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Many scholars have documented the enduring and strong ties between African migrants and their communities of origin (Aronson 1978; Gugler 1991, 2002). Fewer have focused on the antagonisms that unfold across rural–urban settings in circumstances where inequality is growing, or examined the complex processes by which conflictive social relationships between rural communities and their migrant kin are negotiated (Geschiere 2013). Burial ceremonies often reveal such processes and tensions. The intense desire and expectation on the part of rural–urban migrants in numerous African societies to be buried “at home” in their rural villages is one of the most powerful symbolic indicators of the continuing strength of ties to place of origin (Geschiere and Gugler 1998; Lentz 1994). Funerals in Igbo‐ speaking Southeastern Nigeria are marked not only by obligations to come “home” but also by interpersonal conflict, community disputes, and tremendous expectations for what I call conspicuous redistribution – the lavish spending that is at once an exercise in sharing and a means of showing off.1 The idea that burial ceremonies are particularly critical rituals in which individual and community life must be symbolically regenerated has been widely explored in numerous cultural settings (Bloch and Parry 1982; Huntington and Metcalf 1979). In many respects, Igbo funerals serve similar functional purposes; further, they sometimes act as “customary conflicts” in Max Gluckman’s (1956) sense, creating cohesion even as they also disrupt it. But, frequently, the tensions laid bare in Igbo burials crystallize latent conflicts and make them worse. In his classic essay “Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example,” Clifford Geertz (1973) shows how the disruption of a young boy’s burial must be interpreted in terms of processes of social change that created divisions in the small town he studied. Geertz’s theoretical aim is to critique an overly functionalist account of ritual and society, Migration, Death, and Conspicuous Redistribution in Southeastern Nigeria Daniel Jordan Smith Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.� 72 daniel jordan smith showing how a more dynamic perspective can better explain social change and how rituals can sometimes be events that express conflict as much as cohesion. Building on Geertz’s insights, the objective of this chapter is to show what Igbo burials reveal about – and how they are implicated in – processes of social change in Nigeria, particularly with regard to the role of rural–urban connections in the changing structure of social inequality. Kinship, Patron–Clientism, and AmbivalentRural–Urban Relations In the Africanist literature, Igbos are renowned for their acephalous political organization, their relatively egalitarian social structure, and their propensity for migration and entrepreneurship (Isichei 1976; Uchendu 1965). But the reputation of the Igbo as egalitarian obscures the degree to which social life is competitive and to which people jockey intensely for status (Henderson 1972). One of the principal dynamics of Igbo culture is the great emphasis on individual achievement and its recognition, combined with a sense that it is through individual accomplishments that a community flourishes (Ottenberg 1971; Uchendu 1965). The notion that an individual should excel is highly valued and rewarded, but only if one’s achievements are shared to the benefit of one’s people. The expectation that successful “sons abroad” (mostly rural‐to‐urban migrants) will lift up their home communities remains a powerful ideal in contemporary Igbo society (Chukwuezi 2001; Smith 2011). The reality of Nigeria’s current political economy is that few rural Igbo families and communities can make a decent living simply from farming. Further, formal education, exposure to global media, and ordinary people’s everyday contact with Nigeria’s elite have raised expectations that are well beyond subsistence levels. Access to modern opportunities and resources like higher education, urban employment, business contracts, international migration, and development services depend upon having patrons placed across the social landscape (Joseph 1987; Smith 2007). In this context, rural‐to‐urban migrants become important potential patrons. In Igboland, as in many African societies, kinship relations are often simultaneously patron–client relations. In Nigeria’s changing economy, high levels of rural‐to‐urban migration are part and parcel of the widening dependence on kin‐based patron–client ties. Josef Gugler (2002: 32) describes this process succinctly: An element of patronage is commonly found in kinship relations. Even where rural societies have been rather egalitarian, the city now produces “big men” whose relationships with kin and villagers are affected by their economic resources, political clout, and urban status. Their relationships tend to become more clientelistic in nature, even while kinship provides the affective element that cements clientelism. However, many migrants do not, in fact, do especially well in the city, which means that they frequently fail to meet kin expectations. Those who do succeed can become reluctant to share as many of their resources as their rural kin would like. For people in Igbo villages, rural‐to‐urban migrants are both vital potential patrons and objects of envy and resentment (Bastian 1993; see also Geschiere 1997, 2013). In Igbo society, burials are events in which the conflicted dynamics of kinship, patron–clientism, and rural–urban ties unfold in a ritual microcosm that captures both the growing value of these ties as Igbos navigate Nigeria’s changing political economy and the strains inherent in the social transformations that are taking place. Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. migration, death, and conspicuous redistribution in nigeria 73 With the penetration of capitalism and the influences of globalization, monetary wealth and commodity consumption have become the main measures of status in contemporary Nigeria. But the desire for money and the ostentatious displays of conspicuous consumption that mark modern social class sit uncomfortably with an enduring – albeit threatened – moral economy that values community, kinship, sharing, and “wealth in people” (Guyer 1995). One result has been the rise of practices of conspicuous redistribution, through which wealth is simultaneously flaunted and deployed in the service of reinforcing social ties of kinship and patron–clientism. But, as I shall show, conspicuous redistribution is a highly ambivalent endeavor, both for those who are expected to spend and share and for those who are supposed to offer recognition in exchange for receiving their share of what is distributed. In the remainder of the chapter I shall examine the main features of Igbo burials, with the objective of explaining how, in each step of the burial process, the structural tensions in Igbo society are manifest in practices of conspicuous redistribution. At the core of these tensions, and of the ambivalence generated in Igbo burials, is a fundamental contradiction in the patron–client structure of Igbo society, highlighted and exacerbated in rural–urban relations. In this context migrants are both rewarded and resented for their success, encouraged to show off their wealth and jealously begrudged their achievements, and expected to pursue ambitions beyond the village but also frequently suspected of betraying their loyalties to “home.” Burials as rituals, and the conspicuous redistribution they require, reflect these social‐structural contradictions, sometimes helping to resolve them but also serving to highlight and intensify them. Burials and Expectations of Conspicuous Redistribution Some of the common features of conspicuous redistribution in contemporary Igbo burials that have taken on the aura of obligation include: (1) printing posters and banners to announce the death and burial arrangements, and, if the family is wealthy enough, taking out newspaper, radio, and TV advertisements for the same purpose (Lawuyi 1991; Ogbuagu 1989; Omoruyi 1988); (2) arranging a convoy of vehicles to accompany the body home from the mortuary on the day preceding the burial and, often, hiring buses to carry mourners; (3) acquiring a generator to produce electricity for the night vigil, the burial, and the ensuing celebrations; (4) renting chairs and tarpaulin tents to accommodate guests and to protect them from the rain or the sun; (5) contracting a photographer and video cameraman to record the entire performance; (6) hiring dancers, singers, and musicians (often both traditional performers and a modern electric band) to entertain guests; (7) sewing expensive (often silk) clothes for the corpse and preparing an ornate platform on which the body can be viewed; (8) procuring an expensive coffin and preparing an elaborate grave site, often with a headstone, in the family compound; and (9) sewing matching fashionable clothes for the immediate family to wear for the burial. In addition, the amount of food cooked and of soft drinks, beer, and wine procured to entertain guests is also seen as a measure of success. Very few families have enough savings to finance what is necessary for a burial, particularly the burial of an elderly parent. In the mobilizing of resources, the patron–client dimensions of kin and community relationships are accentuated, and the importance of rural–urban relations for the accomplishment of a successful funeral is clearly manifest. Every Igbo burial I have witnessed involved both rural residents and returning urban (and, frequently, international) migrants. The relationships between rural and urban kin in burial preparations illustrate the conflicts and interdependencies that characterize these ties. For example, Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. 74 daniel jordan smith when Pa Chima Okorie2 died at the age of 80, his sons were relatively poor and living in the village and one of his daughters was married to a wealthy Igbo businessman in Lagos. To give their father a fitting burial, Pa Chima’s sons needed and expected their sister and brother‐in‐law to step in and make a very large contribution to the cost of the burial. Yet, at the event, the sons resented the self‐aggrandizing way in which, in their view, their brother‐ in‐law made it widely known that he had paid for the burial of their father. In a discussion with some of his kin and neighbors, Pa Chima’s eldest son, a 51‐year‐old father of five, asked rhetorically of his brother‐in‐law: “Does he think we could not bury our father without him? Because he has money and lives in Lagos, does he think he can intimidate us? Are we not the ones who gave him a wife?” Pa Chima’s son’s expression of resentment relies on an idiom of affinal reciprocity to criticize his brother‐in‐law. But, as a later conversation with the brother‐in‐law demonstrated, the strains that emerge in kin‐based patron–client relationships run in both directions. The brother‐in‐law said of his contribution to the burial: “I paid for 90 percent of the expenses but my in‐laws barely acknowledged my contribution. They wanted to bury their