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The Influence of Modernity and Modern Warfare on the Koh Mende Society of Sierra Leone

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The Influence of Modernity and Modern Warfare on the Koh Mende Society of Sierra Leone Ethnologie The Influence of Modernity and Modern Warfare on the Koh Mende Society of Sierra Leone Inaugural-Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophischen Fakultät der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster (Westf.) vorgelegt von John M. Combey aus Kabala 2009 Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 28 Januar, 2010 Dekan: Prof. Dr. Christian Pietsch Referent: Prof. Dr. Jos Platenkamp Korreferent: Prof. Dr. Guido Sprenger John M. Combey The Influence of Modernity and Modern Warfare on the Koh Mende Society of Sierra Leone Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster Reihe X Band 2 John M. Combey The Influence of Modernity and Modern Warfare on the Koh Mende Society of Sierra Leone Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster herausgegeben von der Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Münster http://www.ulb.uni-muenster.de Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek: Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. Dieses Buch steht gleichzeitig in einer elektronischen Version über den Publikations- und Archivierungsserver der WWU Münster zur Verfügung. http://www.ulb.uni-muenster.de/wissenschaftliche-schriften John M. Combey „The Influence of Modernity and Modern Warfare on the Koh Mende Society of Sierra Leone“ Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster, Reihe X, Band 2 © 2010 der vorliegenden Ausgabe: Die Reihe „Wissenschaftliche Schriften der WWU Münster“ erscheint im Verlagshaus Monsenstein und Vannerdat OHG Münster www.mv-wissenschaft.com ISBN 978-3-8405-0008-4 (Druckausgabe) URN urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-88439715807 (elektronische Version) © 2010 John M. Combey Alle Rechte vorbehalten Satz: John M. Combey Umschlag: MV-Verlag Druck und Bindung: MV-Verlag i List of Figures iv List of Tables iv List of Maps iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Background and choice of topic The research question and its concepts The state of social anthropological research Research sites Methodology Chapter synopsis Ngiema village PART ONE: PRE-MODERN SOCIO-COSMIC ORDER 33 Chapter 1 Socio-cosmological Structure 33 Origins and settlements of the Mɛnde Spatial structure The ‘Maada Crocodiles’ Chapter 2 Social Relationships 57 Kinship and marriage The great ancestors Co-operative groups Chapter 3 Economy and Political Leadership 77 The collective aspect to farming Exchange processes and alliance Collective ownership of land Political leadership and authority The cosmological foundation of leadership ii Chapter 4 Religion 90 The Highest Deity and the concept of hei Ancestral sacrifices Categories of Kɔɔ-Mɛnde spirits Ancestral spirits as social spirits Non-ancestral spirits Chapter 5 Cosmology and Ritual Cycle 118 Cosmology The concept of time Ritual cycle The Institution of Poro Rice farming PART TWO: PRE-COLONIAL INTER-CULTURAL INTERACTIONS AND THE INTRODUCTION OF MODERNITY 162 Chapter 6 Pre-colonial Inter-cultural Interactions 163 Trade and Islam Islamization among the Kɔɔ-Mɛnde Pre-colonial trading contacts with Europeans Chapter 7 Pre-modern Warfare and its Incipient Transformations 203 Part one: pre-modern warfare Part two: Warfare in the nineteenth-century European observers and historians on Kɔɔ-Mɛnde Warfare Chapter 8 Colonial Modernity 226 Politics and territory Trade and monetization Missionary activities The conflict with the British iii Chapter 9 Post-colonial Modernity 265 The transformation of politics, power and authority Independence and Post-Independence era Chapter 10 Between Independence and Civil War 279 Changes in Political structure Religious and ritual practices Economic activities Houses and marriage relations Chapter 11 The Civil War and its Aftermath 289 Post-colonial warfare Socio-cultural changes during the war Socio-cultural changes after the war Conclusion 329 Counter discourses of Poro and Sande Counter discourses of hei Sources 337 Public and official records and references Bibliography iv List of Figures Figure 1 The division of time in pre-modern Kɔɔ-Mɛnde society 123 List of Tables Table 1 Kinterminology 59 Abbreviations: M Mother F Father D Daughter S Son Ch Child B Brother Z Sister y Younger e Elder Sb Siblings Table 2 Pre-modern social calendar 125 List of Maps Map 1 Contemporary Sierra Leone 368 Map 2 Orientation in Ngiema 369 Map 3 Major Societies of Sierra Leone 370 Map 4 Political fragmentation of pre-colonial polities 371 Map 5 Temporal administrative frontiers in the Colony 372 Map 6 Post-colonial administrative areas 372 Map 7 Provincial and district boundaries 374 Photographs 375 v Acknowledgements My debts to individual people and institutions are too numerous to list in full, but there are a number of people which stand out most in my memory. I acknowledge the help of all of them. This research could not have been carried