1-vo days after eke. On orie) the day follo,ving eke) some ·warnen traded at Amaseri, another Ibo village-group to the \vest of Afikpo, but only when Afikpo and An1aseri \Vere not engaged in one of their frequent boundary dis­putes. Traders, particularly women, came from Unwana, Edda, Okpoha, and Amaseri to eke market to purchase pots, mats, and sometimes dried fish ancl other foodstuffs, and to sell chalk and other products. But Afikpo men and \vomen rarely \vent beyond these neighboring markets, and \Vith the exception of the Aro and Cross River trade, goods from farther away reached Afikpo only after being traded through these neighboring village-groups. Because o[ endemic warfare between Afikpo and non-lbo village-groups to the east of the Cross River, trade benveen them \Vas rare.

Much of this inter-village-group trade \vas carried an by \Vamen, who \Vould walk to the market in groups, fearing seizure if they traveled alone. \Vhen arriving at market the traders of each graup tended to si t cl ustered tagether to sell their wares, so that spatially the market \vas divided into groups of persans from the variaus village-groups \Vith a separate sectian for Aro traders, in cantrast to eke market today, \vhich is arranged mainly in terms af the type

5. Afikpo A1arkets: 1900-1960 125

of con11nodity for sale. 1~he paths to the tnarkets wcre narrow and ftanked by tall vegetation, often hidden in gullies that had becn <.:ut through the soft sandstone by water and constant use, and people tnoved along then1 quickly and silently. At titnes sotne villages near the paths leading to eke and other tnarkets claimed the right to charge a toll for each passing trader. Only the Aro, and traders escorted bv them, travelled to the large and more distant markets o[ Uburu and eke 1noha to the northlvest and north, respectively. Children and infants \Vere rarely taken to tnarket, but were left home in the care of fatnily members or friends. Afikpo believed (and still do to a certain extent) that it was dangeraus for children to be brought to tnarket, although it is no Ionger unusual to see them there. They feared seizure by Aro slavers, and some held to the idea that the market \Vas harmful for children. Similarly, young women "rere not active in market activities. There was thus a certain restrictive air about trading and market activity at this time.

Within Afikpo village-group, trade and movement ·were much freer. In addition to the main market, small markets met on aho at two fairly central Afikpo villages, Amachara and Ug1vuago,3 and t'vo other similar markets met on nkwo) the follow·ing day, in more peripheral Afikpo areas, Ozizza in the northeast, and Anohia in the south. These four tnarkets were smaller than the main market and were used almost exclusively by lvomen, 'vho sold small quantities of yams, coco yams, palm oil, leaves, fruits, and other foods for the immediate use of persans Jiving in adjacent villages. The goods for sale came mainly from the farms rather than being obtained in the main Afikpo market for resale. Therefore there "'as little direct association with eke market or lvith the markets of other village­groups. Most of the trade \Vas by harter, and rods lvere rarely used. Aro traders did not attend these small markets. As far as is kno"·n, such markets had no formal means of social control. Disputes "rere apparently settled by lVOtnen 'vho happened to be present, particu­larly the elder "'Omen.

The main Afikpo n1arket possessed a system of social control that was part of the larger pattern of authority in A.fikpo. At the market there "'ere three shelters lvhere sat the elders' age grades of .Afikpo. The senior grade, o-ru: eka1·a (no English equivalent) were the vener­ated elders of the village-group, perhaps nutnbering five to ten per­sons, distinguished by their red stocking caps and the leather bags they carried over their shoulders. As a rule too old and too weak to g-overn, they played an itnportant ritual role in .-\fikpo but had no

(3) There is evidence that at some time before 1900 two othcr local aho markets wcre found in thc ccntral Afikpo Yillagc area.

126 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

part in the control of the n1arket. 4 The next senior age grade, the ekJJe uke esa (society-gTade-seven), consisted of six age sets (not seven as the nan1e indicates) and fonned the tnajor legislative and judicial body of the village-group. They n1et in the n1arket in their shelter on ckc only, passed la,vs concerning .. Afikpo custon1s, and tried cases and dispures brought to then1 for settle1nent. They 'vere the highest secular courtat f\fikpo. They also had another me~ting place where they n1et on nonn1arket days in con junction w·ith the other t\VO

Afikpo grades. The noise and lack of space in the n1arket made it difficult for all three grades of Afikpo village-group to consult tagether at the main market over important issues. The esa's shelter there \vas sometimes also used for meetings of the elders of Afikpo 'vith those of neighboring village-gToups 'vho 'vere trying to settle a dispute or to arrange some common action. But these meetings were frequently carried out outside of the market, so that it 'vould be incorrect to say that the market ·was the focal point for the settlement of inter-village-group dispures or problems; rather, it was the elders themselves, 'vherever they met.

The youngest Afikpo age grade, the ekpe uke isi (society-grade­six), also consisting of six age sets (roughly middle-aged to elderly men), had their O\vn shelter as 'vell. They acted as the police of Afikpo, reporting dispures to the ekpe uke esa) and stopping fights and other disturbances throughout the village-group. In addition they acted as the market police. If a dispure arose there they would attempt to settle it. Ho\vever, if it was serious they would take it to the ekpe uke esa court, where the case ·would be tried then and there. Ho,vover, Aro 'vere too much feared tobe brought to the court as a rule, so that a dispute bet\veen an Aro and a non-Aro at the market was generally settled on the spot by the Aro in his favor. Aside from these activities there 'vas little regulation of the market, though in order to prevent fighting there w·as a strict rule against carrying machetes or large knives in the market. While traders generally sat 'vith others of their village-groups, there was no strict regulation as to where they should remain, and there apparently \Vere no price controls. The traditional market possessed sanctions against mis­conduct but other,vise was essentially unregulated. The market, how­ever, ,vas clearly a center of government, and a central forum where political affairs could be discussed. . . .

eke market also, of course, served certatn soc1al funcuons. It was a center where news and gossip were freely passed about. It was a

(4) However, they owned a )arge rest house along a major Afikpo path where they would sit on nkwo and insist on a small gift ("dash") from all passers-by. including

rraders.

5. Afikpo A1arkets: 1900-1960 127

likely place to tneet another person when it was difficult or less convenient to tneet hin1 at home. This was particularly so since many adult Afikpo \Vent to the market sametime on eke. The market also was a place of ceretnonials: persans performing titles or funeral ceretnonies and their friends and relatives, and groups carrying out certain rituals, paraded and danced to announce what they '''ere doing. Again, a person 'vho had sworn an oath of innocence at a shrine and had survived a year without dying or becoming seriously ill (the penalty for s\vearing falsely) had the right to parade through the market shouting and singing to celebrate his freedom fTom the bond of s\vearing.

The Afikpo markets had apparently existed for a considerable period before European contact. lt is desirable before turning to a discussion of Afikpo markets at a later time to discuss \\rhy markets existed there at all at the turn of the century. One answer might simply be that markets existed in southeastern Nigeria and that the idea of the market diffused to Afikpo from neighboring areas. \Vhile this, of course, seems likely, other conditions must have existed at Afikpo before markets could develop. This question is difficult to ans,ver except in general terms, and all that '"e can do here is to Iist some of the conditions that appear to be related to the market.

I. The high density of population in this area tneans that personal face-to-face contact of large numbers of persans \Vithin ready \valking distance of one another \Vas possible and clearly did occur despite n1ilitary and political considerations.

2. The division of Afikpo into two major food producing groups, fishennen and farmers, necessitated some system of exchange benveen them. Other occupations, such as the production of palm products, while not usually full-tiine occupations, also needed regular outlets for exchange.

3. Some differences in productive capacities existed ben"·een Afikpo and neighboring village-groups. Clay for pots seems tobe better and more abundant at Afikpo than in surrounding areas; paln1 products, including palm 'vine, and chalk are tnore abundant at Edda; and salt is available at Okposi. \Vhile the relative presence or absence of these items in a village-group did not always explain the exclusive pre­occupation of certain village-groups with certain products (after all, Afikpo could mine sotne chalk and Edda produce sufficient clay to tnake some pots), it does help to explain the need for son1e systen1 of exchange.

4. Even among producers of the satne basic goods, such as yam fanners, there are seasonal variations in production, personal differ­ences in productive skills, differing needs for yatns for ceretnonial

128 Siuzon and Phoebe Ottenberg

purposes that xnay n1ake a producer of one product sell surpluses of this product at one tin1e and buy the san1e product at ano~her.

\Ve do not claitn that these four factors "·ere the speciflc cause of the development of .. Afikpo 1narkets, but they are in son1e '"ay related to it.

\ Ve can therefore characterize the ;\fikpo n1arket systexn as of 1900 as sntall in scale and based n1ainly on locally produced goods. Afikpo possessed a relatively self-sufficient econon1y that 'vas aug1nented some"rhat by trade. but trade ,,~as distinctly a secondary activity. lt \vas a system based essentially on harter, 'vith only a small range of goods for trade, and a systein \vhere larger amounts of foodstuffs 'vere exchanged in ceremonial and ritual events. The political and mili­tary situation prevented the development of 'vide-scale trade and contact except for a limited fe\V. The market ·was controlled by the elders, the traditional rulers of Afikpo, 'vith Aro traders dominating certain specialized aspects of the trade. The markets of neighboring Ibo village-groups 'vere apparently similar in these characteristics, though differtng some,vhat in size and in the products exchanged. It is against this background of the traditional market that lve must view the developments follo,ving British conquest.

1900-1952

The conquest of Afikpo in 1902 led to the gradual pacification of the area. The government administrative center came more and more to control the affairs of people of Afikpo village-group, as weil as of the other village-groups that made up Afikpo Division. N evertheless, the period from the time of British conquest to 1952, when 've first carried out research at Afikpo, 'vas one in which traditional social controls still dominated the market and in 'vhich the greatest changes were in the economic aspects of market activity. During this period eke market, though remaining in the same location and meeting on the same day of the Ibo 'veek, increased considerably in size and changed from a largely traditional to a partially comn1ercialized market. By commercialization 've mean a considerable emphasis on the profit motive in trade and in increase in the importance of full­time professional traders in the market. In 1900, by contrast, most trade was more casual and limited, and the profit motive does not appear to have been as important as the desire to obtain required goods through simple exchange for more or less immediate use.

This commercialization was related to the increased diversification of goods for sale. Although the slave trade no Ionger existed, and the sale of native gin, having been declared illegal by the government,

'· Afikpo i\t!arkets: 1900-1960 129

had been reltgated to the houses and con1pounds of certain producers and traders, n1ost of the traditional comn1odities werc still available in 1952. In addition, a large nu1nber of new products that had ap­peared as a result of culture contact were present for sale. ''Article'' sellers offerecl schoolbooks, stationery supplies, hardware, patent 1nedicines, costnetics, and soap. Imported shoes and cotton cloth tnade in Europe and Japan for the \Vest African trade were available. Th~ cultivation of certain new crops, namely cassava and maize, had been firn1ly established at Afikpo, and women dominated their pro­duction and trade. This increased the volume of women's trade and did much to free them of their former economic dependence on men (P. V. Ottenberg I 959). Moreover, the introduction of these crops put an end to the famine period during June and July, when yams from the previous year's harvest had been eaten or had spoiled and the harvest of nelv yams had not yet begun. By 1952 cattle were being brought to Afikpo from the north, one animal being slaugh­tered each market day. The pottery industry had expanded, and n1any Afikpo pots lvere shipped down the Cross River to the Calabar area by canoe. In addition to new foods and products, service indus­tries, natnely bicycle repairing, tailoring, and mending, had become a feature of the market, and many engaged in these occupations worked at home or in their own shops on nonmarket days.

The increased diversity of goods and the introduction of new products and services can be related to the developing economy of Nigeria du ring the first half of the twentieth century, when major trading cities \Vhich \vere developing, such as Aba, Port Harcourt, Onitsha, and Calabar, became the focus of the European import and export trade in Eastern Nigeria. These were the centers from "·hich can1e the impetus for n1uch of the growing trade in non-N igerian goods in the thousands of markets in this part of Nigeria. The linkage of Afikpo to these large urban markets was facilitated by the building of many bicycle paths and the in1provement of existing footpaths. At Afikpo the first half of the present century saw the disappearance of tnany of the fears and restrictions concerning travel, the opening up of transportation routes, and the adoption of the bicycle as the chief 1neans of long-distance transport. In addition there was an ex­pansion of the Cross River canoe trade following the cessation of intertribal hostilities on the river. \Vhile n1ost of the major roads in the Afikpo area had been built by the nlid-l9~lO's. eYeil as late as 1952 there was little tnotor transport to Afikpo, and n1ost trade goods catne by bicycle or canoe, or for shorter distances by head-load.

The four stnall localtnarkets in Afikpo, n1eeting either on aho or nkwo day, seen1 to have changed little during this period. though

130 Simon and Phoebe Otterzberg

ne\V crops such as cassava and corn \Vere added to the cotnn1odities for sale .. A ne,,· small tnarket. near the go,·ernment Station along a path leading from the fam1s to one of the larger .A.fikpo villages, had appeared by 1952. J\Ieeting for only a fe,v hours on aho J the market dealt exclusively in cassava freshly brought from the fanns by the won1en ,,·ho had gro,,·n it. The history of the development of this market is obscure. lt seemed to serve some gari (cassava meal) pro­cessors in the neighboring villages, as ,,·eil as non-Afikpo living at or near the governtnent station.

The cessation of hostilities benveen Afikpo and non-lbo groups across the river led to the development of some trade benveen them, though there \ras still much suspicion and fear. Trade bet,veen Afikpo and the neighboring village-groups of Okpoha, Edda, and Un,,rana-and Amaseri ''lhen not disputing ''.rith Afikpo-increased during this period; Afikpo traders \vent further afield to the markets of more distant village-groups to buy and sell, and traders from these markets began to appear at .A.fikpo.

Afikpo men took to trading long distances on the Cross River. Some traders exported pottery to Calabar, \Vhile others \vent north along the river to buy yams, also to sell at Calabar. Afikpo returning from this coastal area generally brought European dried stockfish and other kinds of local dried fish purchased in the Calabar area to sell at A.fikpo. A European factory on the Cross River, established shortly after British conquest, became a collection point for palm oil and kernels for much of Afikpo Division, from \vhere they 'vere shipped by boat to Calabar for export. Ho\vever, Afikpo village-group con­tributed little to this trade, as it \Vas not a rich palm tree area. Aro traders \vere active in long-distance trading from Afikpo but they no Ionger dominated this trade.

Other Afikpo traders brought European goods by land from Aha, Port Harcourt, and Onitsha, but traded few products from Afikpo to these cities. The expansion of Afikpo trade outside the area of its villages was facilitated during the period under discussion by the migration of Afikpo men, often as clerks and laborers, to all the major cities in the Eastem Region. Afikpo traders generally could visit and rely on the help of Afikpo \Vherever they went to urban centers for trade. Some of these resettled Afikpo became traders in the cities to which they had migrated.

Furthennore, outside traders, mainly Ibo, seeing possibilities of lucrative trade in "articles," cloth, bicycle parts, iron products, and other commodities, settled at Afikpo, particularly in a stranger's quarter called Number T\vo, developing near the government sta­tion. There they often had shops, \vhich were open daily, except on

5. Afikpo AJarkets: 1900-1960 131

eke, \\'hen they '''ould take some of their goods to sell at the market. This '''as the first indication of a trend to,,·ard the development of a daily n1arket. Other traders, both outsiders and A.fikpo, began trading in cloth, "articles," and other goods at Afikpo market on eke, .-\maseri market on orie} either Okpoha or Edda (or occasionally Unwana) market on ahoJ and sometimes Abba Omege market (north of Okpo­ha), or Aka Eze market (\vest of Amaseri) on nkwe} and then returning to Afikpo on eke to begin the cycle again. They mo\·ed from market to market, carrying their heavy Ioads packed in hoxes or cartons on the backs of their bicycles. Not all of these traders lived at Afikpo, some staying at Amaseri or else,Nhere in the circuit.

The Afikpo blacksmiths lineages had given up their profession by 1952 and Ezza blacksmiths, from a large Ibo village-group about thirty miles north of Afikpo, came at the beginning of each farming season to reside in various Afikpo villages '''here they made and re­paired hoes, machetes and other iron tools. The Ezza, ''rho ,,~ere farnaus Ibo yam farmers, also provided hired farm Iabor, the .:\fikpo yam planting season coming at a some\\rhat later time than their own. In addition, by 1952, palm \Vine tappers from Okposi, about nventy miles north\vest of Afikpo, a high quality palm ·wine area, had moved into different Afikpo villages, renred trees or "'hole groves, and were enjoying an important share of the Afikpo palm v •. -ine trade, selling both in the villages and in eke market. Taking into account all the above-mentioned classes of traders, it is fair to say that by 1952 \Ve find the beginnings of heterogeneaus groups of full-time professiona I traders.

The majority of the sellers in the market, ho\\·eyer. \vere casual traders who earned their living chießy by other means. Farmers brought their surplus yams to market; mat makers came to sell the products of their craft; carpenters sold doors, \\'indo·ws, or furniture they had made in their shops on other days of the \veek. There ,,·ere no \vornan full-time traders such as have long been found in urban Ibo areas. While a fe\v \vomen bought such products as dried pra,,:ns, rice, or dried peppers in quantity and sold them by the cigarette tin­ful, most lacked sufficient capital to do so .. Although a great many warnen sold in the market, they traded on a Yery modest scale, usually selling surpl us farm products, pots of their own tnanufacture, or food such as fermenred cassava or gari that they had processed then1seh·es. With the exception of a small European-acculturated element. few young \vomen sold in the tnarket, the ,,·otnen traders being primarily middle-aged or elderly. The place of the young ,,·on1en "·as thought tobe in the hon1e and the fann, a\\'ay fron1 the distractions and temp­tations of the n1arket place.

132 Simorz and Phoebe Ottenberg

A further econotnic factor that n1ust be rnentioned is the virtual disappearance of the barter system of exchange and the relegation of the use of rods as money exclusively to ritual and ceren1onial occa­sions. These changes \Vere the result of the introduction of British \Vest :\frican currency. \vhich \\'as every,vhere in use. The availability of stnall n1onetary units such as the halfpenny, and the penny (and earner the arzini_. worth one-tenth of a penny) facilitated petty trade in a tnanner that had been in1possible \vith rods. ßargaining, ho\v­ever, \\'as still the Standard n1ethod of reaching an agreernent on price, though certain European goods had con1e to attain fairly set prices. l~here \\·ere no fonnal price controls. vVhile in times of un­usual scarcity the sellers of a given product nlight agree infonnally on a n1iniinun1 price, there \vas no n1eans of enforcing the agreement. A n1arked seasonal fiuctuation in prices \vas evident. The prices of root crops such as yarns and coco yams \Vere highest in the late rainy season during the fe,v n1onths before their harvest. Although cassava could be harvested at any time of the year, the increased scarcity of other root crops raised its price and also that of gari at this time of year. ·The prices of some products \vere relatively stable for most of the year but \vere markedly lower follo,ving the harvest. For example, groundnuts \vere cheapest from September to December; rice, from November to February. The prices of palm oil and of various types of dried fish were highest at the end of the rains and early in the dry season. In the case of the latter, the increased demand during the festival season, Novernber to January, \vas responsible for the rise in prices. There seemed tobe no buying of products during a period of plenty and holding them until they \Vere scarce in order to obtain a higher price.

