Artifacts as Social Conflict Resolution Mechanism in Traditional Urhobo Society of Nigeria's Niger Delta

Abstract

Traditional Urhobo society attempts to achieve stability by resolving personal and public social conflicts. The mechanisms employed for this include using art objects in rituals. No detailed scholarly attention, however, seems to have been given to identifying and classifying these conflict-resolution devices in previous studies of the art and culture histories of the Urhobo. In this paper, the social conflict situations prevalent in Urhobo traditional society and their resolution mechanisms are examined. Three categories of social conflicts and two resolution mechanisms are identified and classified.