Rural-To-Urban Migration, Kinship Networks, and Fertility Among the Igbo in Nigeria

African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011)

Rural-to-urban migration, kinship networks, and fertility among the Igbo in Nigeria

Daniel Jordan Smith Department of Anthropology, Box 1921, 128 Hope Street, Brown University Providence, Rhode Island 02912 U.S.A. Tel: 1-401-863-7065, Fax: 1-401-863-7588 [email protected]

Abstract Like many African rural-to-urban migrants, Igbo-speaking migrants to cities in Nigeria maintain close ties to their places of origin. ‘Home people’ constitute a vital core of most migrants’ social networks. The institution of kinship enables migrants to negotiate Nigeria’s clientelistic political economy. In this context, dichotomous distinctions between rural and urban can be inappropriate analytical concepts because kinship obligations and community ties that extend across rural and urban space create a continuous social field. This paper presents ethnographic data to suggest that fertility behavior in contemporary Igbo-speaking Nigeria cannot be understood without taking into account the ways in which rural and urban social and demographic regimes are mutually implicated and dialecti- cally constituted (anthropological demography; migration; kinship; reproductive behavior; Nigeria).

Introduction A growing literature addresses the Anthropological demography has con- relationship between social networks tributed increasingly to the understand- and fertility processes. Some demogra- ing of population processes and phers have begun to explore the influ- demographic behavior (Greenhalgh ence of social networks fertility 1995; Kertzer and Fricke 1997; John- preferences, adoption of modern meth- son-Hanks 2007). Anthropological ods of contraception, and actual scholarship on population issues in sub- changes in fertility outcomes (e.g., Saharan Africa has deepened and Entwisle et al. 1996; Rutenberg and extended the analysis of a range of con- Watkins 1997; Kohler et al. 2001; Mad- temporary demographic issues, includ- havan et al. 2003). While most demo- ing fertility (Bledsoe 2002; Smith 2004), graphic analyses of social networks marriage (Johnson-Hanks 2006), migra- have tended to focus on the role of net- tion (Trager 2001; Whitehouse 2007), works in facilitating reproductive inno- and the AIDS epidemic (Setel 1999). vation and contraceptive diffusion, the This paper combines two intersecting data here show how the importance of issues in the study of African population kinship networks in Nigeria creates processes: migration and fertility. It uses rational incentives for relatively high ethnographic data to show how rural- fertility, even among a group of mod- to-urban migration and reproductive ernized and urbanized people who also behavior are deeply intertwined. experience growing constraints and

320 http://aps.journals.ac.za African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) changing aspirations that would appear serves through the back door the very to propel fertility decline. Based prima- thing network analysis purports to be rily on ethnographic data, I argue that addressing: the uncritical acceptance of for the Igbo people of southeastern the notion that fertility decisions are Nigeria, social networks built upon the fundamentally ‘individual’. Finally, in institutions and idioms of kinship medi- Nigeria, as in much of sub-Saharan ate access to modern political, eco- Africa, the fluid nature of rural-to-urban nomic, and social resources and migration and the strength of ties to opportunities (Berry 1989; Bayart place of origin mean that the very cate- 1993; Chabal and Daloz 1999). Because gories rural and urban may not be the social reproduction of these kinship appropriate for delineating the social networks is essential for survival and field of interest. That is, rural and urban success in the modern Nigerian world, reproductive regimes can be – and and because marriage and childbearing arguable often are – mutually consti- are fundamental to the creation and tuted across rural-urban boundaries. reproduction of kinship ties, Igbos experience tremendous social pressure Literature review and and perceive important personal incen- theoretical framework tives for continued high fertility, even as With an estimated population of 160 they also face competing constraints. million people, Nigeria is the most pop- The reasons for looking at the ulous country in Africa. The Igbo- impact of social networks on reproduc- speaking people of the southeastern tive behavior across rural-urban bound- region are one of more than 300 ethnic aries are three. First, given that urban groups that constitute Nigeria's diverse migration and assimilation to urban life cultural landscape. Along with the are conventionally associated with fer- Hausa of the north and the Yoruba of tility decline (Brockerhoff and Yang the southwest, the Igbo are one of the 1994), examples of how social net- three largest groups, by most estimates works that reach across rural and urban numbering more than 20 million. In communities may act to perpetuate rel- many ways, the Igbo case is ideal for atively high fertility can serve as an exploring the apparent contradiction of important corrective to looking at persistent high fertility in areas of sub- social networks simply for their contri- Saharan Africa that are relatively mod- butions to innovation. Second, a focus ernized. The total fertility rate in the on kinship networks helps emphasize Igbo region is still more than four per the importance of thinking about social woman (4.1) (National Population networks as institutions (Mitchell 1973; Commission (NPC) [Nigeria] and ORC Faist and Ozveren 2004); that is, as cor- Macro 2004: 53). The region is one of porate groups and not just as ego-cen- the most densely populated places on tered networks of communication and the continent. Population pressure is a interaction. The literature on social net- palpable issue in the everyday lives of works in demography has been, argua- Igbo people, as land-holdings become bly, overly enamored with con- increasingly fragmented and families are versational networks, a model that pre- not able to live by farming alone.

