BLENCH1987-002 - ethnographic attestation
Idoma
Nigeria - Idoma country, Otukpo, Benue State - West Africa
Play / practical
ofukufuku en
Source term: ofukufuku (Blench 1987, tone-marked)
The boys' answer to the ancestors' fish-shaped plaque: an ofukufuku cut from a school ruler or a scrap of wood, whirled for the fun of it. It has a name of its own, which is the point - this is no degraded relic of the cult instrument but a standing institution beside a living one, renewed by every generation from whatever the schoolroom yields.
- Object
- A bullroarer improvised from a school ruler or a piece of scrap wood.
- Function
- Made by young boys for their own amusement - a modern-material toy with its own distinct name, living alongside the alekwu society's restricted cult plaque.
- Map confidence
- medium_high - Otukpo-area anchor for Idoma country, offset slightly from the sibling cult row BLENCH1987-001.
- Source location
Page references
printed p. 49 (running head 'IDOMA MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 49')
- Toy / secular survival