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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. NAAM: POLITICAL HISTORY AS STATE IDEOLOGY Amy Niang PhD in Politics and International Relations The University of Edinburgh-2011 (©≥¥Ø≤π £°Æ ∑• ≥¥©¨¨ §≤°∑ ØÆ ¥®°¥ Ø¢≥ب•¥• °µ¥®Ø≤©¥π -©¨°Æ +µÆ§•≤° 4•≥¥°≠•Æ¥≥ "•¥≤°π•§ ≥Ø ®• ¶©≤≥¥ ¥≤©•§ ¥®• ®©≥¥Ø≤π ¢ØØ´≥ )¥ ®°§ ≥••≠•§ ¥Ø ®©≠ ¥®°¥ ®©≥¥Ø≤π ≥®Øµ¨§ ∞≤Ø∂©§• ¥®• ´•π ¥Ø ¥®• ∞≤•≥•Æ¥ ¥®°¥ ° ≥¥µ§π ض ®©≥¥Ø≤π ≥®Øµ¨§ ®•¨∞ µ≥ ¥Ø °Æ≥∑•≤ £•≤¥°©Æ ±µ•≥¥©ØÆ≥# ∑®•≤• °≤• ∑• ÆØ∑ (Ø∑ §©§ ∑• £Ø≠• ¥Ø ¢• ∑®•≤• ∑• °≤• .ߵߩ ∑° 4®©ØÆßØ 0•¥°¨≥ ض "¨Øا $$# %&$ Contents Acknowledgements:......................................................................................................... 1 Abstract............................................................................................................................ 2 Declaration:...................................................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER ONE ..................................................................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 12 1. 1. Objectives and Arguments ......................................................................................... 12 1. 1. 1. The past in the present ...................................................................................... 12 1. 1. 2. Objectives and arguments:..................................................................................... 15 1. 1. 3. Naam, conceptual and historical ............................................................................ 19 1. 2. Mossi Historiography and the Pre-colonial State........................................................ 26 1. 2.1. The limits of theoretical assumptions .................................................................. 26 1. 2. 2. Mossi historiography: the empire that never was ............................................... 34 1. 3. Methodology and its Challenges: on Sources and a Reading Framework ................. 39 1. 3. 1. Theoretical framework: migrants as frontiermen, frontiermen as state-builders. 43 1. 3. 2. Sources and references:.................................................................................... 45 1. 3. 3. Oral tradition: ..................................................................................................... 46 1. 4. Thesis Structure ......................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER TWO ..................................................................................................................... 54 The Trail of the Horse: the Mossi-Mamprusi-Dagomba System as a Culture-historical Area ...................................................................................................................................... 54 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................ 54 Fission, Expansion, Domination..................................................................................... 56 2. 1. In the Beginning was Naam: Common Origin, Common Principles, Familiar Tales ... 65 2. 1. 1. Chronology: the master version ......................................................................... 65 2. 1. 2. Origins of Mossi expansion: the Mamprusi-Dagomba-Nanumba link.............….68 2. 1. 3. Migrationism: the movement of ideas as mechanism of socio-political transformations .............................................................................................................. 81 2. 2. The Mutation of Naam: the One that Confers to the One that Diverges..................... 87 2. 2. 1. Basic structure: dichotomy Naam/Tênga ........................................................... 91 2. 2. Naam in Non-centralised Polities: Statelessness as Escape.................................... 100 CONCLUSION... .............................................................................................................. 108 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................... 110 Ideology of Power and Social Authority: Naam or that which Reordered the World .... 110 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 110 3. 1. Conceptualising Naam: Origins of a Peculiar Concept............................................. 115 3. 2. Two Conceptions of Power....................................................................................... 122 3. 3. Naam, State and Society-building: Ritual Versus Political Realms........................... 130 3. 3. 1. Conceptualising a society for a state................................................................ 130 3. 3. 2. Naam and the tapestry of kinship..................................................................... 134 3. 3. 3. Political segmentation and the creation of social categories............................ 139 3. 5. Social Categorising: the Creation of Nakombsé and Talsé ...................................... 145 3. 5. Devolving Power, Shaping Society........................................................................... 153 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 156 CHAPTER FOUR ................................................................................................................ .160 Making the State from the Margins: Frontiermen as State-builders ............................. .160 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 160 4. 1. The Internal Frontier Model...................................................................................... 163 4. 1. 1. Mossi-Mamprusi-Dagomba as culture-historical area ...................................... 163 4. 1. 2. The process of fission and replication as normative principle .......................... 166 4. 1. 3. State formation: political interpenetration as shaping sovereignty.................... 170 4. 2. Consolidating the State, Specialising Political Practice............................................ 183 4. 3. State Sovereignty and the Construction of Identity in Moogo................................... 195 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 209 CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................... 213 The Paradox of Marginality: Political Centralisation and the Incorporation of the Stranger-kin ........................................................................................................................ 213 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 213 5. Naam and Tênga: Political Economy of a Principled Dichotomy.................................. 217 5. 1. Ideological differentiation Naam and Tênga: two world-views.............................. 217 5.1. 2. A principle of dichotomy.................................................................................... 222 5. 3. ‘Autochthonisation’ of Naam as Foundational Requirement..................................... 225 5. 1. 4. Authochthonisation and social differentiation: ethnicity, class and power ........ 229 5. 2. Between Power and Politics: Pânga or the Conceptualisation of a Third Moment ... 230 5. 2. 1. The Institution of royal captives........................................................................ 233 5. 2. 3. Nakombsé vs. Captives (naam vs. pânga)....................................................... 246 5. 3. Citizenship and Sovereignty in Moogo ..................................................................... 258 5. 4. Captives: Marginal and Citizens............................................................................... 259 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................... 264 CHAPTER SIX ..................................................................................................................... 269 Bidding Adieu to the Hills: Rituals as Historical References .......................................... 269 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 269 6. 1. Of the High God and Low Divinities.........................................................................