From 1900 to 1952 Standards of \vealth as weil as prices had risen considerably. Certainly, a person \vho had appeared \Vealthy in 1900 \Vith [3 \Vorth of rods \vould no Ionger be considered so with [3 \vorth of currency in 1952, and by this latter date a person who O\vned [15 \Vas only a moderately wealthy person. While much prop­erty was still corporately o\vned by traditional groups such as lineages and clans, individual O\vnership of wealth \Vas increasing. There was less of a tendency for a wealthy individual to distribute his wealth among his kin than formerly. Title societies now collected and distrib­uted currency, the feasting and food-distribution aspects of their rituals having decreased in importance. In traditional socia1 activities, currency was more and more being used as a substitute for food, rods, and other items, so that it was common for a man to say at a ceremony, "Here is your chicken, here is your goat," while giving 3/6 and [1, respectively.

5. Afikpo i\1a,-kets: 1900-1960 13~

r\n exanlination of the r\fikpo authority structure in 1952 sho,vs that during the preceding half-century thc elders had retained much of their inftuence. They n1aintained cotnrol of the market, settled dispures arising there, and continued to carry out their police and judicial activities. The traditional regulations against the carrying of n1achetes or knives had no\v been augtnented by one forbidding the riding of bicycles \Vithin the tnarket. The elders' controls of Afikpo traders included restrictions on Afikpo \Vomen's trading at nvo nearby markets; by 1952 the elders had forbidden "'on1en to go to nearby Amaseri market, lvhere there bad reportedly been sexual contacts benveen Afikpo \vomen traders and Amaseri men, and fTom trading at Usumutong tnarket, on the other side of the Cross River, where an Afikpo \Vornan had been severely beaten during a dispute. But the position of the elders' age grades had become \Veaker as a result of the institution by the British of a system of \Varrant Chiefs benveen the time of conquest and the 1930's, in \vhich a number of influential elders \Vere appointed as "chiefs" of Afikpo, \Vith the right to hear and settle certain kinds of disputes. In the 1930's this system was replaced by a Native Authority Council, and later a Native Au­thority Court as weil, each having representatives from the major vil­lages of Afikpo village-group. While the Coucil had the right to effect certain changes in the market, it had not passed any ma jor market legislation by 1952. The Native Authority Court, ho,vever, had some­times exercised the right to try cases arising in the market and trade disputes in general. While Iitigation of these kinds \Vere generally taken to the elders in the market-place in the first instance (that is, to what \vas by then an illegal court in government's vie,v), if any of the disputants \Vere not satisfied \Vith the elders' decision they could still take the case to the Native Authority Court, \vhich met about half a mile from the market, frequently on the same day as the market5

•

Although the Native Authority Court members "'ere middle-aged or elderly men who usually did not \Vish to go against the rulings of the traditional elder's g1·oup, the Court decisions \Vere nevertheless sub­_ject to revie'v by the District Office. The mere presence of such a court in addition to the "illegal" nature of the traditional elders' courc represente4 steps to\vard retnoval of n1arket controls fron1 the hands of the traditional rulers, a trend \vhich continued fron1 1952 to 1960.

By 1952 there \vas a Native A.uthority Sanitary Inspector who was in charge of the inspection of cattle and other anitnals slaughtered

(G) By 1952 therc was also a Divisional 1\fagistratc's Court following English judkial procedures. However, most disputcs concerning thc market or trade wcre not of a scrious enough nature to be taken to this court.

134 Sinlon and Phoebe Ottenberg

at the market and of sanitary conditions in general. .. Actually, he exerted little in the "·ay of sanitary controls at this tin1e, but bis presence tnarked the introduction of bureaucratic .co~trol of the tnarket ·which later increased g-reatly. In 1952 the D1str1ct Office at r\fikpo and the Afikpo village-group Native 1-\uthority Council 'vere already tnaking plans for the reorganization of the market through the extension of the tnarket site, the builcling of pertnanent stalls for \vhich rent would be charged, the orderly arrangen1ent of indi­viduals selling different products in clearly detnarcated sections of the tnarket, and the improven1ent of market conditions. The market was considered by the District Office and by sotne Afikpo to be dirty, unorganized, and difficult to control. By 1952 these plans had reached the stage \vhere a section of the proposed enlarged market \vas being cleared by conununallabor of the villages near the marketunder the direction of the Native Authority Council, but the \Vork did not progress rapidly since many Afikpo elders suspected that the Council intended to take over full control of the market and did not encourage the \Vork.

The market continued its social functions of 1900 in relatively unchanged fornL lt still served as a center for ne\vs and gossip, a place to meet others, and to pass through while performing certain ceremonies. Because '\vomen now ·went tnore freely to the market than previously, it meant that it \vas more of a gathering place for female friends and relatives than ever before.

If '\Ve \vere to characterize eke market in 1952 we could say that social and economic controls of the market were still minimal and stilllargely in the hands of the traditional rulers, trade and marketing activities had expanded and become diversified, and professional traders, \vith the bicyle as the basic means of transportation, had appeared. Outsiders had come to take an increasing part in the Afikpo trade, and Afikpo traders had begun to travel to other parts of eastern Nigeria. The size oE the market had increased, and a money economy had come to replace a harter system of trade. The market was thus partially commercialized, though still controlled by tra­ditiona1 groupings and still serving main1y local needs.

1960

While the Afikpo market could be said to have undergone a gradual growth and expansion from 1900 to 1952, its development between the latter date and 1960 would be more accurately described as mush­rooming. In addition to a striking change in the vol ume of trade, there were important qualitative changes: the degree of commercial-

5. Afihpo l\1arkets: 1900-1960 135

ization increased greatly, social and econotnic controls over the n1arket becan1e 1nore bureaucratic, and it changed from an essentially local institution to a transshipn1ent center for goods intended for othcr parts of eastern Nigeria. Furthermore, other types of exchange had developecl outside of the market place.

'Vhile trends in the direction of these changes wcre discernible by I 95~, the speed 'vith which they occurred '''as unprecedented. Son1e of them can be attributed to the economic prosperit y of Nigeria as a 'vhole during these years and to marked improvement in trans­portation, but others are related to developments within .Afikpo. Among the former are several factors. The first is the increased buying po,ver of individuals. A second is the 'videning and paving of major roads to the west and north of Afikpo and the building of a bridge across the Asu River ten miles north of Afikpo, lvhere fonnerly a small ferry provided limited service and was often out of operation during the rainy season. Third, lorry service in and out of Afikpo increased greatly, and lorries began to replace bicycles as a means of trans­porting goods. While in 1952 the only regular service was the lorry 'vhich made a round trip to the railway station at Afikpo Road, forty miles to the west, on Mondays, \Vednesdays, and Fridays, by 1960 there 'vere several lorries a day to Afikpo Road and Oki~\re to the 'vest, to Aha in the south, and to Abakaliki, forty miles to the north, a provincial headquarters and transfer point for travel to Enugu and the Cameroons. Also a daily bus provided service to Onitsha, on the Niger, a majorlink between eastern and 'vestern Nigeria. These im­provements 'vere part of a general economic development and ex­pansion that facilitated the growth of trade rather than resulting (Tom the pressures of business interests. '\1\Tork on the roads 'vas governtnent sponsored, and the increase in transport services came as a consequence both of prosperity and the feasibility of travel.

Changes having to do with developments in Afikpo ''rere the build­ing of three residential secondary schools in the community and the establishment of the Afikpo District Council. The students and District Council employees formed a consumer population ,,~ith

semi-urbanized tastes and demands that in turn affected tnarket trade. For example, in February, 1960, there "rere n1ore than 650 students boarding at schools at Afikpo, 'vhose food supplies n1ainly can1e frotn the Afikpo market. Most of these students 'vere not fron1 .A.fikpo. Also, the rapid development of primary schools at .Afikpo since 1952, coupled 'vith that of secondary schools, brought n1any ne"· teachers into the area. Afikpo had becon1e an educational center.

lt is difficult to assess the actual increase in the Yolume of trade in ehe market betlveen 1952 and 1960 since no records have been kept

136

,., ......

--IIIOIOM V I l l AGI

Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

MAP 6

OOVUNIIIINT IT&TION

0

0

SKETCH MAP OF EkE MARKET, 1960

........ , ..... VIIlote

i ......... . .......

Formlo•tl ••tl Pol• Gr•••

&MAMOIALA

'LATIINI

N

;. Afikpo A1arkets: 1900-1960 137

of the atnounts of goods exchanged or n1oney involved. An imprcs­sionistic idea can be gained, however, Ly thc cotnparison of amounts of space devoted to the sale of particular co1nn1odities during thc two years. In a map of the n1arket in 1952, the space devoted to Europ­ean cloth and "articles" "ras the equivalent of perhaps a dozen stalls for each type of products. According to the Market 1\,laster's records of stall rentals for the month of J anuary 1960, the num ber of rent­paying cloth sellers 'vas 7 3 and that of ''article" sellers was 80. Because fonnerly dried fish 'vas not sold in stalls but out in the opcn market, it is difficult to make cotnparisons for this product, but there '''as obviously a great increase in its sales. \Vhile the number of sellers lvas probably not over 30 in comparable months of 1952, the number of rent-paying staU holders selling dried fish in January 1960, 'vas 144, andin addition there were quite a number of traders selling these fish outside stalls. Although there was never more than one cow or bull slaughtered for beef each market day in 1952, by 1960 the usual number w·as three or even four.

Another factor in the increase in trade 'vas that in 1960 the market began earlier and closed later in the day than in 1952. \Vhereas the bulk of the selling had formerly been benveen ten or eleven in the morning and four in the afternoon, the heavy trade was no"' ex­tended for an hour or more at each end of the day.

In eke market the most readily apparent changes were the physical ones. Located on the west side of the north-south road from the govem­ment station to Ndibe Beach, on the Cross River, it became more easily accessible by automobile and bicycle 'vith the building of a paved motor road connecting the north end of the market directly 'vith the main road to the 'vest. Whereas formerly most people came to market by öush path on foot or bicycle, many no'v came along the road, a great number on bicycles, many by lorry, and a fe\v in their o'vn automobiles.

While the market covered an area of about 2.7 acres in 1952, in 1960 it covered about 5.5 acres 'vithin the tnarket proper, and also spread easnvard across the road 'vhere a number of shops and services 'vere located in sheds or private houses. The simple cotnparison of areas is misleading, ho,vever; 'vhereas the old market "'as an un­planned sprawling affair 'vith a !arge proportion of the \\rares sin1ply spread out on the ground, the ne,ver part of the tnarket "'as much 1nore con1pact, with goods and dealers closely packed into ro,,r upon row of stalls.

The Iayout in 1960 'vas actually a cotnpron1ise ben,'een the old rural market, in a grove of trees 'vith its tnaze of crooked paths and a fe'v tiny batnboo and thatch shelters for protection fron1 sun and rain.

138 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

and the prototype of the urban tnarket, in a cleared and leveled area lvith lang, straight ranks of concrete and pennanent-rcofecl stalls. Though ''progress" 'vas everywhere in sight, there \vas still n1uch of the casualness and disorder of a bush Inarket, and in the ne'v I y added section the setting· up of orderly ro,vs of concrete stalls had only begun, the stalls being far outnun1ered by ban1boo and thatch structures designated as temporary. In the older part of the tnarket a new slaughterhouse, meat market, drying shed, and incinerator had been built of concrete \vith pennanent roofs, but all araund these build­ings casual traders sat on the ground 'vith their \Vares for sale.

\Vhat n1ight still be called the heart of the market \vas the stnall square opening onto the north-south road at the main entrance to the market and flanked on nvo sides by the traditional thatch-roofed shelters of the three elders' age grades of Afikpo, virtually the only part of the market that 'vas unchanged. Here the elders still sat on market day and friend greeted friend. The surroundings 'vere vastly different, however. Formerly at the north end of the market, the square ·was no'v to\vard the south end, since the market had spread north,vard \vith the construction of the ne\v stalls as \vell as expanding considerably to the \Vest. While the elders \vere still treated \Vith deference and listened to as men of wisdom, market business matters were referred to the Market Master, an employee of the Afikpo District Council, who sat in his office in one of the ranks of concrete stallsthat extended back from the square.

Several phases of the proposed market reorganization had a]ready been carried out although the conversion was by no means complete. ckc marketwas now formally under the control of the District Coun­cil, established in 1955, \vhich had gradually assumed responsibility for it, follo,ving a plan drafted by the District Engineer in that year. After the building of the first permanent stalls in a newly deared area north of the old market, the Council attempted to move traders in some commodities to this new site late in 1956, meeting strong resistance on the part of Afikpo. Although this had largely been accomplished by 1960, it was not without difficulty, and the tnarket was still far from the model envisioned by the planners.

In 1960 the area surrounding the market, on palm forest and bush, was becoming a neighborhood of small shops and taverns (designated by the term "hotel and bar" though few provided sleeping accom­modations) as more and more people built alongside the road oppo­site the market in the hope of profiting from the rapid commercial growth of Afikpo. To the east of the market, where several villages came quite close to the road that bordered it, the space between them had been filled with a small but cro\vded settlement of houses that

-'· Afikpu i\1m·hels: 1900-1960 139

included several tavcrns and stores and the sheds of a nuillb<:r of worktnen. \\'hile not under the control ol thc rnarket, this settlenletll was in fact apart of it. To the north of the market, along thc road to the "'est, one hotel and nvo shops opcned during thc early tnonths of 1960.

For purposes of description, the tnarket proper can bc divided into two principal sections: the lolver market, including the squarc, which corresponded quite closely to the market of 1952 except for a stnall section east of the road 'vhich \Vas no'v devoted to shops, and the upper market, or part extending north and west from the square, ahnost all of 'vhich had been built after 1955. In 1960 the upper market "''as nearly nvice the size of the lo"rer. As has been mentioned, except for the slaughterhouse, meat market, drying shed, and in­cinerator, the lo\ver market 'vas much the same as it had been for many years, with a considerable nurober of trees still standing and the land still follo\ving its natural contours. Here so-called casual traders (as opposed to those who rented stalls) sold pots, vegetable produce, rope and mats, poultry, and prepared foods such as fermented cassa\'a. The ne\v meat market carried on its flourishing trade surrounded and, to a certain extent ignored, by the more traditionally oriented traders. Behind it were three crooked lines of tiny stalls jan1med close together. Four and a halffeethigh at most, they consisted simply of a series of bamboo uprights supporting thatch roofs, there being no partitions benveen the individual sections other than the polesthat supported the roofs. In these traders sat on the ground, selling chickens, ducks, and eggs in nvo of the rows, and small pots made for sacrifices in the one furthest back from the meat market. These stalls were not rented, but used by casual traders, and the District Council had made plans to tear them do,vn.

In the lo,ver market also, the traditional spirit shrines ,,·ere found. The middle elders' age grade, ekjJe uke esa, had a shrine, lbi11i okpabe_. outside their shelter, 'vhich \vas linked 'vith the "Long Juju" oracle of Aro Chuku. While it was for the general health and ,,~elfare of this grade, it 'vas also believed to encourage people to con1e to the n1arket and to help keep peace there ("to keep the market cool,'' as the elders put it). Sacrifices 'vere not n1ade at it regularly but only occasionally­for example, after there had been considerable trouble in the n1arket, such as disputes or fighting, and usually only after the grade Ieaders had consulted a diviner 'vho indicated that the spirit of the shrine was calling for a sacrifice.

The senior elders' grade, oni ekara. had a sitnilar shrine outside their market shelter, but it "'as prin1arily for the grade tnen1bers' welfare, rather than for the market. The junior elders' grade had no

140 Sinton and Phoebe Ottenberg

shrine at all. .:_\ll of this is in keeping \\·ith the three gTades' position within the village-group. The senior grade tnetnbers \Vere old, beyond the age \d1en they had much authority, and largely concerned \vith keeping alive. The middle gTade \vas the political ann of Afikpo and it is thus proper that they should have a shrine relating to control of the tnarket. The juniorgrade tnembers \Vere not ritual or political experts, but served largely in a police capacity. Therefore there \Vas little need for thetn to have a shrine at the n1arket.

A third shrine o1na ahia (soul-market), \vas the property of the old warnen of t\fikpo. lt had been n1oved from the forn1er market site when cke market ·was established shortly before 1900. Like similar shrines in the markets of neighboring village-groups, oma ahia \Vas thought essential to ·women's success in selling, and, at least, many of the old \\romen feit that without its help their trade would be doomed to failure, though the younger \VOnlen \Vere less concerned with the shrine. The immediate area of the shrine \Vas taboo to men, and any man who passed too close to it ·was fined a fe\v pence by the old woman \vho kept \Vatch over it on market day and \vho \Vould save the money for one of their periodic sacrifices to the spirit.

During the reorganization of the market, the building of the meat market on the site of the shrine necessitated its removal to a position several yards to the \Vest. The old \vomen were greatly offended at this, and a nurober of them subsequently refused to move to the upper market as the planners \Vished them to, for fear that if they did, oma ahia would no Ionger help them.

\Vhile the market square \vas not primarily a trading area, several commodities \Vere still sold there in 1960. At the north edge toward the back of the square, native cloth, used for loincloths and wrappers, was displayed on the ground and on bamboo racks. Mats \vere laid out for sale on the ground in front of the ekjJe uke esa shelter. In addition to the three shelters for the elders' age grades there \Vere two sheds, one for the sale of bush meat such as antelope or cutting­grass (cane rat), either fresh or dried, and the other for yam baskets made of sticks lashed tagether \vith fiber. At one end of this shed large \Vooden mortars and pestles for pounding yams were also sold. Along the road at the north and south ends of the square, warnen sat in clusters selling palm oil, roasted groundnuts, oranges, and paw­paws to persons entering and leaving the market. In keeping with the traditional orientation of the square and those \Vho sat there on market day, the products sold there \vere all produced locally or nearby and were not associated 'vith the European way of life.

In the upper market, north and east of the square, there were twenty-t\vo ranks of stalls, fifteen of them double lines with two rows

5. AftkjJo Alarhets: 1900-1960 141

ol' Stalls back to Lack, and seven single. Of the total, three (two single and one double) '''cre pennanent concrete structures with ashestos roofs and the rest 'vere placed in accordance with a long-range plan of n1arket developn1ent. Except for a fe'v that did not follo''' the plan, the ranks were 125 feet in length, with a distance of 25 feet between thetn. 1\1ost of them extended north-south, more or less parallel with one another, in tv.ro main sections extending westward front two ranks of permanent stalls about 75 feet from the north-south road.

At the south end of the upper market \\ras a double rank of perma­nent stalls extending lvestward frotn the middle of the square for some 80 feet. Here, on the north side, the 1\'larket 1\'faster had his office and a nurober of cloth sellers ·were located. The south side lvas completely etnpty, a sort of no man's land between the old market and the nelv. A felv used it as a resting place, and some parked their bicycles there, but for purposes of trade it did not seem to be recog­nized. Behind this rank a single row of tiny bamboo and thatch stalls extended for 150 feet diagonally to the northwest, following the course of a former bush path that had been replaced by the east-"•est road.

At the north end of the upper market, five ranks of temporary stalls had been set up more or less at random araund a central clearing designated as a lorry park, though it ·was not used as such until late April 1960. Until then the space lvas used by casual traders selling produce and salt, and the lorries parked at the extreme northeast corner of the market.

Like the arrangement of stalls in the upper market, the products sold in them reflected, to a great extent, the rapid culture change of the 1950's. Here there lvas a predominance of products and sen·­ices that were either European in origin or associated with a more urban lvay of life and a higher standard of living than those of the lo,ver market. Of these the most conspicuous lvere imported Europ­ean cloth, "articles," dried fish, 6 rice (a nelv food for Afikpo), and food and beverage service.