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Indeed, few Igbo households subsist might expect that they would be a van- exclusively through agricultural produc- guard in Nigeria's and Africa's fertility tion. Most Igbo families survive by rely- transition. Yet Igbo people continue to ing on a combination of economic value relatively large numbers of chil- activities, many of which involve migra- dren. Among 235 ever-married women tion. I surveyed in the village community Rural-to-urban migration has bur- where I conducted my research, the geoned in Nigeria over the past two to women reported an average of 5.46 three decades, and Igbos constitute a live births (see below for a brief large proportion of this migrant popula- description of the research methods). tion. Every city and town across Nigeria Among younger people, the idea of has significant Igbo communities known planning a family has taken hold. But in for their domination of specific sectors southeastern Nigeria a planned family of the marketplace (e.g., Silverstein means having four or five children. 1984). In the village where I conducted my dissertation fieldwork from 1995- Data, methods and study 97, about three-quarters of adult men setting and women had lived at least one year The study site for the research of their lives in a major city and over reported here is Ubakala, in Abia State half of the village residents had at least in Igbo-speaking southeastern Nigeria. one relative living in Lagos, Nigeria’s In addition to many years of participant biggest city. In subsequent years, high observation, I conducted a household levels of rural-to-urban migration have survey in one village, interviewing all continued. Many Igbos spend a signifi- ever-married women of reproductive cant period of their lives in the city and age (15-49) and all men with wives of there is considerable movement back reproductive age. The total sample was and forth between the village and the 390, including 153 husband and wife city (Uchendu 1965; Chukwuezi 2001). pairs. As part of my research, I also In addition, even among migrants who conducted sample surveys of university settle relatively permanently in the city, students (n=406) and secondary school ties to ‘home’ and ‘home people’ students (n=775). When asked about remain powerful and important (Gugler their preferred number of children, 2002). secondary school students reported Even prior to the current period of wanting a mean of 4.3 children and uni- tremendous migration, the Igbo were versity students reported wanting a renowned for their receptivity to mean of 4.1 children. While these pref- change (Ottenberg 1959). During the erences are not reliable predictors of colonial period, they quickly accepted actual fertility, they give some indication Christianity and formal education. In of the continued value of relatively high contemporary southeastern Nigeria fertility, even among the region’s young- one cannot help but be struck by Igbos’ est, most educated, and most ‘progres- modern aspirations – for money, educa- sive’ population. tion, opportunities for migration, con- Ubakala has a population of approx- sumer commodities and so on. One imately 25,000 people in 11 villages

