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W XIX wieku w północnej Nigerii Fulbe umiejętnie wykorzystywali islam jako siłę motywującą i usprawiedliwiającą walkę z lokalnymi muzułmańskimi władcami. W ten sposób udało im się ustanowić regionalną potęgę - kalifat (sułtanat) Sokoto, który na długi czas podporządkował sobie feudalne struktury Fulanów w północnym Kamerunie. Do upadku potęgi i jedności kalifatu Sokoto przyczyniła się Wielka Brytania, a następnie Niemcy. Jednak w północnym Kamerunie ani Niemcom, ani później Francji nie udało się wyeliminować dominacji Fulbe nad innymi ludami (Kirdi). Przyczynił się do tego przyjęty pośredni system rządów. Nie zmieniło się to w latach niepodległości Kamerunu. Fulbe nadal pozostawali u władzy w administracji państwowej i poza nią. Jednak na przełomie XIX i XX wieku ich władza została zakwestionowana przez nowe radykalne grupy muzułmańskie. Te nowe grupy muzułmańskie de facto odwoływały się do niektórych idei i praktyk, których Fulbe używali wcześniej jako własnej broni.

By presenting the understudied history of Médina Gounass and its offshoot, Madina Hudda, two Pulaar-speaking Sufi brotherhoods in southeastern Senegal, the article contributes to the scholarship on postcolonial cotton production, on Sufi orders and the secular state, and ethnic relations in Senegal. Whereas cotton industry practices in West Africa turned "brother against brother," farmers at Madina Hudda used cotton production to sustain their brotherhood. Yet this community ultimately coalesced around ethnicity, a phenomenon discordant with Senegal's reputation for cultural pluralism. The case thereby contrasts with the better-known history of peanut production, 'Wolofization,' and the Sufi Murid order's longevity and financial and political success. The literature on Senegalese brotherhoods considers the Umarian Tijani order of Médina Gounass peripheral to and isolated from the Senegalese state, but my research finds that they have profound connections to the state and privatized parastatals. The Umarian community of Upper Casamance produced remarkable quantities of cotton. Scholars questioned whether and how that production undermined the order's cohesion. The article argues that cotton was one reason for the schism, but more significantly, that for the members of Madina Hudda cotton represents the importance of collective struggle for a brotherhood. This case suggests that the cohesion of a Sufi order relies on disciples' sense of belonging to a community in which they share a concern for a common endeavor, earthly and/or divine. Not meekly deferential to their religious authorities, disciples defended their economic and political interests collectively. Although their actions could be interpreted as fighting for individual freedoms, they insisted that their efforts were centered on their shared identities as first-settlers, as essential workers, and most importantly as Sufi adepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The choice of a marriage partner is one of the contexts in which racial arguments about the human difference between slave and master descendants are more likely to manifest themselves in contemporary Senegal. By drawing on oral history and ethnography from the Fulfulde-speaking context of the Kolda region, this article explores the dynamics that spark up when girls and boys hope to marry across the boundary between the two social categories. The discussions that follow provide an occasion to share recollections associated with the history of slavery and the slave trade across different generations. They also reveal concrete worries about the extension, solidity and development of family and political solidarities in post-slavery Senegal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria witnesses a successful 19th century Sokoto jihad carryout by Fulani leads by sheikh Usman bin Fodio in the reviving and spreading Islam among the Muslim and non-Muslim in the area, this article aim at investigating the Fulani hegemony and the subsequent establishment of Islamic government in Gombe emirate before and