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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.........................................................................