322 http://aps.journals.ac.za African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) spread across roughly 24 square miles. structure morality and behavior in pow- While still largely rural in character, the erful ways. In the village setting, chil- community bears the influence of being dren grow up with a wide range of close to the town of Umuahia. The classificatory mothers, fathers, sisters, services of the state and commodities and brothers. Individuals address all of the wider Nigerian economy are sorts of aunts, uncles, and cousins as more readily available in Ubakala than mother (nne), father (nna) and brother/ in many more rural Igbo communities.1 sister (nwanne). Throughout the life Apumiri, the commercial and service course, individuals benefit from the center of the community, has a perma- help of their lineage mates. Similarly, nent market with several dozen small every person is expected to assist stall-like shops that sell most every members of his/her patrilineage necessity (and many luxuries) that peo- (umunna). At some points in the life ple might need or desire. Local taxis cycle, such as at marriage ceremonies and mini-buses regularly the ply the old and burials, these expectations and road from Ubakala to Umuahia, and obligations are codified through specific public and private vehicles constantly customs. People know exactly how traverse the newer expressway, easily much money or which commodities linking Ubakala with the rest of Nigeria. and symbolic offerings they must pro- Paramount among the principles vide. More often, the expectations are that organize social life in Ubakala is more generalized, but individuals regu- kinship, and specifically the importance larly feel pressure to help their people. of lineal descent as the basis for individ- These obligations extend beyond the ual and group identity. Like most Igbo patrilineage to include one's mother's communities, the people of Ubakala are people (umunne), one's in-laws (ndiogo), patrilineal.2 Because most of the 11 vil- and a range of other allies and support- lages in Ubakala trace their descent ers created by ties of residence and from a common ancestor, people – association. especially men – share a general feeling As alluded to earlier, one of the of kinship with other natives of the most profound and significant aspects community. This sense of kinship is of Igbo social organization is the degree expressed and recognized more or less to which Igbo communities extend and strongly depending upon context. reproduce local social institutions and When at home in the community, cleav- patterns across vast geographical and ages – along the lines of village, hamlet, cultural space. In Ubakala, a huge pro- or lineage, for example – tend to be portion of ‘sons’ migrate to, and live in, more pronounced. Away from Ubakala, Nigeria's many cities and towns. In when two natives meet in Lagos, for addition, many of Ubakala's ‘daughters’ example, the sense of kinship is very have also migrated with their husbands, strong, even if they are not closely not only to their husbands' natal com- related. munities, as was traditional, but to the People use ideas of lineal descent far away places they and their husbands and kinship to create and maintain rela- work and trade. In Lagos, there are eas- tionships of duty and obligation that ily a few thousand Ubakala natives. In

http://aps.journals.ac.za 323 African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) other big cities like Kano, Kaduna, and graphically the social networks in which Port Harcourt there are hundreds. the lives of my informants were Most Igbos who migrate retain close enmeshed. As such, I interviewed and ties to their relatives and home com- interacted with the extended families, munities. These migrants and their rela- affines, neighbors, business associates, tives ‘at home’ move back and forth and friends of the families I studied. between the village and the city. But Pursuing these ties took me to nearby perhaps more important, they literally villages and towns, to far away cities reproduce many of the social structures like Lagos and Kano, and even across from home in the city. international borders (theoretically) Thus, in each city across Nigeria when I talked to relatives who came migrants from Ubakala maintain a home from abroad. Following these branch of the Ubakala Improvement networks contributed to producing Union (the formal name of the commu- four important conclusions: 1) that fer- nity development union), and in bigger tility ‘decisions’ in Igboland cannot be cities each of the 11 villages of Ubakala understood as simply individual or even has a branch of its own development dyadic, because a much wider spec- union. In addition, the members of a lin- trum of voices and interests have a say eage organize and hold regular family and must be considered in reproducing meetings, and the branches of lineages families; 2) that it is precisely by ‘having in the bigger cities are formally recog- people’ – especially kinspeople – that nized at home. The reproduction of the Igbo are able to get access to mod- these social structural forms provides a ern resources and opportunities; 3) that sense of community and continuity, but kinship networks must be understood it also extends the obligations of kinship not only as ego-centered networks of across the Nigerian political and eco- communication and interaction, but nomic landscape. A native of Ubakala in also as institutions – corporate groups Lagos will seek the help of kinsmen just with moral economies that shape and as easily as he/she would at home – constrain the context of individual perhaps more easily because the physi- action; and 4) that urban migrants cal and cultural distance from home remain closely connected to their rural actually serves to reduce the social dis- kin and communities to such an extent tance that might separate individuals in that their fertility decisions are influ- the village. The importance of ‘having enced by and must be understood in people’ in Nigeria only makes full sense the context of these ties. after understanding the way in which The significance of incorporating kinship and communities extend far this more social perspective is all the beyond village boundaries. People more striking in the Igbo context, given manipulate and rely on these networks that Igbos have a reputation in Nigeria of kinship, affinity, and community to (and in the scholarly literature) for achieve their goals in the wider Nige- being entrepreneurial, individualistic, rian society. and economically competitive. The During fieldwork spanning almost enduring importance of kinship and the two decades, I have studied ethno- collective social influences on fertility

