The Blacksmiths Op Kano City : a Study in '
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1 THE BLACKSMITHS OP KANO CITY : A STUDY IN ' TRADITION, INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP. ^y Philip John Jaggar Presented for the Degree of Master of Philosophy School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 1978 / I N 3 7. v I*IV, ProQuest Number: 10731195 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10731195 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 2 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the factors involved in the expansion, during the colonial and post-colonial periods, of a traditional, i.e. pre-European craft specialism — blacksrai thing, in Kano City, Nigeria — and its sub sequent conversion into a modem metal-working industry. In doing so, it sheds new light on the general proposition that such traditional crafts necessarily decline before the technological onslaught of colonialism* A notable feature of the recent development of this craft has been the differential responses of the various clusters of blacksmiths to the new socio-economic factors introduced by the British. Of these groups, the most far-reaching changes have occurred in that located within the Central Market area of Kano City, and it is the behaviour of these craftsmen - and/or trader-entrepreneurs which provides the focus of this study. These dynamic individuals effected major advances in the manufacture and marketing of ironwares, and transformed the nature of the industry here. Attention is also given to the reason why the rapid and positive reaction to the new economic opportunities of the time was limited mainly to this group. Despite the changes in economic organisation it is argued, resultant breaches in indigenous patterns of social relationships have apparently been relatively slight. At the same time, the colonial presence, and the reorientation in production which took place later on in the City, both had important repercussions especially on urban-rural craft relations* Village black smithing communitieshitherto largely self-supporting, were drawn more and more into the economic orbit of the City, and particularly' towards the Central Market complex which became an increasingly influential node in the metalware trade* 3 CONTENTS ABSTRACT 2 A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 7-13 CHAPTER 2 KANO CITY AND ITS BLACKSMITHS; THE HISTORICAL SETTING 14-33 Kano City in the immediate pre-colonial era 15-17 The blacksmith in Hausa society 17-20 Pre-colonial distribution and organisation 20-24 The Central Market complex 24-3^ Summary and conclusions 30-31 Footnotes 32-33 CHAPTER 3 THE PRE-WAR PHASE CA. 1903-40: THE IMPACT OP COLONIAL RULE 34-55 Disruption within the craft 34-35 General consequences of British rule in the area 36-37 The impact on the Kano metalware industry 37-39 The introduction of imported scrap metal 39-41 Reaction to the importation of European hardware 41-45 The initial expansion of the metalware industry in Kano City 45-51 Summary and conclusions 1 51-52 Footnotes . 53-55 CHAPTER 4 KANO CITY BLACKSMITHS IN THE PERIOD OA, 1945-71 i AN OVERVIEW1 56-01 The general background: Kano City in the period ca. 1945-71 56-57 DIFFERENTIAL RESPONSES OF THE CITY BLACKSMITHS 57-76 Demographic changes 61 Changes in occupational mobility and differentiation 61-69 The practice of apprenticeship 69-70 Differential economic behaviour 70-74 Migration of rural "blacksmiths to the City 74-78 Summary and conclusions 78-79 Footnotes 80-81 CHAPTER 5 THE CENTRAL MARKET COMPLEX Iff THE TRANSITIONAL PHASE CA. 1940-71: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AH IMPORT-RE- PLACING METALWARE INDUSTRY 82-105 The present-day manufacture of traditional metalwares 82-88 THE EMERGENCE OF AIT IMPORT-SUBSTITUTING METALWARE INDUSTRY 88-102 War-time curbs, on the importation of foreign metalwares 89-90 The organisation of production in the cold- smithing industry 91-93 Changes in the social organisation of production 93-98 Patterns of distribution 98-102 Summary and conclusions 102-105 Footnotes 104-105 CHAPTER 6 THE CENTRAL MARKET ENTREPRENEURS; THEIR NETWORKS AND PROJECTED FACTORY 106-124 THE RISE OF THE ’BIG MSN’ 106-119 Economic networks: the case of the Central Market and Tamburawa 112-115 The Central Market entrepreneurs and the Nigerian Civil War 115-119 The projected establishment of a metalware factory 119-122 Footnotes 123-124 CHAPTER 7 PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS 125-137 Footnotes 137 REFERENCES 138-146 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 1. Kano City blacksmiths: pre-European locations and ethnic origins 21 Table 2. Estimated Income (Per Annum) by Traditional Occupation, 1926 48 Table 3* Blacksmiths working in Kano City: main demographic and occupational characteristics 58 Table 4« Kano City and Tamburawa: