The Tribes of the Niger Delta

Record summary

P. Amaury Talbot's The Tribes of the Niger Delta records religious specialists, spirit beliefs, divination, dreams and healing among communities of the delta. It is a useful lead for comparing water-spirit traditions, possession narratives and the social management of anomalous experience across neighboring peoples. The work is descriptive and historically valuable, but it does not verify spirit encounters or clairvoyance. Researchers should identify the specific community and ritual site in each passage, account for translation and administrative bias, and compare Talbot with later Niger Delta ethnographies.