324 http://aps.journals.ac.za African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) decisions are not posed here as an many ethnic groups retain ties to their alternative view of Igbo culture, but villages and often build homes in their rather to emphasize the importance of ancestral communities. Among Igbo these features of social life even among people this identification with and con- a group where countervailing tenden- tinual returning home has been intensi- cies and pressures are powerful. While fied by the experience of the Biafran it is important to acknowledge that fer- War. From 1967-70, following bloody tility is influenced by many factors, such reprisals against Igbos living throughout that one sees significant variation Nigeria in the wake of a military coup, between ethnic groups, regions, and the people of southeastern Nigeria between rural and urban areas in (mostly Igbo-speakers) sought to Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa, the secede from Nigeria and create their striking finding emphasized here is the own state, called Biafra (Kirk-Greene continued influence of kinship on the 1971; Post and Vickers 1973). In the moral economy of fertility decision- aftermath of Biafra, during which up to making. a million Igbos were killed or starved to death, Igbo people lost property, build- Results ings, and land, as laws about ‘aban- Wealth in people: an organizing doned property’ were used (at least in principle of social life Igbo interpretations) to steal Igbo property outside Igboland. Today in The structure of Igbo migrants’ social Igboland, it is considered imperative to life in the city cannot be understood build one's first home in the village and without reference to the importance of foolish to build outside Igboland before home and home people. Igbos use the building at home. Igbos often allude to phrase ‘home people’ in English and in Igbo (ndiulo). Its meaning changes Biafra and say they would not make the according to context. When in Lagos, same mistakes again – meaning that Nigeria's commercial capital, home they would not completely invest their people can mean anyone from the same livelihoods elsewhere because only Igbo-speaking region, or more likely, home was truly safe. Though the the same local government area. More importance of having people is not often, ‘home people’ refers to those unique to the Igbo, the historical legacy originating from the same community of Biafra has made Igbo people acutely or the same village. But across all con- aware of who they can rely on in a texts, one's kinspeople are always world where success and survival home people. depend upon having reliable, kinship- Throughout Africa, the enduring based social networks of obligation and identification with one's ancestral village alliance. is widely prevalent (Geschiere and Networks of home people, espe- Gugler 1998). It characterizes an Afri- cially kinspeople, provide access to the can construction of identity in the midst opportunities and resources of the state of the tremendous changes wrought by and the Nigerian economy. The impor- increasing modernization and urbaniza- tance of these networks helps explain tion. Throughout Nigeria, people of the continued value of high fertility,

http://aps.journals.ac.za 325 African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) even as Igbo society is modernizing dra- tively high fertility among rural-to- matically. The argument is that in urban migrants. Nigeria's political economy Igbos rely Kinship networks and access to on social networks of kinship to obtain education the opportunities, resources, and benefits associated with being modern. The Education is both a marker of moderni- notion that Africans depend on social zation in the minds of Igbo people and networks to achieve wealth and status one of the most recurrent variables is not new, but the importance of kin- used by demographers to explain fertil- ship, and the place of fertility in social – ity declines. In demographic models of not just biological – reproduction, has fertility transition, increasing levels of important implications for understand- formal education are linked with ing fertility in modern African settings. decreasing fertility preferences via mul- tiple pathways. On the one hand, Africanist scholars have long noted attaining higher levels of education is that an individual's status and security perceived as costing parents more, part depends greatly on his ability to control of a larger reversal in the direction of dependents (Guyer 1993). As wealth flows in the family (Caldwell d'Azevedo (1962) explained about the 1982). The large investments required Gola in Liberia, in Nigeria every adult is to educate children, this model argues, a patron to lesser people and a client to discourage parents from having so a more powerful person. Scholars such many children. On the other hand, the as Berry (1985) have highlighted the impact of education itself is believed to overlapping nature of the reciprocal increase the desire and capacity for obligations of kinship and the dynamics family planning. In general, education is of patron-clientism. In my own seen as contributing to the loosening of research, it became clear that Igbos collective customary social controls and gain access to the resources of the state the flourishing of individual rationality. and the wider economy through social In particular, the education of women is networks of reciprocity and obligation seen as empowering them to take con- that have their roots in the family, the trol of their reproductive lives. It is lineage, and the local community (Smith assumed – sometimes mistakenly – that 2001). ‘rational’ and ‘educated’ women will The following cases from my field- naturally want to have fewer children. work document the importance of hav- In Igbo-speaking Nigeria nearly all ing people for succeeding in children go to primary school, and at contemporary Nigerian society. One least half start, though many do not fin- case is about educating a child and the ish, secondary school. Parents rou- other is about the influence of home tinely complain about the high costs of people on migrants’ reproductive lives. ‘training children’, even as they do all Each illustrates the importance of kin- that they can to further their children's ship networks in migrants’ social lives in education. But the burden of educating ways that demonstrate both the institu- children as an incentive to reduce fertil- tional nature of such networks and their ity is partly offset because the costs of potential to reinforce the value of rela- education are widely shared. Parents

