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Paul Bohannan

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description Paul Bohannan Overview

Paul Bohannan was an American anthropologist whose research examined Tiv society in central Nigeria, especially its economy, law, kinship, and religious life. His studies of Tiv exchange described a system in which different goods circulated within distinct spheres and could not be freely substituted for one another, a framework used in economic anthropology. He also wrote about Tiv legal judgment and social change.

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What did Paul Bohannan study among the Tiv?

Paul Bohannan studied Tiv society in central Nigeria, including economy, law, kinship, political authority, and religious life. His ethnography examined how exchange and legal decisions were embedded in social relationships.

What are spheres of exchange in Paul Bohannan's work?

The concept describes separate categories of goods that circulate within distinct exchange spheres and should not ideally be converted directly into one another. Bohannan developed the idea from his analysis of Tiv economic life in Nigeria.

What is Justice and Judgment among the Tiv about?

Justice and Judgment among the Tiv examines how disputes, authority, evidence, and customary law worked in Tiv society. It shows that legal decisions were connected to kinship, political relationships, and local moral expectations.

Why is Paul Bohannan important to economic anthropology?

His Tiv research demonstrated that economic value cannot always be separated from status, kinship, law, and religion. The idea of spheres of exchange became a widely discussed contribution to the anthropology of money and trade.

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