The Motive of the Motif Tattoos of Fulbe Pastoralists

Home , Futa Tooro, Katsina, Konni (Hausa state), Torodbe, Zaria

Wendy Wilson-Fall all photos by the author unless otherwise noted

hough Islam discourages altering the body, and Fulbe people throughout West Africa have long been known by in spite of reformist jihads which spread through neighbors and strangers for their distinctive physical features and northern Nigeria and southern Niger in the the blue facial tattoos they wear, particularly the women (Rubin mid-nineteenth century, for a long while Fulani 1988:19). Facial and body tattoos were worn by pastoral Fulbe in herders in these areas wore elaborate facial and northern Nigeria and central Niger for at least a century, roughly body tattoos. When I first visited the area in the from the late nineteenth century to the late twentieth. I can- 1970s, I was struck by the beauty and diversity of these designs, not offer any definite proof that the tattoos were worn in an ear- which seemed to me symbolic of the outsider status the herders lier era, though perhaps new research in local documents, using T 2 cultivated so carefully among sedentary neighbors. This interest, ajami texts from the region, might shed light on this. In this essay which I was able to explore over a three-year period while a stu- I argue that one critical factor in the proliferation of tattoo styles dent in northern Nigeria, led to many return visits to the region and their former widespread use in the Zaria, Kano, and Katsina as I studied Fulani herding communities. Eventually, I began emirates, as well as the Sokoto Caliphate, was the increasing den- to understand that the tattoos expressed multiple and complex sity of the Fulbe pastoralist population, which began in the time social meanings. of Ousman Dan Fodio, the great Fulani Islamic reformist of the This essay is based on research carried out during several mid-nineteenth century onwards. Why would these pastoralists, periods of residence and visits to Nigeria and the Republic of who self-identified as Muslims, wear irreversible forms of body

Niger. These studies, which began during my residence in Zaria, art (Rubin 1988:13)?3 My findings suggest that a large concentra- Kaduna State, in Nigeria, focused on aesthetic and other social tion of Fulbe pastoralists, partially encouraged by the jihad of meanings of facial and body tattoos worn by Fulbe nomadic pas- Fodio and his subsequent rise to power and later motivated by toralists. I was interested in determining whether placement on the relative peace of British rule, led to a regional cultural specific- the body, image or motif, or the time and procedure of tattooing ity that included the wearing of diverse facial tattoos. Tattoo pat- held any particular social, religious, or magical function. A pri- terns functioned as embodied indicators of clan and geographic mary concern was to distinguish those tattoos which might have affiliations. Fulbe also wore distinguishing styles of dress and jew- a special social function (i.e., identification) from tattoos which elry that functioned to identify particular Fulbe communities. were purely decorative. I saw the tattoos that Fulbe wore as a dis- In the following text I describe how the unprecedented number cursive practice that had its own internal logic, and it was this and diversity of Fulbe pastoralists in the area increased the need logic that I sought to understand (Faris 1988:29). Field research for outward displays of specific Fulbe identities in south central was first carried out over a two-year period of residence in Zaria, Niger and north central Nigeria. Brief return visits in 1990, 1992, Nigeria (1975–1977), and complemented by short visits to Nige- and 2011 gave me an opportunity to see if tattoos were still popular ria throughout 1981–1984 while I was resident in the Republic of twenty-five years later. Niger. I was fortunate to be able to continue visiting Niger on a Generally tall and lithe, Fulbe pastoralists express their cul- regular basis from 1984 to 1990.1 tural difference through dress, comportment, and their mobility.

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 54 11/28/13 9:32 AM As a visible, mobile, minority, the Fulbe also enhance their dif- 1 young wodaabe woman of the Kasausawa clan. note the difference in jewelry and hair- ferentness and “otherness” in order to better integrate into local style from the young woman in Figure 2. settings without getting lost; to be among their sedentary hosts, but not of them. All Fulbe speak the same language: from central Mali to Cameroun it is called Fulfuulde, and from the Atlan- tic coast to central Mali the language is called Pulaar. Tattoos formed part of a strategy of differentiation in northern Nigeria and south-central Niger. Tattoo designs identified the wearers as Fulfuulde speakers4 and as nomads or semisedentary herders within the context of origins of the Fulbe and have not always agreed on the classifica- various sedentary communities that comprised the larger society tions of the various subgroups that range from nomadic to sed- of the region. While their neighbors the Hausa people also wore entary (Hopen 1958; Stenning 1959; Dupire 1970; Wilson 1995; tattoos, as did other ethnic groups in the northeast of Nigeria Kane 2004). I follow the meanings that have been related to me whom they encountered in their migrations, the particular com- by diverse Fulbe informants throughout West Africa, which is bination of designs worn by the Fulbe were uniquely associated that all of these groups make up the larger community known as with them or with communities that once were servile to them. Fulbe. This also follows the view of Dupire, who studied diverse Within Fulbe society, tattoos communicated social information Fulbe communities throughout West Africa (1970), Kane (2004), to other Fulbe herders about clan affiliation. This form of body and more recently Loftdottir (2008). adornment was an instrument in socialization of youth among pastoral, or herding, Fulbe. Wodaabe, bororoji, Fulbe Throughout the text, when I refer to Fulbe people I am includ- Because the use of facial tattoos is directly tied to kin and clan ing the communities that I consider to be part of that language affiliation, I will review the major Fulbe groupings below, while I and cultural group, including the Wodaabe, the Bororoji, and the underscore here that the categories Wodaabe and Bororo consti- various seminomadic and semisedentary clan sections that com- tute only two small groups within the Fulbe population, and the prise other Fulbe communities. Scholars have long pondered the membership of the Bororo (also called Bororoji) fluctuates due

