Preface by 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
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 dis-
cussion 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 ana-
lyze 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 village-
groups that comprise the lbo-speaking peoples of southeastern Ni-
geria, 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 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 clear-
ing 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 tsetse-
resistant 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 com-
posed 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,
Oha Isu, and Itim, each of 'vhich forms a geographic and social
division of Afikpo and has its o'vn tradition of origin. 'Vhile two of
the five subdivisions and several individual villages are larger and
more inuential than others, no one village or subdivision dominates
the village-group, \Vhose corporate activities are carried out chiey
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 elsenhcre (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 neigh-
boring 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 Agba, 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 hos-
tilities 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 four-
day 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, o1ie 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 village-
group 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 ad-
ministrative 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. arealso the major
carriers of heayy Ioads fron1 the farms, to and fron1 the markets, and
as carriers for contractors and river traders. 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 pre-
parations for \varfare.
Finally, \Votnen have long taken an actiYe part in tnarketing ac-
tivities 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 re-
mained 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 Yillages had
been trying to dominate it, frequently charging tolls, seizing traders'
goods, ancl other,vise atten1pting to exert their inuence. 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 south-
west, 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 be-
tween 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, particu-
larly 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 village-
groups who desired to fight others, and they were kno"n as peace-
makers 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 pro-
duced 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)) six-
pence. 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 food-
stuffs 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 dis-
putes. 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. ~ h e 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 following 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 village-
groups. 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, particu-
larly 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: eka1a (no English equivalent) were the vener-
ated elders of the village-group, perhaps nutnbering five to ten per-
sons, 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 m ~ t i n g place where
they n1et on nonn1arket days in con junction with 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-grade-
six), 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 was 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 mis-
conduct but other,vise was essentially unregulated. The market, how-
ever, ,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 pre-
occupation 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 differ-
ences 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
\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 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 mili-
tary 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 full-
time 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 ap-
peared 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.
cultivation of certain new crops, namely cassava and maize, had
been firn1ly established at Afikpo, and women dominated their pro-
duction 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 slaugh-
tered 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 indus-
tries, 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 ex-
pansion 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 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) pro-
cessors 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 con-
tributed 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 sta-
tion. 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 Okpo-
ha), 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 re-
paired hoes, machetes and other iron tools. The Ezza, ''rho ~ e r e
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 chiey by other means. Farmers
brought their surplus yams to market; mat makers came to sell the
products of their craft; carpenters sold doors, \\'indows, 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 tin-
ful, 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 then1sehes.
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 temp-
tations 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 occa-
sions. 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. argaining, ho\v-
ever, \\'as still the Standard n1ethod of reaching an agreernent on
price, though certain European goods had con1e to attain fairly set
prices. l ~ h r \\ere no fonnal price controls. vVhile in times of un-
usual 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 prop-
erty 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 distrib-
uted 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 3 ~
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 Au-
thority Court as weil, each having representatives from the major vil-
lages 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 some-
times 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 market
5

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 g1oup, 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 c o ~ t r o l 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 indi-
viduals 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 tra-
ditiona1 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 mush-
rooming. 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 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 trans-
portation, 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 trans-
porting 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 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 im-
provements 'vere part of a general economic development and ex-
pansion 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 build-
ing 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
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 ......... .
.......
Formlotl
tl Pol Gr
&MAMOIALA
'LATIINI
N
;. Afikpo A1arkets: 1900-1960 137
of the atnounts of goods exchanged or n1oney involved. An imprcs-
sionistic 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 Europ-
ean 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 rent-
paying 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 was 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"' ex-
tended 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 govem-
ment 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 ush 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 un-
planned 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 build-
ings 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 Coun-
cil, 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 accom-
modations) as more and more people built alongside the road oppo-
site 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\1mhels: 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 in-
cinerator, 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 ~ e l f a r e 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 occasionally-
for 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 cutting-
grass (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 paw-
paws 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 perma-
nent 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 recog-
nized. 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 Europ-
ean 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 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 sitting out-
side on the ground, facing the stalls. and thc prospective buyers
picking their lvay between then1. Undoubtedly this partly season-
al, 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 criss-
crossed 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 scat-
tered 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 above-
mentioned 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 without grum bling. lt ap-
peared 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 car-
penters, 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 wine 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, south-
east, 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 non-
African 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 dis-
tances 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 drainage o ~ t o u r s 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 rain-
beats down. 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 out-
lying n1arkets of Afikpo Division. Some men bought salt fron1 Europ-
ean 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 ground-
nuts), 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 milJ-
ing, 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 Aba-
kaliki, 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 com-
modities to market in small amounts, though these were proportion-
ately 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 nportant 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 rcla-
tively minor role in trade yet they \Vere still an nportant 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. ~ o s t productive acti\ities
146 Sirnon and Phoebe Ottenberg
were still in the hands of 'vomen. The tnost nportant of these 'Ven:
pot-tnaking, the steatning of rice and taking it to be tnilled, the pro-
cessing 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 nddle-aged
and elderly 'von1en. lVhile son1e younger 'votnen n1ade pots, n1any
felt that the an1ount of '\Vork involved in making them "'as dispro-
portionate 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 consider-
able 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 ad-
dition 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.
