Ivor Miller's Voice of the Leopard, published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2009, is a scholarly ethnographic and historical study of the Cross River Ekpe leopard societies of Nigeria and Cameroon and their reconstruction by enslaved and free Africans into the Cuban Abakua mutual aid society. Its strength is that it draws on fieldwork on both sides of the Atlantic, in Nigeria, Cameroon and Cuba, tracing lodge organization and ritual language across that transatlantic connection. Its limit is that reconstructing a precise historical line of transmission across the slave trade rests partly on oral tradition and comparative ritual evidence rather than a continuous documentary record, so a claim asserting an exact unbroken lineage should be read alongside that acknowledged evidentiary gap.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
Published by the University Press of Mississippi in 2009, Ivor Miller's scholarly study drawing on fieldwork on both sides of the Atlantic, treated at the top tier. NotesEthnographic and historical study of the Cross River Ekpe leopard societies of Nigeria and Cameroon and their reconstruction by enslaved and free Africans into the Cuban Abakua mutual-aid society, covering lodge organization, ritual language and the society's nineteenth century Havana and Matanzas history.
Citation
AuthorIvor L. Miller
PublisherUniversity Press of Mississippi
Publication Year2009
Source Typeacademic monograph
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Cameroon directly: "Ekpe leopard societies of Nigeria and Cameroon and their reconstruction by enslaved and free Africans into the Cuban Abakua mutual aid society."
Claims Backed By This Source (31 claims)
This source backs 31 claims across the atlas. As facts: 23 well-attested. As cited relationships: 4 holds, 1 connected. Plus 3 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Secret Societies, 13 claims: 8 well-attested, 3 holds, 2 general references.
- Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.
- Open Questions, 7 claims: 5 well-attested, 1 connected, 1 general references.
- Articles, 3 claims: 3 well-attested.
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