326 http://aps.journals.ac.za African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) rely heavily on the support of their kin. regularly finishing first or second in her Relatives commonly contribute directly class of forty. Ihunanya's parents wanted to the payment of school fees, offer a a particular federal school close to Ike's promising child free boarding near an village community because it had a urban school, or help a child's parents in good reputation and Ike's relatives other ways that free up resources for could assist in looking out for their education. Wealth flows in horizontal daughter. and diagonal directions between all Ihunanya scored well on her sec- manner of Igbo kin, vastly complicating ondary school admissions test, but not a model in which the costs of educating well enough to gain entrance to the fed- children are borne by the biological eral school her parents wanted. Instead parents. of the profound disappointment I had Perhaps more important, people's expected, Ike and Chinyere were actual experience with access to educa- upbeat. Since I had last seen them, tion in Nigeria reinforces a model of Chinyere found out that her sister had a how the world works which says: ‘a friend in the Federal Ministry of Educa- person needs connections, especially tion in Abuja. The woman in the Fed- family connections, to succeed’. The eral Ministry said that she would try to reality of how the world works in get Ihunanya admitted through the Min- Nigeria changes the equation necessary ister's ‘discretionary list’. In the end, Ike to understand the context of people's and Chinyere had to ‘dash’3 the woman fertility preferences. High fertility in the ministry some money for secur- remains rational even in the pursuit of ing Ihunanya a place. the most modern of goals. The follow- To understand Ihunanya's admission ing account of one young girl's route to as based on a bribe would be a mistake, secondary school is typical of how Igbos though clearly the ‘dash’ was a required must negotiate and manage their net- part of the process. In fact, Ihunanya's works of social relationship – especially admission was only possible because of networks of kinship – in order to access Chinyere's sister's connection. The opportunities for modern education. money involved actually represented a Ethnographic case 1 social distance in the connection. The Ike and Chinyere are Igbos living in woman in the ministry surely would Lagos. Ike struggles to make a small have refused any dash to help her own photocopying business profitable, while sister's daughter, as opposed to her Chinyere has a steady but low-paying friend's sister's daughter. A complete clerical job at a bank. They have been stranger offering money to get on the married more than 12 years and have Minister's list would likely have been four children. rejected outright. When their eldest daughter, Ihu- People are generally careful to cir- nanya, completed primary school, Ike cumvent state/bureaucratic rules only and Chinyere had aspirations that she among those they know and trust, would be admitted to a selective fed- partly out of fear that rules can be used eral government secondary school. Ihu- against them. But more significantly, nanya was an excellent student, instances of so-called corruption are far

http://aps.journals.ac.za 327 African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) more likely when they are undertaken certainly strains on the system as some as the fulfillment of expectations and people feel left out or left behind, by obligations to one's network of social and large the rise of education as a relations – especially kinship and affinal marker of modernization has solidified relations. To accept money from a rather than eroded Igbo notions that stranger to facilitate admission of a child you can only make it in the world by who is not qualified based on her exam having people. result is wrong: the rules of the state Corporate decisions: the long reach apply in such an impersonal case. To of home people help your relation get admission when her scores were below the cut-off is The second case study describes the expected and morally justified: the rules influence of the extended family and of kinship, community and reciprocity place of origin on a migrant couple's apply when the stakes are personal. reproductive decisions. While the evi- The story of Ihunanya's secondary dence here is in the form of a single school education is typical of parents' anecdote, it represents a wide range of experiences. Igbos routinely rely on similar stories I heard from Igbo their kinship networks to facilitate edu- migrants about the long reach of home people. cational goals. While many kin will contribute to a relative's education, such Ethnographic case 2 help comes with the expectation that Kalu and Ngozi Eze reside in Lagos. when the person becomes successful They have lived there since before they he/she will not forget his/her benefac- married – almost fifteen years. Kalu tors. Of course help for or from one's sells motor vehicle spare parts in one of kin often comes with ambivalence. Dis- Lagos's vast sprawling markets. Ngozi courses of complaint about sons (and works as a receptionist in the Federal daughters) who do not ‘remember’ Ministry of Works. Kalu was thirty-six, their kin are common. Talk about the Ngozi thirty-two. They had three chil- burdens of what many youths call ‘the dren, two sons and a daughter, ranging African extended family system’ is ubiq- in age from 11 to five. Both Kalu and uitous. But so too is the conclusion that Ngozi hail from Ubakala, though from ‘we cannot avoid it, it is our culture’. different villages. They met in Lagos The widespread acceptance of for- through mutual friends. When they mal education as a key credential in decided to marry, Kalu went home to contemporary Nigeria has created for initiate marriage negotiations with parents’ costs and burdens that seem to Ngozi's people. They completed the fit with conventional demographic traditional igba nkwo ceremony about models of fertility transition. But in twelve years ago. Both are Methodist, Nigeria, access to education depends and though they (especially Ngozi) fundamentally on one's social connec- would like to do a church wedding, tions, and once access is secured, the they have never been able to afford it. burdens are widely shared among one's Kalu and Ngozi had a modern kinship networks in a system of obliga- courtship. They saw themselves as ‘in tion and reciprocity. While there are love’ when they decided to marry. But

