Mbembe Men's Associations

Abstract

The role of the men's associations has to be understood in the context of the precolonial political structure of the Mbembe and particularly the pattern of relationships both within any one village and within a village group. The latter constituted a kind of in that the head of each village in the group was believed to be the priest of the same particular, named variety of the Okpobam cult. Generally all Mbembe village heads and many heads of kin groups were priests of this earth cult, conceived to provide a vital link between the living and the dead, but this fact seems not to have been used as the basis for any alliance between village groups. The politically crucial aspect of this cult was that within the parish sharing a variety of Okpobam it anathematized deliberate killing and provided, through the sanctuary and the cleansing sacrifice offered by its priests, a means of peaceful reconciliation between the kin of the slayer and of the slain. Each village was composed of different kin groups. Inheritance of land, houses, and house sites was patrilineal, and women moved to their husbands' residences upon marriage. Therefore the male population was spatially divided by patrilineal descent, and distinct co-resident patrilineages and patriclans existed. At the same time matrilineal descent was also recognized, and the population was divided into dispersed matrilineages and matriclans. These were of crucial significance, since rights over movable property and most jural