ABSTRACT
One of the most important aspects of Tiv society is what can most briefly be called its nomadic nature. Though the movement is much slower and less cyclic, the expansion and contraction of Tiv social space is more nearly comparable to the conception of nomadic migration than to the usual notions of the land-bound peasant. Although a thorough investigation of migration and movement among the Tiv is a full-scale study, involving most aspects of the social structure and economy and many aspects of Tiv culture, no ethnographic report on the Tiv would be complete without some reference to migration. In a brief discussion the movement within some parts of central Tivland can be neglected; but when seen from the periphery, and more especially when seen from the viewpoint of the surrounding peoples, a centrifugal migration is the most important single factor about the Tiv. British administration encountered Tiv migration almost as soon as they encountered the Tiv, in 1912. As a result the “ Munshi Wall ” was built between Gaav of Jechira and the contiguous peoples of Ogoja, a wall meant to “ keep the Munshi in his place-north of the wall ” but which “ the Munshi merely climbs over."
