Moninkim: A Symbiotic Performance of Ritual, Music, and Dance by the Ejagham People of Nigeria and Cameroon

Abstract

Abstract Among the Ejagham of southeastern Nigeria and Southwestern Cameroon, the performance of the nkim or moninkim ritual marks the passage of a young girl to womanhood. This transition begins when the girl—moninkim—is secluded from the general community and placed in the nju nkim (fattening house or fattening room) where she is pampered, instructed in the Ejagham values, and taught how to dance the nkim dance. This article discusses the ways in which ritual, music, and dance interplay to construct a holistic art form, and examines how moninkim dance performance serves as a hermeneutic site for illuminating the Ejagham culture.