DOCSLIB.ORG

Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture Dokwaza Kawa of Lum-Ziver Near Mokolo (1989)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture Dokwaza Kawa of Lum-Ziver Near Mokolo (1989) Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture Dokwaza Kawa of Lum-Ziver near Mokolo (1989). A Mafa master smelter, blacksmith, diviner and healer, he is seen here assembling a variety of seeds and other plant parts to place in a bracelet of smelted iron made for Nicholas David. Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture Edited by Nicholas David AFRICA WORLD PRESS Trenton | London | Cape Town | Nairobi | Addis Ababa | Asmara | Ibadan | New Delhi AFRICA WORLD PRESS 541 West Ingham Avenue | Suite B Trenton, New Jersey 08638 Copyright © 2012 Nicholas David First Printing 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechani- cal, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Book and cover design: Saverance Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Metals in Mandara Mountains society and culture / edited by Nicholas David. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59221-889-9 (hard cover) -- ISBN 978-1-59221-890-5 (pbk.) 1. Iron industry and trade--Social aspects--Mandara Mountains (Cameroon and Nigeria) 2. Blacksmiths--Mandara Mountains (Cameroon and Nigeria) 3. Mandara Mountains (Cameroon and Nigeria)--Social life and customs. I. David, Nicholas, 1937- HD9527.C173M356 2012 682.4096--dc23 2011046719 Contents List of Figures vii List of Tables xi A Note on Transcription xiii PART I SETTING THE STAGE 1. Introduction 3 Nicholas David 2. The prehistory and early history of the northern Mandara Mountains and surrounding plains 27 Scott MacEachern 3. My father René Gardi & Co.: Truadak and Rabash, Hans Eichenberger and Paul Hinderling 69 Bernhard Gardi PART II SOCIETY AND ECONOMY 4. Smith and society: patterns of articulation in the northern Mandara Mountains 87 Nicholas David and Judy Sterner 5. Ricardo in the Mandara Mountains: iron, comparative advantage, and specialization 115 Nicholas David 6. Competition and change in two traditional African iron industries 171 Nicholas David and Ian G. Robertson 7. Form, style, and ethnicity: iron hoes and knives in the Mandara region, Northern Cameroon 185 Ian G. Robertson vi PART III HISTORY AND IDEOLOGY 8. The development of endogamy among smiths of the Mandara mountains eastern piedmont: myths, history and material evidence 225 Olivier Langlois 9. The wife of the village: understanding caste in the Mandara Mountains 257 James H. Wade 10. The iron bride: blacksmith, iron, and femininity among the Kapsiki/Higi 285 Walter van Beek 11. A touch of wildness: brass and brass casting in Kapsiki 303 Walter van Beek PART IV AFTERWORD 12. Afterword 327 Jean-Pierre Warnier List of contributors 343 Index 347 Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture List of Figures Larger color versions of the figures marked with an asterisk can be found on Nich- olas David’s web site at http://people.ucalgary.ca/~ndavid/Homepage/#MMF *1.1 Map of the northern Mandara Mountains and surrounding plains: ethno-linguistic groups, towns and villages. 4 *1.2 The furnace built by the Mafa iron-master Dokwaza. 10 *1.3 The Sukurian furnace built by Plata smelter Ajokfa in use in 1989. Photo: David Killick. 11 1.4 Front and side views of examples of Teleki-Banan furnaces. 12 *1.5 Dokwaza Kawa’s forge, 1986. 14 *2.1 The study area in regional context, with archaeological sites. 28 *2.2 The northern Mandara Mountains, with numbered archaeological sites. 41 * 2.3 The northern Mandara Mountains, with selected named sites. 43 3.1 René Gardi at Ldamszay with a young Mafa woman. Photo: Paul Hinderling. 72 *3.2 A moment early in the smelt by Truadak at Ldamszay in February 1953. Photo: René Gardi. 74 3.3 Towards the end of the smelt at Sulede in March 1953. 76 3.4 The end of the smelt at Sulede in March 1953. 77 *4.1 Patterns of articulation of ironworkers and society in the Northern Mandara region. 100 *5.1 A selection of Sukur blooms, iron bars and bloomery iron frag- ments. 116 viii *5.2 Map showing Nigerian districts and Cameroonian administrative boundaries. 118 5.3 Villages of the Mokolo cantons and selected other settlements. 