328 http://aps.journals.ac.za African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) their marriage, by both their accounts, and forth between Lagos and Ubakala, has settled into a more pragmatic and were sometimes voiced to Kalu and arrangement. Nonetheless, their mar- Ngozi by a subtle reference or even a riage is fairly solidly companionate. bold question. Eventually ‘the village’ They share one household budget, came to their door in the form of Kalu's sleep together in one room every night, mother. Kalu said: and discuss many family decisions jointly One evening my mother arrived – especially regarding their children. from the village unexpectedly. Ngozi had used an IUD for about We were afraid that something four years. At first Kalu objected vehe- bad had happened at home – mently, saying that it was a sign of pro- that someone had died. But my miscuity – and that they were not mother assured us there was no finished having children. But Ngozi pre- emergency at home. The next vailed, mostly because Kalu agreed that morning she revealed that ‘the they could not afford to have more kids problem’ which brought her to yet – especially since Kalu's youngest Lagos was here. When I said I brother was living with them in Lagos didn't know what she meant, she and Kalu was sponsoring him in second- said she and others were trou- ary school. bled that nothing had happened Kalu and Ngozi go home to the vil- for five years. She had come to lage several times a year – sometimes recommend we come home to together, sometimes individually. They visit a diviner. When I told her remain closely tied to their natal com- we were intentionally not having munities. In addition to their regular vis- children and that Ngozi was its home, they also receive many guests using an IUD my mother was from home in their flat. Besides the shocked. She condemned the movement back and forth between practice and blamed Ngozi. Lagos and Ubakala, there is a substantial How could we stop after only community of home people in Lagos. three kids, she asked? What was They regularly get together – formally Ngozi after? to take decisions about Lagos ‘sons'’ Ngozi was troubled by her mother-in- contributions to community projects law's accusations – even though they and life course rituals at home, infor- were only voiced to her by insinuation. mally to exchange news and gossip and She lamented the long reach of the utilize each other as messengers and extended family: resources. In our culture your marriage and Even in Lagos, Kalu and Ngozi your children are not simply remain subject to the gaze of their your business. They are the community. Among the aspects of their business of the whole extended lives most surveilled is their fertility. family and the whole village. Back home some of their relatives were Don't you see how my mother- concerned that there have been no chil- in-law came all the way here to dren since the third, some five years complain about me? My husband before. Those concerns filtered back has not said so, but I know he

