The Functions of the Ekpo Society of the Ibibio of Nigeria

Abstract

Like most West African countries, Nigeria abounds in traditional associations or societies often referred to erroneously as “secret” societies. Secret societies (according to a dictionary of social science [Gould and Kolb, 1964: 642]) are those associations in which secret rituals, symbols, signs, medicines, as well as other material paraphernalia make up the main part of their raison d'etre and gain psychological significance through being concealed. In the same vein, Hammond (1971: 193) notes that membership in secret societies is limited to only a segment of the total eligible population; members focally protect the secrecy surrounding their rituals, secret rites that are believed to increase the supernatural powers of their members; and that non-initiates are usually permitted to learn just enough about them to be frightened, impressed, and, therefore, enticed to join them. A closer examination, however, shows that, more than nuisance value, secret societies fulfill economic, social, and political functions similar to those of associations based primarily on age and sex. For example, Robert Lowie (1927) was fascinated by functional resemblances between West African secret societies and certain men's organizations among the Plains Indians in America. This led him to suspect that the state might be found latent in sodalities or “associations.” In the particular case of most Nigerian associations, the esoteric basis of their activities sets them apart from others like medicine societies, that is, societies concerned with the practice of traditional methods of diagnosis and healing.