father in a big way, but did not want to admit that they could not have done it without my assistance. Sometimes pride is foolish.” Tensions around inequality in kinship and affinal ties are not structured solely around the rural– urban nexus, but patterns of rural‐to‐urban migration and levels of inequality associated with it are central to the unfolding dynamics of kin‐based clientelism in contemporary Southeastern Nigeria. All the while that people are mobilizing family resources, soliciting gifts and loans, and pledging or selling land to raise the money for the burial, the body of the deceased is kept in a mortuary in town. Typically, bodies stay in the mortuary for at least two weeks while the family and the community prepare for the burial, but often the stays are much longer. Many circumstances can delay a burial. Most commonly, it may be necessary to wait for family members who reside in faraway cities like Lagos or Kano or, even more significantly, overseas to arrange to come home. There are many reasons why it is important for relatives in the city and overseas to return home for a burial. In addition to emotional ties, chief among the pragmatic social explanations are the prestige that their presence gives the family and the resources that they are expected to contribute. The migration of a close relative to a big city – and, even more, to Europe or the United States – is considered among the greatest achievements of a family, something that will yield benefits to the whole lineage (Chukwuezi 2001; Uchendu 1965). Igbos returning home from “abroad” for a burial are at once proud showpieces for the family and targets of tremendous pressure to provide material assistance. The dynamics of the relationship between urban patrons and rural clients that play out in Igbo burials reflect the ways in which inequality is intertwined with a morality of reciprocal obligation that characterizes kinship relations. Families who must bury their dead rely on wealthy relations and other patrons to fulfill social expectations to perform grand burials. For patrons, burials are ideal‐typical cases of conspicuous redistribution and the means by which prestige is generated through an obligatory sharing of one’s wealth with one’s clients. For wealthy urbanites, burial ceremonies are opportunities to ensure their continued identification with their place of origin, to solidify political bases, to display their achievements, and to bask in the recognition of being successful (cf. Geschiere and Gugler 1998; Lentz 1994). For the poor, especially in the village communities of the deceased, burial ceremonies are a chance to enjoy a moment of conspicuous redistribution of resources. Inherent in the dynamics of the whole enterprise is a great ambivalence, as burials exemplify and lay bare the intertwining of inequality and interdependence that characterizes clientelistic kinship in communities that extend across rural–urban boundaries. Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. migration, death, and conspicuous redistribution in nigeria 75 The Journey Home The strength of the obligation that relatives of the deceased come home to bury their dead is exceeded only by the power of the expectation that the dead be buried at home. For Igbos who die abroad, the journey home involves the literal transportation of the corpse back to the village. The institutional mechanisms in place to facilitate this journey attest to the centrality of home and “home people” for Igbo migrants (Chukwuezi 2001; Gugler 1991). In all the major cities across Nigeria that constitute common destinations for Igbo migration, migrants have organized local branches of hometown associations (Chukwuezi 2001; Smock 1971; see Trager 2001 for Yoruba‐speaking Nigerians). Among the most practical and symbolically significant functions of these associations is to assist in the transportation home of migrants who die abroad. These associations levy their members and contribute significantly to the transportation costs and, to a lesser degree, the burial costs of their deceased members. Among the greatest tragedies in Igbo society, and now more common with the difficulties of Nigeria’s contemporary political economy, is when deceased migrants are so poor or have so lost ties with their home people that they fail to be buried at home. But such instances are relatively rare, even for mostly unsuccessful migrants, a fact that reflects the cultural importance of home burial. For people who die in the village, and for deceased migrants once their bodies arrive home, the journey home is symbolic and begins with the transportation of the corpse from the mortuary in town to the family compound in the village. The symbolic journey home is itself an important performance. Outside the mortuary a large convoy of cars and vans assembles, including an ambulance hired as a hearse to carry the coffin. Participating in the convoy are relatives, townspeople, friends, and associates of the deceased from all arenas of his or her life, as well as people connected to other members of the family. It is important to recognize that the social ties being displayed, strengthened, and reaffirmed are as much those of the family, especially the children of the deceased, as of the deceased himself or herself. Indeed, many of the most extravagant Igbo burials are performed by wealthy men for their deceased parents. For urban Igbos, the burial of a parent is an opportunity to exhibit to home people the strength of one’s ties in the city and to display to one’s urban peer groups the level of one’s status in the village. For the family whose status