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will soon demand another child. Network – as compared with When I asked whether she wanted categorical – models have clear another, she said she was not sure. explanatory advantages in that About 15 months after her mother- they incorporate individual per- in-law’s visit Ngozi gave birth to the ceptions of social structure into couple’s fourth child. It would be a mis- larger concepts that subsume take to interpret the impact of Kalu’s these same individual perspec- mother’s visit simply to the pressure tives. Network models have the she applied as an individual. Rather, her advantage, on the one hand, of critical comments and her wish that her corresponding to, and resonat- son had more children must be under- ing with, important concepts in stood as standing for the shared expec- sociology such as roles, sta- tations of a moral economy rooted in tuses, and group boundaries, kinship, a moral economy that remains and on the other, of being con- powerful precisely because Nigeria’s sistent with dynamic, processual political economy continues to privilege views of social structure as it is patron-client ties. Kalu’s mother’s visit formed, maintained, and trans- personified the collective expectations formed over time (Howell of the corporate kinship group. It would 1988:62). have been relatively easy to resist pres- But despite its potential usefulness, and sure from Kalu’s mother if she acted the clear advantages over structural- only for herself. Rather than seeing functional approaches in anthropology Kalu’s mother as one node in Kalu and and individualist conceptions of deci- Ngozi’s ego-centered social networks, sion-making in demography, the actual it is important to see her as represent- practices of network analysis in anthro- ing a corporate group. pology and in demography have taken trajectories that have led to important Discussion omissions. This paper has attempted to redress two of those omissions, one in For anthropological demography, the anthropology and one in demography. study of social networks provides both methodological and theoretical bene- In anthropology, the study of social fits. First, there is a natural relationship networks has mostly been the province between doing ethnography (enmesh- of urban anthropology (Mitchell 1969, ing oneself in everyday life) and studying 1974; Wolfe 1978; Zhang 2001). The social networks (Johnson 1994:132-4). rejection of structural-functionalism Second, theoretically, the study of net- (which focused heavily on kinship) led works moves the focus of inquiry away to a dearth of work on social networks from the rigidity of structural-function- generated by kinship. As Johnson notes, alism and towards an understanding of ironically: how actual social relationships affect … it was the very people who behavior (Hammel 1990; Mitchell contributed to making the study 1973). Nancy Howell summarizes the of social networks a legitimate benefits of network approaches suc- enterprise in anthropology (i.e., cinctly: social anthropologists studying

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more complex urban societies) als, they are simultaneously constitutive that rejected the importance of of the social institutions that shape and more traditional constraints on constrain them. behavior such as kinship (John- By focusing inordinately on conver- son 1994:128). sational networks, network approaches Though Clyde Mitchell, one of the to fertility-related behavior are repro- founding practitioners of social network ducing the very notion that they pur- analysis in anthropology, warned long port to be rejecting – the assumption ago that ‘…the opposition of networks that atomistic individual choice is funda- and corporate groups (or institutions) mental to reproductive behavior. Social must be a false dichotomy…’ networks, when conceived of princi- (1973:34), little anthropological work pally as conversational networks, are on social networks has focused on kin- theorized primarily as pathways for the ship. diffusion of information – albeit infor- In demography, and particularly in mation that sometimes implies the the study of fertility processes, practi- shifting of community norms. But this tioners of social network approaches conception of social networks still privi- try to take into account the influences leges, tacitly, the Western ideal of the of community and social relationships individual decision-maker, with all its on fertility preferences, contraceptive assumptions about utility maximization choice, and reproductive outcomes. and the nature of rationality. My argu- But the conception of what social net- ment, from ethnographic evidence in works are and how they impact human Nigeria, is that the role of social net- behavior has been too narrow. Almost works in structuring fertility regimes all the demographic studies of social and fertility decisions is much more networks as they relate to fertility proc- complex – with individual actors subject esses have been studies of conversa- to institutionally produced normative tional networks (e.g. Entwisle et al. commitments (Emirbayer and Goodwin 1996; Rutenberg and Watkins 1997; 1994) and yet agents in the creation, Valente et al. 1997; Watkins and Danzi reproduction, and transformation of 1995). This focus on conversational the very institutions that shape behav- networks, while important, neglects the ior. institutional dimensions of social net- The difference between this works. As Mitchell (1973) pointed out approach and more conventional and others have more recently reem- demographic research on social net- phasized (Emirbayer and Goodwin works raises an additional question of 1994), adequate accounts of social net- what counts as evidence. To many works must acknowledge and explain demographers, this ethnographic, and the way in which ‘social structure, cul- largely anecdotal, account probably ture, and human agency presuppose lacks the quantitative rigor to be con- one and other’ (Emirbayer and Johnson vincing. Yet for many anthropologists, 1994:1413). In other words, social net- the quantitative counting and statistical works are not simply the lines of verbal manipulation of so many variables often communication that connect individu- begs questions of meaning and inter-