119 5.4 Dokwaza Kawa’s Shebe clan line. 128 *5.5 Map of Sukur and its region. 139 *5.6 Sukur furnaces. 140 *5.7 Sukur blooms and iron bars. 141 6.1 At work in a Mafa forge. 175 6.2 At work in an Uldeme forge. 176 6.3 Smith and bellowsman/striker beat out a hoe in a Manaouatchi (Wandala) forge. 177 *6.4 Three named Wandala hoe types and their common template. 178 *6.5 A Mafa smith using a bar hammer on a hoe. 181 7.1 The Mandara region, northern Cameroon. 187 *7.2 Ridged-boulder forging hammers. 191 7.3 Hoes made by Plata and Wandala smiths. 192 7.4 Wandala-made hoes. 195 7.5 Two examples of Wandala hoe templates. 199 7.6 Decision tree flow chart showing the main steps in forging three key hoe types. 200 *7.7 Mandara region sheath knife, resting on its leather sheath. 203 7.8 Field sketches showing knife handles. 205 7.9 Metric recording scheme for knife handles. 209 7.10 The first two principal components based on metric observations of knives. 211 8.1 Part of Central Africa, showing selected ethno-linguistic groups, kingdoms and sites. 227 8.2 The northern Mandara Mountains: ethno-linguistic groups, his- toric and archaeological sites and the Mandara (Wandala) kingdom. 229 9.1 The centrality of the marginal: a view of the Fali cosmos. 265 9.2 Fali society: structured in terms of gender and caste. 266 10.1 A selection of Kapsiki iron artifacts. 287 *10.2 The bride clothed in her iron skirt, accompanied by female relatives 289 *10.3 The sister of an initiated boy clothed in her iron skirt and carrying his cowrie shell girdle. 291 Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture ix *10.4 Chief smith Gwarda wears the smiths’ traditional coiled basketry cap. 298 11.1 Cross-section of a Kapsiki brass casting furnace and a selection of brass artifacts. 305 11.2 Brass casters Teri Kwafashé and his wife Masi at work. 306 *11.3 A selection of Kapsiki/Higi brasses. 307 *11.4 Kapsiki/Higi brasses: a goblet and a calabash. 308 *11.5 A selection of small Kapsiki/Higi brasses. 309 11.6 The 1973 male initiates of Mogode, four with paya ornaments on their foreheads. 311 11.7 A fully decorated initiate wearing a headdress with rooster feathers gets his blessing. 312 11.8 The chief smith performing a burial rite. 315 11.9 Coins stuck on his forehead reward an iron smith for his praise singing. 316 *11.10 Tourists shopping for brasses at Teri’s compound in 2005; brasses by Masi. 317 *11.11 Masi shows the mold of a brass goblet, a brass miniature cooking pot and the wax model of a miniature pot. 319 List of Figures List of Tables 2.1 Radiocarbon dates from Mandara research 1984 – 2008. 36 4.1 Craft and professional activities of some Mandara montagnard smith-potters. 89 4.2 Classifications of Chadic languages spoken in and around the Mandara Mountains. 101 5.1 Census data and population densities for the Department of Mayo Tsanaga and the Matakam-Sud and Mokolo-Fulbe cantons. 124 5.2 Population of the Mokolo cantons according to the 1963, 1982 and 1987 censuses. 126 5.3 Furnace masters working in a sample of circum-Mokolo villages in the 1930s and 40s. 131 5.4 Census made in 1986 of iron objects in the house of an elderly Mafa couple. 134 5.5 Calculation of bloomery iron production in relation to require- ments for replacements. 137 5.6 Estimates of production of blooms and small bar equivalents per annum at Sukur. 147 5.7 Calculations of estimated annual production of small bars by Sukur in the1930s and 1940s. 150 5.8 Calculation of iron production of the Hide of Tourou and the Mabas in the period 1930-49. 153 5.9 Calculation of iron balance in the Mokolo cantons. 154 5.10 Best estimate of population of Madagali District in 1942-3. 157 xii 5.11 The iron balance in Madagali District (1930s-40s) by community cluster. 158 7.1 Knives included in study, broken down by maker ethnicity and location. 208 7.2 Regression analysis of location and ethnicity effects on knife shape. 213 8.1 Recorded montagnard myths relating to the origins of endogamy by theme and group. 233 11.1 Craft and other associations of the three groups of Kapsiki smiths. 