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 55 11/28/13 9:32 AM perimeter of the ear. However, Bororoji wear only aluminum while the Wodaabe wear brass hoops (see Fig. 1, a Wodaabe girl of the Kasausawa clan). Although the Wodaabe perceive themselves in a supe- rior position of hierarchy to the Bororoji, I am not aware of any recent study which has specifically explored these relationships, nor of how the Bororoji themselves would describe their social positioning in relation to the Wodaabe. On the other hand, among non-Wodaabe or Bororoji, there has historically been a custom to add geographic names to subsections of clans that refer to their customary sites of transhumance and placement of hereditary wells.5 An example of such naming would be Diallube Katsinanko’en (meaning people of the Diallube clan who live in the region of Katsina; the endings “-be” and “-en” both connote the plural).6 While the Bororoji are very close, culturally, to the Wodaabe, there are other important distinctions between them that include facial tattoos and marriage customs. Unlike the Wodaabe, the Bororji are exogamous and marry into semisedentary Fulbe clans, particularly the Katsinan- koobe. In terms of transhumance routes, the Wodaabe predominate in the northern and central regions of the Sahel zone, where they have lineage-controlled wells, while Bororoji may be found in those zones and as far south as the Gambia, where they exploit the most peripheral pasture zones (Wilson 1995). It is thus that even other Fulbe will refer to the Wodaabe as Bororoji when they are traveling outside

2 young Fulani girl (niger) of their home territories in northern Niger. photo: Parures africaines, ed. denise paulme and The Wodaabe have held on to the practice of facial tattoos longer Jacques brosse (paris: hachette, 1946) p. 14. (the than many of their herding counterparts from other Fulbe com- author and hachette have Failed in all eFForts to identiFy and locate the photographer.) munities, though the practice is beginning to disappear among people under thirty. The tenacity of this practice reflected the continued endogamy and geographic specificity of the Wodaabe.

beauty, adornment, and marking Fulbe identity Thirty years ago, these herders of West Africa (known variously to exogamous practices with other Fulbe. Except for the Bororoji, as the Fulani, the Peulh, the Fula, or the Fulbe by their neigh- who often live in areas contiguous to the Wodaabe, other Fulbe bors) could still be seen at weekly rural markets and large urban are generally not familiar with the clans and subsection names of centers wearing very distinctive clothing, jewelry, and elabo- the Wodaabe and tend to call them simply Wodaabe or, mistak- rate hairstyles which immediately identified them as part of the

enly, Bororoji, which is a more widely used term. Among outsid- pullo7 pastoralist lifestyle (Figs. 1–2). Long braids are considered ers, there may be confusion between the two since they share to be a marker of Fulbe ethnicity among herders, and formerly a similar lifestyle, occupy the most distant pasture zones, and these rural people sometimes augmented their hair by braiding differentiate themselves in similar dress and jewelry from other black yarn into it. Fifteen years ago, choice of distinctive clothing Fulbe. The most notable jewelry adornments that Wodaabe and and jewelry was still the norm, but the hand woven cloth that the Bororoji wear are the large hoop earrings that are worn along the Fulbe often wore, usually indigo cotton with designs in red and

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 56 11/28/13 9:32 AM white thread (which they call “Hausa cloth,” or wudere Hausa, shown in Fig. 3), or white locally woven cotton cloth with fine red lines (called “Fulani cloth” throughout Nigeria) was becom- ing less common. The use of black yarn in hair styling also had almost disappeared. The indigo and white woven cloth, becom- ing rare as weavers lost more and more patrons and turned to other means of subsistence, has been replaced by imported fac- tory produced cloth or by locally produced “wax” prints. Unique hairstyles of both young men and women still prevail, however, particularly among the Bororoji and the Wodaabe. Today, jewelry continues to be used as a cultural marker, but does not have the social symbolism associated with tattoos, except perhaps among the Wodaabe of central Niger, where jewelry and embroidery, in addition to tattoos, carry symbolic information about clan and geographic affiliation. Among the Wodaabe, necklaces made from small imported beads (glass and plastic) are recognized by patterns of color and shape which indicate clan (Fig. 3). Such specificity in jewelry styles does not exist among other Fulbe groups in the region. Choice of styles of adornment seems to follow the logic of economizing space and avoiding weighty objects that have to be carried. Fulbe, including the Wodaabe, still use such adornments as leather and cotton

