African secret societies

1918–1994 Afrikaner Calvinist male organisation in South Africa

thumb|Sjoerd Hofstra: Boys returning from their initiation in the Poro. Panguma, Sierra Leone, 1936 The Poro, or Purrah or Purroh, is a men's secret society in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and the Ivory Coast, introduced by the Mane people (the Mande Elites leading large-scale migrations from the Mali Empire into the southern coastal areas). It is sometimes referred to as a hunting society and only men are admitted to its ranks. The female counterpart of the Poro society is the Sande society.

Secret society

secret society in West Africa

300px|thumb|A late 20th century wood, paint, feathers, metal and wool mask from the Chewa people in Malawi, collected by Laurel Birch de Aguilar for the British Museum Nyau (also: Nyao meaning mask or initiation) is a secret society of the Chewa, an ethnic group of the Bantu peoples from Central and Southern Africa. The Nyau society consists of initiated members of the Chewa people, forming the cosmology or indigenous religion of the people. Initiations are separate for men and for women, with different knowledge learned and with different ritual roles in the society according to gender and se

thumb|right|Photograph of an Ireme dancer

Pan-Africanism and Social Organization

cult-like student groups in Nigeria