314 Metals in Mandara Mountains Society and Culture A Note on Transcription To the best of my knowledge there are published lexicons, dictionaries or gram- mars for only five of the over forty Biu-Mandara Chadic languages1 still spoken in the northern Mandara Mountains region. Lacking such resources, fieldwork- ers’ transcriptions of native words tend to be ad hoc and erratic, often failing to note tones. Furthermore, somewhat different conventions have been adopted by linguists on either side of the Nigeria-Cameroon border. Readers of this volume should therefore not expect consistency in the reproduction of native terms. While Wade (chapter 9) and van Beek (chapter 10) specify their transcriptions in more detail, and others use the transcriptions of the authors they cite, the following special characters are commonly used: º voiced bilabial implosive Þ, ë voiced alveolar implosive ©, í schwa ½, Á voiced velar nasal (English – sing) tl/sl unvoiced alveolar lateral fricative (Nigerian versus Cameroonian orthography) dl/zl voiced alveolar lateral fricative (as above).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics &A
    Online Appendix for Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue (2014) Some Principles of the Use of Macro-Areas Language Dynamics & Change Harald Hammarstr¨om& Mark Donohue The following document lists the languages of the world and their as- signment to the macro-areas described in the main body of the paper as well as the WALS macro-area for languages featured in the WALS 2005 edi- tion. 7160 languages are included, which represent all languages for which we had coordinates available1. Every language is given with its ISO-639-3 code (if it has one) for proper identification. The mapping between WALS languages and ISO-codes was done by using the mapping downloadable from the 2011 online WALS edition2 (because a number of errors in the mapping were corrected for the 2011 edition). 38 WALS languages are not given an ISO-code in the 2011 mapping, 36 of these have been assigned their appropri- ate iso-code based on the sources the WALS lists for the respective language. This was not possible for Tasmanian (WALS-code: tsm) because the WALS mixes data from very different Tasmanian languages and for Kualan (WALS- code: kua) because no source is given. 17 WALS-languages were assigned ISO-codes which have subsequently been retired { these have been assigned their appropriate updated ISO-code. In many cases, a WALS-language is mapped to several ISO-codes. As this has no bearing for the assignment to macro-areas, multiple mappings have been retained. 1There are another couple of hundred languages which are attested but for which our database currently lacks coordinates.
    [Show full text]
  • Surviving Works: Context in Verre Arts Part One, Chapter One: the Verre
    Surviving Works: context in Verre arts Part One, Chapter One: The Verre Tim Chappel, Richard Fardon and Klaus Piepel Special Issue Vestiges: Traces of Record Vol 7 (1) (2021) ISSN: 2058-1963 http://www.vestiges-journal.info Preface and Acknowledgements (HTML | PDF) PART ONE CONTEXT Chapter 1 The Verre (HTML | PDF) Chapter 2 Documenting the early colonial assemblage – 1900s to 1910s (HTML | PDF) Chapter 3 Documenting the early post-colonial assemblage – 1960s to 1970s (HTML | PDF) Interleaf ‘Brass Work of Adamawa’: a display cabinet in the Jos Museum – 1967 (HTML | PDF) PART TWO ARTS Chapter 4 Brass skeuomorphs: thinking about originals and copies (HTML | PDF) Chapter 5 Towards a catalogue raisonnée 5.1 Percussion (HTML | PDF) 5.2 Personal Ornaments (HTML | PDF) 5.3 Initiation helmets and crooks (HTML | PDF) 5.4 Hoes and daggers (HTML | PDF) 5.5 Prestige skeuomorphs (HTML | PDF) 5.6 Anthropomorphic figures (HTML | PDF) Chapter 6 Conclusion: late works ̶ Verre brasscasting in context (HTML | PDF) APPENDICES Appendix 1 The Verre collection in the Jos and Lagos Museums in Nigeria (HTML | PDF) Appendix 2 Chappel’s Verre vendors (HTML | PDF) Appendix 3 A glossary of Verre terms for objects, their uses and descriptions (HTML | PDF) Appendix 4 Leo Frobenius’s unpublished Verre ethnological notes and part inventory (HTML | PDF) Bibliography (HTML | PDF) This work is copyright to the authors released under a Creative Commons attribution license. PART ONE CONTEXT Chapter 1 The Verre Predominantly living in the Benue Valley of eastern middle-belt Nigeria, the Verre are one of that populous country’s numerous micro-minorities.