Though a number of the stalls in the upper market "~ere not rented at the time of the study, it "ras crolvded indeed, especially to,,·ard the back of the market, with a nutnber of traders such as sellers of dried fish, kerosene, and palm lvine setting themselves up in the spaces benveen the ends of ranks. Also, son1e of the rows of stalls seetned to have overflo,ved, lvith lines of rice sellers, for exatnple~ sitting· out­side on the ground, facing the stalls. and thc prospective buyers picking their lvay between then1. Undoubtedly this "~as partly season­al, since this lvas the tin1e of post-harvest ceretnonials when these

(O) Dricd fish had long been used by Afikpo. but fonnerly in mudt smaller quantities.

142 Simorz and Pltoebe Ottenberg

products were in great de1nand, and they \\rere in plentiful supply during the dry season. but it also see1necl to be sy1npton1atic of the transitional state of the 1narket in \vhich n1any of the traders still resented being asked to pay stall rentals and claitned the right to sell where and as they pleased.

Except for the 75-foot-\vide strip of land along the north-south road. the upper market hacl all been cleared and \vork on leveling the gTound had begun, though there 'vere still several lo'v places that flooded during the rains. In addition to the casual traders sitting on the ground in the proposed lorry park, there \vere also several lines of sellers seated on either side of footpaths leading into various parts of the 1narket, principally from the nortl1east corner 'vhere the lorries parked. The n1ost notable of these 'vas the gari line, actually two double rows of over one hundred \vomen seated close tagether along a forking path\vay behind great basins heaped high with gari. In season there \vas also quite a long double line of \vomen selling oranges, as 'vell as a shorter one selling leaves for sou p.

In the \vide grassy strip along the road, '\vhere quite a number of paln1 trees still remained, the market "\vas also visibly spreading. Im1nediately to the north of the sq uare, '\Vhere several paths criss­crossed the land bet\veen one rank of permanent stalls and the road, sellers of used clothes (which became available in profusion in the autumn of 1959) hung their \Vares on lines strung between the scat­tered palm trees or placed them on temporary racks they had made by attaching crossbars to ban1boo poles stuck in the ground. Between the next rank of stalls further north and the road, a tiny bamboo and thatch shed, which had suddenly appeared between one market day and the next in December 1959, was devoted to the sale of gunpowder, in great demand for the shooting of Dane guns in ceremonials, and carbide, used in headlamps by night hunters in the bush. Further north, livestock sellers tethered sheep and goats where they could graze in the shade of the palms. Thirty feet to the east of the above­mentioned traders, middlemen stationed themselves at intervals along the roadside as buyers of palm oil and kernels for resale in city markets or to European companies for export.

The casualness of some of these arrangements '\vas only temporary, however. During the first few months of 1960, a ne\v row of temporary stalls \Vas built onto the back of the nvo single ranks of permanent stalls nearest the road, and the second-hand clothing sellers \vere moved into them. The Market Master expressed his disapproval of the place chosen by the livestock sellers, since in the plan a special sec:tion had been reserved for them in the back of the market, and in February he presaged their ultimate removal by ordering the poultry

5. Afikpo l\1arkcts: 1900-1960 143

sellers to n1ove fron1 the lower market to a new location toward thc rear of the upper Inarket. Despite the fact that hc expectcd rcsistance from then1 they did con1ply, though not w·ithout grum bling. lt ap­peared that the park,vay the planners had en\·isioned bordering the market might yet beco1ne a reality.

In the settleinent of shops just east of the market, there ,,·as some duplication of commodities sold in the market proper, and also some additional services. In a series of small sheds along the road car­penters, blacksmiths, bicycle repairmen, and a barher plied their trade. Some of the houses served both as residences and places of business. A felv lvere used also as 'varehouses for the storage of such products as groundnuts, dried beans, gasoline, and kerosene.

'Vith the growing congestion of the area, commercial activities lvere spreading along the path leading to the nearest village. Several buildings were under construction, and a series of carpenters' sheds led to the more imposing Why Worry Hotel and Bar. On the other side of the road, j ust south of the market, a good-sized house buil t originally as a private residence had been rented, one room to a palm kernel buyer for a major European company and another as a hotel and bar where palm w·ine was sold. Beyond them, the building of other houses had begun.

While the main access to the market 'vas by roads from the north, south, and 'vest, a nurober of bush paths extended to the east, south­east, and southwest. The area directly to the "'est of the market place was mostly bush, with a small section of farmland near the southwest corner. Here, ho,vever, two houses under construction foretokened its complete encircletnent.

Despite the sense of disorder and Iack of planning that a non­African might register on first visiting eke market, there 'vere often logical connections in the juxtapositions of various products and reasons for their locations. The 'vholesalers of dried fish, for example, sold their 'vares in the close vicinity of the hotels at the back of the upper market, when the buyers, many of 'vhom had come great dis­tances by bicycle, could refresh themselves before the long journey home. Seilers of the popular snacks, roasted groundnuts, pa,,·pa\vs, and oranges-the most popular N igerian thirst-quencher-stationed themselves at the front of the square and along bush paths leading into the market. Like a bakery shop in a con1muters' raih,ray station, the gari line bordered the main path leading to 'rhere the lorries were parked, an ideal place for outgoing passengers to pick up the main ingredient of a quick meal on the \Vay home. In the lol\'er market, 'vhat see1ned on market day to be a confused "'elter of paths (along which the casual traders lined their "'ares according to type)

144 Simon and Phoebe Ollenberg

was in reality not so. The paths follo,ved the drainag·e co~tours of the ground, which rise graclually fron1 the road to the back of the tnarket, so that the sellers sat on slightly raised platforn1s \vhere customers could inspect their products as they moved atnong then1, cotnparing those of the different se llers and choosing the ones they preferred .

. Although the analog)· is perhaps strained, it is no n1ore possible to descri be a ~ igerian tnarket in tern1s of onl y one of the senses than it \\'Otlld be to convey to a foreigner the in1pression of rush hour in the New York sub\vay by telling tnerely \Vhat it looked like. One can begin, and at quite a distance, 'vith the sound. As the reader is so often told in ethnographic \\'Orks on 'Vest Africa, one hears from the distance of up to a 1nile the muted roar of thousands of voices, "rhich steadily increases in voltnne as one approaches the tnarket. As he enters, this roar is punctuated by calls of greeting, sudden vociferous outbursts of quarreling, infants' cries, and the honking of lorries and clang of bicycle bells. The smell of stockfish is combined with the pungent aron1as of palm oil and kerosene. The sun-or the rain­beats do·wn. Squashed oranges sucked dry of their juice lie scattered in the thick dust or in the slippery red mud. The brilliant colors of the .-:.\frican trade cloths, the garish array of plasti<..s that has invaded \Vest i\frica, and vegetable foods, oranges, bananas, chili peppers cantrast ·with the uniform dullness of bale after- bale of dried fish, mounds of groundnuts, endless ro\vs of yams, and basins of rice and beans.

Someho\v, though, it is on the next day that one receives the most po,verful impression of the market. The people and the goods are gone, and the stalls look strangely dead and decrepit. But the smells linger, the animals areback again, and the clean-up man is patiently sweeping up the orange peels to take then1 to the drying shed and thence to the incinerator.

1\JaTket Trade and Activ.ities. By 1960 there had been a marked change in the trade in eke market.

The number of professionalmale traders had greatly increased, and women, though still not usually trading full time, were buying and selling on a much larger scale than formerly. Probably the advent of the professional market woman would await the development of the daily market, since women's family and hausehold responsibilities precluded their moving about constantly as in the case of many men traders.

In addition, there \Vere many more middlemen, both buying and selling in Afikpo, than in 1952. A nurober of men brought dried fish upriver by canoe from ltu and Calabar areas and also by lorry fTom

5. Afikpo l\1arhets: 1900-1960 )45

Aha and Port Harcourt to sell to young n1en for resale in thc out­lying n1arkets of Afikpo Division. Some men bought salt fron1 Europ­ean companies in Calabar and solditto Afikpo women, who packagcd it and sold it in eke market. Others brought products from te north, often do\vn the Cross River (for example, dried beans and ground­nuts), ·which they sold to \vomen retailers in Afikpo. Some bought yams in quantity either from Aka Eze to the west or fTom Ahakaliki and other areas to the north. These yams, larger than those grown in Afikpo, \vere in great demand there. Men and some '''OJnen bought unmilled rice in the Afikpo area and steamed it preparatory to milJ­ing, though the milling and retailing \vere clone by lvomen.

Although most of the middlemen in Afikpo market "'ere there in the capacity of sellers, there \Vere some buyers of locally-produced palm oil and kernels and of gari made in Afikpo for resale at Aba­kaliki, where this food \Vas in great demand but where fe,v knew ho''' to prepare i t.

There were still many nonprofessional sellers \Vho brought com­modities to market in small amounts, though these were proportion­ately fe,ver than before. A distinctive class of traders that seemed to be ernerging was what might be called semi-professional ·women traders, 'vho devoted most of their productive efforts to the buying and processing of commodities for sale in the market rather than to farming, as had formerly been the case. While there had been a fe''' such ·women in the market in 1952, there \vere many more in 1960 and they 'vere on the whole younger than their predecessors.

Actually, the categories of traders had changed less than their relative proportions. 'Vhile there had been a fe\v full-time men traders and a stnaq number of semi-professional 'votnen traders in 1952, there 'vere no'v many of both types; and, as the emphasis of the market shifted more toward ''Vestern and urban tastes, the casual sellers had become less ünportant in the total n1arket picture than before. This is not to say that their nurober had decreased, ho,,·ever, for on a busy market day they filled up all the lower market and a considerable part of the upper as "'ell. If they had been moved to the section intended for them by the planners in the back of the upper tnarket, it "'ottld have been found to be n1uch too stnall. In the eyes of the District Council, lvith its en1phasis on the n1arket as a money-making enterprise for the con1n1unity, they played a rcla­tively minor role in trade yet they \Vere still an ünportant social and economic force in Afikpo.

There were distinct patterns of specialization both in n1arket producing and selling. Division of activities according to sex, though less strict than before. was still tnarked. ~lost productive acti\·ities

146 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

were still in the hands of 'vomen. The tnost ünportant of these 'Ven: pot-tnaking, the steatning of rice and taking it to be tnilled, the pro­cessing of pahn oil and kernels, and the preparation of fennented cassava, gari) cooked foods, roastecl groundnuts, and salt (bought in 90-pound sacks and repacked insmall raffia containers for resale). Of these, the production of pots and gari \Vere the n1ost ituportant, and the processing of rice ·was becoming n1ore popular. Pot-n1aking, greatly respected by Afikpo tradition, 'vas practiced n1ostly by nüddle-aged and elderly 'von1en. lVhile son1e younger 'votnen n1ade pots, n1any felt that the an1ount of '\Vork involved in making them "'as dispro­portionate to the profits obtained, and they had gone into more lucratiYe activities.

i\ nun1ber of \\'Olllen also processed rice and sold it in the tnarket. This, however, required a greater capital outlay as 'vell as consider­able skill in steaming it before milling in order to obtain good q uality rice. Fora \VOinan 'vith little rnoney but 'vith the necessary physical statnina to carry Ioads of cassava long distances, gari production was potentially profitable activity. For exarnple, the gari rnade fron1 three shillings' 'vorth of cassava, '\Vith the '\Vork of processing and the ad­dition of a small amount of palm oil, '\vould fetch six or seven shillings at eke market. Here Afikpo warnen were in a favorable position. Gari \vas in great dernand in eastern Nigeria, but since it had only recently been introduced in rnany places, relatively few people knew ho'v to make it. The knowledge had probably been brought earlier to Afikpo than to surrounding areas because as an administrative center it had had more contact with the outside.

~len's processing industries were butchering, bicycle repairing, blacksmithing, carpentry, and tailoring. With the exception of the butchers, \Vho worked also at other rnarkets, most of these men had shops ·where they worked each day, either across the road from the market or in another part of Afikpo. Some carpenters brought their proclucts to market, and a few tailors set up shop in a market stall on eke, taking orders for work to be clone in their shops. In addition, a few men and a considerable number of warnen brought their hand­operated portable se'\ving rnachines to rnarket and provided mending service on rnarket day.

There was also considerable regional specialization in eke market in 1960. For commodities and services from outside Afikpo, this follo,ved traditional patterns and showed little change from 1952. Tappers from Okposi supplied palm wine for the market, though the native salt from this area had been largely replaced by European salt. Blacksmiths and iron products still came from Ezza and chalk and rope (Tom Edda.

5. Afikpo A1arkets: 1900-1960 147

As formerly, the won1en of different villages and subgroupings o( Afikpo villages specialized in making various kinds of pots, some producing 'vater pots, others, pots for eating, cooking, bathing, and so on. In eke tnarket these 'vomen grouped themselves according to the type of pots they 'vere selling, and hence according to the part of Afikpo they catne from. This appeared to follow the custom of having the sellers of a comtnodity in one location rather than the older prac­tice of the people from one community's staying close tagether in the market, since the sellers of others commodities seemed to pay no attention to place of residence in seating themselves.

As in production, there 'vere distinctive patterns of sexual division in the selling of different products. Several generalizations can be made. The sale of products requiring the greatest amount of capital, and hence most imported goods, \vas in the hands of men. Types of goods that required the seller's traveling considerable distances to obtain them lvere also sold by men. Here, of course, it is impossible to separate the factors of freedom of mobility and the cost of tra,·el and transporting goods to market, but it is safe to say that won1en \Vere both less mobile and poorer than men. The legendary figure of the \Vealthy Ibo woman trader 'vho supported her husband and sent her sons to a university abroad 'vas not to be found in Afikpo.

Craft products 'vere sold by persans the same sex as the maker though not ahvays by the maker himself. Men sold mats they had made themselves or had bought in Ezza country to the north, "rhere mat tnaking lvas a specialty. vVomen frotn Edda sold rope of their own making, or Afikpo women sold rope they had obtained from Edda for resale. 'Nomen sold cooked food, both in the hotels 'vhere the buyers could sit inside and eat it, and in the form of bean cakes, various types of breads, and roasted groundnuts sold by casual traders for snacks.

Except for yams, meat, and stockfish, most food 'vas sold by ''romen though some tnen sold certain foods in quantity that 'vere retailed only by \Vomen. This pattern corresponds 'vith the traditional division of responsibility for the food supply in Afikpo: men provided yams, with occasional meat or dried fish, 'vhile "romen supplied all other foods.

Here a note should be made concerning the three categories of dried fish sold in eke market. First, stockfish imported from Europe was sold exclusively by the men. Second, tl\70 types of N igerian dried fish, bonga (a river fish frotn eight inches to a foot long. sold in1paled on sticks), and en)'G oca (eye-,vhite-a river fish three to five inches long, sold on wooden racks shaped like sno,,·shoes) "·ere sold princi­pally by tnen but also by \vomen. These fish are here designated by

148 Sitnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

the term large dried fish to distinguish then1 from a third category, small dried fish (including both minno\vs and tiny pra\vns, known locally as crayfish), sold exclusively by \Vomen. (In the ~'larket i\laster's register of stall rentals, only nvo of these categories were recognized: .. stockfish," including our first nvo categories and .. crayfish," our third category, so some confusion in enun1erating the fish sellers was una voidable.)

A number of products \Vere sold by both men and women. These generally fall into the categories of foods-usually from outside Afikpo-obtained in quantity and sold retail (for example, certain dried fish, raw grounclnuts, and dried peppers) or of livestock (sheep, goats, and poultry) brought to market by their O'\vners.

One distinctive category of products-cigarettes, matches, sugar, and soap-\vas sold exclusively by boys. Young boysalso walked about the market calling "Ci-ga-rette!" and selling cigarettes singly. The products sold by men, women, and boys, are sho'\vn in Tables 12 and 13.

By iW:en

Cloth "Articles" Stockfish Used clothing Nativecloth Native ironwarea Native medicine Gunpowder and

carbide Empty tins and

bottles

TABLE 12

Products Sold in Upper Market

By Women

Small dried fish Rice Egusib Tobacco and crystal

saltc Chew sticksd and

By Men and Women

Large d ried fish Palm wine Groundnuts by the

boxfule Dried beansf Used cloth and

fiber sponges paper sacks Cooked food (service) Kola nuts Bread Dried peppers Onions Sheep and goa ts Coconuts Kerosene Garnishes for sou p Leaves for soup Gari Salt Fruits Roasted groundnuts Tomatoes and green

vegctables

By Boys

Cigarettes Matches Soap Sugar

(a) Also sold i}l blacksmith shops across the road. (b) Melon seed used in thickcning soup. (c) For making snuff. (d) For cleaning teeth. (e) About one cubic foot in capacity. (f) One man only.

Sometimes a \Vornan was seen selling "articles," yams, or stockfish, but on inquiry it turned out that she was selling for her husband, who was temporarily absent. From time to time a young boy or gir1

5. Afikpo Markell: 1900-1960 149

was seen selling for his or her mother while she shopperl for hersclf in the n1arket. Though boys sold on their own behalf, girls did not. According to Afikpo tradition girls did not go to marketat all hcfore marriage, and though they son1etimes went there with their mothers the idea of their staying there alone was still unthinkable. In cases where girls did sell for their mothers, the n1others turned out to be "strangers" from Nurober Two, the g·overnment workers' quarters, or one of the schools.

TABLE 13

Products Sold in Lower Afarket

By .AJen

ßccf ßush mcat Yams ?vfats Nativecloth Yam baskets Yam mortars and pestles

BylVomen

Pots ünpceled cassava Fermented cassava Coco yams Palm oil (retail) Eggs Native chalk Rope Cooked food (snacks) Roastcd groundnuts T omatocs and grccn

vegetables Dried peppers Fruits

(a) Moved to upper market in February 1960.

By Men and H'omr.n

Poultrya

Another basis for specialization in selling 'vas that of the degTee of acculturation of the trader. This "'as true in 1952, when the cloth and "article" sellers particularly had had more experience of the world outside Afikpo than sellers of traditional products, and 'vomen who had been to school or had lived in cities for considerable periods restricted their selling to products such as kerosene and cooked foods. {n 1960 the continuation of this pattern was sho,vn in the ~farket Master's register of stall rentals, and it \Vas especially marked in the case of 'vomen selling bread, onions, pap, and other prepared foods (relatively new in Afikpo), used paper and cloth sacks, and a variety of soup ingredients. In January, fifteen of the nventy-two stall holders selling these products 'vere listed as con1ing from one of the stnall neighborhoods of shops growing up in Afikpo, governn1ent ''rorkers' quarters, or the various schools in the neighborhood, ''rhile only seven lived in Afikpo villages. 1\fost of these sellers \vere Christians and did not come to market lvhen eke fell on a Sunday. In fact, in contrast to 1952, the market tended tobe noticeably stnaller on Sundays than on week days.

150 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

Because of the ftuidity and Iack of ordering atnong the casual traders in the lower 111arket it 'vas diflicult to cliscern patterns of regional specialization in selling other than those of products origi­nating outside Afikpo. Ho,,.rever, in the upper tnarket, certain such tendencies could be seen. ;\tnong· the stall holders in J anuary 1960, the cloth sellers were about evenly divided bet,veen .t\ftkpo, An1aseri, and Edda village-gToups, ,,·ith 25, 21, and 22, respectively. Atnaseri and Edda tnarkets are the two largest 'vithin ten miles of c.kc. market, ancl n1ost of the cloth sellers con1n1utecl from one to the other, as n1entioned above .. A.ctually son1e of these tnen came fron1 cities such as .A.ba and Onitsha, both tnajor textile centers, and the addresses given in the register ,,".ere their local residences rather than their hon1es. Of the ''article" sellers, on the other hand, 62 'vere listed as living in Afikpo, 'vhile only 18 catne from other village-groups; of the stockfish sellers, 48 came from Afikpo and 17 fron1 outside. In the case of the other sellers holcling stalls in the upper market, virtu­ally all 'vere from Afikpo. Of the menders, listed under the category of "seamstress" in the register, 31 'vere from Afikpo, 5 lvere from Edda, and I from An1aseri.

