Southeastern Niger Research Articles

Liquefaction potentials of a sandy substratum in the south-eastern lower Niger Delta of Nigeria

Most of the materials that constitute the uppermost formation (Benin Formation) of the lower Niger Delta in South-Eastern Nigeria are sands, shales and clays that occur at various depths within the formation. These subsurface materials have served as bearing media for both shallow and deep foundation structures.

Barbers and Bearers: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Islamic Society

Opening ParagraphThis is an essay about strangers in a West African society. It asks how ethnicity constrains role selection and role performance. It asks why members of bounded ethnic groups occupy specific professions and exploit specific ecological niches in a multi-ethnic society. Field information from south-eastern Niger reveals the environmental and cultural elements which together generate a distribution of peoples into single ethnic and multi-ethnic occupations. My concern is with the processes of boundary maintenance among ethnic groups rather than with their distinct cultural contents. Barth has pointed out (1969) that in multi-ethnic interaction, ethnicity itself is a critical factor in status ascription. This is a simple and unassailable observation. The behavioural character of the ethnic unit must be demonstrated; it cannot merely be assumed a priori.