Mbembe

▪ people

      group of peoples living along the middle Cross River in Nigeria. Numbering about 100,000 in the late 20th century, they speak a language of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family.

      The Mbembe cultivate yams, rice, cocoyams (taro), and cassava. In modern times wage labourers generally clear the fields and cultivate the yams. The land is either fallowed after one year or planted with cassava by women, who receive the profits from its sale. Compact settlements of wattle-and-daub houses with mat or thatched roofs range in size from 100 to 3,000 inhabitants.

      The Mbembe trace descent through both matrilineal and patrilineal lines. Movable property (such as yams, money, and clothing) is inherited matrilineally. The matrilineage is collectively responsible for its members in jural matters. Rights to land and houses are inherited patrilineally, and lineage members usually live together. Age sets cutting across kinship ties are formed in each village. Of village associations that function as agents of social control, the okwa, the most powerful, has certain authority over women and authority to issue orders in such matters as public works. Members of the okwa also select the village chief.

      Mbembe religion includes belief in a creator god and spirits who serve as intermediaries between the living and the dead. Many Mbembe are Christians.

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