string, buttons, safety-pins, metal or bead bracelets, rings, and 3 Kasausawa bead necklace on a typical hausa glass or plastic waist beads. Tattooing, on the other hand, has indigo dyed and woven cloth. declined in popularity as more children leave the pastoral life and stay with distant relatives or family friends in town in order had been so popular twenty years earlier. to go to school, and these choices are not always gender biased. The Fulbe pastoral life is characterized by management of cat- Today, people from one household may now move regularly tle, goat, and sheep herds and the dynamic exploitation of avail- from campsite to town and back again, depending on the season able pastures. Social practices reflect the changing conditions and and on short term opportunities for earning cash (Boesen and demands of range management and livestock production. The rel- Marfaing 2007; Loftsdottir 2008). ative isolated nature of pastoral Fulbe communities (Fulbe na’i, or “cow Fulani” in Nigeria) assured that customs and traditions were tattoos and lineage, marriage and coWs less susceptible to dramatic change inspired by outside cultures, Even thirty years ago, not every group of Fulbe wore tattoos. but recently, like most people in rural northern Nigeria, Fulbe In particular, those closely associated with the more religiously herders have been influenced by pressures of religious radical- conservative Torobe, who are sedentary, did not wear tattoos, fol- ism and desires for clothes and consumables that, for them, repre- lowing the practices of their town cousins. The degree to which sent modernity. In spite of changes in the material life of herding communities practiced orthodox Muslim custom was an impor- households (use of aspirins, plastic goods, radios, and occasion- tant factor, as more pious Fulbe tended not to have themselves ally cell phones, for example) young people today are still often tattooed; in the 1970s this was usually the semisedentary and expected to marry maternal cousins from the same or related sedentary Fulbe. Among groups who did have tattoos in north- lineage. I point this out because marriage choices are often influ- ern Nigeria, designs varied from location to location, as well as enced, as they have been in the past, by knowledge of the herd from clan to clan. Within each city and town, tattoos of great quality of livestock belonging to any given prospective partner, diversity of imagery and motif were worn. There was a great much in the way that some American families might wish for amount of variation in Zaria alone, and a visit to any of Zaria’s their children to marry wealthy partners with certain stable and markets revealed a proliferation of styles worn by the nomadic productive stocks and funds on Wall Street. This is true for girls Fulbe. As each encampment was constituted by households of and boys, since girls customarily receive livestock gifts from their people from one or two clans, Fulbe market visits revealed a fathers when possible, while males receive cattle as gifts during proliferation of lineages and clan subsections, as most people their parents’ lifetimes from either parent, and always as inheri- sported a facial tattoo particular to their lineage, clan, and sub- tance, if animals are available. When the father dies, most if not all section (geographical) affiliations (Figs. 4–6). Within this variety of the herd will go to the oldest male descendent. there was still some continuity of design, perhaps attributable to Knowledge of a person’s lineage therefore supports the search the fact that tattoos were usually done by craftsmen from Hausa for a suitable spouse, including for second marriages outside communities; they almost never were done by Fulbe. Extensive of the extended kin group. Equally, people from lineages that tattoos on the legs, arms, and back declined earlier than the exploit contiguous pastures also know what kind of cattle their wearing of facial tattoos, and during the early part of the 1990s neighbors have—the predominant breeds in the herd, the physi- I did not observe any young people with the body designs that cal state of the animals, and sometimes even their genetic his-

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 57 11/28/13 9:32 AM albeit strange, Hausa-Fulani girl, which I vaguely resembled. 4 Full face view of facial tattoos of diallanko’en This was the case with people I met briefly in local markets, but rafinyora, Zaria regional market. not among communities that I visited regularly (see below). 5 Facial tattoo of diallanko’en rafinyora, profile, After a few months I settled in at the Fine Arts Department Zaria regional market. under the direction of Professor Solomon Irein Wangboje, and with his help I began to make regular contact with one or two Fulbe encampments in the Zaria area and made almost daily visits over a year’s period. I interviewed members of the Ahmadu tory. Lineage knowledge of people, therefore, can impart some Bello University staff in Zaria who were of Fulbe heritage, as understanding of the lineage of the cattle herds. This knowledge well as students who were natives of places where Fulbe culture is important when considering marriage, for a thriving herd was dominant. These interviews provided invaluable insight into determines the future household economy. Further, herd char- Fulbe history and traditions, lifestyle and ethos, as well as how acteristics ultimately affect livestock management strategies, herders were viewed from the outside by townspeople. including intrafamilial loans and gifts of animals (habba na’ii While I was working in northern Nigeria during the mid- and nanga na’ii). Aesthetic traditions such as tattooing, like cat- 1970s, sustained discussion with informants often depended on tle loans and gifts, followed kinship networks that were looped the character of the various markets where I met people. Women one to the other through clan and family alliances. in the no-no (sour milk) market at Tudun-Wada, for example, were much more open than the Fulbe na’i women at Sabon Gari, the FieldWork experience and places Visited which was a larger, busier, and more cosmopolitan market. The My research began while a student at Ahmadu Bello Uni- most open and informative women were those encountered on versity in Zaria, Nigeria. I consciously used an ethnographic the roadsides just outside of town and Fulbe na’i, both men and approach, and in some cases established relationships that have women, in the smaller rural markets in Adamawa province and persisted for more than two decades. Using participation obser- the Maradi area. In these areas it was much more of a novelty vation, I exploited my position as a local student while in Nige- for people to be approached by strangers and asked questions ria, sometimes allowing people to mistake me as an educated, about themselves, which they seemed to enjoy. The Zaria mar-

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 58 11/28/13 9:32 AM 6 Facial tattoos of a ba’en malumfashi girl, in Kat- sina region.

