Mambila
Having read the two ethnographies of C. K. Meek and his follower F. Rehfisch I have decided to write about three aspects of Mambila’s life; marriage and death and the belief in their ancestors. As we will see there are many disagreements between Meek and Rehfisch of various aspects of Mambila’s life. In my opinion, this misunderstanding might have occurred because of the different time of doing the research by these two anthropologists. Meek conducted his fieldwork in 1931 while his follower went there twenty two years later in 1953. F. Fehfisch also mentions about the difficulties that he was experiencing, which suggests that the information he obtained could be inaccurate. His two main reasons were that the Mambilas were very suspicious and only few of them understood English. He admits that he never learned their language well enough to talk to them without his interpreter. I always thought that it was the anthropologist that was supposed to learn the local language, but I guess that some were not trying hard enough. I do not want to hide it; F. Rehfisch did not make a good impression with that. He also complains a lot about uncooperative inhabitants of Mambila. “They would either tell me nothing or else untru
1. Meek, C. K. 1931:532 “Meek on Mambila” 4. Percival, D.A. 1931 “The critique of Meek’s study on Mambila” 5. Zeitlyn, D. 1991. “Problems of history and interpretations.” 5. To marry a woman older than oneself is said to be dangerous, for the vaginal secretions of an older woman injure a man younger than herself. First aspect of Mambila’s life I want to discus is marriage. There used to be three types of marriage; a) marriage by purchase, also known as marriage by bride price, b) marriage by exchange, and c) slave marriage, which little is known about. Today, only marriage by purchase is practiced because the European Administration has abolished slavery and exchange marriage was prohibited [2]. I am going to describe the three types, but before doing so I would like to cite the traditional prohibitions applicable to both marriages:
Some topics in this essay:
Meek Rehfisch,
According Meek,
According Rehfish,
Market Imilhil”,
CK Meek,
DA Percival,
According Zeiltyn,
According DAPercival,
European Administration,
Mambila Fulani,
mambila’s life,
2 according,
2 according meek,
according meek,
aspects mambila’s life,
wife remains,
exchange wife,
husband's home,
marry woman,
“meek mambila”,
wife remains idle,
marriage purchase,
exchange marriage,
“the critique meek’s,
1931 “the critique,
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Approximate Word count = 3177
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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