International Journal of Integrative Humanism Vol. 12, No. 1, March. 2020 MARKET PLACE AND INTEGRATION: INTERROGATING OBUDU AND TIV WOMEN IN CROSS BORDER TRADE By IROM, OBAR AYAMI Department of History and International Studies University of Calabar Calabar - Nigeria
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[email protected] 08066632945, 07086510451 Abstract Obudu and Tiv people share boundary with Obudu located on the northern side of Cross River State and Vandeikya on the southern side of Benue state. As neighbours, they have interacted among themselves although these interactions were sometimes friendly and other times hostile. In most discussions and researches around these areas, the emphasizes has been more on factors that have tended to disunite them like wars and ways of resolving them. Not much attention has been given to the market place which apart from being an economic device for the distribution of goods, also brings people of diverse ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious affiliations. Why is the market place synonymous with women and why do they take so much risk across warring borders to market places? The paper relies on field work carried out in these areas to demonstrate how economic intercourse through the venue of the market place brought about integration of people, cultures and ideas in the area. The paper concludes that there is a need to reposition the market place to once again play its historic role as a center of unity in the midst of the challenges of cooperate existence facing these border communities and the nation at large. Key Words: Cross Border, Inter-group relations, Obudu, Tiv, Trade, Introduction The history of cross border trade among communities’ dates back to pre-colonial times.