and returned to pick me up in the early evenings. The women of Shika, my favorite camp, did not ordinarily leave for the market before 9:30 or 10:00 am because they were close to the Samaru and Sabon Gari markets, respectively (from 4 to 6 kilometers). Shika was on the Katsina road. The second encampment, along the Kano road, was not easily accessible during the rainy season. These two camps afforded concentrated study of the pastoral lifestyle and a source of comparison with other pastoral Fulbe I met in the market places. Shika was populated by people from subsections of two patronymic clans from Katsina; the Diallanko’en and the Ba’en. Those who lived in the other encampment off the Kano road claimed to be Zaria Fulbe only, explaining that they had been in Zaria for the past 200 years, and they did not mention any other clan name. Their tattoos, according to them, were unique to people in their extended families. It is most probable they did not enjoy being interviewed or questioned about their families and found questions about clan affiliation intrusive. Comparison and cross-checking were particularly important because of the pastoralists’ mobility. Due to migration, one can encounter Fulbe of the same clan, and sometimes from the same town, in very different and widely separated locations. For this reason, I also visited Maradi (Niger), Katsina, Funtua, Kafan- chan, Sokoto, Jos, Pambegua, Bauchi, Gombe, Mubi, Yola, Wuro kets referred to in this essay are Samaru, Tudun-Wada, Old City, Selbe, Jalingo, Gembu (Mambila Plateau), and some areas of Shika, and Sabon Gari. Fulbe from these areas were also inter- Borno State. One important consideration was the sharing of viewed in markets further south and north, as I attempted to custom and tradition between Hausa and Fulani people.9 The include migration routes in my research itinerary. Fulbe and Hausa have lived close together in an interdependent Rural people had trouble placing me socially and culturally, sahelian economy for hundreds of years (Barkow 1970:92). For which was understandable. As I looked somewhat like a pullo reasons of my research focus, I did not attempt to identify where and spoke somewhat like a pullo, most assumed I was from some the tradition of tattooing originated and focused more on how far-away Fulbe community that they did not know. At this time it functioned in Fulbe society and why it has become so popu- in Nigeria, television, music, and film had not yet created a local lar. I also sought to know whether people were attached through awareness of the existence or appearance of people of African ori- marriage to more nomadic lineages. A critical factor for the suc- gin outside of Africa. An additional factor was my age and local cess of each interview was the willingness of people to discuss status: I was a young woman and a student at the local university, traditions and customs for fear that their perceptions would be two categories much more understandable by the local people. I frowned upon by an “educated person” and stranger. sometimes explained myself, but realized early on that such expla- Practices of body and facial tattooing also functioned as tests nations would quickly shift the dynamics of an interview, revers- of pain endurance. I found this to be especially true of the young ing things so that I became the subject of inquiry. This was not Fulbe women and girls in my research. They did not have the uncomfortable but costly, because I could easily lose whole after- same public opportunities to show off what the Fulbe call their noons from my research calendar, though I enjoyed such sessions. pulaaku (loosely translated as “self-mastery”) as boys did. Teen- I was introduced to two camps, which I visited on a regular age boys had saaro, a match of endurance in which two adoles- basis, by a staff member of Ahmadu Bello University’s Insti- cent boys take turns hitting each other with herding sticks. The tute of Agriculture who spoke fluent Fulfulde, Al Hajji Keere.8 participant who is hit gazes into a small mirror that he holds at These encampments were usually visited early in the morning eye level with one hand, which signifies his capacity for focus (7:00 to 8:00 am), before the men went out with the cows. After and indifference to pain. This gaze is significant in other ways as the first few visits, Al Hajji Keere, who took me to the camps on well: it is a self-gaze of admiration, of pulaaku and Fulbe male his small motorcycle, simply dropped me off in the mornings beauty. In the past, this test of strength was carried out in public,

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 59 11/28/13 9:32 AM 7 young woman with daneeji tattoos stares through the crowd at a saaro festival near Zaria.

tattooing in umgWar-suma’i I made several visits to Umgwar-Suma’i village in Malumfashi, Katsina, in order to interview the local tattoo artist (mai- zane in Hausa). He was also the town bar- ber (wansami in Hausa). Umgwar-Suma’i is approximately ten kilometers from the Zaria-Malumfashi road into the coun- tryside. It is a Hausa village with a large number of pastoralists living on the out- skirts—most of them of the Ba’en and Diallanko’en clans. The mai-zane was referred to me by the Fulbe at the Shika encampment, who had migrated from Umgwar-Suma’i five years earlier. They returned regularly and still had several family members who lived in the vicinity. I carried photographs of my friends from the Shika encampment with me to the mai-zane, who received them with great enthusiasm, as did everyone in his com- pound. I chatted with the mai-zane with the help of a native Hausa speaker (my classmate and friend Ladi) who agreed to come along for the interview, although I also spoke directly with him in Fulfuulde, which he understood easily. I asked him how he came into the profession and what other duties his profession entailed and observers included young Fulbe girls of related or nearby besides tattooing. I learned that he had followed his father’s foot- pastoral communities, as well as Hausa passers-by (Fig. 7). Tat- steps into tattooing and barbering, a profession that provided for tooing usually took place in a village where residents and accom- his family and gave him a place of importance in the village. I panying friends could see the girl being tattooed. This offered an showed the mai-zane some of my tattoo sketches (taken from opportunity to show age cohorts and the general public that a observation in the area’s markets), and we discussed the names girl was strong and had pulaaku. of the various patterns. On a piece of paper I had brought, the The nomadic way of life is a hard life, and customs are practiced mai-zane also sketched a few designs as examples of designs he that ensure the priority of the herdsman’s purpose: the care and knew, and explained their geographic associations. multiplication of the herd and the sustainability of the family unit. Following one long conversation, I decided to have a tattoo Physical endurance and emotional control are highly esteemed. done on my forearm, and the next week I returned with Ladi and This is understandable in view of the rugged way of life and social an American friend, Diana Leoni, both around my age. This was interdependence that must exist among all members of any pas- in the mid-1970s, and my friends and I presented quite a scene toral Fulbe encampment, which rarely includes more than fifteen to the village. We were not much older than the village girls who people including children. watched us, but in their eyes we were already fairly old to be getting tattoos for the first time.10 Diana was an artist and teacher