out without the moral and financial support of long standing friends in Ottmasbocholt in Germany, Elisabeth and Franz Keute and family. They were actually the sponsors not only of the PhD but also of the M.A program, and I am grateful to them for welcoming me at their home and for helping me learn the German language. They have indeed been a moral support for me, especially during the civil war in Sierra Leone. I am also grateful to the University of Münster, which gave me a PhD grant. My gratitude and thanks go to Prof. Dr. Jos Platenkamp for supervising this study. He has been untiring in helping me consider certain relevant theoretical developments for the study. Thus, he has been a source of inspiration, which was of fundamental significance in shaping my understanding of the events I describe. In spite of administrative work and teaching obligations, he took the time and energy to discuss every detail of the study and to make some valuable suggestions. I am also much obliged for all his help during the years working with him at the social anthropology department in the University of Münster, and for giving me the opportunity to teach some courses. The discussions with students gave me many new ideas about the present study. I also thank the second supervisor, Prof. Dr. Guido Sprenger for patiently reading the manuscript. He was constantly ready to help and answer the many questions I had. His door was always open and I was free to pop in at any time of the day. Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Krysmanski at the department of sociology at the University of Münster has also been a source of academic inspiration for me, and I thank him for all his help during the years of study in Münster. My debts of gratitude and thanks also go to Prof. Dr. Arthur Abraham, professor of World History and eminent scholar, chairman, Department of History and Philosophy, Virginia State University, Petersburg, USA. He has always been ready to assist me in translating most Mɛnde words and phrases, as well as giving me valuable vi advice on literature. Because of his vast knowledge of Mɛnde history and cultural traditions, he was able to give me information about issues I most needed to clarify. I am also obliged to the Ngiema people and all my informants, especially the main informant, without whose help and co-operation the research would never have been completed. Respecting the wishes of informants, their information remains anonymous. In this respect, information from these informants quoted in this study is only marked by quotation marks without any given sources. For example, according to the main informant “people in Ngiema were all affinally related.” Many thanks to colleagues, friends and acquaintances who have helped me in many different ways to complete this study. A hundred thanks to Mrs. Karen Paterson for proofreading. Thanks also to her family for giving her the time to render me this help. Although she had her own work, she was able to sacrifice some of her time to read every bit of the manuscript. Other good German friends also deserve my grateful thanks at this stage: Barbara and Edgar Kuhlman with their three children, as well as a long standing and faithful friend Matthias and his girlfriend Angela, all of whom made my stay in Münster a success. My thanks also go to the colleagues and the administrative staff at the social anthropology department at Münster University. In this respect many thanks to Mr. Dominik Wellmann and Ms. Ramona Weber for their help in re- formatting the manuscript. Among the institutions, that I should also thank is the Immigration office in Münster. I am thankful and grateful to them for their enduring patience in renewing my residence permit many times after expiry. In this respect my special thanks goes to Ms. Eschkotte, Mr. Runde and the whole team who were involved in this process. I am also grateful to Mrs. Beth Hoffman of the World Bank in Washington for having given me the opportunity to do research as a short- term consultant in the South and North of Sierra Leone. My thanks also go to all former colleagues at the World Bank and the Campaign for Good Governance in Freetown. I also thank my brother Prince and his wife Jane Combey together with their children Samedi, Hannah and Janet for allowing me stay at their home for some time during my research in Sierra Leone and for their vii support. Thanks also to my other brother Sam and other members of my family, especially my cousin Tamba Momoh who allowed me to stay at his house in Ngiema and took care of me during the fieldwork. This study is dedicated to the memory of Belinda, Michaela and my dear parents 1 Introduction Background and choice of topic This study investigates the impact of modernity and modern warfare on the social and religious representations of the Kɔɔ-Mɛnde1 in Eastern Sierra Leone (map 1) with special reference to Ngiema village (map 2). What prompted me to study this subject was the all too devastating eleven-year civil war in Sierra Leone and its consequences on the social representations of the Kɔɔ-Mɛnde (map 3).
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