The Aten of Ganawuri: A socio-political history of ethnic minorities in Plateau State, Nigeria

This book is the result of a research undertaken during the period 1965-1983. The objective was twofold. First, reconstituting the Aten institutions of the past before the British occupation of Nigeria. Emphasis is placed on the socio-political organization of the community. According to colonial beliefs, Aten’s highly complex social system was reduced to be consistent with the particular case of the so-called pagan tribes within Plateau State. The second objective was to describe and analyse multiple aspects of daily life among the Aten, in order to record the radical changes from the precolonial time to the second half of the twentieth century. Although western civilization imposed itself persistently, tradition remained resilient.G rald Berthoud is Emeritus Professor at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He received his Ph.D. from the University of Paris. He was a research associate at the University of Berkeley, and taught at the Universities of Montreal and Geneva. His publications focus on empirical research (Switzerland and Nigeria). But also on theoretical questions, such as the universal characteristics of the human condition, or the disruptive innovations in the techno-scientific and economic domains.