    [Show full text]
  • Options for a National Culture Symbol of Cameroon: Can the Bamenda Grassfields Traditional Dress Fit?
    EAS Journal of Humanities and Cultural Studies Abbreviated Key Title: EAS J Humanit Cult Stud ISSN: 2663-0958 (Print) & ISSN: 2663-6743 (Online) Published By East African Scholars Publisher, Kenya Volume-2 | Issue-1| Jan-Feb-2020 | DOI: 10.36349/easjhcs.2020.v02i01.003 Research Article Options for a National Culture Symbol of Cameroon: Can the Bamenda Grassfields Traditional Dress Fit? Venantius Kum NGWOH Ph.D* Department of History Faculty of Arts University of Buea, Cameroon Abstract: The national symbols of Cameroon like flag, anthem, coat of arms and seal do not Article History in any way reveal her cultural background because of the political inclination of these signs. Received: 14.01.2020 In global sporting events and gatherings like World Cup and international conferences Accepted: 28.12.2020 respectively, participants who appear in traditional costume usually easily reveal their Published: 17.02.2020 nationalities. The Ghanaian Kente, Kenyan Kitenge, Nigerian Yoruba outfit, Moroccan Journal homepage: Djellaba or Indian Dhoti serve as national cultural insignia of their respective countries. The https://www.easpublisher.com/easjhcs reason why Cameroon is referred in tourist circles as a cultural mosaic is that she harbours numerous strands of culture including indigenous, Gaullist or Francophone and Anglo- Quick Response Code Saxon or Anglophone. Although aspects of indigenous culture, which have been grouped into four spheres, namely Fang-Beti, Grassfields, Sawa and Sudano-Sahelian, are dotted all over the country in multiple ways, Cameroon cannot still boast of a national culture emblem. The purpose of this article is to define the major components of a Cameroonian national culture and further identify which of them can be used as an acceptable domestic cultural device.
    [Show full text]
  • Kanembu-Kaniri Relationship
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Hochschulschriftenserver - Universität Frankfurt am Main Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268, Band 8, Frankfurt a.M. 1996: 37-47 KANEMBU-KANURI RELATIONSHIP: A PROPOSAL1 Shettima Umara Bulakarima Abstract The paper takes recourse to oral tradition and linguistics to ascertain the assertion that the present-day Kanuri and Kanembu speech forms emerged from the same parent language. In determining the parent language, the descriptions of the various components (i.e. clans and ethnic groups) of Kanuri and Kanembu are given as a first basis and the relation of each dialect of Kanuri and Kanembu to the other (i.e. dialect contiguity) is demonstrated as a second basis. Taking into consideration the sociolinguistic background of both Kanuri and Kanembu, the brief history of their divergence, the strong contention of the Borno Ulama and the dialect contiguity of the data presented, the paper concludes that Kanuri and Kanembu are initially one and the same language with ancient classical Kanembu being the parent language. Kanembu-Kanuri relationship: a proposal Introduction The close genetic relationship of a group of languages referred to as Saharan, was recognised about one and a half centuries ago. This was evident in BARTH (1965), NACHTIGAL (1987), LUKAS (1951), TUCKER and BRYAN (1956), GREENBERG (1966) and CYFFER (1981, 1990, 1991). Based on the genetic classification model of LUKAS (1951), GREENBERG (1966), PETRACEK (1966, 1978 and 1979) and CYFFER (1981 and 1990), the Saharan languages can be modelled as fig. 1 below. 1 I am grateful to the following colleagues for their academic criticisms/contributions which brought the paper to its present stage: A.
