The Functions of the Ekpo Society of the Ibibio of Nigeria
The Functions of the Ekpo Society of the Ibibio of Nigeria
复制标题
尼日利亚伊比比奥 Ekpo 协会的职能
DOI：
10.2307/524025
复制
发表时间：
1984
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
D. Offiong
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. Offiong
与大多数西非国家一样，尼日利亚拥有大量传统社团或社团，这些社团或社团常常被错误地称为“秘密”社团。秘密社团（根据社会科学词典[Gould和Kolb，1964：642]）是指以秘密仪式、符号、标志、药物以及其他物质用具构成其存在理由的主要部分并通过隐藏而获得心理意义的社团。同样，哈蒙德（Hammond，1971：193）指出，秘密社团的成员仅限于符合条件的总人口中的一部分；成员重点保护其仪式的秘密，这些秘密仪式被认为可以增强其成员的超自然力量；非入会者通常被允许对他们有足够的了解，从而感到害怕、印象深刻，并因此被诱惑加入他们。然而，仔细研究表明，秘密社团不仅具有滋扰价值，还履行与主要基于年龄和性别的社团类似的经济、社会和政治功能。例如，罗伯特·洛伊（Robert Lowie，1927）对西非秘密社团和美国平原印第安人中的某些男性组织之间功能上的相似性很着迷。这使他怀疑国家可能隐藏在联谊会或“协会”中。就大多数尼日利亚协会的具体情况而言，其活动的深奥基础使它们有别于医学协会等其他协会，即关注传统诊断和治疗方法实践的协会。
Like most West African countries, Nigeria abounds in traditional associations or societies often referred to erroneously as “secret” societies. Secret societies (according to a dictionary of social science [Gould and Kolb, 1964: 642]) are those associations in which secret rituals, symbols, signs, medicines, as well as other material paraphernalia make up the main part of their raison d'être and gain psychological significance through being concealed. In the same vein, Hammond (1971: 193) notes that membership in secret societies is limited to only a segment of the total eligible population; members focally protect the secrecy surrounding their rituals, secret rites that are believed to increase the supernatural powers of their members; and that non-initiates are usually permitted to learn just enough about them to be frightened, impressed, and, therefore, enticed to join them. A closer examination, however, shows that, more than nuisance value, secret societies fulfill economic, social, and political functions similar to those of associations based primarily on age and sex. For example, Robert Lowie (1927) was fascinated by functional resemblances between West African secret societies and certain men's organizations among the Plains Indians in America. This led him to suspect that the state might be found latent in sodalities or “associations.” In the particular case of most Nigerian associations, the esoteric basis of their activities sets them apart from others like medicine societies, that is, societies concerned with the practice of traditional methods of diagnosis and healing.