after the jihad lead by Bubayero a lieutenant of sheikh Usman in the 19th century jihad. The research adopts fieldwork and conventional research methods to gather the necessary research informations. This is done by consulting previous research works done on the subject like journals, articles, text books and interviews conducted. The research discovers that Islam reached the area of Gombe even before the 19th century jihad but it has revived and assisted in spreading Islam in the area. It also finds that the origin and migration of Fulbe remains a scholarly discussion among the writers and researchers alike. The research concludes that Buba Yero succeeded and established Islamic political system in Gombe Abba in the year 1824/25 and later shifted to Nafada and Gombe Doma for some political interests by the colonial rulers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The population history of the Sahara/Sahelian belt is understudied, despite previous work highlighting complex dynamics. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 The Sahelian Fulani, i.e., the largest nomadic pastoral population in the world, 8 represent an interesting case because they show a non-negligible proportion of an Eurasian genetic component, usually explained by recent admixture with northern Africans. 1,2,5,6,7,9,10,11,12 Nevertheless, their origins are largely unknown, although several hypotheses have been proposed, including a possible link to ancient peoples settled in the Sahara during its last humid phase (Green Sahara, 12,000–5,000 years before present [BP]). 13,14,15 To shed light about the Fulani ancient genetic roots, we produced 23 high-coverage (30×) whole genomes from Fulani individuals from 8 Sahelian countries, plus 17 samples from other African groups and 3 from Europeans as controls, for a total of 43 new whole genomes. These data have been compared with 814 published modern whole genomes 2,16,17,18 and with relevant published ancient sequences (> 1,800 samples). 19 These analyses showed some evidence that the non-sub-Saharan genetic ancestry component of the Fulani might have also been shaped by older events, 1,5,6 possibly tracing the Fulani origins to unsampled ancient Green Saharan population(s). The joint analysis of modern and ancient samples allowed us to shed light on the genetic ancestry composition of such ancient Saharans, suggesting a similarity with Late Neolithic Moroccans and possibly pointing to a link with the spread of cattle herding. We also identified two different Fulani clusters whose admixture pattern may be informative about the historical Fulani movements and their later involvement in the western African empires. • 43 new modern 30× genomes mostly from Africa, focusing on the Sahelian Fulani herders • Non-sub-Saharan ancestry component in Fulani similar to the Late Neolithic Moroccans • The last Green Sahara as a major event for the Fulani/Sahelian genetic composition • Two Fulani subgroups, with one experiencing higher admixture with neighboring peoples By performing high-coverage whole-genome sequencing of the Sahelian Fulani herders, D'Atanasio et al. confirm the presence of a non-negligible non-sub-Saharan ancestry component that is further analyzed in the frame of the available ancient DNA data, possibly tracing its origin back to the last Green Sahara 12,000–5,000 years ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Le retour de l’appel au djihad dans le monde contemporain conduit à un intérêt nouveau pour les grands empires qui ont été construits en Afrique dans le cadre de mouvements djihadistes au xviiie et au xixe siècles. Ces offensives militaires se sont appuyées sur des traditions religieuses plus anciennes, la justification des djihads s’enracinant dans la vie du Prophète et de ses successeurs. Les dirigeants politiques qui lancent ces conquêtes mettent en avant la dimension religieuse, mais Paul Lovejoy montre que la dimension ethnique (la domination peule) est également forte, ainsi que la dimension économique, la puissance de ces empires étant fondée sur le commerce et l’utilisation des esclaves.

