The Igbo-Igala borderland

by Austin J. Shelton

This ethno-historical survey of the northern Nsukka borderland examines particularly one method of African colonial control. When, in the late eighteenth century, the Igala conquered the indigenous Igbo, they gained and held social control through monopoly of certain religious positions. However, despite consciouse effort to maintain Igala religious lineages, these gradually became Igbonized. In delineating this religious-social control, Professor Shelton describes extensively border conditions and the nature of Igbo life in the Nsukka area. He dwells particularly on the Igbo religious framework which includes well-disposed, beneficient spirits called 'alusi'. The invading Igala installed their own men as priests, or 'attama' to the dangerous 'alusi' thereby becoming the sole mediators between these spirit and the Igbo.