Isoko

Isoko, people of the northwestern part of the Niger delta in Nigeria, speaking a language of the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family. The term Sobo is used by ethnographers as a cover term for both the Isoko and their neighbours the Urhobo, but the two groups remain distinct from one another.

The Isoko economy is based on farming, fishing, and the production of palm oil and kernels. The main food crops are yams and cassava, supplemented by corn (maize), beans, peppers, and peanuts (groundnuts). There are petroleum-producing fields in the area inhabited by the Isoko.

The family, consisting of a man, his wife or wives, and their children, lives together in a compound; one or more groups of families related through patrilineal descent occupy a ward of the village. The village itself is a compact settlement, usually containing fewer than 500 persons. Both men and women are grouped into age-grades, each with particular responsibilities. The duties of the women’s grades include the ritual surrounding fertility and childbirth, and control of the market. Young boys perform simple communal tasks; adult men do major community work and are the fighting and executive unit of the village; older men form the nucleus of the village council. Membership in certain title organizations is available on payment of fees and is an important source of political authority. The Isoko never formed a single social or political unit; local communities remain autonomous.

Traditional religion includes belief in a creator god and his messengers, in spirits, and in ancestral spirits. Diviners are consulted to explain failures in any activity, on occasions of illness or death, and before economic activity. Witches are believed to be organized into groups that meet regularly in large trees. Many Isoko, however, are now Christians.