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 60 11/28/13 9:32 AM and acted as photographer for the event. All three of us got tattoos. The entire process for my tattoo was photographed (Figs. 9–12).11 I had tried several times during the dry season, which was the time for doing tattoos, to find someone getting theirs done so that I would have a visual record of the process. This opportunity continued to elude me. By getting a tattoo of my own, I was able to solve two problems at once. I was fascinated to see that the mai-zane assumed that I should have the same design as the people of Shika, who after all had sent me to him, and this is what he gave me. As my friends and I got our tattoos, the young girls of the village watched. They laughed and jeered anytime one of us showed that she felt the pain of the little knife used for the tattoo. For them, it was a scandal that someone as “old” as a college student could not show pulaaku or appropri- ate Hausa restraint. According to the mai-zane and Fulbe informants, most of the girls got their facial tattoos around the age of nine or ten and in groups of friends. It was considered de rigeur not to show any reaction to the discomfort of getting the tattoo. The Malumfashi tattoo consequently has forever tied me to the animals that represent Katsina in the local tattoo glossary: the crocodile and the lizard. Meanwhile, the shared experience tied all three of us to each other and to Malufamfashi. It helped me to imagine how this experience might tie bonds of friendship and place between young Fulbe girls who got their tattoos done at the same time. The pastoral Fulbe tattoos served multiple purposes, but what was more important, clan identification or aesthetics? The most highly developed tattoo designs were not on the body, but on their faces. These tattoos provided information on their lineages: who people were, and where their family pastures and wells were located. Fulbe tattoos were different from markings 8 tattoos worn on the backs of young women associated with magical or protective properties, into which include the duiker bird, as well as various anthropo- morphic designs. in the field, informants offered no some local medicines might be rubbed for purposes of protec- specific name or function of the three more abstract tion against malevolent nonhuman, invisible forces. Designs designs shown here of those tattoos on the body, particularly on the arms or chest, included a stylized Quranic board, the hand of Fatima, duiker birds, crescent moons, and lizards (Fig. 8). Except for the hand of Fatima, these were all objects of everyday life and were popular. The hand of Fatima, it can be supposed, was not a strange image in this Muslim region. It should be noted that tattoos were not required within any to group. Hausa women in Umgwar-Suma’i wore tattoos, but the pastoral Fulbe group, but prevailing contemporary fashion and ones they wore on their faces were not the same as those worn by custom in those years included facial and body tattoos among Fulbe women. It is probable that Hausa women did not wear as the majority of young women. It is remarkable how widespread many body tattoos as Fulbe pastoral women due to Islamic tradi- facial tattoos were in light of the fact that tattooing was not com- tions against body marking rather than rejecting these styles for pulsory. Along with other cultural expressions, the tattoos related explicitly ethnic reasons. specific design concepts and an aesthetic appreciation unique to The tattoos worn by Hausa women were decorative in func- each group that used them. The Fulbe considered them beauti- tion and did not impart any particular social information. For ful and as something which enhanced natural Fulbe beauty, and facial tattooing, there were basic differences in style from those though they had multiple meanings in Fulbe society, beautifica- worn by Fulbe women. An example is the difference between the tion was certainly an important factor, perhaps as important as erbaki worn by Hausa women, in the form of a triangle at each clan identification. I cannot confirm that one aspect was more corner of the mouth created by short, parallel lines, and the leg- important than the other (Roberts 1988:51). bule, or yabaka, worn by the pastoral Fulbe, which has small dots Although many designs, such as the lizard, were shared or a shorter row of lines at the outer perimeter of the triangle between different ethnicities in northern Nigeria, as evidenced (see Figs. 4–6). in tattoos, house decorations, and gourd decorations, the arrangement of designs and their application varied from group the ordeal oF tattooing: hoW tattoos are done

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 61 11/28/13 9:32 AM 9 the mai-zane uses a locally made aluminum tool to cut the skin. photo: diane leoni

