Welcome • Sponsors • Conference Schedule •Panelist Handbook • Abstracts and Bios • Contact Us

Abstracts and Bios

The Impact of Forced Labour Migrations for Tin Mining in Jos Plateau on Tiv Agricultural Sector of Central Nigeria c 1902-1945

Philip Akpen, Dept. of History, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria
akpenphilip@yahoo.com

When Africans were brought to the New World during the Trans-Atlantic slave period of the 17th-19th Centuries, the slaves carried with them a whole body of African stories, legends, religious practices, poetry, music, and traditions. Although their arrival in the New World stripped them of their cultural identity, paradoxically, many of the slaves refused to succumb even in their nakedness. Therefore, the first generation of African slaves successfully retained several aspects of their cultures in spite of stiff opposition from their white masters. For instance, whenever social groups gathered after the day’s work, they use such avenue to dance to indigenous African music and drum beats, tell stories in African languages, and exhibit African fabrics. This way, the slaves were able to preserve their linguistic, religious, and aesthetic principles, which they then passed on to their younger generations.
Of all the aspects of African cultures that survived in the New World today, the Yoruba religion is the most spectacular and widely studied. Many scholars have observed rightly that the various African religious practices in the New World today, such as the Santeria or Lucumi in Cuba, Vodoo in Haiti, Condomble in Brazil, and the Orisa worship in North America, are based on a pantheon of Yoruba gods/goddesses. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to specifically examine the performance of oral poetry associated with Yoruba religious practices that survived in the Diaspora today. This boils down to a discussion of the content of the religious poetry and the survival strategies put in place by practitioners of these religious practices themselves to ensure that this aspect of Yoruba culture is preserved in their new home.

Chemically Based Weapons and Warfare in Pre-colonial Tiv area of Central Nigeria

Warfare during the pre-colonial period in Tivland and Nigerian area generally was very destructive and devastating. During the pre-colonial period, the survival of many political systems whether mega or mini states rested on an effective armed forces and military system. The military system during the pre-colonial period was an important institution used in the preservation of the cultures and value system of many societies in Africa. A group of people survived because of the fact that its cultural systems are preserved and in order to survive, the people must evolve the most sophisticated technique in warfare. In Tivland, these were different forms of contact with other groups within and outside the middle Benue valley which also led to an improved Technology of warfare. This paper attempts an analysis of the techniques of warfare with major emphasis on chemically based weapons. It will show how it changed the course of the Tiv and of Tiv history and that of the Middle Benue valley.