The Peoples of Southern Nigeria

Record summary

P. Amaury Talbot's The Peoples of Southern Nigeria surveys multiple communities and includes accounts of priests, diviners, spirit mediums, dreams, omens and healing. Its comparative breadth makes it a discovery source for locating named local practices rather than a single extraordinary case. The descriptions preserve early twentieth-century claims within colonial administrative and ethnological frameworks. Researchers should follow references to the particular town, shrine or ethnic community, since regional aggregation can conceal major differences. Independent corroboration should come from local histories, language studies and surviving ritual institutions.