is at stake, the bigger the convoy from the mortuary, the greater the prestige conferred upon the family. Of course, many poor people are buried without so much fanfare but almost all aspire to it. Most families spend well beyond their means to put on a good show. Ultimately, these conspicuous displays are about demonstrating and, indeed, solidifying and ensuring the continuation of the family’s important ties to a range of social networks. The displays of wealth and the efforts to demonstrate up‐to‐date fashions that characterize Igbo burials are meant to testify to the accomplishments of the family in the world – achievements that are seen as arising from, above all, relationships with other important people, especially people with connections to navigate the opportunities available in urban Nigeria. In large measure, burials demonstrate to the world a family’s intention to maintain its status. The specific arrangements at the night vigil, which precedes the burial, and at the burial itself make it even clearer that burials are tremendously significant symbolic moments for recognizing and celebrating the importance of “having people,” and for renewing those ties as one individual departs the world of the living. Indeed, Igbos have many proverbs that emphasize the importance of having people, including onye were madu were ike and onye were madu were aku, which translate, respectively, as “Somebody who has people has power” and “Somebody who has people has wealth.” The irony in contemporary Nigeria is Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. 76 daniel jordan smith that, as people aspire to greater wealth and success, they increasingly resent the very people who epitomize their aspirations and on whose patronage they depend to uphold the appearance of success. The Night Vigil In contemporary Igboland, most funerals of adults are preceded by a night vigil, at which, as in the other phases of the burial process, there are many degrees of pageantry, depending on the wealth and stature of the deceased and his or her family. The night vigil begins after dark but does not really get going until around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. People from all the groups and associations of the deceased, and from the groups and associations of his or her immediate relatives, assemble at the family compound to stay up throughout the night, praying, singing, drinking, dancing, eating, and socializing. It is impossible to overemphasize the degree to which invitations to and attendance at burial ceremonies, including night vigils, are extremely important symbols of connectedness. People endure what often appear to be extreme inconvenience and even significant risk in order to put in an appearance at a night vigil. For example, people generally see driving between cities and villages in the middle of the night in Nigeria as extremely dangerous because of the fear of armed robbers; yet such risks are routinely undertaken to fulfill the obligation to attend night vigils. The accoutrements of the night vigil are similar to those of the burial (tents, an electric generator, performers, etc.). Indeed, most of them are retained throughout the burial ceremonies. At some point in the night, it is expected that all of the guests will be provided with food and drink. There is tremendous variation in the quantity and quality of food and drink, but it is universally expected that something will be served. At a minimum, everyone will be served at least a beer or a soft drink and a plate of yam pepper soup. But often the “entertainment” – when Igbos speak of entertainment at any public function they mean, above all, food and drink – is much more sumptuous and elaborate. The major costs are incurred by the inclusion of beef, goat, fish, or chicken with whatever staple is served. The more meat people are served, the more they will praise and admire the hosts. With regard to drinks, malt‐based soft drinks are more prestigious than regular soft drinks, and the many types of beer made in Nigeria have different reputations. For example, serving “senior,” nationally distributed beers like Gulder or Star is more admired than serving cheaper, locally produced products like Golden Guinea or “33.” Imported canned soft drinks and canned beers are even more prestigious than the best Nigerian products, even though the actual quality may be inferior. Grandest of all is to have an endless supply of wines and other imported alcohol.3 More than likely, the wine and brandy will be displayed conspicuously on the “high table” for all to see but shared only with a select few. The high table is a feature of nearly all Igbo public ceremonies and occasions. At the high table the most important guests are honored with special recognition, special service, and more expensive entertainment. They are fed superior food and given a wider choice and larger amounts of drink. Feathers are often ruffled over who is and is not selected to be at the high table, as exclusion from the table grates on strong Igbo pride regarding recognition and appropriate sharing. Selectivity and consequent resentment with regard to distribution is not restricted to the high table. Distinctions are made even among other guests, with more prestigious individuals and groups getting better treatment. Generally, special attention is paid to those coming from farther away; for example, the urban work colleagues of a deceased civil servant (or of his or her son) will be given better seats than, and superior entertainment to, local villagers. At one level, the Igbo notion of hospitality makes this exceptional service provided to Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. migration, death, and conspicuous redistribution in nigeria 77 outsiders acceptable to locals. But I often heard local people grumble that they had been shortchanged because families pandered to status. Villagers’ discontent about whether they receive the recognition and share of the entertainment that they feel they deserve frequently derives from and illustrates the tensions inherent in rural–urban relations. One example was from a night vigil I attended for Da Ijeoma, a woman whose sons included a successful architect in Lagos and an accountant in Port Harcourt. Some of her village‐based kin complained specifically about their shabby treatment compared to that of Da Ijeoma’s sons’ urban colleagues. For example, a middle‐ aged man named Chuks said, on receiving his plate of yam pepper soup: “One piece of meat! Na war‐o! Can you see what those guys at the high table are getting? These boys come home with their Mercedes Benz and their highbrow friends and intimidate us with their starched linens and pretty Lagos girlfriends. They want us to make them chiefs, but does a chief feed his people scraps?” Chuks’s discontent is representative of many similar comments and discussions that occur during burial ceremonies. Yet it is important to point out that, had Da Ijeoma’s sons failed to attract their wealthy urban friends or to set out a sumptuous high table, even the villagers themselves would likely have criticized them for it. The Funeral Ceremony Funeral services usually commence around 11 a.m. on the morning following the night vigil. Burials typically take place on a Saturday morning, as this maximizes attendance, especially by city dwellers who must travel to the village for the ceremonies. Most families print a burial program that includes the schedule of burial events from the journey home, through the night vigil, to the burial itself (Omoruyi 1988). In addition to a schedule of events, a photograph of the deceased and a brief biography are usually included in the program. Any living spouse and all direct descendants of the deceased are listed and, if any of the descendants have prestigious jobs or titles or are resident overseas, this is almost always indicated. The programs are usually printed in English, though some families include Igbo versions of hymns or prayers. Often, in typical village settings, many older people are illiterate and cannot actually read the programs, yet everyone wants one and complaints are heard if there are not enough programs to go around. The programs – like the posters, banners, and media announcements –  are markers of material wealth and cultural capital, but they are also commodities that must be shared. Igbo‐speaking Southeastern Nigeria is heavily Christian and Christianity is well integrated into funeral practices. The Christian part of the ceremonies is performed at the local church of the deceased or is officiated by a pastor in the family compound. Once the Christian service is completed, the body is taken back to the family compound for interment, or simply moved within the compound if the service was held there. Before the interment, one or two people are asked to give orations. The orations usually take the form of a stylized biography of the deceased, in which only positive accomplishments are acknowledged. The content of the orations illustrates again the great value of having people in Igbo society, and the importance of fulfilling the obligations of kin‐based patron–clientism. Orations enumerate all the organizations and associations to which the deceased belonged or contributed. The magnanimity of the deceased is also highlighted, particularly assistance to relatives and contributions to the village community. For those who were migrants, the extent to which the individual used his or her urban connections to help the home people is emphasized. Achievements that are lauded include paying school fees for junior siblings or the children of siblings in the village, finding relatives employment in the city, and using Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. 78 daniel jordan smith one’s urban connections to bring development projects to the rural community – all projects of conspicuous redistribution. In other words, the deceased is represented as a good patron. Igbo people work hard to make burials into events that symbolize the strength of social connections. But the underlying tensions in social relations are frequently exposed in funeral ceremonies. Family quarrels and resentments, land conflicts, anticipated inheritance disputes, and problematic relations between rural and urban kin are among many strains that sometimes explode around a burial. Inequality and the perceived failure to fulfill the obligations of reciprocal patron–clientism are commonly at the heart of these resentments. Entertainment and Status Recognition Immediately after the interment, announcements are made over a public address system regarding where various groups and associations should proceed for their entertainment. Numerous tents are labeled with signs bearing the names of, for example, age grades, church groups, in‐laws, the maternal lineage, a workplace, an old boys’ association, or a social club. In addition, extended family members and neighbors usually agree to make their homes available to entertain certain groups of guests. A definite hierarchy determines where guests are asked to go, with houses being more prestigious than tents, and some houses being more prestigious than others. At the various venues of entertainment the guests wait to be served with