The actual process of tattooing is not lengthy, and the mai the incisions can no longer accept any more soot, the entire area zane tries to work quickly, insuring that there is no great loss of is left for three to five minutes and then washed gently with cold blood and that prolonged pain is avoided. In northern Nigeria, water. This completes the actual tattooing process (Figs. 11–12). tattooing was usually done during the harmattan season, when the weather is dry and infection is less likely. The process is also historical background oF Fulbe pastoralists: fairly simple. The primary tool used is a small blade that is fixed positing the reasons For Facial tattoos to a slim handle six to ten centimeters in length. The entire tool A discussion of traditional customs such as tattooing prac- is metal (iron or aluminum) and is often forged in the village ticed among the pastoral Fulbe in northern Nigeria should be where the mai-zane, or wanzami, lives. The mai-zane is usually preceded by a brief summary of the history, migrations, and sub- the wanzami as well, and performs other tasks such as male cir- groups of Fulbe society since the eleventh and twelfth centuries cumcision and cicatrization marks for Hausa clients. to understand why clan and geographic affiliation had special The section of the body that is to be tattooed is rubbed repeat- importance for those still living a pastoral lifestyle. edly by the mai-zane with the heel of his hand; perhaps this helps The practice of tattooing was popular among pastoral Fulbe numb the area. He then begins making shallow incisions which from Senegambia to the Sudan until the mid-1990s. Consider- will eventually form the design that has been requested (Fig. 9). ing the long distances between the Fouta Jallon of Guinea and The mai-zane makes quick short strokes so that each incision is the Macina of Mali, or the Futa Tooro of the Senegal River Valley not more than half a centimeter in length. The incisions are usu- and the Dallol of Niger, it is impressive that Fulbe communities ally arranged to form a linear pattern that will later comprise the in this swath of sahel and savannah land share as many unify- larger design. Every minute or so the mai-zane will stop and rub ing characteristics as they do—Senegal alone is roughly 950 kilo- lightly in the direction of the blood flow. This lessens the pain, meters wide from the coast to the town of Tambacounda on the clears away the blood so that he can better see what he is doing, Mali border. and also helps prevent infection by quickly wiping away the old The Fulbe are known to have inhabited the Upper Senegal blood, which has been exposed to dust, perspiration, etc. From since the eleventh century (Kane 2004). They began migrating time to time during the process of making the incisions, he will eastward from the Futa Toro (Senegambia area) and Futa Jal- also throw cold water on the area being tattooed, and then repeat lon (now located in present day Guinea Conakry) sometime in the process of lightly rubbing downwards in the direction of the the twelfth or thirteenth centuries. By the mid-eighteenth cen- blood flow. He does not rub against the incisions at this point— tury, Fulbe pastoralists who did not agree with jihadist reforms the incisions have been made in vertical directions, for example, in eastern Mali moved eastwards to the east bank of the Niger in the direction of elbow to hand, or of knee to ankle. river, where they established villages and intermarried with After the design has been completed, the mai-zane will then other Fulbe living there. By the early nineteenth century Fulbe mix black soot from the bottom of a cooking pot with a small had begun to establish centers of political control or influence amount of water. This mixture is then applied to the incisions from the Senegal River Valley to the Dallol valley in Niger, thou- (Fig. 10). Sometimes ash from baba (henna) leaves is added to sands of miles away. Liptako, Birnin Gaoure, and Birnin Konni this mixture. The soot is actually rubbed into the incisions by (in or near current day western Niger) were all established in the means of rubbing against the direction of the cuts. As soon as early to mid nineteenth century as Fulbe political centers were

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 62 11/28/13 9:32 AM 10 the mai-zane will then mix black soot and apply it to the incisions. photo: diane leoni

11 after being washed with cold water, the new tattoo is complete. photo: diane leoni

12 this picture of the healed tattoo shows clearly the incisions and linear patters on the typical Fulani tattoo. photo: diane leoni

created by Torobe clerics. By the 1830s, in what is today northern Nigeria, these jihadist reform movements under Ousman dan Fodio reached a historical benchmark as the kingdoms of Katsina, Zaria, and Kano came under Fulbe control through the efforts of this Torodo leader. The elite of Fodio’s movement intermarried with Hausa nobility, creating the people known as the Hausa-Fulani. Fodio also established the Sultanate of Sokoto and assisted in the establishment of the emirate of Adamawa in

what is now northeast Nigeria and northwest Cameroun.12 Until the early years of the Republic of Nigeria, Fulbe pastoral herders lived a favored existence as the distant kin of the Fulbe/Torobe leadership of the traditional polities of the north. Through state protection and local negotiation, they migrated with their animals in relative peace and returned seasonally to Hausa farms to pasture their animals on millet stalks after the harvest. Through this period, many different Fulbe lineages established water and pasture rights. As herds grew, factions broke off from the major