Another factor that appears in the records of sellers' place of residence is that almost all \vomen stall holders were from Afikpo rather than outside. This is consistent with the pattern of women's n1ore limited mobility and \Vealth than men's. This was not true of the lo,ver market, ho\vever, 'vhere many women came from other village-groups. Those renting stalls in the upper market represented the ernerging class of semi-professional traders,7 almost all of \vhom 'vere from Afikpo, \vhich was considerably more acculturated than surrounding village-groups. IVIany of these women had reached the state of economic security where they did not have to walk ten or fifteen miles to get a product cheaply that they could sell for more at Afikpo, and some, considering themselves "a little bit civilized," would have feit that to do so \vas beneath their dignity. Among the sellers in the lower market, the Edda women who sold rope and native chalk, for example, regularly walked twelve to fifteen miles each ekc. they came to Afikpo. Here, in contrast to men's trade, the corre­lation was benveen distance and lack of money.

\Vithin Afikpo certain villages emerged as Ieaders in market trade. Here again, records were available only concerning the staU holders of the upper market. The largest number of traders was from the village closest to the market, Amamgbala, from which there \Vere 74 out of a total of 539 rent-paying stall holders in January, 1960. The

(1) This is not to say that all women classed in this catcgory rentcd stalls, however, for somc commodities in which they dealt wcre not sold in stall~~o

5. Afillpu J'1arkets: 1900-1960 151

next largest ntnnber fron1 one Yillage, 55, was hon1 Ukpa. This Yillage is about a tnile fron1 the market, but being the nearest \'illagc to the governtnent station and also bordering on the strangers' quarter, N utnber T\vo, its people were more acculturated than most of the rest of the Afikpo, and they had had a long tradition of trading in cke n1arket. The village \Vith the third largest nutnber o[ stall holders was Ndibe, one of the largest Afikpo villages, "rith 38. Ndibe people are very active in river trade, and of the 38 sellers 20 dealt in dried fish. Ama lzu, quite close to the market, had 36, \vhile Ngodo, a little further alvay, had 33. All these villages with the exception of N godo lVere fairly large for Afikpo. There were 33 stall holders lrom N um ber Two, several of \vhom also had shops there that they operated on the other days of the \\1eek.

There \vere a fe\v instances of domination by one vil1age in the trade in a particular commodity, but this \Vas not a general pattern. These seemed to be associated either with specialization in pro­duction within one village or the closeness of the village to the market. Villages that were far from the market ''rere poorly repre­sented, at least among the stall-holders. From the farthest outlying subgrouping of Afikpo villages, Ozizza, only one trader had a stall in the upper market.

There \vas a wide range in the amount of capital a trader needed toset hirnself up as a seller in eke market, depending on the product sold and the scale of his trade. A boy selling cigarettes, matches, sugar, and soap might have started with 2s. or 3s., \vith 'vhich he purchased a package of cigarettes, a box of safety matches, and a bar of laundry soap. lf he was successful and found that he liked trading, he might, as he matured, have forsaken this .. trade for little ones" and begun to sell other products. With ISs. he might have bought a four-gallon tin of kerosene to sell by the beer bottleful, or \\rith I Os. or [I he might have bought a few cuts of beef from the O\\rner of an anitnal slaughtered at the market and tried his hand as a n1eat seller. If he had [3 he might have bought twenty stockfish, or if he had fl 0 or [11, a whole bale, at eke market to sell singly or cut in pieces. lf his trade prospered he might, \Vhen he had amassed [40 or [50, have traveled to Port Rarcourt or Aba, ·where a bale of stockfish cost [9 or [9 lOs.

Trade in .. articles" represented considerable progress along tht road to success for a self-made trader, or tnight be the starting point foraman \vho had been given financial help by a kinsn1an or friend. A man with [I 0 could buy a n1odest stock of singlets, towels, scarfs, and so on, or he could lay in a stock of stnall iten1s like buttons and thread, inexpensive costume je,velry, three-penny exercise books and

152 Simorz and Phoebe Ottenberg

shilling ball-point pens. lf he werc successful he could expand his trade into a n1iniature haberdashery or variety store 'vith an inventory 'vorth [ 100 or Inore.

There was in Inarket trade, as in other aspects of Ibo life, a strong desire Eor up"·ard n1obility. Among men traders, for n1any the ulti­nlate goal \Vas to be a cloth seller, for this represented the greatest incotne, and hence security and prcstige. Once he had an1assed the an1ount of capital necessary to buy a stock of cloth, the great denland for new styles and patterns of prints, plus the effects of the climate and local laundry methocls on clothing, assured his success if he was a skillful buyer. lt 'vas the cloth seller \Vho sat in his permanent stall in rainy 'veather \vhile his less fortunate colleagues scratnbled to cover their stock beneath the leaky thatch, and it \vas he 'vho often refused to bargain 'vith a prospective buyer.

The nun1ber of traders in EkE market varied at different seasons of the year, probably being greatest in December and January, a season of ceremonials and feasting '\vhen there is little farming done and many people are home in Afikpo on leave fTom their jobs else­where. ~'-\ccording to our enumeration, made in mid-December 1959, 588 out of a total of 64 7 stalls in the upper market8 \vere occupied. The number of stalls devoted to different products and services is sho·wn in Table 14.9 The actual number of sellers of some products was considerably higher than these figures indicate since several products \Vere also sold outside stalls.

In a count made bet'\veen 11:30 A.M. and 1:30 P .M. on an eke early in February 1960, there were 2,010 persons selling in the upper market and 1,280 in the lo,ver, giving a total of 3,290. This is a rough count at best, and it must also be taken into account that some sellers leave before noon and others do not come until midafternoon, since trade is usually brisk from around nine in the morning to four or later in the afternoon.

In 1960 the traditional ceremonial and social functions of eke market continued much as before. An important addition, however, \Vas the hotels, serving cooked food and palm wine. While both types of product had fonnerly been available, cooked food was sold in the form of snacks to be eaten \Vhile standing or ·walking about the

(8) According to thc Markct Master's records, thcre was a total of 654. The difference can probably be accountcd for by variation in size of some of thc stalls which are not dividcd by partitions, and by the obscrvcr's intcrprctation of whethcr somc of the stalls had collapscd or werc still standing.

(O) There arc a number of discrcpancics bctween these figures and those of the market registcr for stall rcntals in thc following month. Two factors here are that the volume oftradein Deccmber is usually greater than that in january. and that there is consider· able illegal use of stalls without paymcnt of rent.

5. Afikpo 1\'farkets: 1900-1960 153

market, and pahn 'vine 'vas taken out of the market before it was consumed. The new hotels, 'vhere restatn·ant and bar service was available, had added a new social dimension to the market, and drinking at the hotels 'vas becoming a popular pastime for Afikpo n1en.

TADLE 14

Occupation of Stalls in Upper Market-December 1959

Product Stalls

European cloth 67 "Articles" 102 New clothinga 26 Stockfish 64 Large dried fish (retail) 42 Small dried fish (retail) 53 Rice by cigarette tinful 30 Egusi 24 Bread and soup ingredients 23 Dried beans 20 Groundnuts by boxful 14 Tobacco and crystal salt 22 Kola nuts 10 Soap, sugar, cigarettes, matches l4 Native ironware 3b Native medicines 2 Nativecloth )c

Cooked food (in hotels) 30 Palm wine (in hotels) 16d Tailoring and mending 25

588

(a) Included under "articles" by Market Master. (b) Three blacksmith shops across the road also sold ironware. (c) Plus two other casual sellers in square. (d) A number of hotels across the road from the market also sold palm wine.

lvlarket Cont1·ols. The period between 1952 and 1960 sa'v a radical change in the

authority controls over the Afikpo market. In 1953 the Afikpo Dis­trict Office established the Afikpo Divisional Council, con1posed of elected representatives of the village-groups in the division, including Afikpo village-group. This council ''ras formed in preparation for the full introduction of local governn1ent in Afikpo Di\'ision and "~as the first real deliberative body on a divisional basis. It did not, ho"·ever, replace the local Native Authority village-group councils, and it had little money to spend and little real authority. In 1955 it ,,~as replaced by the Afikpo District Council, a true local g·overnn1e11t body re­presenting the various village groups in Afikpo Division) (except Edda, 'vhich fonned its o'vn district council)~ with the power to

154 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

levy taxes and spend consiclerable sun1s of n1oney. Similar develop­nlents were also occurring at this tin1e through all of southeastern ~ igeria as part of a general plan of local govertunent developtnent preparatory to the granting of national independence. The Council, con1posed of elected representatives, 'vas under the general nlanager­ship of a Secretary and a Treasurer, 'd1o 'vere civil service appointees, and of a sxnall group of n1ore or less pennanent ofll.ce 'vorkers, road laborers, ancl other ,,;orkers. It held at least one generaltneeting each n1onth. Council con1mittees ,,_..ere created, composed of Councillors and staff n1en1bers, namely Roads and 'Vorks, Health and ~Jedical, Education and Library, Finance and Staff, and General Purposes. These also rnet at least once a n1onth, and actually performed much of the basic ,,·ork of the Council. The po"'ers of the District Office were reduced, becorning largely supervisory, and the village-group councils becan1e Local Councils under the local government scheme, but with fe'v ne\v po,vers.

Benveen 1955 and 1960 the Council gradually took over control of Eke market and greatly altered its organization. 'Ve can only out­line briefly the steps that occurred. In 1955 the District Engineer, at the suggestion of the District Office, drafted a map for the proposed reorganization of the market and for the placement of lines of market stalls. In 1955 and 1956, sixty-eight cement stalls were built in a new section of the market, directly north of the existing market, and a meat market \vas partially completed (finished by 1959). In 1956 the Council passed a market bylaw that \vas approved by the Eastern Regional Government in the same year. This gave the Council authority to take over any market in Afikpo Division, to charge rental fees for temporary and permanent stalls, toset aside certain areas for marketing various different commodities, to maintain order and sanitary control in the market, to take persons to court who com­mitted offenses in the market, and to appoint a Market Master. eke market 'vas placed under Council jurisdiction at this time.

At the end oE 1956 and the beginning of 1957 there was an attempt by the Council, particularly its Secretary, to move the market into the ne,vly cleared area just north of the old market, '\vhere the new stalls had been erected, leaving the elders' shelters where they 'vere, and to clear the old market area of the many casual traders who '\Vere displaying their wares on the ground. Stalls of bamboo and thatch that some traders had erected in the old market area in rather hap­hazard fashion \Vere destroyed. There 'vas also an attempt to force traders in certain goods, particularly cloth, to rent the permanent stalls at the fee prescribed in the byla,vs (five shillings a month) and to get others to build temporary stalls in carefully planned rows in

). A/1kpo .\farhets: 1900-1960 155

the new area, for which they were to pay a rent of two shillings a n1onth. The traders objected strenuously to these measures, as did the elders, who resented the disarrangetnent o( the traditional market and claiined that the ,,;on1en's shrine 01na ahia} in the old market. had been needlessly burned in the cleanup. Police action was taken to tnaintain order. Petitions were presented to government officials by the traders and the elders, and the Council Secretary was brought to court in a civil action .. At about this time some of the more influential tnarket traders forn1ed a permanent organization, the Afikpo Traders' Union, to protect their interests.

By the end of 1958, ho"rever, the dispute had simmered do,nl, part of the market had been moved, many of the permanent cement stalls were being occupied (mainly by cloth traders), and temporary stalls were being built by other traders. By this time, also, an incinerator had been constructed on the old market site to burn market refuse. Four laborers and a l\1arket l\~Iaster had been appointed by the Council, and soon after,vard an eke Market Subcommittee of the Council's General Purposes Committee "'as formed "rhich included four Councillors, a n1ember of the village-group council at Afikpo! and a mem ber of the Afikpo Traders' Union. Bet"reen 1958 and 1960 the Council also passed a byla'v for eating houses, a haw·ker's byla,,·, and a bakery byla"r, all of \Vhich had potential influence on the market and on trade at Afikpo, though by the early part of 1960 none of these 'vere being rigorously enforced.

It is lvorth 'vhile to discuss the actual functioning of the market in terms of these changes as of the early months of 1960. In January of that year there 'vere, according to the l\-Iarket l\Iaster's records, 68 pern1anent stalls renting at five shillings a month, and 586 tenlpo­rary stalls of bamboo and thatch, renting at t\\'O shillings a month, of lvhich 40 permanent stalls and 499 temporary stalls ,,·ere actually rented. Nearly one-fifth of the total number of traders in the market were thus formally renting stalls. In addition, cattle o'vners "'ho killed their animals at the market slaughterhouse (as they 'vere re­quired to do) paid a fee of five shillings per animal. The incon1e fron1 these fees, 'vhich 'vas paid to the District Council Treasury and ,,·as not specifically allocated for market improvement, varied ben,·een [30 in June and July and a peak of about [60 during Noven1ber and December. The desire of son1e Council tnembers in pressing for the development of the market 'vas clearly to increase the re,·enue of the Council, rather than cotning from any inunediate concern ,,·ith tnarket cleveloptnent.

The l\~larket l\~Iaster used as his office a pennanent stall in the central part of the tnarket. 1-lere he sat on 111arket days. collecting fees.

156 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

and he and his four laborers checked the stalls to see that they Wt:re properly occupied. \Vhile a single stall w·as supposed to be for one trader, there \Vas in fact n1uch sharing and subletting of stalls, \Vhich ·was difficult to control. The i\Iarket ~-Iaster had the po,ver to force persans who \Vere not renting stalls to sell their products in a certain section of the market devoted to casual traders. He had definite ideas of \vhat goods should be sold \Vhere and occasionally n1oved sellers of one type of comn1odity to a less cro\vded area ancl replaced them \Vith others. He could and did take persons \vhonl he found violating tnarket regulations to the _.:.\fikpo village-group court. For example, he could take those to court \vho sold in the \Vrong part of the market and refused to move, and persons \vho \vere fighting, riding bicycles in the market, or otherwise causing trouble. The court \vas usually in session on market day in the nearby courthouse, and it lvas a simple matter for him to call for court n1essengers and to take the offenders to the court for trial then and there. The l\tlarket ~1aster was reluctant to prosecute if he could avoid doing so, preferring to use discussion and persuasion to settle the matter. N evertheless, almost every market day brought one or two court cases. vVhile he had the authority to take cases to the l\tlagistrate's Court, he preferred not to since there the fines, even for minor offenses, were m uch lügher than those of the village-group court.

On other days of the \Vorking \veek the Market Master saw that the market \Vas cleaned by the laborers, and helperl guide the construction of new temporary stalls. At the beginning of 1960 the Council had no money to builcl permanent stalls, and was in any case unable to rent all those it had already, particularly in one line that \vas built in a lo\vland that fiooded badly during the rains. Traders ·who \vanted to rent temporary stalls applied to him for permission to build them, and he indicated w·hat line they should construct them in. If a trader who built a stall later quit the market, the next renter had to pay him something for the cost of building. In fact, it happened that (particularly during the early days of the construction of the tempo­rary stalls) a felv persons actually built a great many stalls at the market and then sold them to renters \vho subsequently took them over. \Vhile this \Vas contrary to the original market policy, the desire to open the ne\v market was so great that it \Vas permitted, and a fe\v men made considerable profits out of stall construction.

From time to time the Market Master attended meetings of the eke Market Subcommittee, and of the General Purposes Committee, and he provided the lauer \Vith a monthly report of n1oney collected, stalls rented, and the generat condition of the market.

There were two other Council workers \Vhose duties were directly

5. A[ikpo l\1arhets: 1900-1960 157

related to the tnarket. The Health Overseer, formerly the :Nati\'e Authority Sanitary Inspector, was responsible for checking the con­dition of the meat and organs of cattlc slaughtered at the market, as well as the condition of the nearby latrines. The Land Settlement Officer wasincharge of surveying market boundaries, laying out new lines of stalls, planning the n1otor park, and looking after other n1atters relating to the physical Iayout of the market. In addition, a Government Veterinary Officer had recently begun to check the hides of cattle killed at tnarket, and 'vas trying to encourage the develop­tnent of a small local hides industry. These three officials, of course, had numerous other duties not connected 'vith the market or trading.

It ''ras, however, the Land Settlement Officer and the f\Iarket Master 'vho lvere tnost directly concerned "'rith the developtnent of the market, though the eke Market Subcommittee played a role in discussing and evaluating their plans, 'vhich eventually had to be approved by the General Purposes Committee of the Council and by the Council itself. Actually, these two officials held the initiative in directing market development. The Roads and 'Vorks Committee was involved in any construction undertaken at the market (other than that of temporary stalls), the Health Overseer reported on the health conditions of the market to the f\tledical and Health Com­mittee, and the Finance and Staff Committee 'vas responsible for any financial aspect of the market. There '\Vas thus a complicated organi­zation of committees and personnel connected '\Vith the market and market planning, truly a bureaucracy tending to'\vard rational-legal authority, as ',Yeber might put it, '\Vith fairly "rell defined role specifications and divisions of duties.

The comtnittees and the officials associated '\vith the market, as ,,·eil as some of the traders, had a strong sense of planning for changes in the market. Their models 'vere the large daily markets at Aha, Onitsha, Enugu, and other major urban centers. Their desire ,,-as for greater order and control of the market. It w·as their goal eYen­tually to put all the traders in rented stalls, so that there "~ould be virtually no casual traders and regular fees w·ould then be paid to the Council in ]arge amounts. The daily n1arket, meeting e\·ery day except Sunday, had also becotne a goal. Teachers etnployed at the schools in the area often complained about this Iack of a daily n1arket, and headmasters and principals said that it '\vas hard to attract quali­fied persons '\Vithout this facility. The Land Settletnent Officer and the 1\·farket :rviaster \vere preparing to have the nvo stnall aho n1arkets at U~vuago and Anlachara villages closed do\\'n and the sellers retnoved to the tnain market site to augn1ent the nutnber and activity of traders already selling at eke n1arket on aho. This , .. ,ould create a

158 Simon and Phoebe Ottenbt.·rg

good-sized tnarket every other day at Afikpo, a start to,\ra rd a daily market. It was, of course, not only the concept of a daily tnarket that was involved, but alsoofthat of a large centralized n1arket serving the '\rhole conununity. The n1arket planners \Vere preparing to build a tnotor park for the lorries, of 'vhich tnore and n1ore can1e to the market, and to charge parking fees, and they hoped eventually to charge casual traders a fee for the right to sell outside the stalls in the market. Eating places at the n1arket '\rere alsotobe regularly inspected and licensed. These planners hoped to inculcate cleanliness and prevent overcrowding, nvo features ignored in the traditional con­ception of the n1arket. T'vo other large markets in Afikpo Division, Uburu and Aka Eze, \Vere no'v also under the authority of the Council, and had their O\Vn market masters. They \Vere, ho,\rever, not so fully developed as Afikpo, perhaps because they were farther from the administrative headquarters of the division.

