Marriage in Tiv
A SURVEY OF THE MARRIAGE AND BURIAL INSTITUTIONS AMONGST THE TIV OF CENTRAL NIGERIA
BY ALFRED AKAWE TORKULA
Being a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The inspiration for this research work came from the members of the Tiv Area Traditional Council – all starting point for my fascination with the subject of Tiv marriage and Brial Customs. My immense gratitude goes to all of them for their contributions in one way or another. I am particularly thankful to Professor David Iornem, my Academic adviser for his moral encouragement, unrelenting support and in providing reading materials and being the consultant who assisted me to organize the First National Workshop on the Tiv Marriage and Burial Customs. Many people deserve my special thanks for the contributions especially for their comments and suggestions which have proven invaluable in making this work what it
is. Such people include my Academic Counsellor, Dr. Zacharys Anger Gundu and Dr. Peter T. Iyortsuun. I am highly indebted to Mr. Paul T. Orshi who has been a good research assistant to me, right from the beginning and to the end of this research work. I owe you a big thank you. I wish to extend my gratitude to my wives for their encouragement, patience and sacrifice. Their support was essential especially HRH Helen O.M. Torkula whose steady encouragement and great source of inspiration added to make this work a reality. v Finally, my children have sacrificed to make the work possible, by doing without my attention from time to time. I thank them too with hopes that they will some day learn from reading as for themselves .
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ABSTRACT This study has investigated the traditional marriage and burial practices of the Tiv people who reside in Benue State in Central Nigeria. It has also studied the changes which influenced the institutions of marriage and burial as practiced by the Tiv people and identified those
BY ALFRED AKAWE TORKULA
Being a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The inspiration for this research work came from the members of the Tiv Area Traditional Council – all starting point for my fascination with the subject of Tiv marriage and Brial Customs. My immense gratitude goes to all of them for their contributions in one way or another. I am particularly thankful to Professor David Iornem, my Academic adviser for his moral encouragement, unrelenting support and in providing reading materials and being the consultant who assisted me to organize the First National Workshop on the Tiv Marriage and Burial Customs. Many people deserve my special thanks for the contributions especially for their comments and suggestions which have proven invaluable in making this work what it
is. Such people include my Academic Counsellor, Dr. Zacharys Anger Gundu and Dr. Peter T. Iyortsuun. I am highly indebted to Mr. Paul T. Orshi who has been a good research assistant to me, right from the beginning and to the end of this research work. I owe you a big thank you. I wish to extend my gratitude to my wives for their encouragement, patience and sacrifice. Their support was essential especially HRH Helen O.M. Torkula whose steady encouragement and great source of inspiration added to make this work a reality. v Finally, my children have sacrificed to make the work possible, by doing without my attention from time to time. I thank them too with hopes that they will some day learn from reading as for themselves .
vi
ABSTRACT This study has investigated the traditional marriage and burial practices of the Tiv people who reside in Benue State in Central Nigeria. It has also studied the changes which influenced the institutions of marriage and burial as practiced by the Tiv people and identified those