    [Show full text]
  • Capability Deprivations and Political Complexities
    The political complexity of pro-poor policy processes in the Mandara Mountains, Cameroon1 TOM DE HERDT and SÉVERIN ABEGA Tom De Herdt is Lecturer at the Institute of Development Policy and Management – University of Antwerp, Belgium. Séverin Abega is Professor at the Université Catholique de l’Afrique Centrale – Yaounde, Cameroon Abstract: We give more conceptual flesh and bones to the interconnections between social structures and individual agency by focusing on the way in which the people(s) inhabiting the Mandara Mountains in Far North province of Cameroon have been affected by pro-poor policy processes. We analyze the role of individual, collective and relational capabilities in such processes. The case-study points to (i) the importance of tracing capability deprivations back to weak political agency, (ii) the sometimes ambiguous impact of participatory procedures and (iii) the necessity to balance the “what” and the “how” questions in designing anti-poverty interventions. Key words: political capabilities, agency, participation, pro-poor policies, Cameroon. Collective agency and political capabilities The intellectual history of the concept of “collective capabilities”, like that of many scientific concepts, begins with some “points of clarification” (Sen, 2002, p. 85). In his reply to the claim by Evans (2002) that achieving individual capabilities depends on collective capabilities, Sen points out that we should make a distinction between “socially dependent individual capabilities” and genuinely collective capabilities. In between the examples Sen provides, one finds a definition of the latter as something which is not within any individual’s capability to achieve. In Sen’s interpretation, Evans claims that most individual capabilities are simply socially dependent, i.e.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient and New Arabic Loans in Chadic Sergio Saldi
    u L p A Ancient and University of New Arabic Loans Leipzig Papers on in Chadic Afrlca ! Languages and Literatures Sergio Saldi No.07 1999 University of Leipzig Papers on Africa Languages and Literatures Series No. 07 Ancient and New Arabic Loans in Chadic by Sergio Baldi Leipzig, 1999 ISBN: 3-932632-35-4 Orders should be addressed to: / Bestellungen an: Institut für Afrikanistik, Universität Leipzig Augustusplatz 9 D - 04109 Leipzig Phone: (0049)-(0)341-9737037 Fax: (0049)-(0)341-9737048 Em@il: [email protected] Internet: http://www. uni-leipzig.derifa/ulpa.htm University of Leipzie- Papers on Afrlca Languages and Literatures Serles Editor: H. Ekkehard Wolff Layout and Graphics: Toralf Richter Ancient and New Arabic Loans in Chadic Sergio Baldi Baldi, Ancient and New Arabic Loans in Chadic l Introduction1 Chadic languages have been influenced by Arabic at differents levels. Apart from Hausa which is a special case considering its diffusion on a very !arge area where sometimes it is spoken as a lingua franca, other Chadic languages have been in linguistic contact with Arabic, too. This paper illustrates the diffusion of Arabic loans among those Chadic languages for which it was possible to collect material through dictionaries and other sources listed at the end in References. As far as I know this is the first survey in Chadic languages on this topic, besides Hausa. Tue difficulty to do such work relates to the scarcity and sometimes inaccessability2) even ofpublished data. Also, works of only the last few decades are reliable. Tue languages taken into consideration are: Bidiya, Kotoko, Lame, Mafa, Mokilko, Musgu, Pero, Tangale and Tumak.
    [Show full text]
  • Petro-Geochemistry, Genesis and Economic Aspect of Syenitic and Mafic Rocks in Mindif Complex, Far North Cameroon, Central Africa
    International Journal of Geosciences, 2019, 10, 1081-1114 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ijg ISSN Online: 2156-8367 ISSN Print: 2156-8359 Petro-Geochemistry, Genesis and Economic Aspect of Syenitic and Mafic Rocks in Mindif Complex, Far North Cameroon, Central Africa Nguo Sylvestre Kanouo1*, Lianxun Wang2, Arnaud Patrice Kouske3, Syprien Bovari Yomeun2, Emmanuel Archelaus Afanga Basua2 1Mineral Exploration and Ore Genesis Unit, Department of Mining Engineering and Mineral Processing, Faculty of Mines and Petroleum Industries, University of Maroua, Maroua, Cameroon 2School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China 3Department of Civil Engineering, The University Institute of Technology, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon How to cite this paper: Kanouo, N.S., Abstract Wang, L., Kouske, A.P., Yomeun, S.B. and Basua, E.A.A. (2019) Petro-Geochemistry, Syenitic and mafic rocks in Mindif Complex (Far North of Cameroon) were Genesis and Economic Aspect of Syenitic surveyed and characterized to classify them, understand their formation his- and Mafic Rocks in Mindif Complex, Far tory, and assess their economic interest. Syenitic bodies (hololeucocratic North Cameroon, Central Africa. Interna- tional Journal of Geosciences, 10, 1081-1114. microsyenites; mesocratic aplitic quartz-syenite; leucocratic porphyritic https://doi.org/10.4236/ijg.2019.1012062 quartz-biotite syenite, and leucocratic porphyritic biotite-syenite) are sili- ca-oversaturated to silica-saturated, alkaline, and metaluminous. Hololeu- Received: June 16, 2019 cocratic microsyenites are structural oriented rocks, cooled in shallow Accepted: December 6, 2019 Published: December 9, 2019 depth from low trace and REE dry residual alkaline melts. Mesocratic ap- litic quartz-syenite also crystallized in shallow depth from a much Ba-rich Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and less dry residual melt.