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 63 11/28/13 9:32 AM clans, such as the Diallube and Sisilbe, to create subsections that They interacted with, but did not depend wholly upon, farmers’ identified with particular geographic areas. By the early colo- communities on a regular basis. Now pastoralists must keep a nial period (first decade of the twentieth century), they were so healthy distance if they do not want to get embroiled in local numerous that an epizootic of rinderpest swept through the live- political struggles, often expressed in religious terms. stock population. The animals were too densely concentrated in The Fulbe concern for cultural sustainability is best expressed the zones between Kano and Katsina. in their shared axiom “Ko nai’i baati Fulbe no mayi” (If the cattle Fulbe migratory patterns have been influenced by British die, the Fulbe will die). Hopen argued that Fulbe were very aware colonization (at the beginning of the twentieth century), which of the danger of cultural annihilation through assimilation with affected interethnic relationships and traditional trading prac- numerically dominant farmers—Hausa farmers, in the case of tice, and almost eradicated slavery; and Nigeria’s independence in Nigeria (Hopen 1958:160). He found, as other scholars did after 1960, which brought with it changes of government policy regard- him (M. Dupire, C. Ba), that the loss of cattle is associated with ing agriculture, taxes, and urban development. By the late 1970s, the loss of cultural and ethnic identity (Hopen 1958:26). the influence of the former Hausa Fulani governor of the north, Ahmadu Bello, was waning. He was appointed Governor under conclusion the British policy of indirect rule, and his weight on the political In the early 1980s tattooing was still popular. The youth that scene of his time signified the accumulated political capital of gen- I met in the markets of Birnin Konni and Maradi still felt that erations of descendents of Ousmane dan Fodio and his affinal rela- tattoos were beautiful and a source of pride. Once the procedure tions (intermarried clans of Fulbe and Torodbe). The consistent was completed, there was lifetime evidence of the person’s abil- rule of the Hausa-Fulani, themselves a mixture of elite Hausa and ity to withstand pain and their capacity for munyol (patience), Fulbe families, mostly of Torodbe origin, allowed for an important chosu (courage), and pulaaku (self-mastery). political space and greater freedom of movement for their cousins The majority of the Fulbe I worked with in the course of my the pastoral Fulbe. From the time that Ousmane dan Fodio rallied fieldwork in Nigeria, and later in Niger, would correctly be clas- herders to join him with the promise of political appointments as sified as seminomadic, with the exception of the Wodaabe. village wardens, the pastoral Fulbe population grew and diversi- Many customs and outlooks that have to do with pulaaku and fied as peaceful transhumant routes allowed for wider migration pre-Islamic codes have been gradually eroded by the two forces patterns. It is this confidence of movement and of cultural space, I of urbanization and the resurgence of Islamic reform. However, argue, that encouraged the development of diverse and rich ways this erosion is tempered, ironically, by the weakness of the State of self-identifying as a pastoralist Fulbe in northern Nigeria. The and its inability to provide quality avenues towards citizenship. wearing of facial tattoos, originating from the late nineteenth cen- This failure to provide systems of public education and land tury according to interviews among the Fulbe, was one expres- (pasture) tenure security has had the effect of causing transhu- sion of this sense of freedom and stability. The overriding impact mant communities to fall back on traditional and long-stand- of the Torobe jihad and subsequent British colonization was an ing survival practices that are built on the self-reliance of their increased importance of clan and political affiliation to settled communities. In sum, such independence revalorizes customs Fulbe and Hausa-Fulani village leaders, all tied to pasture access. that contribute to community solidarity and sustainability, such The late nineteenth century brought about a much higher inci- as yaarude, or tattoing. In contrast, now young herders increas- dence of interaction between different clans of pastoral Fulbe in ingly break traditional rules when herding, especially when what is now northern Nigeria and south-central Niger. herding as wage laborers. However, the basic ideals of pulaaku By the early twentieth century, the development of new are still strongly adhered to or used as a reference by young and towns, population shifts, changes of traditional trading prac- old alike at the household level. This is true even though some tices, and new developments in inter-ethnic relationships all activities such as yaarude are no longer or rarely carried out, had their effect. One probable result is that this interaction pro- and even if some young hired herders shame others by ignoring moted wider marriage alliances. These closer and more frequent long-established herding and well use traditions. encounters, mirroring closer transhumance networks, encour- As is the case with any society and culture experiencing rapid aged new cross-clan marriages that brought with them new change, though the outward manifestations of past traditions are access to pasture lands and more dense communication net- no longer obvious, some of the ideals and beliefs that supported works among herders. those traditions prevail (Vitebsky 2005). Tattooing is definitely Semisedentary and nomadic groups still practiced tattooing on the wane, even among the Wodaabe youth of south cen- extensively in the late 1970s, and for them the importance of tral Niger, who live in more remote conditions than the Fulbe being a pullo gainako (Fulani herder) was still paramount, with nomadic and seminomadic groups further south in northern all its connotations of aloofness from outside society and ded- Nigeria. Wodaabe society is also changing very quickly as rapid ication to the nomadic way of life. Facial tattoos allowed peo- urbanization and diversified modes of transportation and com- ple to recognize each other quickly and facilitated friendships munication bring changes into formerly isolated rural areas and other alliances. Until the instability in the north of the last (Bosen 2007; Loftsdottir 2008). Now in the US, I receive phone fifteen years, Fulbe such as the Katsinankoobe who live to the calls from nomadic friends passing through big cities such as north and south of the Niger/Nigeria border did not feel the Niamey or Dakar. pressures of more settled groups to conform to newer interpreta- Although an important function of tattooing was beautifica- tions of “civilization” or visibly demonstrated Muslim practice. tion, among the pastoral Fulbe it also served a social purpose

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131127-001_54-65_CS6.indd 64 11/28/13 9:32 AM and perhaps compensated for other traditions that were dis- toos served an important social function, particularly among carded, and since the practice did not conflict with the statutes young people of marriageable age, because it identified clan and of Islam as much as others, it prevailed when other customs died geographic affiliation. As a result of changes in the larger Nige- out. This essay has provided a glimpse into the variety and pur- rian society (and in Niger) such as urbanization, population pose of tattoos worn by the pastoral Fulbe who frequented the increase and movement, increased travel, as well as the recent Zaria markets from the mid-1970s to the early 1990s. I observed turn toward a more conservative Islam, the pastoral Fulbe life- many facial tattoos styles as late as 1992 in Birnin Konni, Repub- style is changing rapidly. I should point out though, that thirty- lic of Niger, and among Wodaabe youth who visited Dakar, as three years ago, I also wrote that the pastoral Fulbe lifestyle was late as 2002.13 By 2011, when I returned to Niamey and visited changing rapidly, and in hindsight I can say that though it has with some Wodaabe who were temporarily in town, I saw no in fact changed much, in unexpected as well as expected ways, young people with tattoos. With social change, the appeal and more Fulbe remain pastoral than was ever expected by many reason for wearing tattoos is waning, just as social change was an outside of that community. impetus for their initial popularity (Rubin 1988:15). My research suggests that there were particular social func- Wendy Wilson-Fall is Associate Professor and Program Chair of the Africana Studies Program at Lafayette College. Her current research tions of the tattoos that helped to account for their widespread is on the dangers of pasture loss, youth unrest, and Islamic radicalism practice. I found that tattoos and the process of tattooing served to national and pastoral security in Sahelian West Africa, and she has several social functions. First of all, they created and increased recently completed a manuscript on stories of Malagasy ancestors among beauty. Secondly, they signaled that a young person has reached African Americans. [email protected] a certain age of maturity to the community at large. Finally, tat-