The Afikpo Traders' Union, although not a governtnent body, played an advisory role in market matters. Formed originally in protest against actions taken by the District Council 1vithout con­sulting the traders, it called to the attention of the eke Market Subcommittee and the l\llarket Master problems it 'vished to have discussed or acted on. Its effective membership, of less than thirty traders, was composed of both Afikpo and non-Afikpo Ibo, tnainly sellers of "articles," cloth, groundnuts, and dried fish. Many of its members cycled from market to market on different days, as pre­viously described, and this task, which had seemed so adventurous in the early days of the bicycle at Afikpo, was now considered sitnply arduous. The traders \\'anted a daily market so they could remain at home and sell every day. They also wanted permanent \vell-con­structed stalls at low-rental fees, improved sanitation, and the right to a strong voice in market planning. They were too small in ntnnbers to represent the Afikpo traders as a whole, but they took as their model the inßuential market traders' association in the ]arger cities of eastern Nigeria.

Although there was a small branch of the Nigerian Motor \Vorkers' Union in Afikpo, it did not yet regulate passenger loading at the market (or anywhere at Afikpo) as other branches did in other sections of Nigeria. Finally, there was a Developed Area Association (fonnerly called the Number Two Strangers' Union), vvhose members 'vere dra,vn mainly from the Nurober Two area, which includecl traders, cqntractors and other businessmen. The Association actecl not only to represent its members' interests, all of whom were nonindigeneous to Afikpo, but as a protective organization in the case of any dispute or court case involving a member, as a group to settle quarrels among

'5. Aj1kpo 1\farkets: 1900-1960 159

its n1e1nbers without reference to outside courts (1nainly o\'er pay­tnents for goods between members), and as a union to insttre tltat thc Ntunber 1~\VO area received adequatc rcprescntation in the political organizations at Afikpo. The Association was not directly conccrned with n1arket matters. The Ahkpo Traders' Union, the Nigerian l\Iotor \\'orkers' Union, and the De\·eloped Area Association, all ol which \vere in the early stages of developn1ent, represented trading and business interests which \Vere growing· at Afikpo, and such organi­zations were sure to play a stronger role in market activity and eco­nomic planning at Afikpo in the future.

Finally, '''hat remained of the traditional role of the elders in the Afikpo market? The age grades still met there, and thcir shelters \Vere formally incorporated in the market plan. l\1embers of the tniddle age grade, ekjJe uke esa, still held court there and still passed regulations limiting the right of Afikpo to trade at other markets, though these were not no\v so easy to enforce as before. They now· tried cases arising from disputes at the market only rarely. The junior elders' grade carried out little policing io the market, the I\'larket Masterandhis laborers having taken over this duty. In reality, \Vhile the elders met in the market, they had virtually lost their controls of former times. The truth ·was that bureaucracy had taken over from tradition \Vithout much of a struggle, that planning had replaced a laissez-faire attitude, and that it \vas likely that the controls of the Council over the market would gro'v more and more effective as time passed. Such was also occurring at many other markets in eastern Nigeria, especially in the more urbanized centers, but also in rural areas, such as Afikpo, which \Vere in the early stages of urbanization. In fact, the daily market \Vith a fair percentage of professional traders can be taken as one index of the degree of urbanization and of the su bstitution of cosmopolitan for traditional values.

Other A fikjJo J11.arkets. Another aspect of the growth of eke market ·was the establishment

there of a small market on aho, two days after eke. ~[eeting in a section of the upper market place, it \vas only informally superYised by the l\Iarket 1\tlaster. The small aho n1arkets at li~vuago and Amachara still met, but \Vere smaller than formerly since quite a number of sellers now ·went to the main market on that day. In the first months of 1960 the Market 1\tfaster, "rith his goal of a dail;· tnarket approYed by the District Council, '''as planning to close these tnarkets in order to bolster the aho trade at ehe market, but he had not yet clone so. l\'lany of the food sellers, as weil as a fe"' article sellers. now sold at El~e n1arket on aho as 'vell as on the tnain tnarket day. 'Vhile

158 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

good-sized tnarket e\·ery other day at ;\fikpo, a start to,varcl a daily n1arket. lt \\'as, of course, not only the concept of a daily tnarket that was involved, but alsoofthat of a large centralized market serving the \Vhole conununity. The n1arket planners \\·ere preparing to build a n1otor park for the lorries, of w·hich n1ore and n1ore catne to the tnarket, and to charge parking fees, and they hoped eventually to charge casual traders a fee for the right to sell outside the stalls in the market. Eating places at the tnarket \\·ere alsotobe regularly inspected and licensed. These planners hoped to inculcate cleanliness and prevent o\·ercro\vding, two features ignored in the traditional con­ception of the n1arket. l~wo other large markets in Afikpo Division, Uburu and Aka Eze, \\'ere no\v also under the authority of the Council, and had their O\Vn n1arket masters. They \vere, ho\\rever, not so fully developed as Afikpo, perhaps because they \Vere farther from the administrative headquarters of the division.

The Afikpo Traders' Union, although not a governtnent body, played an advisory role in market matters. Formed originally in protest against actions taken by the District Council \vithout con­sulting the traders, it called to the attention of the eke Market Subcommittee and the 1\llarket Master problems it ·wished to have discussed or acted on. Its effective membership, of less than thirty traders, \Vas composed oE both Afikpo and non-Afikpo Ibo, tnainly sellers oE "articles," cloth, groundnuts, and dried fish. Many of its members cycled from market to market on different days, as pre­viously described, and this task, which had seemed so adventurous in the early days of the bicycle at Afikpo, was now considered sitnply arduous. The traders \vanted a daily market so they could remain at home and sell every day. They also wanted permanent \vell-con­structed stalls at low-rental fees, improved sanitation, and the right to a strong voice in market planning. They were too small in nutnbers to represent the Afikpo traders as a whole, but they took as their model the influential market traders' association in the larger cities of eastern Nigeria.

Although there was a small branch of the N igerian Motor 'Vorkers' Union in Afikpo, it did not yet regulate passenger loading at the market (or anywhere at Afikpo) as other branches did in other sections of Nigeria. Finally, there was a Developed Area Association (formerly called the Number Two Strangers' Union), 'vhose members \Vere dra\vn mainly from the Number Two area, which includecl traders, contractors and other businessmen. The Association actecl not only to represent its mem bers' interests, all of whom were nonindigeneous to Afikpo, but as a protective organization in the case of any dispure or court case involving a member, as a group to settle quarrels among

.,. A{lkpo 1\1arkets: 1900-1960 159

its n1ernuers without relerence to outside courts ~rnainly o\·c:r paY­Inents for goods between n1en1bers), and as a union to insurc tl1at thc Nutnber 1-,,.u area receivcd adcquatc rcprescntation in the political organizations at :-\fikpo. r-fhe Association was not dircctly concern~d ,,·ith tnarket n1atters. The Ahkpo Traders' Union, the :'\ igerian i\Iotor \\'orkers' Union, and the Developed i\rea .-\ssociation, all ol which were in the early stages of developn1ent, represented trading and business interests which "rere growing at Afikpo, and such organi­zations ''rere sure to play a stronger role in market activity and eco­nomic planning at Afikpo in the future.

Finally, '"hat remained of the traditional role of the elders in the Afikpo market? The age grades still met there, and their shelters ,vere formally incorporated in the market plan. l\Iembers of the tniddle age grade, ekjJe uke esa, still held court there and still passed regulations limiting the right of Afikpo to trade at other markets, though these '\Vere not no'\V so easy to enforce as before. They now tried cases arising from disputes at the market only rarely. The junior elders' grade carried out little policing io the market, the Market Masterandhis laborers having taken over this duty. In reality, "rhile the elders met in the market, they had virtually lost their controls of former times. The truth '\Vas that bureaucracy had taken over from tradition ·without much of a struggle, that planning had replaced a laissez-faire attitude, and that it '\vas likely that the controls of the Council over the market '\vould gro"r more and more effectiYe as time passed. Such was also occurring at many other markets in eastern Nigeria, especially in the more urbanized centers, but also in rural areas, such as Afikpo, '\Vhich 'vere in the early stages of urbanization. In fact, the daily market ·with a fair percentage of professional traders can be taken as one index of the degree of urbanization and of the substitution of cosmopolitan for traditional values.

Other A fi kpo J'1.arkets. Another aspect of the gro,vth of eke market ·was the establishment

there of a stnall market on aho, two days after eke. 1\leeting in a section of the upper market place, it '\vas only inforn1ally super,·ised by the 1\Iarket 1\tlaster. The stnall alzo markets at ligwuago and Amachara still met, but '\vere smaller than fonnerly since quite a number of sellers now ·went to the main market on that day. In the first months of 1960 the 1\tlarket l\1aster, 'vith his goal of a daily tnarket appro\·ed by the District Council, "ras planning to close these n1arkets in order to bolster the aho trade at eke market, but he had not yet clone so. l\'lany of the food sellers, as well as a fe'" article sel1ers, now sold at Ehemarketon alzo as '\\7ell as on the tnain tnarket day. \Vhile

160 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

there were no cartle slaughtered for the srnall Inark.et and there were fewer sellers, the products sold were siiuilar to those that \Vere aYaila­ble on ~:·kr .

. A. gro\\·ing trend in 1960 was that of s1nall daily tnark.ets in several of the outlying villages near the Cross River. Formerly n1eeting on only one day of the four-day \veek, they no\v consisted 1nainly of won1en selling such products as yan1s, soup ingTedients, and prepared foods such as fennenred cassava, gari) and various snacks. T'vo of these n1et during the early evening, \vhen they served last-minute den1ands for n1eal preparation, and a third met in the daytin1e but extended into the evening. In 1960 the food tastes of the Afikpo incl uded a considerably greater variety of ingTedients than formerly, including a number of prepared foods not forn1erly sold in markets, and the people seemed to be oriented to\vard the quick satisfaction of their demands rather than thinking of most products as being available only on the main market day.

For A.fikpo village-group the trend seemed tobe toward expansion of trade and greater centralization of market activities in the villages close to eke market, \Vith a movement toward the development of a daily market. At the same time ne\v demands had arisen that were not satisfied by the centrat market. In the outlying villages small daily markets \vere developing to serve specific local needs, and in several parts of Afikpo small neighborhoods of shops and various services were rapidly growing.

Niarkets Outside Afikpo. Benveen 1952 and 1960 there \Vere definite shifts in the relative

positions of the more important markets within thirty miles of Afikpo. vVhile most of them increased in size, the growth was by far the most striking at Afikpo. The market at Uburu, about twenty-five miles to the north\vest, which met at eight-day intervals \Vith a large two-day market every nventy-four days, diminished considerably in importance. Once a major slave market controlled by Aro traders, it had been located in the center of the to\vn ·where the slaves could be conveniently hidden, but it \vas now in a grassland area along the road outside the town. lt consisted of orderly ro\VS of permanent stalls and \Vas under the control of the Afikpo District Council, the days of Aro domination being long past. lt \Vas still a center for the exchange of horses and cattle, used for second funeral ceFemonies, and carried on an active trade in commodities common to this part of Nigeria, but it had lost its position as focal point for much of the trade of the area. Its location a\vay from the main motor roads and its relative inaccessi-

5. A{tkpo ·'farhets: 1900-/9()0 161

bility during the rainy season seen1ed to ha\'c given othcr Jnarkcts an advantage over it in the volume of tradc.

The n1arket at Aka Eze, about twenty 1niles wcst of Afikpo on the main Jnotor road to the i\fikpo Road railway station and Okigwe, while still a major trade center, had grown proportionately much less than rke tnarket. 1-Iere a qualitative diffcrence between the two tnarkets '"as much tnore tnarked than in I 952. Located in a fertile agricultural area, Aka Eze "'as a producers' n1arket, supplying ]arge quantities of locally produced yatns, riet:, maize, and groundnuts to the cities of Umuahia, Aba, and Port Harcourt to the south. This presented a strong cantrast to the increasing emphasis at eke market on the transshipment of goods and the supplying of a nonindigenous population '\Vith foodstuffs and other products. \t\rhile in I 952 the Aka Eze tnarket had looked like a very large eke market, by I 960 they 'vere of tnuch the same size but served quite different functions.

In the central markets of the village-groups surrounding .Afikpo, there had also been changes. The dispute between Afikpo and Amaseri, five miles to the 'vest, had been settled, and the elders once more permitted Afikpo to trade there. During the ban on trade ·with Amaseri many Afikpo had gone to Abba Omege market, fourteen miles to the north by road (or eight miles by a difficult footpath), which met on the same day, orie. With the re-establishment of peace­ful relations a great many Afikpo started to go again to Amaseri market, 'vhich they could reach easily by the main motor road.10 The Afikpo going to Amaseri 'vere mostly 'vomen, buying rice and cassaYa. A fe'v sold pots or dried fish at Amaseri, but most ·went primarily to buy.

Abba Omege market, already affected by the removal of much of the Afikpo tradc:, sustained further Iosses in the late I 950's, ·when the Igbo, a non-lbo people a fe'v miles to the east, as the result of a dispute established their ow·n market three miles east of Abba Omege, meeting also on on:e. This became a very popular market~ ''•ith a strong emphasis on the selling of rice, reducing Abba Omege n1arket, so to speak, to a shado"r of its former self.

Of the markets of other nearby village-groups, Edda market '''as somelvhat increased in size and had a number of \vell-built pennanent stalls, pro1noted by the establishment of a separate district council for Edda in the mid-I 950's. Others such as Un,vana. Okpoha, and Okposi 'vere little changed.

(10) In a count taken between the hours of 7:00 A.l\f. and 7 .. 00 P.M. on an ori~ in mid-January 1960, wc enumerated 772 traders going from Afikpo to Amaseri cithcr on foot or bicycle. and 615 returning. In addition, many went also by lol"ll·· for frequent servicc betwccn thc two village-groups was pro\'ided throughout the da\'.

162 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

\\'e see therefore that quite different types of tnark.ets existed in the area . .:-\fikpo n1ark.et forn1ecl a transshipn1ent center "·hich also served a gro,,·ing strang-er population, Aka Eze n1arket \vas a heayy food exporting center with a variety of foodstutls, Igbo n1arket a one­crop export tnarket, and Uburu a large bush n1ark.et that \\'as fonnerly a link in the t\ro systenl of trade, 'vhich had not grown in iinportance in recent years. There '\vere also, of course, the large urban tnarkets of A.bakaliki, :-\ba, and Port Harcourt, 'vith 'vhich Afikpo tnark.et had contacts. Perspective on the nature of the A.fikpo market is gained when we realize that it is only one kind of market in a rather con1plex typology.

lt is also iinportant to note that in 1960 Afikpo '\von1en traveled to at least ten other markets11 on non-eke days in search of nvo food­stuffs '\vhich they brought back for processing and resale, generally at Afikpo but sometin1es also at the markets \vhere they had obtained then1 in the first place. These \Vere unprocessed rice and ra'\v cassava, from 'vhich, respectively, processed rice 'vas produced at the three Afikpo rice mills and gari made by hand processing. The particular markets surrounding Afikpo the \von1en traveled to depended to a large extent on \vhich \Vas nearest to the particular section of the village-group in \vhich they lived, and on the physical strength of the individual '\Vomen. This search by Afikpo '\VOnlen in the surrounding markets for the ra\v foodstuffs upon which so much of their economic life depended ·was a major characteristic of Afikpo trade.

Extra-i\1 arket Exchange. If there were on one hand a tendency toward the developn1ent of

a larger and larger central market, there had also come into being a considerable number of exchange activities which did not touch the market at all, or did so only in a peripheral fashion. Extra-market exchanges existed previous to 1960, such as slave-trading in pre­conquest days, and the selling of blacksmiths' iron goods, some pre­pared foods, and palm wine in the villages (as \vell as in the market) in past times, a practice that has continued to this date. In addition, of course, many traditional ceremonial feasts involved the distribution of foodstuffs, later replaced by money, so that there had clearly been some extra-market exchange. It is clear, though, that by 1960 the economic needs and \Vants of Afikpo had increased so greatly and become so diversified that the markets, as then constituted, were incapable oE serving as a basis for all exchange activities. Ratl1er, we find that important exchanges and transactions "'ere also occurring

(11) These indude Usumutong, Ediba, Ebom, Ogada, Unwana, Owutu Edda (rhe main Edda market), Osu Edda, Amaseri, Okpoha, and Abba Omegc.

5. A/illpo i\1arkets·J900-1960 163

outside the n1arkets. Some of these had already de\eloped by I ~}5~. but others \Vere of more recent origin.

There are various reasons for these extra-n1arket activities. l'he n1ost striking has been the development, mainly in the 1940's and 1950's, of the many stnall shops crowded for the distance of an eighth of a nlile along the road fro1n the government station in the stra11gers' quarters, Number T'vo.12 This "ras an area in or near ,,,hich lived government \Vorkers, traders, craftsmen, contractors, and others. It existed along the nortl1ern borders of the Afikpo village of Ukpa and had none of the attributes of a typical Afikpo village.

The villagers of Ukpa received considerable rent for some of the stalls and buildings along the road. It was a narrow, crooked roadway 'vhere the shops were open daily andin the evening there was much drinking and merriment. A count conducted in February 1960 in­dicated that there lvere seventy-five shops, sheds, or hotels13 in l'\ um­her Tlvo, and about sixty casual sellers displaying their "'ares at the ends of the shopping area or in front of some of the shops. The range of shops and services offered can be indicated by the follo,ving listing: there were ten selling articles, ten carpenter shops (though the car­penters were often alvay building houses or doing other construction work), nine shops for tailors, tlvo for seamstresses, ten hotels, seYen bicycle repair shops, four shops for barbers, three for photographers, three for tinsmiths, two for lVatch repairmen, three for shoe repainnen and one shoe store, three places to purchase gasoline and oil, one bookshop, a distributor for a major Nigerian newspaper and nlaga­zine, a photographic supply shop, a ,radio and battery store, a ''rine and beer store, a mattress and pillolv maker's shop, a rice mill, and the shop of an agent for a major Nigerian tobacco company. :\mong the casual sellers lvere five lvho sold used clothes, ten palm_,,rine sellers (the nurober varies according to the time of day), a number of persons selling firelvood, thirty-four persons, mostly lvomen, selling processed and unprocessed food, and a perfume seller from nortl1ern Nigeria. In addition on nkwo) the day before the main Afikpo market. ,,-hen beef was scarce, Hausa traders killed a colv at the concrete slaughter slab at Number Tlvo and sold the 1neat in front of a pronlinent trader's store. There lVere also a nun1ber of prostitutes liYing and working at Number Tlvo and in the nearby village of Ukpa. Se,·eral contractors had their homes and offices in these t"'o conununities.

(12) Both the name Numbcr Two and that of the area called Nurober Onc. to be dis· cussed below, were originally names given to areas that wcrc primarily residential quartcrs for government workers.

(18) These were usually buildings of three or four rooms where palm ,,·inc. bcer. and prepared food might bc obtained, and sometimes a bed or a room rented for the night.

164 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg

!\lost of the shops '"·ere closed on Sundays and tnany also on eke, when the traders \Vere found selling or affering their services at the market.

Such is typical of the crowded senli-slun1 areas of Lagos, 1\ba, Onitsha, and almost any Nigerian city. Unregulated and unplanned except for sotne of the govenunent ·workers' residences at the north end of N un1ber Two, it had gro,vn to serve very real needs, not only of the stranger population but also of the 1\fikpo. Some of the traders there ·were strangers, mainly Ibo from other regions of Nigeria, but there \\rere also Afikpo \Vho traded and lived there, son1etimes also tnaintaining a residence in their hotne village.