http://aps.journals.ac.za 331 African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) pretation (Abbott 1992). My point is as part of a chain of exchange) in main- not that conventional demographic taining social solidarity. Bearman’s and approaches to studying the influence of Yamagishi and Cook’s arguments social networks on fertility processes depend on relatively elegant data are misguided, but rather that some- where the givers and receivers in sys- thing additional can be learned by tems of chain generalized exchange employing ethnographic methods, and hold positions of structural equivalence. taking seriously theoretical questions The situation is much more complex in about the relationship between action contemporary Igboland, where givers (including network relationships) and and receivers are often vastly unequal in institutions. Ethnographic evidence structural position, creating patron-cli- from Nigeria suggests that the strategic entism rather than simple reciprocal importance of kinship networks for exchange. And yet the power and access to resources and opportunities rationality of the system rest on princi- of the Nigerian state and economy pro- ples similar to what Bearman and Yam- vide a social and cultural context in agishi and Cook propose. which relatively high fertility remains both normatively valued and instrumen- Conclusion tally rational. A widely known Igbo proverb says that When Igbos try to explain the a big man will have many different kinds strength of the obligations of kinship, of children. The same thing could be even as family and community net- said about a big woman. Like many works are stretched across vast geo- expressive proverbs, this one has multi- graphical and social spaces in ways that ple meanings, but foremost among would seem to create possibilities for them is the idea that it takes a variety of greater individual latitude, they say social connections provided by a things like ‘it is our culture’ or ‘that is diverse progeny to build and sustain our tradition’. Even to an anthropolo- high social status. Diversity is especially gist, such answers beg the question: important in contemporary Nigeria, why are these kinship obligations so where Igbos depend upon ‘having peo- strong? One interesting way to think ple’ – especially relatives – placed stra- about this issue is in reference to schol- tegically in social networks that can arship (building on a much older tradi- mobilize modern resources. The tion) on generalized exchange importance of diversity – and a rise of (Bearman 1997; Yamagishi and Cook the importance of what economists call 1993). In brief, Bearman (1997), ‘quality’ – may be sowing the seeds for through retrospective analysis of Aus- continuing fertility decline. Indeed, tralian aboriginal data, and Yamagishi changing macro-sociological structures and Cook (1993), through experimental have created a situation where levels of data, confirm the power of systems of appropriate fertility are increasingly dis- generalized exchange (where the giver cussed and contested. People are sub- is not compensated by the receiver, but ject to pressures that promote both has the expectation that his/her own high fertility and its regulation. Still, in needs will be fulfilled by another giver the current Nigerian political and eco-

332 http://aps.journals.ac.za African Population Studies Vol 25, 2 (Dec 2011) nomic context, strong ties to family, lin- tions, including regions that are eage, and community are the surest matrilineal (Nsugbe 1974), and oth- way to get one's share. ers that practise double descent Ubakala – and Igboland in general – (Ottenberg 1968). is a place very much linked to the wider 3. To Western eyes, a ‘dash’ appears world. As the residents of the commu- to be a euphemistic way to describe nity and their migrant kin try to negoti- a bribe. Policemen ask for dashes at ate their way in contemporary Nigeria, checkpoints; customs officers they rely on their kinship and commu- expect it at the airport. But it can nity networks for practical and symbolic also simply be a gesture of generos- guidance. The principles and structures ity. An in-law can be given a dash of Igbo kinship organization provide after a visit, or a poor gardener people with the cultural tools to extend might get a dash from his wealthy their families and communities across boss around Christmas. Most wide geographical areas and disparate important, a dash is often a mone- cultural landscapes. To get their share of tary symbol of some kind of per- the opportunities and resources of the sonal or social relationship rather state and the wider Nigerian economy, than the naked exchange of money Igbos rely on social relationships of for some (illegal or improper) patron-clientism and symbolic exten- action or service, as in the case with sions of values of reciprocity, alliance, a bribe. and obligation created by kinship. They gain access to urban resources and References opportunities through their social net- Abbott, A. 1992. “What Do Cases Do?” works of kin and association – by having pp 53-82. In What is a case?, edited people. In such a world, having big fam- by C. Ragin and H. Becker, New ilies and many children remains a York: Cambridge University Press. rational strategy. Bayart, J.-F. 1993. The state in Africa: The politics of the belly. London: Notes Longman. 1. However, Igboland is generally so Bearman, P. 1997. “Generalized densely populated that there are Exchange.” American Journal of few places that are truly remote or Sociology 102:1383-1415 removed from the influence of cit- Berry, S. 1985. Fathers work for their ies and towns. Driving through sons: Accumulation, mobility and Igboland, one is struck by how class formation in an extended populated it is, how each commu- Yoruba community. Berkeley: nity has its own small commercial University of California Press. center, and how generally devel- Berry, S. 1989. “Social Institutions and oped it is compared with other Access to Resources.” Africa parts of Nigeria, particularly the 59(1):41-55. north. Bledsoe, C. 2002. Contingent lives: 2. While most Igbo communities are Fertility, time, and aging in West patrilineal, there are many excep- Africa. Chicago: University of

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