Notes 10 In my fieldwork I attempted to practice an References cited approach of co-equivalence, that is, as a young woman I would like to acknowledge the support received from Barkow, Jerome H. 1970. Hausa and Maguzawa: Processes learning about style among other young women, and the Smithsonian Institution, which gave me the opportu- of Group Differentian in a Rural Area in North Central their social environment. Although I naturally faced nity to do extensive research of secondary sources during State, Nigeria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. many contradictions in this positioning (see Behar 1996: this period through a Smithsonian Fellowship. Likewise, 6–7, 26–28) I remain convinced that placing both the Behar, Ruth. 1996. The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropol- I mention here my sincere gratitude to Janet Stanley, for observed and the observer in the chronological present ogy That Breaks Your Heart. Boston: Beacon Press. her generous and knowledgeable help. and the global now is a critical element of an engaged 1 I am thankful to the African Development Boesen, Elisabeth, and Laurence Marfaing, eds. 2007. anthropology. Foundation, which was my employer at the time. As Mobilite et Nouveaux Urbains dans l’espace Sahara- 11 My thanks to Diana Leoni, a friend and art Regional Manager for the Sahel I continued to visit and Sahel. Un cosmopolitanisme par le bas. Paris: Karthala. teacher currently residing in California. travel throughout western and central Niger from 1984 12 I have argued elsewhere (Wilson 1995) that all Dupire, Marguerite. 1970. Organisation social des Peul. to 1990, traveling there an average of three times a year Fulbe pastoral systems must be viewed as adaptions to Etude d’ethnographie comparee. Paris: Plon. for two- to three-week visits. This was a great oppor- ecological and environmental opportunities, and that tunity to maintain contact with Fulbe communities Faris, James. 1988. “Significance of Differences in the people move through categories such as semisedentary throughout a long expanse of time. Male and Female Personal Art of the Southeast Nuba.” or even sedentary status to that of Bororji. Thus, in this 2 Ajami, the writing of African languages in Arabic In Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations of the view one could expect that different clans, and espe- script, such as Hausa, Pulaar or Fulfuulde, or Kanuri. Human Body, ed. Arnold Rubin, pp. 29–40. Los Ange- cially different individuals, might belong to different 3 Islam, like other Abrahamic religions, discour- les: University of California Press. categories in a lifetime, or in the case of a household, ages any permanent alteration of the body’s natural state. over a few generations. The exception is the Wodaabe. Hopen, C. Edward. 1958. The Pastoral Family in 4 Fulfuulde, the language of the Fulbe. Known However, it should be recalled that the Wodaabe Gwandu. Oxford: Oxford University Press. as Pulaar in the Senegal River Valley, Guinea, Gambia, will marry, for a second marriage, a Bororo person Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, and western Mali, and Kane, Omar. 2004. La premiere hegemonie peule:le from the Bi-Hamma’en clan, to the exclusion of other Fulani among Hausa speakers. Fuuta Tooro de Koli Tenguela a Almaami Abdul. Dakar: Bororo clans, and that the Bororji themselves marry 5 Transhumance: the seasonal movement of Karthala. the nomadic Katsinankobe. One can see this as a slow people with their livestock, following summer/winter or trickle of people in and out of stable categories, such Loftsdottir, Kristin. 2008. The Bush Is Sweet: Identity, dry season/wet season patterns of migration that allow as Wodaabe, or Bororoji. It may be that this movement Power, and Development Among WoDaaBe Fulani in them to maximize herd to pasture ratios. has historically provided a loophole to the otherwise Niger.Uppsala: Nordiska Africainstituet. 6 Derryk Stenning believed the Wodaabe to be rigid endogamous practices of most Fulbe communi- the “original prototype” of all Fulbe. In his view, other Roberts, Allen F. 1988. “Tabwa Tegumentary Inscrip- ties. Further, it also allows for catastrophes, both natural Fulbe became semisedentary due to problems encoun- tion.” In Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformations or politically created, that require or motivate people to tered in more nomadic transhumant cycles. I agree with of the Human Body, ed. Arnold Rubin, pp. 41–56. Los become less or more nomadic, and to eventually find a Stenning in so far as people move from one adaption to Angeles: University of California Press. new community to which they can adhere. the next, but do not view this movement as linear from 13 I would like to express my thanks and gratitude Rubin, Arnold. 1988. “General Introduction” and “Intro- more to less nomadic. In my view the movement is cir- to the Council of American Overseas Research Centers duction: Africa.” In Marks of Civilization: Artistic Trans- cular over time and among diverse sections, clans, and for their support, which allowed me to travel to Niamey, formations of the Human Body, ed. Arnold Rubin. pp. individuals. Niger in July, 2011, at which time I was able to interview 13–20. Los Angeles: University of California Press. 7 Pullo, singular of Fulbe. some members of the Gojanko’en clan. I should also 8 Al Hajji Keere was an agricultural extension Stenning, Derrick. J. 1977. Savannah Nomads: A Study of mention that between 1992 and 2004, I was host to worker at the university. the Wodaabe Pastoral Fulani of Western Bornu Province, many Wodaabe who traveled to Dakar from Niger, and 9 Formerly, the Fulbe of Adamawa took many Northern Region, Nigeria. Oxford: International African among them were young men and women who still captives among the Higgi and Margi people of that Institute, Oxford University Press. wore the facial tattoos typical of their clans and regions. region, settling them into casted, matchuube communi- However, once back in Niger in 2011, I noted that most Vitebsky, Piers. 2005. The Reindeer People: Living with ties. It is not impossible that some sharing of designs of the younger people I saw did not have tattoos. Animals and Spirits in Siberia. New York: Houghton resulted from these encounters. Mifflin. Wilson, Wendy. 1995. “The Fulani Model of Sustainable Agriculture.” Nomadic Peoples 36/37:35–52.

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