~ l e n 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 hand-
operated 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 prac-
tice 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\
7
0 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 princi-
pally 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 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 government workers' quarters,
or one of the schools.
TABLE 13
Products Sold in Lower Afarket
By .AJen
ccf
ush mcat
Yams
?vfats
Nativecloth
Yam baskets
Yam mortars and pestles
BylVomen
Pots
npceled 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 ~ f r k e t
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 origi-
nating 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, virtu-
ally 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 corre-
lation 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 s t l l ~ ~ 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 \\
1
eek.
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 pro-
duction within one village or the closeness of the village to the
market. Villages that were far from the market ''rere poorly repre-
sented, 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 ulti-
nlate 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 else-
where. to our enumeration, made in mid-December 1959,
588 out of a total of 64 7 stalls in the upper market
8
\vere occupied.
The number of stalls devoted to different products and services is
shown 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 restatnant 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 Cont1ols.
The period between 1952 and 1960 sa'v a radical change in the
authority controls over the Afikpo market. In 1953 the Afikpo Dis-
trict 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 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 replaced
by the Afikpo District Council, a true local governn1e11t body re-
presenting the various village groups in Afikpo Division) (except
Edda, 'vhich fonned its o'vn district with the power to
154 Simon and Phoebe Ottenberg
levy taxes and spend consiclerable sun1s of n1oney. Similar develop-
nlents 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 nlanager-
ship 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
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 out-
line 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 com-
mitted 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 hap-
hazard 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 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 hawker'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 tenlpo-
rary 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 re-
quired 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 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 was supposed to be for one
trader, there \Vas in fact n1uch sharing and subletting of stalls, \Vhich
was difficult to control. The i\Iarket 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
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 lgher
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 what 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 tempo-
rary 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 con-
dition 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 develop-
tnent 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 Com-
mittee, and the Finance and Staff Committee 'vas responsible for any
financial aspect of the market. There '\Vas thus a complicated organi-
zation 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 was their goal eYen-
tually to put all the traders in rented stalls, so that there be
virtually no casual traders and regular fees would 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 quali-
fied persons '\Vithout this facility. The Land Settletnent Officer and
the 1\farket :rviaster \vere preparing to have the nvo stnall aho n1arkets
at 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 con-
ception 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 con-
sulting 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 pre-
viously 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-con-
structed 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 inuential 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 pay-
tnents for goods between members), and as a union to insttre tltat thc
Ntunber 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 organi-
zations were sure to play a stronger role in market activity and eco-
nomic 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. in a
section of the upper market place, it \vas only informally superYised
by the l\Iarket 1\tlaster. The small aho n1arkets at 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 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 which 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 con-
ception of the n1arket. ~ w o 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 con-
sulting 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 pre-
viously 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-con-
structed 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 o\c:r paY-
Inents 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
,,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 organi-
zations ''rere sure to play a stronger role in market activity and eco-
nomic 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 '\\
7
ell 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 aYaila-
ble on ~ k r .
