As Douglas Fraser and Herbert M. Cole state in their classic work, entitled African Art and Leadership, "in all human societies, no matter how small or egalitarian, there are those who lead and those who follow ... Yet the functions performed by African leaders vary greatly. Some leaders may merely determine the auspicious time for planting or harvesting crops, while others may mobilize and direct vast armies for war. The acquisition of these various kinds of authority, although sanctioned by tradition, usually stems in part from individual physical skill, aggressiveness, wisdom, accidents of birth and death, plain good luck, or, more often, from a combination of these" (1972: 295). Among Isoko and Urhobo peoples of southeastern Nigeria, leadership comes as a result of one's right hand, and many individuals own ivri (small shrine figures) to symbolize the power they have harnessed through the personality trait of truculence, and through the efforts and labors exerted through the hand (Peek 1986).
