Intellectuals

 The kyen’ship structures of the Tarok of Plateau State in Northern Nigeria (also known as the Yergam ) must be understood in the context of fundamental issues of filiation and descent. This holds particularly with respect to such issues as to their 'kyan'ship, as in the relations and positions of maternal mother's brother and mother's brother. First, the discussion on Tarok's skeletal structure regarding their kyan'ship terminology and the kyan's participation in the processes and rituals of marriage institutions is then followed by discussion of the institution of kyanship and, its key features namely the extent of kyans’ legal powers in behalf of seeking spouses for them, their rights or authority over women sometimes widowed or divorced whose kyan is them, their responsibilities in the observance of rituals in case of sickness, the kyanship inheritance, and the attempts made by the Christian missionaries to bring about changes in kyanship. In the end, it...