food and drink, with differences in the quality of food and drink indicative of the perceived status of the guests. In some respects, the entertainment phase of the burial is the most illuminating, because many of the essential and often opposing dynamics that energize Igbo social life come to the surface. It is during the entertainment phase that the various factions, groups, organizations, and associations are most readily identifiable and segregated, and where individual rank and status are most openly flaunted, celebrated, and resented. People are instructed where to go to get their food and drink, and everyone knows which venues have the best food and which people are being shown the greatest respect. To some extent, Igbos would not have it any other way. Were one to suggest that a local farmer holding no chieftaincy title should be seated in the same place and served with the same food as a state government official visiting from city, most Igbos would find it preposterous. But, while a poor farmer may not necessarily be rankled by an urban‐based official’s extravagant entertainment, he will pay close attention to the meat on his peer’s plate, the brand of beer others are served, and who is offered a chair. Perhaps not surprisingly, the visiting urban elite often become more upset over perceived slights than poor villagers because the higher one’s status the more that appears to be at stake in assessments of appropriate recognition. Once, at the burial of a friend’s father, members of my friend’s tennis club were so insulted by their treatment that they nearly left in annoyance. They felt that they had not been offered adequate seating and were not provided with enough food and drink. These men seemed genuinely outraged that they were not being entertained properly. After one member found our host and informed him of the neglect, our host himself went to the kitchen to ensure that more food was dished out for his tennis mates but he was criticized for this too: what was a big man like him doing in the kitchen with women dishing food? This was interpreted as another sign of poor arrangements. The entertainment phase of a burial inevitably produces tensions over whether people are being accorded the appropriate recognition and given their fair share. Big men are never treated big enough and, given that everyone perceives himself as a big man in some sense, the dissatisfaction is ubiquitous. Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. migration, death, and conspicuous redistribution in nigeria 79 Even when the entertainment is so grand that everyone can eat and drink to his or her fill, the hosts may be accused of flaunting their wealth or of using their urban connections to intimidate village kin. But, for all the complaints about recognition and sharing and for all the resentments rooted in perceptions of inequality, most people who bury their parents ultimately succeed in some fundamental sense. To fail completely is unthinkable, which is why people go to such incredible pains. They have no choice. Not to comply with expectations would be tantamount to saying “We do not need our people.” Neither rural Igbos nor their urban brethren would dare say it, because it is simply not true. Sons abroad recognize it as well as home people. Even though the burial of one’s parent is a defining life event for Igbo adults, and even though the successful completion of this rite of passage is in many ways a kind of final marker of full personhood, the completion of a burial is not necessarily liberating. There are debts to be repaid and land pledges to redeem. Adult children of the deceased may face all kinds of antagonisms and disputes that were postponed while the parent was still alive. In addition, many disputes erupt over inheritance, especially if a late father was polygynous. Death can crystallize long‐simmering fissures in the fold. Further, relatives resident in the village often use the death of an old man as an opportunity to grab his land, especially if the sons are based in the city and do not visit the family farmland on a regular basis. Many disputes between village residents and their migrant relatives emerge after the death of an elder. So, while the burial of one’s parent is a great accomplishment, it is also the beginning of another phase of life problems, problems that are frequently exacerbated by the present tendency of younger Igbos to migrate to cities. Burials and Conspicuous Redistribution For people who have money in Nigeria, the performance of wealth in burial ceremonies is nothing if not conspicuous. Wealth in contemporary Nigeria is commonly displayed ostentatiously. But, more surprising, more interesting, and more salient for explaining the production and reproduction of inequality manifested in Igbo burials is the degree to which ordinary Nigerians reward the rich for these behaviors even as they simultaneously condemn them. As noted, I find the term “conspicuous redistribution” to be conceptually productive. By distinguishing between conspicuous consumption and conspicuous redistribution, one is better placed to notice and understand the social work expected and achieved through the spending of money, even in situations where the lavishness and obvious inequalities displayed can appear outlandish and offensive. Clearly, when a family spends money on a burial, or any other event where large numbers of people are invited, part of what they are doing is converting wealth into prestige. The expenditures of wealth associated social ceremonies not only convert money into prestige; they also transform monetary wealth into wealth in people. As a long line of scholarship about Africa has made clear, social prestige and political power have historically been – and are still – heavily dependent on having wealth in people (Guyer 1995; Smith 2004). Part of what people are doing in performing the festivities described is showing off, but they are also cementing their webs of social and political connection. Those who attend these ceremonies constitute a person’s wealth in people, whether they are superiors, equals, or clients. To be an effective patron and a big man (or a big woman), Igbos must strike the right balance between spending ostentatiously and yet doing it in such a way that they are not perceived as intimidating or oppressing the very clients (and fellow elites) they are trying to impress. Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.� 80 daniel jordan smith In the context of contemporary Nigeria, where wealth is often suspected of having a dubious origin, the process of converting wealth into prestige (and wealth in people) is typically only partially successful. The critical discourses that circulate behind the scenes at funerals attest to the extent to which ordinary Nigerians are not fooled. And yet non‐elites not only continue to participate in these spectacles of conspicuous redistribution, but they also expect and even demand them. Perhaps even more striking than the lengths to which rich Nigerians will go to show off their wealth in performing befitting funerals is the extent to which less wealthy people do the same, often accruing huge debts in the process. As Nigerians themselves often said to me, the expenditure necessary to meet social expectations regarding funerals feels like an arms race in which everyone knows that the costs are unsustainable and yet no one is willing to unilaterally disarm. The result is that all participate in processes that they simultaneously lament. But why this is the case is less clear. I think that it has to do with how expectations for conspicuous redistribution at burials are embedded not only in the moral economy of patron–clientism, but also in relations of kinship and the implicit expectations of generalized reciprocity that undergird them. When a typical Nigerian decides what he will spend (or borrow) to bury his father, his decision implicitly takes into account all the burials he has attended and what others have done. My observations and discussions about these matters with people in Southeastern Nigeria suggest that underlying such calculations is not simply a desire to keep up with the Joneses but also a fundamental sense of reciprocal obligation. As Lévi‐Strauss (1969) argued long ago, and others have elaborated more recently (Bearman 1997), kinship as a stable social and moral system is buttressed by expectations and practices of generalized reciprocity. A man spending to host and entertain his community does not know when the next funeral will occur, but he expects that it will happen and that his peers will perform similarly. Others have done so before him. The expectations of generalized reciprocity associated with kinship ties and patron–clientism help explain the powerful feeling of obligation people experience in relation to performances of conspicuous redistribution. They are not simply showing off, though they are also certainly doing that: they are fulfilling a deep sense of duty. While much of what I have explained so far about conspicuous redistribution has emphasized the political, social, and moral foundations of these seemingly outlandish displays of monetary wealth, it would be remiss of me not to also include a mention of the desires and pleasures Nigerians share when it comes to the conspicuous part of conspicuous redistribution. Much as a man runs the risk of behind‐the‐scenes criticism if his performances of conspicuous redistribution seem mismatched with his actual behavior as a kinsman, a patron, or a politician – in other words, one cannot overcome a reputation as a greedy or selfish person simply by entertaining people lavishly at a wedding or a funeral – it is also true that people expect, admire, and envy the conspicuously ostentatious aspects of these ceremonies. This is not only because such displays demonstrate a man’s financial (and therefore social and political) capacities, but also because most ordinary Nigerians themselves want a lot of money and the things it can buy. Even as Nigerians are critical of what the obsession with money has done to their society, few would not also admit that they love money. Conclusion Funerals offer a particularly revealing window onto the complex and sometimes contradictory processes whereby Igbos negotiate issues of kinship, community, and patron–clientism across rural–urban settings in an era of economic inequality. Burials are opportunities for Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. migration, death, and conspicuous redistribution in nigeria 81 people to display their social and cultural capital, including social connections to migrant kin and other patrons in the world beyond their communities of origin. They are also moments in which these ties are cemented. The paradox that all Igbos must confront in burying their dead is that their communities demand of them displays that are often simultaneously resented. In mobilizing and showing off the support they have from migrant kin, or the support they provide as migrant kin, people must navigate –  and sometimes ignite –  the underlying tensions produced when kinship relations are also patron–client relations. The Igbo case is instructive for understanding both similar and contrasting situations. The