    [Show full text]
  • Multi-Page.Pdf
    Public Disclosure Authorized _______ ;- _____ ____ - -. '-ujuLuzmmw---- Public Disclosure Authorized __________~~~ It lif't5.> fL Elf-iWEtfWIi5I------ S -~ __~_, ~ S,, _ 3111£'' ! - !'_= Public Disclosure Authorized al~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~sl .' _1EIf l i . i.5I!... ..IillWM .,,= aN N B 1. , l h~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Public Disclosure Authorized = r =s s s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~foss XIe l l=4 1lill'%WYldii.Ul~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ itA=iII1 l~w 6t*t Estimating Woody Biomass in Sub-Saharan Africa Estimating Woody Biomass in Sub-Saharan Africa Andrew C. Miflington Richard W. Critdhley Terry D. Douglas Paul Ryan With contributions by Roger Bevan John Kirkby Phil O'Keefe Ian Ryle The World Bank Washington, D.C. @1994 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, US.A. All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America First printing March 1994 The findings, interpretations, and conclusiornsexpressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views and policies of the World Bank or its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent Some sources cited in this paper may be informal documents that are not readily available. The manLerialin this publication is copyrighted. Requests for permission to reproduce portions of it should be sent to the Office of the Publisher at the address shown in the copyright notice above. The World Bank encourages dissemination of its work and will normally give permission promptly and, when the reproduction is for noncommnercial purposes, without asking a fee. Permission to copy portions for classroom use is granted through the CopyrightClearance Center, Inc-, Suite 910,222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, Massachusetts 01923, US.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Nilo-Saharan’
    11 Linguistic Features and Typologies in Languages Commonly Referred to as ‘Nilo-Saharan’ Gerrit J. Dimmendaal, Colleen Ahland, Angelika Jakobi, and Constance Kutsch Lojenga 11.1 Introduction The phylum referred to today as Nilo- Saharan (occasionally also Nilosaharan) was established by Greenberg (1963). It consists of a core of language families already argued to be genetically related in his earlier classiication of African languages (Greenberg 1955:110–114), consisting of Eastern Sudanic, Central Sudanic, Kunama, and Berta, and grouped under the name Macrosudanic; this language family was renamed Chari- Nile in his 1963 contribution after a suggestion by the Africanist William Welmers. In his 1963 classiication, Greenberg hypothesized that Nilo- Saharan consists of Chari- Nile and ive other languages or language fam- ilies treated as independent units in his earlier study: Songhay (Songhai), Saharan, Maban, Fur, and Koman (Coman). Bender (1997) also included the Kadu languages in Sudan in his sur- vey of Nilo-Saharan languages; these were classiied as members of the Kordofanian branch of Niger-Kordofanian by Greenberg (1963) under the name Tumtum. Although some progress has been made in our knowledge of the Kadu languages, they remain relatively poorly studied, and there- fore they are not further discussed here, also because actual historical evi- dence for their Nilo- Saharan afiliation is rather weak. Whereas there is a core of language groups now widely assumed to belong to Nilo- Saharan as a phylum or macro- family, the genetic afiliation of families such as Koman and Songhay is also disputed (as for the Kadu languages). For this reason, these latter groups are discussed separately from what is widely considered to form the core of Nilo- Saharan, Central Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core.