A sn1aller and less cro,vcled section of twenty-one stores, mainly shops for selling articles, for tailors and for carpenters, but also a bookshop and a photographer's studio, had gro,vn up \Vithin the past five years about three nliles a\vay from Nurober T\vo near the Roman Catholic Nlission hospital and school headquarters at Afikpo. Here persons associated \vith these establishments had built houses or lived on the mtss1on grounds. 'The area, called N ew Site, was several miles from the nearest Afikpo village and market; there was room there for expansion, and a great deal of house and shop building ·was going on in 1960.

In the late l 950's a third small shopping center, called Nutnber One,14 had developed near a housing area for government workers about a mile from Nurober T\vo. Here one found a John Holt's store, which 'vas a small branch of a European company which also sold building materials and had a palm kernel collection depot associated \Vith it, an employment agency for recruiting workers for Fernando Po, a motor repair shop, three carpenters' workshops, a small printing press, a hotel, three tailors' shops, and a drinks and tinned food store. In addition, a number of private houses '\vere found here. A fourth shopping center, along the road opposite the main Afikpo market, has already been discussed. In addition, in or near the major Afikpo villages 'vere stores or stands selling palm wine which were gathering places, particularly for young men in the evenings, and small article shops, bicycle repair sheds, tailors' shops, and sometimes private houses where prostitutes lived and worked. Such places tended to be nuclear Number T\vos.

At most of the schools tiny markets had sprung up, meeting from mid-morning until around noon on Monday through Friday. At tl1ese markets a few women sold penny snacks of cooked food and roasted groundnuts to the teachers and pupils du ring recess periods and often to passers-by as weiL The Nigerian school day, running {Tom eight

(14) It was also called P. W. D. Camp, after the residential quarters of Public Work& Department workers which were also located there.

5. Afikpo A1m·luts: 1900-1960 165

in the tnorning until I : 30 P.::\I. or later, provided a ready n1arket for such traders. Similar tnarkets were found near the tvlagistrate's Court anrl the Afikpo District Council hall on days when these bodies were in session.

The development of these major and minor shopping ccnter~ served new tastes and needs to son1e extent. Though virtually cvery­thing offered at these centers could be obtained at the markct, it was frequently more convenient to obtain the desired goods without having to 'vait for market day. l\1 uch of the goods in the shops came from Port Harcourt, Aba, and Onitsha, and the traders made trips to these cities to purchase supplies 'vhen necessary.

Clearly related to these developments was the great activity in housebuilding 'vhich had been going on for five or six years. Until the late 1940's building a mud or cement block house with a metal roofwas something a man did only after he had performed the second funeral ceremonies for his parents and had taken the major A.fikpo titles. By 1960 housebuilding 'vas, in effect, an important title, taking precedence over many others. This 'vas partly because, 'vhen built, all or part of the house could be rented (rentals in Afikpo 'vere by the room), and because the cement block, metal-roofed house ''rith wooden doors and shutters had become a sym bol of wealth and prestige. These houses often took years to build because the owners lacked funds to complete them. Though some \\rere built by con­tractors, or partially constructed ·with their aid, many '"·ere built largely by their O\vners. A number of Afikpo men employed "·omen to collect sand, particularly at the main Afikpo beach on the Cross River, Ndibe Beach, to sell to building contractors or to individuals who 'vere building houses. These \\romen 'vere usually paid by the head-load, and this had become a substantial source of income for some. In addition, carpenters in Afikpo spent a good deal of time working on these houses or making furniture for them, so that the building of a modern-style house might involve a nurober of persans working for 'lvages or on contract over a considerable period of time.

While some of the ne\\r-style houses 'vere being built in the rather crowded compounds, there 'vas a tendency to erect thetn just outside the villages and along the roads in Afikpo, where there was tnore room. lt \\ras the custom in Afikpo that anyone could build a house on land outside the village or on fannland regardless of which gToup owned the land, provided the builder first went through the fonnality of notifying the o'vners. \Vhile this had not been strictly adhered to with reference to housing at N un1 ber Two and the borders of ~ke market, 'vhere the value of land was high. it had been else"•here. As a result the villages, forn1erly separated by short stretches of fann or

166 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg

forest land, were beginning to be joined by rows of houses Lctweeu then1. \Vith the growing ntnnber of these houses and of shops . ..-\fikpo \\'as beconling a single urbanized con1nnulity in \vhich the physical identities of the villages were beginning to disappear.

'Therc were a nurnber of conlntoclities, natnely firewood and tilnber, pahn kernels, rice, yan1s, pottery, illicit Iiquor, and bread, \vhich were iinportant in tracle in Afikpo and of \vhich son1e or all \vere bought and solcl outside the n1arkets. Every n1orning at a very early hour, men and wornen hon1 .. A.maseri village-group to the \Vest of Afikpo brought large headloads of fire\vood to f\fikpo for sale, at from one to three shillings a bundle. Some of this \Vood \Vas sold on contract to the secondary schools for their kitchens, \Vhile some sellers had arrange­ments with government \Vorkers or other individuals living near the governrnent station. \Vood \Vas not sold at the Afikpo markets, perhaps because there \vas enough in the farms for the everyday needs of the people, because \vood \vas simply not something that Afikpo con­sidered they should spend money on, and because the greatest demand for wood \Vas from the strangers' q uarters and the government station and school areas, ·which \Vere all some distance from the market. There was insufficient wood to be found in Afikpo to supply the needs of all those \vho \vished to buy it, and though some Afikpo did collect wood for sale, Amaseri appearecl to have greater supplies. The firewood trade appeared to be lucrative for those ·who were willing to carry the wood in head-loads for the five or more miles from the Amaseri area or \Vho were enterprising enough to hire others to do it for them.

There was also a representative of a European timher company living on the outskirts of Afikpo, \vhose company olvned six lorries and hired others, which carried obechi and other timher to Ndibe Beach, \vhere it was lashed together and floated do\vnstream to Cala­bar for export. These Iogs, however, were mainly brought though A.fikpo from about June to November, when the water Ievel of the river was high enough to float them. This local brauch of the com­pany, \vhich had existed at Afikpo for several years, employed more than fifty persons, some of whom ·were Afikpo, but the Iogs themselves came from other areas of the division than Afikpo village-group and also from Abakaliki Division. Afikpo village-group has no suitable trees.

Afikpo men and \Vomen took baskets, or sometimes sacks, of palm kernels to the John Holt's agent at the Nurober One shopping center, or to their agent at the edge of the main market, both of whom \vere there to receive kernels every day but Sunday. In both cases the kernels \vere sifted and bought at prices set by the company, and packed in bags for shipment to export centers. From these nvo depots

5. A{tkjJo ,\1arkets: 1900-1960 lf)7

they n1oved to the joln1 1-lolt's factory on the Cross River and were shipped by boat to Calabar. r\fikpo, as wc have indicatcd, is not a major pahn produce area, but son1e Afikpo, particularly women, went to market across the river or to the southeast or northwest and pur­chased kernels to sell at these two depots. Othcr persans fTom these surrounding village-groups can1e to Afikpo to sell their kernels, some­titnes n1oving as many as fifteen or t\\'enty bags by lorry. Kerneis and pahn oil were also sold in small amounts at the Afikpo markets, mainly for home consumption. There were six hand-operated palm oil presses lVithin the village-group which produced small quantities of oil and prepared kernels mainly for local consumption, though some kernels were sold to J ohn Holt's. The presses were O\\·ned by Afikpo \Vho had obtained them either through the former Afikpo Native Authority Council as part of a development scheme or pur­chased them elsewhere, and they \vere a lucrative source of income for their owners. M uch oil for local consumption \Vas also prepared by traditional pressing techniques in the Afikpo villages.

Wehave already mentioned the role of the three Afikpo rice mills in the preparation of rice for sale in the market. The development of this trade and the appearance of the mills occurred after 1952. Much of the rice, which came mainly from neighboring village­groups, \Vas sold right at the mills after millings to traders "rho took it to major cities in eastern Nigeria, particularly Port Harcourt, .Aha, and Onitsha, where it "ras much in demand. However, some rice owners preferred to sell their milled rice in smaller quantities at the market, feeling that they could secure a higher income for their supply in the long run. The rice traders \vho exported from .Afikpo were mainly Afikpo themselves, as \vere the mill O\vners. This "'as a new and gro,ving export trade, rice being a popular urban food. The mills required considerable capital to start, since their machinery is expensive,15 but they brought considerable returns after a time.

Afikpo brought yan1s by lorry from two rich yam producing areas, Aka Eze about twenty miles to the \vest, and from the A.bakaliki area thirty or more miles to the north, to Ndibe Beach, from "rhere they were taken by canoe to the Calabar area for sale, n1ainly by Afikpo. Here they brought very good prices. Some of these yan1s were pur­chased by Afikpo in these t\\ro areas, but some .Afikpo had taken to growing yams on rented land in these regions and thus traded in a product that they had gro,vn themselves. The yams of A.fikpo ,,·ere considered, in general, to be too poor for the Calabar trade.

Many .A.fikpo \vomen, instead of selling their pots in the n1arket. sold thetn to Afikpo traders '"ho took them do\\·nstreanl to Calabar.

(1~) One mill, about a ycar old, was sold in 1960 for [400.

168 Sirnon aucl Phoebe Ottenberg

or gave then1 to a brother or other relative who was a ri\'er trader to sell there. During the dry season 1nany canoes went fron1 the Afikpo area laden with pots. The advantages of the river Lrade o\·er selling at the market were mainly higher prices and a n1ore guaranteed incon1e. So1ne traders bought certain won1en's output for the entire year.

Along with the dried fish brought fron1 Calabar to the Afikpo area by canoe, the trade in 'vhich has already been discussed above, a considerable quantity of sn1uggled Spanish Iiquor fron1 Fernando Po, particularly brandy and gin, can1e up the river to Afikpo. These did not find their way into the n1arket, as traders were afraid to sell them publicly, but they could be bought in almost every Afikpo village. Afikpo sold these beverages to nearby village-grou ps, and traders fron1 these neighboring areas came to Afikpo. It was impos­sible to estimate the extent of this trade, but it seemed to be regular and profitable. There was also a steady trade in native gin, produced and sold in almost every Afikpo village.

Finally, most of the bread sold in Afikpo came from bakeries in Abakaliki and Enugu, and one Abakaliki bread firm had a local outlet shop at Afikpo. Bread had become very popular there during the 1950's, particularly among the nonfarming population. Some of it was sold to traders who took it to the market or sold it in shops at N umher Two or at one of the other small shopping areas, but bread peddlers with wooden carts also travelled about Ahkpo, particularly in the area of the strangers' quarters and schools.

The extra-market place economic activities discussed above do not contradict the conclusion that Afikpo village-group \vas by and large a non-productive area which also was a transshipment center. Timber, yams from Aka Eze and Abakaliki, and m uch of the rice and palm kemels, originated outside Afikpo and ultimately left the area. Of the items discussed here, only pottery was produced in large quanti· ties at Afikpo, most of it for export.

The sale or passage of all these goods outside the markets, and the presence of more shops at Afikpo, indicate that some trade was not dependent on the Afikpo markets and, that while eke market was growing in size and importance, a lively commerce lvas also develop· ing outside it and more or less independent of it. In the diversity of goods and services that were available for purchase, sale, or trans· shipment through Afikpo, some were not \Vell suited to a large main market, even if it were to meet daily, and some fitted local needs better if located near the purchaser or consumer. The main tnarket could satisfy many economic wants in Afikpo, but by no tneans all of them.

5. Aj1hpo i'larkets: J900-JCJ60 IGSJ

CONCLUSIONS

Between 1900 and 1960 the main Afikpo tnarket changcd fron1 a sn1all local n1arket with sotne external trade with neighboring mar­kets and with Ionger trade links provided by the :\ro to a much largcr tnarket serving as a transshipn1ent center for certain products and as a supply center for the growing nonindigenous population. ~loney replaced harter, and the stnall number of professional .-\ro tradcrs was suppletnented by a n1uch larger contingent of non-A.ro traders from outside Afikpo 'vho dealt largely in imported or nontraditional products. Though the canoe remained as a n1eans of transportation of goods, the use of head-loads w·as to sotne extent replaced by the bicycle and then partially by the lorry. The trade routes expanded, and Afikpo became linked to the urban trading centers of eastern Nigeria. There was an increasing emphasis on the pro fit motive in trade and on the selling of processed foodstuffs and goods rather than raw n1aterials and unprocessed foods. The mild controls over cke market exercised by the elders and the Aro gave way to the more stringent measures of the bureaucratic District Council, which had as its aitns not only the improvement of the market but also the collection of revenue from it for other uses.

During this same period nonmarket economic activities increased greatly, so that \vhile eke market remained the focal point of A.fikpo trade, significant economic activities occurred in the shopping centers and other areas outside it. lt seemed likely that this trend would continue.

Certain features which characterized Afikpo trade in 1900 re­tnained relatively unchanged in 1960; for example, bargaining as a basic exchange technique, the importance of 'votnen in trade acti,·i­ties, and the role of the market as a social center. Again, the trade in Afikpo has ahvays been dominated by Ibo; there has never been a question of another ethnic group's seriously competing in .Afikpo econotnic activities. Ho,vever, despite these and other regularities, the essence of Afikpo econon1ic life since 1900 has been gTOWth and change, closely related to the general social and political developn1ent of the area and of Nigeria as a 'vhole.

CHAPTER 6

The Bulu Response to European Economy

B y G E 0 R G E R. H 0 R N, E R

THE PRE-WHITE BULU

History. The Buht, now numbering 100,000 people, live in the tropical

rainforests of southeastern Cameroon on a hilly plateau 1,200 feet above sea Ievel, between 21/2 degrees to 3 degrees north and 101/2 and 12 degrees east.

The Buht can1e into the forests at the end of the Fang invasion about one hundred years ago. They migrated from the east to escape Arab slave raiders, moving westward and seaward toward a source of European trade goods. The Bulu moved in joint family groups, remaining in one area only long enough to replenish their food supply, then once more migrating in the pattern of shifting cultivators. Today, older Bulu remernher moving at least three times du ring their lives: childhood, youth, then settling down since 1930.

The traditional Bultt of pre-1860 came within about fifteen miles of their ocean goal only to find their final destination effectively blocked by the 1\'Iabea, a powerful coastal tribe. The lVIabea, Iike other coastal tribes of the period, so controlled the coast and the trade monopoly that, not only did they prevent interior tribes from reaching the coast and trading with the Europeans, but they also prevented white traders from traveling to the interior tribes. Their monopolies were broken soon after the economic-political treaties with Germany were signed by the coastal chiefs in 1884-85.

BULU SOCIETY

Social Organization. Fifty autonomaus non-segmentary lineages ( ayong) collectively

formed the ··sulu." They were not socially unified, thus making it difficult to call the Bulu a tribe. They had in common only general cultural elements, such as origin, customs and ]anguages. There was no sense of larger unity, so that any individual Bulu 'vould not have the ties of kinship and safety in a lineage-village not his olvn, asan1ong relatives. Neither wcre there political, religious, social or economic links which might give a sense of tribal unity to the Buh1. The line-

6. The Bulu R~spo12se to EurofH'an El·onomy 171

age, synonyn1ous with thrce English words, ··village," ··ramily," and "lineag·e," was the Bul u centcr o[ unity, loyalty, and all duties and obligations. The lineage-village was co1nposed ol eithcr a fathcr and his sons, their \vives and children, or a man, his brothers, thcir wi\'cs and children in '"hon1 (the father in one case, the brother in the second) loyalty \vas centered.

The structure of the lineage-village was non-hierarchical and ''rith the exception of the "richman", nkukum, socially egalitarian. This is reftected in the kinship terminology system of the llulu, in which classificatory terms are used with differences based only upon gene­ration, role and sex, but 'vith no rank content implied in them. Each Buht of the same lineage addressed every other ,·illager with one ot the five follo,ving intimate family kinship tenns: father, mother, sister, brother andjor child. The term "father" was addressed to one·s own father and to all other men of one's father's generation .. All the other terms were applied in the same way. Affinal relatives had the same terms applied to them. Behavior benveen two individuals was determined by the given kin Iabel. For example, a Bulu acted toward all women Iabelied "mother" as toward his or her biological mother, with the same reciprocal behavior based upon understood duties and obligations due one in that classificatory kin group.

So strong \vas this sense of lineage-village loyalty, lacking ties e\·en with neighboring villages, that the traditional Bulu lineages were constantly raiding and feuding. A. lineage-village broke up either when it became too large, or at the death of the father, at which time the younger brothers \vould leave the village to found their own.

Though the Bultt lacked a political head of their Yillage, the oldest male was the social head, sometimes the richest man, n k u k u1n. Respect and obedience \vere due him on that basis. The Bulu social systenl, fragmentary in structure, probably prevented the fonnation of nlar­kets or a system of formal interlineage exchange, at least in this early period.

Political 0Tganl:zalion. This egalitarian structure is observed in the Bulu political organi­

zation. There \vas no one ·with political authority, a chief oYer all the Bulu, neither \vas there a political head over each lineage-Yillage. Rather, political polver and responsibility "·ere assutned by the 1nale heads of each hausehold \vho as a gToup becan1e a Council of Elders, benya boto. As a body politic, the Conncil had political power and made political decisions affecting the lineage-villa~e. One of its duties was the allocation of jointly O\\'ned land for kitchen-gardens to each fatnily head.

172 George R. Honzer

Decisions at the Council tneetings were tuade by \'Oting ( tili ). Each householcl head hacl one vote. .A.lthough the social head, nku k lllll J could try to intluence \·otes, he had no gTeater power than anyone else; he too, had only one vote when the Council 1net.

.. -\ll of the Bulu recognized, ancl tried to attain, the san1e cultural wealth and prestige goals. Each n1an wanted tobe a "true n1an," (nya 111 ot ).. to ha ve tnany wi ves, chilclren, sheep, goats, ivories, spears; in short. tuore ''things" (uiorn) and "wealth," (akunt) than anyone eise. Lineage solidarity and autonon1y were so rigid that econon1ic surplus coulcl not be exchangecl 'vith a neighboring lineage unless these barriers were in son1e way renloYed. Not long before the corning of the first white n1an, lineages, through the offices of the Councils of Elders, entered into a series of agreernents or alliances ( avuso) to pernlit both social and econonlic exchange.

Such alliances would provide: l. that arbitration rather than blood feuds 'vould be the basis

for settling future interlineage injuries. Compensation 'vould be in goods, not in blood.

2. that peace 'vould be assured through interlineage n1arriages. Such marriage 'vould symbolize the contractural basis of the alliance and, in a patrilocal system of marriage, the girl 'vould be a "willing hostage" as a wife. This 'vould also provide kin in the other lineage.

3. that trade friendships (ngba) would be similarly established between any two male tnembers of these lineages, providing an ad­ditional way of distributing both goods and services.

By the year 1892, when the first remernbered white man, American missionary A. Good, visited the Buht, most of Bululand 'vas criss­crossed by a network of alliances. (There remain to this day, ho,vever, many neighboring lineages 'vho, in various covert 'vays, continue their traditional feuds). In many instances one lineage 'vould form an alliance with two or more neighboring lineages, thereby ensuring greater opportunities to exchange goods and services and a chance to enhance their social prestige over a 'vider area.

Such marriage and trade links strengthened Bulu society. It did not unify all of the Bulu; lineages continued to splinter and new ones to form, but those 'vhich were united provided a means by wh ich goods \vere exchanged.

Economic Organization: Production and Distribution. The traditional Bulu were horticulturists follo,ving the typical

African slash-and-burn technique \Vith a division of \Vork by sex in a subsistence economy. The \vomen cultivated kitchen gardens; the rncn, huntcd, huilt the dwellings, 'vere the iron smiths, etc.