This study examines the historical linkages that developed between experiences of enslavement, the legacies of slavery, and ideas of freedom before and after abolition in the early twentieth century in an area of southern Senegal known today as the Kolda region. In the Fulfulde language, spoken by the majority of the population, there are several terms and expressions to talk about freedom. The first is ndimaaku , which people tend to equate with nobility and dignity. This is the freedom of the olden days of slavery, when the capacities and qualities of the male or female freeborn stood in stark contrast to those of the slave, and being free meant not having been a slave in the first place. The second term is heɓtaare , i.e., freedom in the sense of tranquility, economic well-being, and a general ease in life and social relations. The expression jeyaal-hoore mun conveys a sense of independence, self-mastery and autonomy, while heɓtugol hoore mun literally means to retrieve one's head, the center of individual thought and capacity for independent action. Politically, heɓtugol hoore mun stands for the end of colonial rule and the achievement of national independence. Socially, it refers to the emancipation of subordinated groups, like the youth and women, and it describes slaves who freed themselves from their masters. Drawing from archival sources and oral history, this essay attempts to reconstruct the discursive reconfigurations of local ideas of freedom within the context of the political and social changes that affected the Kolda region in the late nineteenth century, the early colonial period, and the years before decolonization. Each historical period had its own actors, dynamics and complexities in which slavery and then legacies of slavery played a role in the definition of freedom and the entitlement of people to its benefits. As demonstrated here, however, liberation paved the way for other forms of subjugation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study of yet unpublished material from the French colonial archives shows that the administration carefully watched the work of Christian missionaries in Cameroon. This surveillance stemmed from the administration's fear of local rebellion due to the missionaries' influence. In the North, the fear was that Christian mission would provoke the previously militarily powerful Fulbe to a rebellion similar to those the French had experienced in their North African colonies. The Norwegian missionaries took an active stance against local slavery, and visa applications for nine new missionaries in 1950 became the impetus for intensive surveillance from the French administration. The visa struggle and the struggle over domestic slavery also show that the administration had established a political culture that only reluctantly gave priority to serious human rights issues over respect for local traditions, and that they had established a regime of strict control over religious activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines variation in family religious language policy in a Muslim community in West Africa. Taking an ethnographically grounded case study approach, I situate families' choices with regards to their children's religious (language) education within the larger linguistic, social, and cultural context, focusing on new influences on Islamic education and Arabic learning in the community and the wider region during a period of Islamic resurgence. I examine families' religious education choices with particular attention to what they mean for children's Arabic learning and what they say about families' orientations toward Arabic. This article is based on a language socialization study of seven young Fulbe children into three languages (Fulfulde, Arabic, and French) at home, Qur'anic school, and public school in northern Cameroon. Changes in the religious, linguistic, and educational landscape of the region are reflected in the variation within and among four focal families with respect to how they organized and envisioned their children's religious study and Arabic language learning. In presenting ethnographic research conducted at the intersection of religious language policy, language education policy, and family language policy, my goal is to further our understanding of how private choices are connected to forces in the public sphere, giving rise to changes in the ways faith, language, and learning are practiced and conceptualized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some authors have linked the question of inequalities among pastoralists to rights of access to pastureland, but their analyses of pastoralists' rights of access generally focused on the privatisation of pastureland. We reveal that a wider range of power relations between farmers and herders, local and national institutions affects pastoralists' rights of access to pastureland. We demonstrate that socio-economic inequalities among the Fulbe people are linked to the unequal capacity of pastoralists to manage territorialisation processes to their own advantage. Reciprocally, the entrenchment of the territories that results from these processes reifies inequalities between pastoralists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Burkina Faso, livestock sedentarization programmes are still at the top of policy makers' agendas and at the heart of their discourse, despite huge changes in land cover, land use and territorialities in rural areas. This paper contributes to the literature on the impact of livestock policies targeting the sedentarization of pastoralism in sub-Saharan Africa by specifically highlighting the territorial consequences of such policies. This paper suggests that policies directed at improving livestock governance in a context of climate change and changes in land cover and land tenure need to focus on securing pastoralists' reticular territories, which