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THE ANNANG AKAYA AS CULTURAL MEMORY: THE EIGHT ABIA PRIESTHOODS, TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY, AND THE ABIA CONTINUUM IN ANNANGLAND, SOUTHERN NIGERIA

THE ANNANG AKAYA AS CULTURAL MEMORY: THE EIGHT ABIA PRIESTHOODS, TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY, AND THE ABIA CONTINUUM IN ANNANGLAND, SOUTHERN NIGERIA By Da Effiong Daniel African Holy Land Research Centre (AHLRC) Ubon Abasi Ibom, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria Publication: African Holy Land Press | Independent Research Publication Abstract This article examines the Annang Akaya as a material cultural object associated with traditional authority, religious practice, and intergenerational memory in Annangland, southern Nigeria. Situated within the research framework of The Abia Continuum, the study expands the discussion beyond Abia Ikpaisong to consider eight categories of traditional sacred office identified by the researcher as the Eight Abia Priesthoods: Abia Idiong, Abia Ibok, Abia Edim, Abia Okpo, Abia Uman, Abia Mfa, Abia Ikpaisong, and Abia Anwan. The article documents the researcher's family testimony that his father possessed the Akaya, invoked the name Abia during prayer, and transmitt...
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Ediyiana Ukpong: The Salvation of Souls in the Forest of Souls (Akai Ukpong) and the Church (Ufok Abasi)Da Effiong Daniel

Ediyiana Ukpong: The Salvation of Souls in the Forest of Souls (Akai Ukpong) and the Church (Ufok Abasi) Da Effiong Daniel African Holy Land Research Centre Abstract Many Annang traditional churches understand ediyiana ukpong, the salvation of souls, as the relocation of a vulnerable soul to a safe dwelling, not as forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. This paper calls that shift soteriological displacement. It compares two Annang frameworks: the traditional dwelling of souls in the sacred forest (akai ukpong) and the Christian gathering of souls in the church (ufok abasi). Drawing on Diana-Abasi Ibanga's philosophical analysis of ukpugho ukpong (soul transplantation), Kenneth Enang's study of salvation in Annang Independent Churches, and the ethnography of the "forest of souls" in my earlier work, I argue that the church now performs the function once held by the forest: it is an enclosure where souls are gathered, protected, and healed through ritual. Two...
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THE TANGIBILITY OF SOUL

THE TANGIBILITY OF SOUL An Ethnographic and Philosophical Exploration of Ukpong (Soul) in Annang Cosmology Da Effiong Daniel African Holy Land Research Centre Submitted to Professor Stephen Ekpenyong Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology and Anthropology Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria 2025 Abstract This thesis argues that the Annang concept of ukpong (soul) is a tangible, physical entity, not an immaterial spirit: it can be seen, housed, fed, protected, lost, and ritually replaced. That tangibility, I argue, is the axis around which Annang theology, social structure, and personhood are organized, and it offers a model of what I call tangible spirituality that challenges abstract Western accounts of the soul. The study draws on ethnographic fieldwork and philosophical analysis spanning four decades (1984-2025). It examines the soul's dwelling in sacred forests such as Abanannang; its manifestation as p...
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