Nigerian Matrifocal Societies in the Ethnographies of Daryll Forde, Simmon Ottenberg and Philip Nsugbe

A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

In traditional societies, kinship arrangements are central to the structural, holistic understanding of a particular culture. This is because culture is integrative and social relation is understood best when we look at the structure a particular society adopts. Ethnographers have found three major kinship structures in the Eastern part of Nigeria. These are patrilineal, matrilineal and double descent systems. This review paper, therefore, explores three matrifocal societies in ethnographic accounts of Daryll Forde, Simmon Ottenberg and Philip Nsugbe. There are similarities as well as differences in the accounts of these three scholars on the societies they each studied.