are made up of corridors and numerous areas of pastureland, rather than on creating disconnected state ranches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the classic methodological approach of Kopytoff and Appadurai (1986), this paper examines the "cultural biography" of two remarkable, yet hardly known articles of female wealth, the kaakol and the closely related eletel of nomadic pastoralist Woɗaaɓe women in Niger. Based on both written sources and ethnographic fieldwork, the author analyzes the history, symbolic content and function of the object in the context of social practice. Originally an aesthetically arranged bundle of dowry items, notably a large number of decorative calabashes which are never to be used, but constitute a considerable source of female prestige, the kaakol has developed into an object of its own and has acquired considerable symbolic value. Recent cultural change has led to complex transformations of the object, but rather than losing its social significance it has developed into an emblematic cultural item and symbol of ethnic identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This contribution deals with historical and contemporary experiences of mobility among Mbororo (Fulbe pastoralists) in northwest Cameroon. It examines the impact of these experiences on Mbororo interaction with their environment, and the emergence of ideas of tourism and heritage among Mbororo based in Cameroon and abroad. It argues that while Mbororo mobility has now attained a global scale, it is largely limited to the more prosperous and educated elite, and contributes to social stratification within Mbororo society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Human adaptation to climate change is a heterogeneous process influenced by more than economic and technological development. It is increasingly acknowledged in the adaptation to climate change literature that factors such as class, gender and culture play a large role when adaptation strategies are either chosen or rejected at the local scale. This paper explores adaptation strategies by focusing on livelihood diversification in the face of the most recent of recurrent droughts in the Sahel. It is shown that for Fulbe, one of the two main ethnic groups in the small village in Northern Burkina Faso studied, culture acts as a major barrier to embracing four of the most successful livelihood strategies: labour migration, working for development projects, gardening, and the engagement of women in economic activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Côte d’Ivoire’s adoption of land privatization policies promoted by the World Bank and European Union is producing new land use patterns in the countryside. A centerpiece of these policies is the 1998 Rural Land Law that aims to restructure rural economic life along agrarian capitalist lines. The purported “development” objective of land privatization is to stimulate agricultural productivity based on the assumption that land titling will lead farmers and herders to make greater investments in their production systems. This paper argues that the mobile livestock raising system of immigrant FulBe pastoralists in Côte d’Ivoire is threatened by the new land law. Since mobility is crucial to animal health and fertility rates, I argue that reduced mobility will lead to lower livestock productivity. Although the land law has yet to be implemented, its very existence is leading prospective claimants to test their land rights by planting orchards and lending land to immigrant farmers. The monetization of land lending and grazing rights is increasingly common. Land disputes over who has the power to allocate land are also on the rise. I argue that this heightened interest in “tenure building” is constraining herd mobility, especially for herders with limited resources to negotiate access to rangelands. On the other hand, land privatization is strengthening the hand of local cattle-owning farmers who increasingly practice mobile livestock raising and compete with FulBe herders for grazing lands. Under these new conditions of land access, control, and competition, FulBe herd mobility and productivity are at risk of declining. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The pastoral Fulbe were harassed by local people and authorities and were forced to lead a withdrawn life in the Funj region. They opted for 'exit' and adopted a highly mobile form of pastoralism. However, due to various recent socioeconomic and environmental transformations, they have shifted to a 'voice' strategy and have emerged as an important economic and political force. The Fulbe have become integrated into the national economy and wider society, and have started fighting for economic and political gains. They are also trained in the use of sophisticated firearms and have entered into politico-military alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Cahiers d'Études Africaines is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper deals with traditional joking relationships and how these are expressed socio-politically in different contexts in present-day Burkina Faso. Yet while classical anthropological writings on joking relationships provided more or less functionalist explanatory models, such a functionalist bias is alive and well in academic and popular writings, as well as in the discourse of intellectuals in Burkina. I examine two different contexts of joking relationships between different ethnic groups, especially in the context of political violence. The first context is file joking relationship between blacksmiths and Fulbe as articulated in the many outbreaks of violence that have occurred in western parts of the country since the 1980s between Fulbe agro-pastoralistsi and local groups of farmers. The second context is that of national politics where joking relationships are used in national political