6. T he Bulu Res jJonse to EurojJnl 11 J·:ron omy 173

The fatnily produced the following co1nn1odities lor consutnption and distribution: (a) Dotnestic plant foods; (b) Anitnals and meat; (c) ~Ianufactured goods.

a) Don1eslic jJlant foods. Garden plots '''ere allocated to each family head by the Council of Elders. If such land \vas not cultivated in one year, it \Vas redistributed by the Council. Land could be used by the san1e fatnily so long as the village remained in the area. 1-low­ever, the family did not O\Vn the land; it could not be bought or sold, rented or inherited. Garden plots varied in size, depending upon tlH~ nurober in a family, a single plot, 50 yards square, would be the maximum size a mature \Vornan could cultivate alone and produce sufficient food for a family of four for half a year.

On such plots \Vere gro\vn 1nacabo} a tuberaus plant the Bulu claimed to have brought \Vith them on their migration; plantain ( ekon )} taro ( atu) and, since 1880, peanuts ( Olvondo )} .American Indian corn (fen ), seeds of a cucumber-like plant ( ngon )} and cassava, both the bitter and S\Veet varieties (mbong).

Surplus from gardens \vas not exchanged per se. Hospitality obli­gations required that each family produce and store sufficient surplus to feed marriage and funeral guests for a period of ten days (three and four times a year) as \Vell as trade-friends. A trade-friend \\'ould remain as long as three months and sufficient food \vould have to be produced to feed him and his family. Such visits \Vere reciprocated.

b) Animals and meat. Living in the tsetse fty area, the Bulu were not cattle keepers. Dogs, sheep and goats \vere their only traditional domestic animals. The sheep and goats \vere produced for exchange and to give their O\vners prestige.

Although the sheep and goats \Vere of Portuguese origin, they are thought of as "traditional" animals by the Buht of today. They ,,·ere rarely used for food, although they \\rere occasionally ceremonially eaten. As surplus, they \vere exchanged for more "wealth," either directly between trade-friends or as bride\vealth. These were socially the most important commodities for exchange, but not the n1ost numerous. To the Bulu, sheep and goats "rere the n1ost conspicuous and measurable commodities.

Animal products such as ivory "rere not exchanged an1ong the traditional Bulu. lvory became a trade good only after "·hite contact and then only for a period of about thirty years. until cocoa "·as grown in sufficient quantities for export.

Family obligations determined the distribution of tneat. both wild and domestic, considered then as today an itnportant and scarce commodity. Specific cuts of n1eat "'ere in,·ariabl~· giYen to the satne socially defined individual: hunter. his helper. father. n1other (unless

174 George R. Horner

the Ineat \vas taboo to her), brother(s), grandparents and a choice portion sent to the special friend. "l~he whole \\'hich is divisible is the Soo (an antelope)" ("tninzbiae ue soo") is the principle under­lying the distribution of 1neat. This principle is so deeply ünbedded in ßulu econo1ny that cash earned toclay tuust be divided follo,ving the fornltlla of the division of the antelope.

Live animals alone \Vere distributed between lineages; 1neat \Vas distributed \Vithin the socially defined fanlily, including the intimate friend.

c) J."\lanufactured goods. The exchange of Inanufactured goods \vas lünited only by the variety of objects produced, rather than the q uantity produced. Clay cooking pots, \Vooden dishes, raffia mats and objects of iron ahnost exhaust the variety of objects produced for both fanlily use and exchange. Of these the iron objects, cutlasses, spears, lances, hoes and four-inch pieces of iron ( 100 to a bundle) produced only for bridewealth \Vere most valued. As n1any as 6,000 spears might be required in the traditional bride,vealth settlement. Exchange benveen trade-friends \Vould req uire an even greater pro­duction of these cominodities, so that the total production of iron products must have been very high in any one year. Unfortunately, the early Bulu kept no records of this output.

Exchanges through trade-friends \Vere established as a part of the avuso alliances benveen lineages. Although bride,vealth \vas a means for the distribution of surplus, through the continuous movement of sheep, goats and girls, there \vas also a more specific exchange, called in Bulu a gift exchange (bia koan meyeng) including an exchange of services benveen established trade-friends of two lineages. In this type of exchange one friend would bring a variety of commodities to the village of the other and give them to him, \Vho would accept or reject them according to his j udgment. The visiting friend would plan to stay a month or two during which time his wife would help his friend's wife in the garden, \vhile he would hunt, gamble or help build a new house for his friend. The following year a return visit would be made completing the cycle. In this way a network of ex­change crisscrossed lineage boundaries enabling a \Vider distribution of goods and services.

A second form of exchange was between two rich men, nkukum. The purpose of this exchange \Vas to establish one's prestige over a \vider area, more than one lineage, through a giftexchangenot unlike the "potlatch" of the Kwakiutl Indians of the American Nortlnvest coast. In the Bulu fonn, one rich man would invite another to his village. The guest w·ould bring his family, including brothers, with him. 'V'ith all of the village inhabitants present and in the open court

6. The Bulu Response to European Ero1l0111)1 175

where all could see, he would give the visiting iricnd everything n1ovable in sight: ivory, slaves, goats, spears, iron hocs, etc. rrhese, too, would l>e exanlined, accepted or rejected, and then carricd to the home village. Later the process would Le repeated, thc other rich man playing host to the hrst. He would not only have to n1eet the value of the gifts presented to him but would have to give twice the number-either in value or numbers. 1-Iis brothers of the \'illage would help hün, expecting "return" for their outlays at a later date. This continued until one of the rich men could not meet the gilts. He and his village \vould become impoverished, enslaved to work off the debt o'ved the successful rich man. The one who succeeded in this gift giving competition 'vould be an nkukunla, a rich, rich man, a man \Vith great prestige and inftuence.

\Vhen the first 'vhite traders came into the ßulu area, it "ras comparatively easy for the Bulu to understand and to adopt the white concept of exchange since it follo\ved their o'vn. One must ha\'e a white trade-friend today and in simple face-to-face exchange, give what he wants in return for European commodities. This concept remains latent today often to the embarrassment of an unsuspecting white man 'vho becomes party to a "contract" he is not aware of, such as did the a u thor.

Summarizing, traditional distribution of surplus was: a) between members of a joint family, b) as a result of alliances and marriages, c) an exchange of goods and services between recognized trade-friends and d) a gift-exchange competition between rich men for social status and respect.

WHITE PERIOD, 1860-1946

Some Factars in 1\f. ode'rnization. By 1894 the Buht 'vere middlemen holding a trade monopoly

between the Germans on the seacoast and the still further interior tribes. At this tin1e the Germans had no real adn1inistrath·e control over the Bulu due to the length of time it then took to travel com­paratively short distances, as benveen Douala, the capital of the Kamerun, and Bululand. Bet,veen 1899 and 1900, the Bu1u lost their trade monopoly as a result of losing a "war'' to the Getmans. This defeat brought the Buht under the direct administrative control of the colonial government. l\1odernilation 'vas begun at this time ''rith specific policies directed to change ßultt economy. Parenthetically it should also be noted that by 1894 the American Presbyterian mission 'vas first established an1ong the Buht "rith the goal of changing the Buht \vay of life. Schools and churches ''rere started. Practical

176 George R. Horner

trades such as carpentry, tnasonry, cobbling were encouraged and ideas of thriftiness, saving of tüne, etc., were inculcated in accordance \Vith the Protestant ethic.

ßetween 1900 and 1913, the Gennan achninistration introduced legislation \vhich provided the basis for change: ( 1) Pax Gerntanica,· (2) establislunent of adnünistrative and trade centers; (3) road build­ing and enforced n1oving of all ßulu villages onto these roads; (4) introduction and required use of cash in 1907; (5) establislunent of schools ancl req uired eletuentary education for all children; (6) intro­duction of cocoa as a potential cash-incon1e crop in 191 ~-

1) Pax Gerrnanica. Gennan peace put an end to the overt lineage feuds, thus ren1oving one obstacle to the socio-econotnic unification of the area. In elüninating the need for a \Varrior group it created a potential Iabor force. Peace also allo\ved travel \vithout fear of attack, enabling n1ovement of both individuals and goods \vithin the area, thus providing the setting for the modern Bulu economy.

2) Establishment of A drninistrative Centers. Administrative/ commercial centers \Vere established in Lolodorf, Ebolow·a'a and Sangmelima, providing centers for political control and encouraging local trade. l\tlarkets and market places \Vere opened in each of the centers. The "factories" of the German firm C. Woermann, which controlled all trade in the Kamerun, exchanged salt, cloth, fishhooks, blankets, guns, gunpowder, pots and Iiquor for ivory, palm kernels and rubber. Both Iiquor and guns \vere later banned in the colony.

3) Road Building. Following the "Bulu war," roads were built. All Bulu villages \Vere forcibly moved and relocated on these roads, thereby permitting administrative control. The Germans appointed to each lineage-village a Hchief'' ( eveteman, derived from English "a white man") who would represent the administration in village affairs. Each village was obliged to keep the road adjacent to it in good repair. The individual Iabor involved ·was in lieu of a head-tax. (At this time the Germans conscripted Bulu Iabor for the building of the Douala-Yaounde railroad, although its raute did not cross Bulu territory.)

4) The Introduction of Cash. In 1907 money was introduced and required in the payment for all goods, salaries and other services. The harter system had become too unmanageable for economic efficiency. Lacking a standard set of values, it was virtually impossible to convert Bulu trade objects into German money accurately in a computation of costs, profit and loss, etc.

5) Elementary schools. Elementary schools, although introduced and run by the missions, were required by the German adminis­tration. They equipped young male Bulu with the fundamentals of

6. T he Bulu Rf'SjJonse tu Eurupean F.ronomy 177

aritlunetic, reading and writing necessary to the n1odern econonty. They also created clerks, teachers, pastors, catechists, hospital as­sistants, carpenters ancl civil servants. By the time French began to adnlinister the Ka1nerun at the end of the First \Vorld \Var, there existed the beginnings of an educated group.

6) The int1·oduclion of cocoa. Pcrhaps the Inost important single factor in the n1odernization of Bulu society was the introduction of cocoa in I9I3. Up to this tiine co1nparatively few Bulu had a cash income. A fe'v 'vere employed in various capacities by white men, some exchanged palm-kernels, rubber or ivory for trade goods. In proportion to the nun1ber of Bulu, only a few had a cash income from these sources. Cocoa, on the other hand, could be produced by anyone who \vould plant it and give it minimal care. \\rhereas formerly a few might become rich, cocoa insured a relatively large income to all who planted it. By the end of the 1920's a majority of the Bulu men1

were jJlanteurs each \Vith his olvn cocoa plantation. Cocoa not only became the basis for a cash income but, in time,

provided the Bulu 'vith an export crop for the "rorld market. Cocoa was the factor \vhich tnade all of the foregoing factors meaningful, each supporting and reinforcing the other, in the process of modem­izing Bulu economy.

p 0 s T \t\" u R L D - 'r\T A R I I ' 1 9 4 6 - I 9 6 0

Socio-econon'lic changes. This modern period in ßulu history is n1arked by crucial political

events at both ends: the founding of the Fourth French Republic in 1946; following the ßrassaville conference, 'vhen the Cameroun emerged as an "associated territory" rather than a "colony," and the beginning of an independent state in I960, \Vhen it became an auton­omaus Republic w·ithin the Cotnmunaute.

During this time, the factors described above brought about specific socio-economic changes in Bultt society. Four relevant changes have been selected here: (I) a cash inco1ne (2) the sedentary or fixed villages (3) the emergence of ne"r roles and (4) changes in the organi­zation of ßultt society as related to bridewealth and rnarriage.

I) A cash inco1ne. In 1956 all of the Buht had a cash income from one or more of the follo"'ing sources: (a) "·ages or salary, (b) bride­wealth, (c) agricultural activities, (d) handicrafts. (e) gifts or ccdash'", (f) cocoa, and (g) other. The total cash income of the Buht area "ras estimated as 21 million CF A francs (Binet I 956 : 57), indicated in Table 15.

(1) It should be mentioncd that cocoa culth·ation bccame the chore of the male in spite of the fact that, in the traditional socicty. women were the horticulturists.

178 George R. Horner

Although all of the figures in Table 15 are estiinatcs, it will be noted for our purpose (a) that the Bulu had a cash inco1ne, and (b) that the major source of that incu1ne was fron1 cocua production-70 per cent of the total. A n1ore detailed treaunent of cash income from cocoa and bridewealth appears later in the paper.

T .\ B L E I:;

Cash Income i11 the Bulu Area (1956)

a. Salaries of alltypes b. Bridewealth c. Other agricultural products

1 ,5-15,080 francs 1,950,000

476,654 480,000 800,000

d. Handicrafts e. Gifts or "dash" f. Cocoa g. Other

15,673,481 900,000

7 .5~0 of total 9.5~0 2.0% 2.5~0 3.5~0

70.0% 4.41o

Cash income reached its peak during the Korean \Var \vhen, for exan1ple, one \veek in October 1951, Bulu cocoa gro\vers received on the Ebolo\vian market an all-time high of 210 CF A francs for one kilo of cocoa, as compared \Vith about 90 francs before the \var and 107 plus francs in 1958-59.

In a survey of 480 Bulu-Fang families living in the Cameroun­Gaboon border, the 1951 estimated gross income from cocoa a1one sho,ved the following (A1exandre and Binet 1958 : 32): Some Bulu planteurs have grossed as high as 1,000,000 francs in one year.

All of Bulu life seems to have become centered around the cash income derived from cocoa: bridewealth, house construction, pur­chase of bicycles, sewing machines, payment of taxes, the settlement of debts. As one Bulu expressed the point: "only fools do not grow cocoa." Everyone grew cocoa no matter what other sources of income he had; clerks, teachers, pastors, fonctionaires) and "boys" had cocoa gardens in their home villages.

TADLE 1ß

Estimated Cash lncome in Cocoa (1951)

28 Families with a gross yearly incomc 3,720 CFA Francs 113 Families with a gross yearly incomc 10,000 CFA francs 217 Families with a gross yearly incomc 29,600 CFA francs 87 Families with a gross ycarly incomc 71,500 CFA francs 36 Families with a gross ycarly incomc 152,000 CFA francs 5 Families with a gross ycarly incomc 440,000 CFA Francs

In approximately forty years, millions of cocoa trees had been planted in the Bulu area, the center of cocoa production in the

6. The ßulu Re,\ponse lo Europr-an Eronom)' 179

Can1eroun, with au averagc of ~,000 trecs per n1an (ßineL I Y.JG : G 1 )· Cocoa producLion, tnost ol it again from thc Bulu area, rose f-rom 0 in 1913 to a forecast o[ 67,000 tons in 1958 (U.S.D.A., F.A.S. 1959: 9).

By 1951 individual incotncs, l.Jased upon the abo,·e figures varied from roughly 3,000 CFA francs to more than 400,000 CF.A francs with about 45 per cent of the llulu population having an average income of 30,000 CFA francs (ßinet 1957: 131-141).

2) Sedentary or fixed villages. By 1930 the traditional shifting culti­vators were becoming a settled people largely due to the req uirements of cocoa cultivation. This should not be viewed only in the sense of location of the village but that the people, too, have remained village oriented. Unlike other parts of Africa, there is no Iabor migration from the bush villages to the political f commercial or urban centers. Comparatively few men leave their natal villages for work; none plans to remain alvay pennanently. The fe\v who leave as fonctio­naires, clerks, teachers or unskilled laborers return each year to care for their cocoa plot during their vacations and all Iook fon•;ard toward spending the years of their "retirement" in their natal villages where they w'ill be considered as a "true Bulu" (nya moto ), a rich man (nkukum ), a member of the Council of Elders, directing village affairs ( nda mot ).

Another effect of cocoa on village life is observed in the new rights related to land and cocoa gardens. With the introduction of cocoa, land continues to be allocated by the Council of Elders to each male hausehold head, lvith slight modifications of the traditional pattem: (a) the amount of land allocated, (b) the rule of cultivator of the cocoa garden, and (c) the idea of O\vnership.

a) More and usually the best land is allocated to the hausehold heads for greater cocoa production, sometimes at the expense of land for kitchen gardens.

b) There has been a shift in \Vork roles. Cocoa plantations are cultivated by the male family head although the women of the family are expected to help as a "Iabor force", a change in role requisites.

c) A man O\vns his trees and their produce, but not the ground in which they are rooted. The trees may be inherited, either by the oldest son, or by some specific individual at the death of an owner. The trees cannot be sold. \Vomen may not O\Vn, inherit. or in any "·ay control the cocoa trees.

3) The emergence of new roles. There ''ras no social hierarchy in pre-,vhite Buht society except for the role of the rieb man (nkukum ). As noted above, it 'vas egalitarian. Ne,,· roles areernerging in the modern Buht society. There has been a trend to classify these roles vertica1Iv in an hierarchical classification according to the

180 George R. Harrzer

following variables: (a) cash incotne, (b) education, and (c) religton (Binet 1957 : 137).

a) On the basis of cash inco1ne. On the basis of cash incotne, ßinet has constructed a hierarchical structure. Those Bulu 'vith an incotne of n1ore than 100,000 CF A francs belong to the etnerging "rural elite." They are the chiefs (85 per cent of 'vhon1 are also planleurs) and civil servants, or fonctionaires. The tniddle-class group have an incotne of 30,000 CFA francs. Forty-five per cent of the Bulu are in this group. (They are exclusively planleu'rs.) The retnainder of "1ower class,'' ·with under 15,000 CFA francs. (These are young planlellrs, those just beginning.)

b) On the basis of education. Binet also constructs another hierar­chical structure, on the basis of ability to use French as the only variable, and notes that 72.4 per cent of the Bulu are literate in French, 9 per cent of the Buh1 are both speakers and \Vriters only in Bult1, \Vhile only 10 per cent can speak but not 'vrite either in French or Bultt.

It should be noted that even French-speaking Bulu are literate in their mother tongue and that the chiefs, who have the highest in­come, are the least literate in French. According to Binet, 7 5 per cent of those elected to the political post of municipal representatives are not literate in French but are literate in Buh1. It is some,vhat con­fusing to observe the emergence of \Vhat seems to be three separate elite groups: (a) on the basis of income (b) on the basis of the use of French and (c) on the basis of elected representatives.

N ew roles are ernerging on the basis of professions, a result of education: "Professional class" including teachers, pastors, nurses, mid-,vives, dentists, lawyers, etc.; and "non-professionals" -artisans and unskilled laborers in such roles as planteurs, bus drivers, "boys," laborers, etc. Of these new roles 85 per cent are planteurs (Binet 1957 : 135) who also command the greatest income, and the elected representatives, \Vho are the elite.

c) On the basis of religion. The Bulu have the following religious preferences (Binet 1957: 139-140):

TABLE 17 Religious preferences in the Bulu Area

Protestant (Presbyterian) 52 '70

Roman Catholic (White Fathers) 34 % Adventists (USA) I % Jehova's Witnesses (Watchtower) I % Pagan 4.5% Unknown 7.5'70

6. The Bultt Response lo European Economy 181

A tna jority of the ßul u are Protestant which reHects the sixty·h\'e years the Atnerican Presuyterians have worked among them. Binet ( 1957 : 140) adds that · · the Protestants are the richest, and have the greatest influence in the presentation of democratic ideas to the Bulu population." Such a classification would result in a Protestant, planteto· elite group.

On the basis of ßinet's study there is not one clear, well-defined ernerging elite group but different elite groups based upon cash incotne, politica1 elections, education or Iack of it. and religion.

