1.0 Introduction

1.1 Worldview

Worldview has been defined by different people in different ways. Within the scope of this paper, we are limited and may not discuss this extensively but, we will look at just one such definition. Paul Hiebert defines worldview thus:

The basic assumptions about reality that lie behind the belief and behaviors of culture... It is the foundation upon which people construct their explicit belief and value systems and the social institutions within which they live their daily life.[1]

Man is faced with a world full of a complexity of phenomena with which he has to deal. For him to cope adequately, as he knows best with these complexities, man of necessity has to adopt some givens (presuppositions) about reality and then construct a model (or models) of reality with which to work. The presuppositions, therefore, are the foundations that underline expressed beliefs and behaviors of any given people. It is this superstructure on which culture hangs that which is called ‘worldview’. In this paper we shall be examining the worldview of the Tiv people.

1.2 Tiv

The Tiv are an ethnic group that live today in the Benue trough of central Nigeria. They belong to the Bantoid group of languages. They have a population of about 4 million. A greater percentage of them live in Benue State (where they are the largest tribe), some in Taraba State (where they are the second largest tribe), and others are found in Nassarawa, Adamawa and Cross River States (where they are among the minority tribes of those states.)

The Tiv believe that they came from the east, specifically from the Congo Basin area. They are a homogenous people, speaking one language, having one culture with minor differences evidenced from place to place.

» Read More