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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Alekwu Poetry as a Source of Historical Reconstruction: The Pursuit of Idoma-Otukpo Origin, Genealogy and Migration |
Author: | Amali, Idris O.O. |
Year: | 1997 |
Periodical: | Ufahamu |
Volume: | 25 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 17-49 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | Idoma oral poetry Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Urbanization and Migration History and Exploration |
Abstract: | The Otukpo people who are of the Idoma ethnic group sojourned at various places during the different phases of the Kwararafa diaspora. They now live some 100 kilometres south of Makurdi, the capital of Benue State in Nigeria. Based on historical evidence contained in Idoma Alekwu oral poetry, a 'national warehouse' from which Idoma society looks at itself and its past, the author reconstructs the origin, genealogy and migration of the Idoma-Otukpo people. Alekwu is the physical reenactment in masquerade form of a qualified deceased father in Idoma-Otukpo. The Alekwu poet is able to narrate the various places visited in the course of Idoma-Otukpo movements, successive settlements, and the names of ancestors, from the putative Apa to a present-day father. App., notes, ref. |