    [Show full text]
  • An Atlas of Nigerian Languages
    AN ATLAS OF NIGERIAN LANGUAGES 3rd. Edition Roger Blench Kay Williamson Educational Foundation 8, Guest Road, Cambridge CB1 2AL United Kingdom Voice/Answerphone 00-44-(0)1223-560687 Mobile 00-44-(0)7967-696804 E-mail [email protected] http://rogerblench.info/RBOP.htm Skype 2.0 identity: roger blench i Introduction The present electronic is a fully revised and amended edition of ‘An Index of Nigerian Languages’ by David Crozier and Roger Blench (1992), which replaced Keir Hansford, John Bendor-Samuel and Ron Stanford (1976), a pioneering attempt to synthesize what was known at the time about the languages of Nigeria and their classification. Definition of a Language The preparation of a listing of Nigerian languages inevitably begs the question of the definition of a language. The terms 'language' and 'dialect' have rather different meanings in informal speech from the more rigorous definitions that must be attempted by linguists. Dialect, in particular, is a somewhat pejorative term suggesting it is merely a local variant of a 'central' language. In linguistic terms, however, dialect is merely a regional, social or occupational variant of another speech-form. There is no presupposition about its importance or otherwise. Because of these problems, the more neutral term 'lect' is coming into increasing use to describe any type of distinctive speech-form. However, the Index inevitably must have head entries and this involves selecting some terms from the thousands of names recorded and using them to cover a particular linguistic nucleus. In general, the choice of a particular lect name as a head-entry should ideally be made solely on linguistic grounds.
    [Show full text]
  • Biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and Its Islands Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use
    Biodiversity in Sub-Saharan Africa and its Islands Conservation, Management and Sustainable Use Occasional Papers of the IUCN Species Survival Commission No. 6 IUCN - The World Conservation Union IUCN Species Survival Commission Role of the SSC The Species Survival Commission (SSC) is IUCN's primary source of the 4. To provide advice, information, and expertise to the Secretariat of the scientific and technical information required for the maintenance of biologi- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna cal diversity through the conservation of endangered and vulnerable species and Flora (CITES) and other international agreements affecting conser- of fauna and flora, whilst recommending and promoting measures for their vation of species or biological diversity. conservation, and for the management of other species of conservation con- cern. Its objective is to mobilize action to prevent the extinction of species, 5. To carry out specific tasks on behalf of the Union, including: sub-species and discrete populations of fauna and flora, thereby not only maintaining biological diversity but improving the status of endangered and • coordination of a programme of activities for the conservation of bio- vulnerable species. logical diversity within the framework of the IUCN Conservation Programme. Objectives of the SSC • promotion of the maintenance of biological diversity by monitoring 1. To participate in the further development, promotion and implementation the status of species and populations of conservation concern. of the World Conservation Strategy; to advise on the development of IUCN's Conservation Programme; to support the implementation of the • development and review of conservation action plans and priorities Programme' and to assist in the development, screening, and monitoring for species and their populations.
    [Show full text]
  • Adaptation and Delimitation Some Thoughts About the Kanurization of the Gamergu
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Hochschulschriftenserver - Universität Frankfurt am Main Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268, Band 8, Frankfurt a. M. 1996: 49-66 ADAPTATION AND DELIMITATION SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT THE KANURIZATION OF THE GAMERGU Norbert Cyffer, Doris Löhr, Editha Platte and Abba Isa Tijani Introduction The area around the Lake Chad is characterized as an example for a region where ethnic changes abundantly took place and still do. For example some Kanuri districts, or the leaders of those districts, are (unofficially) named after other ethnic names (e.g. Margi, Shuwa) or Kanuri clan names are identical with ethnic names of other groups, eg. Tera, Bade. Both people speak a Chadic language and live in the south and west of the Kanuri respectively. These are indications that the Kanuri formerly absorbed and integrated these peoples. These processes are not only a phenomenon of the past. In the case of the neighbouring Gamergu people an ongoing process of ethnic change towards a Kanuri identity is observed until present. The research projects1 have revealed that the concept of "ethnic units" is far from being static which the term may suggest. This especially applies to the German Stamm, which implies a static concept of ethnicity. However, in Borno the dynamics of ethnic and linguistic change are prevailing. Therefore Ronald Cohen rejected the term "ethnic unit", or even "tribe" for the Kanuri and preferred "nation" instead (COHEN 1967). Umara Bulakarima argued along the same line but used "ethnic group" for Kanuri sub-units, e.g.
    [Show full text]