State Politics and Cultural Interpretation among the Igbos in Post-Military Nigeria

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370946
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural anthropology
• Research Institution: Yokohama National University
• Principal Investigator: MATSUMOTO Hisashi 横浜国立大学, 大学院都市イノベーション研究院, 教授 (80361054)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 文化人類学 / アフリカ / ナイジェリア / 民主主義 / 伝統的権威者 / 輪番制

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The wave of democracy seized Africa in 1990s. Many African countries has experienced political reforms and made transition from one party to multi-party system, and military to civilian resume. Nigeria is one of such countries, where the transition to the Forth Republic was occurred in 1999. Looking back to her history, this is the first experience for Nigerians to enjoy democracy for more than ten years.
This study aimed to analyze the relationship between political practices and cultural interpretations among the Igbos in post-military Nigeria. It conducted the fieldwork on two political customs, “rotation” and “zoning”, which prevailed as the way to assure equality in political participation. Considering how these two customs operated in the selection of leaders both in state politics and local politics, this study showed their roles to create the political order in the competition for the authorities.

Free Research Field

文化人類学