discourse, Throughout the paper I will argue that the institution of joking relationship cannot be understood merely as a curious remnant of the past but must be located in present-day national political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses joking relationships among different ethnic and professional groups of western Burkina Faso. It argues that the institution of joking plays an important role in supporting and reinforcing social cohesion and group membership in local societies of western Burkina Faso. The article provides first an overview of joking relationships, sketches out their characteristic features and discusses the perceptions, notions, beliefs and experiences of joking by local actors. Then, it explores joking relationships among Fulbe, a traditionally mobile people, and the pact between Fulbe and blacksmiths. Finally, the article examines the interplay of Fulbe and some non-Fulbe groups with regard to the custom of joking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In social anthropology, joking relationships have generally been interpreted in psychological terms, as means of averting social tension (Radcliffe-Brown and Mauss) or, alternatively, as providing individual psychological release (Griaule). Based on a comprehensive examination of the data from the savannah regions of West Africa, this paper argues that an analytic distinction should be drawn between joking based on relative position in kin and affinal networks, on the one hand, and joking grounded in intergroup (clan and ethnic) relations, on the other hand. Several strands of evidence suggest that the latter are best understood in primarily political terms, as long-term treaties instituting peace or well-defined hierarchical relations among hitherto hostile parties. As the earliest colonial observers noted, members of linked groups were prohibited from making war upon, enslaving or in any way physically harming each other, and also had mutual ritual and economic obligations. A considerable number of recently collected, circumstantially detailed oral traditions indicate that these relationships were inaugurated through ritual exchange of bodily substances, especially blood or milk, after armed territorial conflict. Brief allusions to the ingestion of bodily substances, in what have often been classified as myths or legends, may also refer to the inauguration of such relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hypervariable region-1 and four nucleotide positions (10400, 10873, 12308, and 12705) of the coding region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) were analyzed in 441 individuals belonging to eight populations (Daba, Fali, Fulbe, Mandara, Uldeme, Podokwo, Tali, and Tupuri) from North Cameroon and four populations (Bakaka, Bassa, Bamileke, and Ewondo) from South Cameroon. All mtDNAs were assigned to five haplogroups: three sub-Saharan (L1, L2, and L3), one northern African (U6), and one European (U5). Our results contrast with the observed high frequencies of a Y-chromosome haplogroup of probable Asian origin (R1∗-M173) in North Cameroon. As a first step toward a better understanding of the evident discrepancy between mtDNA and Y-chromosome data, we propose two contrasting scenarios. The first one, here termed ‘migration and asymmetric admixture,’ implies a back migration from Asia to North Cameroon of a population group carrying the haplotype R1∗-M173 at high frequency, and an admixture process restricted to migrant males. The second scenario, on the other hand, temed ‘divergent drift,’ implies that modern populations of North Cameroon originated from a small population group which migrated from Asia to Africa and in which, through genetic drift, Y-chromosome haplotype R1∗-M173 became predominant, whereas the Asian mtDNA haplogroups were lost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines issues relating to the integration and the exclusion of the nomadic pastoral Fulbe in the West African states of Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The geographical, social and economic conditions in the northern parts of the two countries are similar. Furthermore, the migration of the Fulbe to both countries is a recent phenomenon, dating back only to the 1950s and 60s. However, the two countries adopted divergent policies with regard to the challenges and opportunities posed by Fulbe migrations into their northern territories. The Ivorian government was more tolerant of the Fulbe, trying to integrate them into the society while the Ghanaian government was hostile to Fulbe presence in northern Ghana. The paper also examines the inter-ethnic relations between the migrant Fulbe and the indigenous groups within the context of constantly changing state livestock policies and market conditions in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its desperate poverty and geographical position in a region wrought with religious and political violence, Burkina Faso has avoided displays of religious intolerance. Instead, it has upheld a reputation as an extremely open, welcoming and tolerant society, which has been maintained despite a lack of religious homogeneity in the country. This article attempts to explain how Burkina Faso has remained regionally unique in its approach towards religion by studying the country's social, cultural/ethnic, and religious climate, as well as the present socio-religious interrelations within the family and community setting. After looking at several hypotheses, some unique factors seem determinant, including the geographical diversity of ethnic and religious groups across Burkina Faso, leading to a high contact setting between groups of various beliefs and ethnicities. This diversity, combined with the interdependent lifestyle lived by the majority of Burkina Faso's citizens, has led to a peace-fostering emphasis on community harmony over doctrinal certainty.