occupations of brothers of blacksmiths 66 Table 5* Migrant workers in the Central Market 85 Table 6. Manufacturers of modern hardware products in the Central Market 91 Table 7* Average selling prices of selected foreign- made and equivalent locally-made modern metalwares 101 Figure 1. Sketch-map of serected' major trade routes of Northern Nigeria and the Western Sudan in the nineteenth century 16 Figure 2. Sketch-map of distribution of blacksmiths in Kano City at the turn of the twentieth c entury 22 Figure 3* Sketch-map of Nigerian Railways 38 Figure 4* Sketch-map of Kano Metropolitan Area, 19&9 59 Figure 5» Sketch-map of Kano State, 1969 76 Figure 6. Sketch-map of main concentrationsof metal workers and traders in the Central Market 84 A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION The transcription of the Hausa words included in this thesis is based on Standard Hausa Orthography, and includes the so-called ’hooked’ letters — the implosive glottalised ’6' and ’<f', the explosive glottal phoneme f£f and the glottal catch’. 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS More people assisted me in the completion of this study than I can begin to mention. Those who helped me the most were the blacksmiths of Kano City and Tamburawa, without whose co-operation my research would not have been possible. A number of them treated me with particular kindness and patience, and these friends deserve a special mention. They include Malam Ado Mafieri who died unfortunately in 1972, a few years short of his hundredth birthday, his great-great nephew Malam Abdullahi, Sarkin Mafcera Lawal Tanko, Malam Audu Sipeto, Malam Balandauda, and Malam Sabo Wakilin Tauri. Also Alhaji Abdullahi Ibrahim and his brother Alhaji Isa Lamai, Alhaji Amlnu Lulau, Alhaji Rabi*u, Alhaji Malam La varan, Alhaji Malam Idi, Malam Shehu Shugaban Hediyo, Malam Nasidi and Malam Braima, all of the Central Market, Kano. And in Tamburawa, Malam Jada, Malam Bature and Malam Ahmadu Mado were especially helpful. I am also grateful to the Bair of Kano, His Highness Alhaji Ado Bayero, for permission to live inside the old City of Kano, and to his officials who opened many doors for me. Alhaji Isa Dan tube, the village head of Tamburawa, also provided much assistance for which I am grateful. I would like to thank too the (Nigerian) National Archives, Kaduna (NAK) for their help, and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for appointing me as a research associate. Financial support for my field research was provided by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and by the Central Research Fund, to whom I am indebted. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to ray colleagues at the School, especially my thesis supervisor, Professor Abner Cohen, and also at Ahmadu Bello University and Bayero University, Kano, for their contributions and encouragement throughout. None of these people should be held responsible for any errors of fact or judgement in the final version. 7 CHAPTER 1 BTTR03XTCTI0N Veiy little has been documented about the indigenous industries in Nigeria although their labour absorp tion per unit of capital is high and their apprentice system has been training young people long before trade centres or vocational schools were established* (Callaway, 1967 : 157). My justification for embarking upon and later writing up this study is that it is designed to help fill what still appears to be a considerable hole in one particular field of African studies — the precise quantitative effect of the colonial system on a pre-colonial craft industry* Much of the change and development we see taking place today on the African continent is a direct result of the impact of the West on traditional societies. Whilst economic change and growth in the developed areas of the world are well-documented however, relatively little attention has been given, as far as I am aware, to what constitutes the dominant theme of this thesis — the exact response of a traditional, i.e. pre-European African craft to the socio-economic changes of the twentieth century. It seems that Callaway*s observation, quoted above, still has some validity therefore* In the vast corpus of material on African affairs, anthropological, economic and historical, there is no lack of references, often rather casual, to this problem.^- Of these generalizations moreover, a number allude to the gradual dislocation of traditional occupations under the pressure of the impinging colonial economic system* However, few of them it should be added, appear to be supported by any detailed statistical or descriptive evidence. It is true that several comprehensive descriptions of Nigerian craft activities are available, notably Nadel's (1942) excellent account of industries amongst the Nupe, and those craft surveys conducted by Lloyd (1953) and Callaway (1967) in Yorubaland.