. 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 peace-
ful 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 own market three miles east of Abba Omege,
meeting also on on:e. This became a very popular ''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 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 one-
crop 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 markets
11
on non-eke days in search of nvo food-
stuffs '\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 pre-
conquest days, and the selling of blacksmiths' iron goods, some pre-
pared 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\1arketsJ900-1960
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 in-
dicated that there lvere seventy-five shops, sheds, or hotels
13
in l'\ um-
her 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 car-
penters 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 nlaga-
zine, 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 A1mluts: 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 n t e r ~
served new tastes and needs to son1e extent. Though virtually cvery-
thing 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 con-
tractors, 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 ~ k e
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 arrange-
ments 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 con-
sidered 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 Cala-
bar 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 com-
pany, \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 pur-
chased kernels to sell at these two depots. Othcr persans fTom these
surrounding village-groups can1e to Afikpo to sell their kernels, some-
titnes 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 pur-
chased 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 village-
groups, \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 pur-
chased 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 impos-
sible 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 mar-
kets 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. ~ l o n y
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 was 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 re-
tnained relatively unchanged in 1960; for example, bargaining as a
basic exchange technique, the importance of 'votnen in trade acti,i-
ties, 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 2
1
/2 degrees to 3 degrees north and 10
1
/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 to EurofH'an Elonomy 171
age, synonyn1ous with thrce English words, village," ramily," and
"lineage," 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 gene-
ration, 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 ones
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 nlar-
kets 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 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 ad-
ditional 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 criss-
crossed 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) 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-low-
ever, 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
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 obli-
gations 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 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 ~ h e whole \\'hich is divisible is
the Soo (an antelope)" ("tninzbiae ue soo") is the principle under-
lying the distribution of 1neat. This principle is so deeply nbedded
in ulu 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
lnited 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 pro-
duction 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 ex-
change 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 would 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 hn, 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 ulu 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 adn1inistrathe control
over the Bulu due to the length of time it then took to travel com-
paratively 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 ultt 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 tne, etc., were inculcated in accordance
\Vith the Protestant ethic.
etween 1900 and 1913, the Gennan achninistration introduced
legislation \vhich provided the basis for change: ( 1) Pax Gerntanica,
(2) establislunent of adnnistrative and trade centers; (3) road build-
ing and enforced n1oving of all ulu 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) intro-
duction 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 elninating 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, Ebolowa'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 adminis-
tration. 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 as-
sistants, 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 int1oduclion 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 men
1
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 modem-
izing 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 ulu history is n1arked by crucial political
events at both ends: the founding of the Fourth French Republic in
1946; following the rassaville 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 auton-
omaus Republic within 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 organi-
zation of ultt 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) bride-
wealth, (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 culthation 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 Cameroun-
Gaboon 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, pur-
chase 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 1
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 ulu Re,\ponse lo Europr-an Eronom)' 179
Can1eroun, with au averagc of ~ 0 0 0 trecs per n1an (ineL 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 (inet 1957: 131-141).
2) Sedentary or fixed villages. By 1930 the traditional shifting culti-
vators 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 fonctio-
naires, 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, inet
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 hierar-
chical 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 in-
come, 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 con-
fusing 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 '7
0
Roman Catholic (White Fathers) 34 %
Adventists (USA) I %
Jehova's Witnesses (Watchtower) I %
Pagan 4.5%
Unknown 7.5'7
0
6. The Bultt Response lo European Economy 181
A tna jority of the ul u are Protestant which reHects the sixtyh\'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 inet'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 1elated to bride-
wealth 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

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 sewing 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
English word Fang. Today, French \\Titers are inclined to use Pahouin tl include:
Fang, ulu, 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 shows a correlated
slo'v rise in both cocoa inco1ne and bridewealth bet,veen l 8 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 in-
crease 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 cere-
mony might be "married" in that 'vay, but he \vould have had to be
married also by the Church and then by the Governn1ent. A tradition-
ally 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 proba-
bly 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 maniage
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 ulu youth to
remain single until a sufficient number of commodities, including
cash, may be collected to permit the still preferred traditional mar-
riage 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 struc-
ture. 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 ~ o r g e 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, under-
going 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. Bulu U.l:spollsc lo EurojJf'll11 185
(a) The traditional intportance of obligatiuns to onc's fan1ily, the
role of kinship, ren1ains a tnajor iorce atnung the llulu. 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 one-
self 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 wealth (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 in-
heritance. 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
11
Chiefs'' (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 (in-
cidently, 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 language, 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 ultt to give up their sennoinaclic 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 mem-
bers 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 dis-
organization. This was prevented by the male, in the role of provider,
assuming the work role as cultivator. The traditional pattern is fur-
ther 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 EuroJHan F.ronomy
187
the introduction or the uew occupational roles as a part o( a new
social orientation. inet, 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 Ine-
thodological 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 me-
thodology \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 bride-
wealth and m.arriage. 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 tra-
ditional 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 maniage 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 tra-
ditional Bulu \\'as based upon kinship and inter-lineage ties. Only a
few con1n1odities were distributed. Cocoa enlarged the Bulu's eco-
nonlic 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 ulu 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 in-
digenous 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 pro-
duced 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 else-
where 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 sub-
sistence 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 econo-
mies, 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 ulu, 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. ulu economy
nevertheless remains primarily in the subsistence sector.
CONCLUSIONS
The pre-lvhite Bulu distributed their surplus in a culturally de-
fined exchange system which, in turn, was based upon a close relation-
ship 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 gar-
ments. as these are in the 'blood'."