importance of burial at home in one’s village of origin and the pressures to spend lavishly on funeral ceremonies are common in many African societies. Some have argued that rural‐to‐urban migrants’ attachment to home is increasing with the rise of African democracies that serve to stoke ethnic politics (Geschiere and Gugler 1998). Igbo attachment to home long precedes the recent return to democracy in Nigeria (Uchendu 1965). This attachment is perhaps partly explained by Nigeria’s Civil War, from 1967 to 1970, when Igbos returned home en masse to escape what they perceived as ethnic persecution, and then attempted to create the independent nation of Biafra. While Igbo experiences during the Civil War certainly figure in migrants’ calculations about maintaining relationships with their rural communities of origin, the speed with which Igbos returned to their migrant habits after the war illustrates how central migration is to Igbo livelihoods and to the fabric of their social life. As other African groups become increasingly dependent on the kinds of rural–urban strategies that have predominated in Igbo communities for decades, in contexts in which regional economies necessitate rural–urban interdependence and in which political circumstances require a secure base at home, it should not be surprising that burials are such tremendously important rituals in many contemporary African societies. The lesson from the Igbo case is that home burials in Africa are such important and conflict‐ laden rituals because they are so intimately bound up with rural–urban relations. Of course, not all African societies privilege burial ceremonies or ties to place of origin to the extent that Igbos do. In Muslim communities the religious requirement that a dead body be interred immediately after death precludes the lavish affairs that are possible when people have the time to build up resources and wait for migrant kin to come home. But in many Muslim groups 40‐day ceremonies serve a function that is similar to burials in Igbo society. It is also true that in some non‐Muslim societies the ties of migrants to their places of origin are much less intense than for Igbos; in some cases they are both less grounded in a particular geographical place and more flexible about who their home people are (Ferguson 1999; Trager 2001). Contrasting histories and patterns of labor migration and urbanization and the effects of different colonial regimes are no doubt part of what explains the different character of rural–urban ties across African societies and the relative importance of home burial. But even in contexts in which material and social attachments to an ancestral home have been obliterated or at least minimized, the imagined importance of an ancestral home remains remarkably powerful. For Igbos, and for many other African groups, the ties that bind rural and urban kin are not only emotionally and symbolically rich; they are also integral to the most basic economic and political strategies. Burials reflect both the importance and the problems in these relationships. Geertz’s (1973) insight that ritual must be understood not only as an integrative and cohesive force in social life but also as an arena in which conflict is expressed and exacerbated certainly applies to Igbo funeral ceremonies. As events that celebrate and reaffirm people’s connections to each other, Igbo burials serve as primary instruments of social reproduction. But processes of social reproduction can also entail confronting the tensions Robben, A. C. G. M. (Ed.). (2018). A companion to the anthropology of death. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from ualberta on 2022-10-20 04:49:32. Copyright © 2018. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved. 82 daniel jordan smith and discontents that characterize social life. Igbo villages depend on their migrant kin to attend to their interests vis‐à‐vis the state, the city, and the wider global economy. Poor people depend on their wealthier relatives and townspeople to assist them in an era of difficulty and uncertainty. Conversely, migrants depend on their ties to home for recognition, identity, and a political base (Geschiere and Gugler 1998; Geschiere and Nyamnjoh 1998, 2000). The very ties that are most laden with obligation can also be most conspicuously marked by inequality. As people’s ambitions – and also their very survival – depend upon the capacity to capture resources beyond the village, the hierarchical patron–client nature of rural–urban relations becomes more acute. Rural people aspire to be like their urban patrons and expect from them the very behavior they resent. When patron–client ties remain rooted in kinship and community of origin, inequalities that produce discontent are sustained, at least in part, because these relations are so closely intertwined with the overall importance of having people. Author’s Note This chapter has been adapted from a previously published article, “Burials and Belonging in Nigeria: Rural–Urban Relations and Social Inequality in a Contemporary African Ritual,” American Anthropologist 106(3) (2004): 569–579. Notes 1 The escalation of expectations about the amount of money, commodities, and food and drink that it is necessary to share, but also to show off status, in Igbo burials will remind some readers of North American Northwest Coast “potlatches.” Indeed, one can find many parallels, particularly in the simultaneous dynamics of cooperation and competition as manifested in practices of conspicuous redistribution that mark these two ceremonies. 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