4) Changes in the Bulu social organization as 1·elated to bride­wealth and marriage. Cocoa helped introduce cash into the traditional Buht bride-price system. (a) As cash incomes increased bride-price in money increased, as did the other items req uired in the brideweal th exchange. (b) This, in part, resulted in changes in the marriage fonn.

The earliest brideweal th \Vas recorded by Tessman ( 1913 II : 260) 2

in the Fang-Bulu area of Gabon-Cameroon. lt included 6.000 spears, 500 lances, IO sheepjgoats, 20 bundles of iron, and various other objects, but required no money.

A do,vry recorded in the 1920's included 110 cutlasses, 10 sheep/ goats, 20 bundles of iron and an unspecified sum of money. lt \vas not until the I 930's that specific amounts of money \Vere required as bride\vealth. A dowry reported in 1935 required, in addition to the usual number of sheep jgoats, etc., 2,000 francs. Cutlasses, spears, lances or bundles of iron \Vere no Ionger required by this time.

Consistently, more cash \vas required by the Bulu from the I 940's to the present; sheep jgoats and other commodities \vere still included. Cash requirements were:

TABLE I8

Cash Requirements for Bridewealth in the Bulu Area

1942 1945 1947 195~55

1956-60

5,000 CF A francs I 0,000 CF A francs 25,000 CFA francs 50,000 CFA francs 50,000 to I 00,000 CF A francs

Other objects included dresses, a bicycle~ se·wing machine. shoes, etc. One girl asked that the shoes she had requested from her fiance remain in their unopened package to sho\v the Paris postmark.

Although cocoa prices have declined since their high during the

(2) Pangwc is the German, for the French Pahouin, for the Spanish Pamue-s. for th~ English word Fang. Today, French \\Titers are inclined to use Pahouin tl include: Fang, ßulu, Ntum and othcr groups. gencrally.

182 George R. Harrzer

Korean \var, the an1ount of cocoa produced has increased w ilh no reduction of inco1ne for the planteurs.

Balandier n1ade a study of the possible connections between bride­\Vealth and cash inco1ne derived fron1 cocoa. He show·s a correlated slo'v rise in both cocoa inco1ne and bridewealth bet,veen l ~38 and 1950. In 1947 there \vas a very sharp increase in bride"'ealth 'vith a parallel increase of cocoa incon1e. -rhis period coincicles with the end of \Vorld \Var 11 and the local transportation problen1. (During the \Var no cocoa was transportecl fron1 interior points due to lack of both gasoline and auton1obiles.) (Balandier 1952: 45; 1955: 176)

Cocoa and cash incon1e seen1 also to have had effects on Bulu marriage. Of these the follo,ving are \Vorth noting here: (a) the in­crease of polygyny, (b) the increase of common-la\v marriages, and ( c) the postponn1ent of n1arriage fron1 the traditional marrying age of thirteen for girls and eighteen for boys to eighteen and later for most girls and past nventy-five for boys.

Before these can be adequately discussed an explanatory 'vord about 1nodern marriage must be given. Traditional n1arriage 'vas considered in part "heathenish" and in part "wife-buying" by the missionaries. A Christian African must marry in Christian fashion. This is true of both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians. (This became, in fact, nvo different marriage forms from the Bulu point of vie\v.) The French administration recognized only one legal marriage and that \vas the Civil marriage. (This became a third European marriage form.) The Bulu \vho might still want the traditional cere­mony might be "married" in that 'vay, but he \vould have had to be married also by the Church and then by the Governn1ent. A tradition­ally oriented Bulu had to go through three marriage ceremonies; a non-traditionally oriented Bulu, but Christian, had to engage in two ceremonies \vhile an educated, non-Christian, nontraditional Bulu \Vas married only by the civil ceremony, or by none at all.

(a) The older Bulu 1nale generally is a traditionalist. Having grown cocoa for a long period, he has had time to enlarge his plantations, and he tends to recruit his Iabor force through the simple expedient of taking a second and third wife. Polygyny, ho,vever, is recognized by neither the Church nor the State, only by Bulu society. The girls such a man marries are ordinarily sisters, so in fact this is a revival of soral polygyny which \Vas common in the pre-white period. Only a wealthy cocoa grower can afford these wives considering that the bride-price "cost" is 50,000 to 100,000 CFA francs. By refering again to Binet's study, one notes that by 1956, of Bulu men, 36 per cent between the ages of forty and forty-five were polygynous (Binet 1956: 45).

6. The Bulu Response to Ji.urujJcan Frunom)' I B3

(b) In 1narrying youuger girls the oldcr 111an <.:OIHpetcs with thc young n1en, and wins. Young n1e11 cannot aHord a lnidc-priu; ol thc above su1n even if thcre wcre availaLle girls. lf a girl is availablc and can agTee to a nontraditional, non<.:hur<.:h Inarriage, shc would proba­bly be willing to bc a comrnon-law wifc, locally <.:allcd a ''bush rnarriage.''

(c) In a study of thirty-eight \'illagcs, llinet shows that 39 pcr cent of young men under nventy-five years uut over twenty wcrc not married, and 25 per cent of the group at twenty-five to thirty years ol age had yet to marry (llinet 1956 : 32). This postponcinent ol man·iage can be considered to result from increase in comn1odities, cash, and the bride-price, again a by-product of cocoa.

Summary. The receipt and payment of bridewealth have been pern1eated by

the use of cash, which in turn is related to the increased dependence on cash cropping. The traditional marriage system has changed in a number of ·ways: (a) attempts to discontinue it entirely, in fa,·or o( various western forms of tnarriage; (b) by forcing ßulu youth to remain single until a sufficient number of commodities, including cash, may be collected to permit the still preferred traditional mar­riage as a preface to the \Vestern forms, or (c) to repudiate alt forms of marriage and enter into a common-la\v residence, now a socially recognized form of marriage.

The continued use of commodities along \Vith cash indicates the persistence of traditional bride,vealth concepts. Traditional marriage is still preferred to the \vestern forms. The western marriage fonns have brought about a change in the system of marriage rather than the organization of marriage and its relationship to the social struc­ture. Structurally, as a contract symbolized by the union of two individuals fulfilling the old political lineage alliance, the avuso. marriage has not basically changed even though Yarious western forms are in use.

T H E M 0 D E R N I Z AT I 0 N 0 F B U L U E C 0 N 0 l\1 Y

The changes described in previous sections will be interpreted here as they relate to the kind of changes taking place in the present Bulu society and culture. For a clearer picture of the kind of change. tl\'O

lines of investigation 'vill be presented: change relative to Bulu culture and social structure, and change relati,·e to a shift in Buh1 economy, from a subsistence to a market economy.

184 G~orge R. Harrzer

Clza11ge Relative to Bulu Culture ancl Social Structure. It is often asstnned that the introduction of western traits to a

non-\vestern culture ipso facto causes son1e kind of cultural aud social disorganization, \vhich n1ay eventually lead to the disintegTation of a culture. Such a culture 1nay either disappear or survive in a new or different forn1. Restllts of cultural ancl social shock have given rise to concepts phrased in tern1s as ''acculturation" and "transculturation," with further iinplication that this is an inevitable process in a nonnal order of events. It is further asstnned that the culturally stronger traits \vill ah,rays replace, or structurally change, the \veaker, local traits. The stronger trait is usually consiclered as ""restern'' and the \Veaker, those traits of a local culture. There is evidence that this kind of cultural in1pact has occurred in the past, as atnong certain .A.merican Indian societies, and continues today an1ong certain African societies.

N either of these concepts, it seen1s to 1ne, is applicable in explaining the kind of change among the Bulu. As has been described above, change has been taking place among the Bulu, from white contact alone, for at least sixty-five years; either despite, or because of, this contact the Bulu seem more culturally intact and socially unified than in their pre-·white period. \Vestern (and other) traits have readily been both adopted and adapted into Bulu culture-a process of accommodation and modernization rather than westernization, which both acculturation and transculturation imply. The point, then, is that traditional culture has persisted ·while, at the same time, under­going superficial or external change. The traditional goals, concepts and system of values (the internal "core" of Bulu culture) have "sorted" introduced traits, keeping and changing those which were culturally relevant, and discarding those traditional traits which were no Ionger useful in a modern context. Persistence is a phenomena to \vhich more attention should be given in any study of a changing society.

To illustrate further what is meant by persistence, a summarywill be given of the four crucial changes in Bulu society. The changes include: ( 1) a cash income, (2) the sedentary or fixed village, (3) the emergence of ne\v roles, and (4) changes in Bulu society relating to bride\vealth and marriage.

1) A cash income. The traditional Bulu have consistently treated commodities (things, biom) in at least two ways: (a) as surplus, tobe divided among kin and trade friends and (b) as a means to achieve the cu1turally recognized and expressed goal of social prestige. The modern Bulu conceptualize cash as a commodity. A few examples are the fo11o,ving:

6. Tl~t: Bulu U.l:spollsc lo EurojJf'll11 /~rmlOIII)' 185

(a) The traditional intportance of obligatiuns to onc's fan1ily, the role of kinship, ren1ains a tnajor iorce atnung the llulu. Ca~h carned in any way is divided according to the traditional principle lound in the "division of the antelope'' where specihc shares wcre gi,·cn to socially designated individuals; a specific sutn to one's wife; the cash equivalent of fi.hy pounds of cocoa (the an1ount \'arics) to ,·illage ''brothers;" the saxne amount to the special lriend; the san1e to one­self and unspecified amounts to other metnbers oi one's village who are in need.

Binet effectively established the point that the Bulu earn cash incomes and that these incomes are an important factor in n1odern Bulu life. He was too hasty in drawing conclusions, based upon this empirical data alone, '\Vithout taking into account cultural factors as the basis for a nelv societal hierarchy. The traditional rule of kinship obligations, observered in the division of surplus, reinforces the traditional concept of an egalitarian society since the cash, instead of being kept by one person, must be divided among one's socially defined kin, according to a built-in system of social sharing.

The traditional cultural concepts persist in treating cash as a commodity and distributing this comxnodity as a surplus following the customary procedure, based upon the socially-defined principle of equality.

(b) A cultural goal among the traditional Bulu ·was to accumulate things (biom) in order to have w·ealth (akum) for social prestige and status. This goal is ceremonially expressed at the birth of every male child: "you will have riches, sheep, goats, ''rives, children and villages will be yours;" it is verbally expressed nightly, araund the family fire in the folktales (Horner 1950) 'vhich constantly remind a boy of his life's goal.

Traditional 'vealth 'vas acquired by exchange, gambling or in­heritance. Today cash has become the modern means of achieving the traditional goal of 'vealth. It is a 'vestern trait which has fit neatly into the traditionallvay of life; achieving it, a man can be a true n1an (nya mot) and possibly a rich man (nkukum).

Binet has sho"rn that of those Buht having an income of oYer 100,000 CFA francs, 85 per cent are traditional 11Chiefs'' (rich n1en). This is not evidence, as Binet suggests. for an en1erging. ne"r, rural elite based upon income. Ratl1er, it seen1s to me. this follo"rs the understood traditional pattern of one lineage-village rich n1an (in­cidently, none of the chiefs of 'vhom Binet "rrites has any political power even 'vithin their villages, 'vhich sug-gests their traditional idea of rich man). This san1e gronp of ··rhiefs," according to Binet. are the least literate in French: 75 per cent of thent arenot able to

186 George R. Horner

reacl or '\'rite in that lang·uage, while all are able to read and write in their o'vn language.

2) Sedentary or fixed villages. The Gern1an adtninistration forced the Bultt to establish their villages along the ne,vly-built roads; cocoa forced the ßultt to give up their senünoinaclic life for a sedentary one.

Two Bultt villages lost their "native" characteristics to become large \Vesternized to,vns, Ebolo,va'a and Sangn1elin1a. Both are conunercial and administrative centers, the forn1er a mission center as \vell. Both to,vns have paved roads, electricity, running 'Vater, western buildings ancl sections 'vhere non-Bulu Africans live as mem­bers of the administration.

Such towns are in sharp cantrast to the typical roadside Bulu villages, \Vhich follow the traditional patterns of construction. Even here the traditional ties are not broken \Vith "home" village.

The lineage-village ren1ains the center of the life of each Bulu. Kinship and lineage .systems have remained unchanged. Political alliances 'vith other J ineages remain in force both for exchange and n1arriage. Since 1953 there has emerged a more distinct sense of Bulu political unity, largely through the efforts of 1\tlvondo David 1-vho visited each lineage village of the Bulu and united them "for greater social benefits among 'brothers' ", in a political association, which in turn is a part of a political party, the Action J.Vational. This gives each village a sense of unity 'vith other villages which it never had had before and gave birth to the expression "la race Bulu."

Such external change has not influenced the local village in its internal structure but has reinforced the concept of Bulu society, even beyond that \vhich ·was possible in the traditional period.

The Council of Elders continue to control all of the village land despite the size of the individual plantations, and the amount under cultivation by each planteur.

Al though there has been a shift in work roles, the men being the chief cocoa cultivators, this change is a superficial one, since basically the economic provisioning remains a male responsibility. Had the women controlled, owned, and (as owner) cultivated the cocoa trees, this \vould have brought about an internal change \vhich \vould have had an impact on all of Bulu society, perhaps to the point of dis­organization. This was prevented by the male, in the role of provider, assuming the work role as cultivator. The traditional pattern is fur­ther observed in that a man may \vill his trees (not the land) to any male individual, never to a female.

3) The emergence of new roles. Internat changes in Bulu social organization, changes in terminology, might be an expected result of

6. Tlll· Rulu Response to EuroJH·an F.ronomy 187

the introduction or the uew occupational roles as a part o( a new social orientation. ßinet, as quotcd above, lor exan1ple, has attempted to construct a ne\v role-centered hierarchical social systetn based upon factors of cash incoxne, education and religion, which would imply internal changes in the Buht social structure.

Binet's picture of a hierarchy is confusing, due mostly to his Ine­thodological framework rather than his data. To him, new roles are equated almost ijJso facto to a new social order. lt is confusing because his data Ieads to three and possibly four hierarchical systen1S, with a different elite group at each apex. He is in error because his me­thodology \vas limited to observable factors alone. He should have incJuded such unempirical cultural factors as "goals" and "values·· and the relationship of ne'v social roles to them.

With the inclusion of such culture factors, there does not seem tobe a new social structure, a ne\v hierarchy. His so-called new elite beha\·e very much in a traditional \vay. They still use the same classificatory kinship terms of, e.g., "brothers," suggesting the continuity of an egalitarian society; all males still have only one \'ote in the meeting of the Council of Elders; there is one village rich man, although others are achieving the status of "true men, benya bot," none ha,·e more political po,ver than any other "rithin the village. The new roles are only external changes of organization, new ways of achieving traditional wealth goals, ne'v and faster means of achieving prestige and status. The Bulu have accommodated western roles into their traditional culture and social structures.

4) Changes in the Bulu social organization as related to bride­wealth and m.a·rriage. In the history of Bulu bridewealth, indicated elsewhere in this paper, the Bulu use commodities and exchange themasapart of their bride,vealth system in marriage. Over the years certain commodities have been dropperl \dlile cash, considered as a commodity, has not only taken their places but has increased in use. This is a change in the traditional system.

An increasing bride-price and the competition for young girls by older men (who can meet the high bride-price) has made the tra­ditional marriage difficult to achieve for most Buht young men. Marriage age is postponed or con1mon-la"r tnates result. In addition, government legislation and church rule has forcibly changed the traditional marriage fonn \Vith the view of cotnpletely replacing it. Still, 80 per cent of the Buht preface "restern n1arriage practices-a church man·iage and civil ceretnony-by the traditional forn1. No one can predict ho'v long this "rill continue. It does sho"r the strength of the traditional fonn and its persistence despite legislation "·hich is trying forcibly to change it.

188 George R. Horner

5) Changes relative to a shift in Bultt econorny: fronl su/Jsiste1lce lo a n1arket econotny. The distribution of surplus a1nong the tra­ditional Bulu \\'as based upon kinship and inter-lineage ties. Only a few· con1n1odities were distributed. Cocoa enlarged the Bulu's eco­nonlic horizons. They are now a part of the \\rorld tnarket. Does this also imply that the econo1ny of the n1odern Buht can also be divided into nvo sectors, a subsistence and a n1arket? Since the su bsistence sector has been described, son1e Inarket aspects of ßulu econon1y will be considered here.

In investigating the possibility of a market sector in present Bulu economy, three questions, one analyst says, need to be consiclered: cc(a) the extent to \vhich the resources of land and Iabor of the in­digenous agricultural economies have becon1e commercializecl; (b) the ways in \vhich money earning activities have been combined with the subsistence activities in the process of the enlarge1nent of the exchange economy, and ( c) the relation of this process to the econotnic development of the territory as a whole" (United Nations 1954 : 3).

(a) Under this first section, the author states that the extent to which resources of land and Iabor is used to produce tnarketable items is useful as an inclicator of "commercialization," or of a n1arket economy. If more land and Iabor is used to produce export or cash crops than subsistence crops, such an economy is said to be in the process of change from a subsistence econon1y to a market economy.

Although ·we Iack specific statistics relative to the Bulu, one notes for the Cameroon as a \Vhole that 80 per cent of productive acreage is used for subsistence crops while only 20 per cent is used for tnarket economy crops (U.S.D.A. 1959 : 64). This is probably equally true among the Bulu \vhose only export and cash crop is cocoa.

There is no hired Iabor force. The traditional Bul u fatnily pro­duced its O\Vn cocoa. It sells it to the buyer. There are no individually or corporately-owned plantations with a hired Iabor force to run them. As \Vas pointed out elsewhere, the male head of a biological family cultivates his O\vn garden, \Vith only \vives and daughters recruited as a Iabor force. Cocoa, although a cash crop, has neither commercialized the use of land nor the Iabor force.

(b) Of all of the money earning activities of the Buht, listed else­where in this paper, the selling of cocoa is the most in1portant. Seventy per cent of the Bul u (and Cameroonian) cash income is from cocoa. It is important then as a factor in possible change fron1 a sub­sistence to market economy. Analytically, certain requisites tnust be met. A very relevant one in a market economy is the relation of "profits as a guide to production" (Karp 1960). Subsistence econo­mies, by contrast, do not produce foods in response to market forces

6. The Bulu Response to E.urujJN11l F.cunum)' 189

on a profit or loss basis. In the production of cocoa by the ßulu, no payn1ent of money is req uired either in the use of land or the hiring of Iabor. These are not explicit costs either in production or the pricing of cocoa.

The governtnent sets the local cocoa price according to the world 1narket, not local production costs. The Bulu produce cocoa in about the san1e 'vay they produce subsistence crops. There is no evidence for dependence upon a market economy, aJthough cocoa is sold in the market, and hence considerable cash is handled. ßulu economy nevertheless remains primarily in the subsistence sector.

CONCLUSIONS

The pre-lvhite Bulu distributed their surplus in a culturally de­fined exchange system which, in turn, was based upon a close relation­ship benveen wealth goals and social prestige. The modern Bulu, in their response to European economy, have not changed their basic cultural goals. What has changed is the means to this cultural end. The Bulu have only modernized their traditional 'vay of life by appropriating European economic institutions as the means to achieve traditional goals faster. It is a ne"r means to a traditional end. Cash lvill allow a Bulu to have more "things" (biom) and through these, a man is measured as a true man (nya mot).

One Bulu expressed the kind of change all Bulu are experiencing in this 'vay: "custom and practice are not so easily changed as gar­ments. as these are in the 'blood'."