The Evolution of the Built Environment of the Margi Ethnic Group of Northeastern Nigeria By Emmanuel Awidau Birdling Copyright 2013 Submitted to the graduate degree program in Geography and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography. ________________________________ Chairperson: Garth Myers (Geography) ________________________________ Co-Chairperson: So-Min Cheong (Geography) ________________________________ J. Christopher Brown (Geography) ________________________________ Kapila D. Silva (Architecture) ________________________________ Marie Alice L’Heureux (Architecture) Date Defended: April 15th, 2013 The Dissertation Committee for Emmanuel Awidau Birdling Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: The Evolution of the Built Environment of the Margi Ethnic Group of Northeastern Nigeria ________________________________ Chairperson: Garth Myers ________________________________ Co-Chairperson: So-Min Cheong Date approved: April 23, 2013 ii Abstract This dissertation is a story of the evolution of the domestic sphere of the Margi ethnic group of northeastern Nigeria. The evolution started with round huts and fences that were constructed mainly with pieces of stones while living in the Mandara Mountain enclaves and with mud huts surrounded with thatch mats while living on the plains and then evolved to a contemporary, but a hybrid structure, as a result of their contact with westerners. Based on fieldwork, interviews, and critical archival analysis of missionary and colonial papers, my narrative traces the historical, geographical, spatial, architectural, and developmental perspectives of the infrastructure changes in the Margi built environment in precisely 52 Margi towns, villages, and neighborhoods. This includes: roads, residential structures, and components of modernity such as schools, churches, mosques, hospitals, and stores (the term stores is used to account for markets, bars, convenient stores, and restaurants). I concentrate on the type of structure, the time it was built, the changes made to the structure, and the types of material used. I also examine individual group interests and activities by three separate groups who exchanged ideas with each other that helped start the change on which this dissertation is built. Along the way, and many times, these separate group interests clashed. The groups are: the colonial authorities, the missionaries, and the Margi. iii Acknowledgements My memory of self-awareness started when I was 3-years old. From then I started encountering a lot of people (I cannot mention them all) that helped me along the way as I have journeyed through life to this point. I always believed God sent them my way to help me achieve my ordained purposes of existence. And, perhaps one of these purposes is to begin the process of writing the story of the Margi evolution. I keep on hoping that future generations will refine it and make it part of global literature. In this acknowledgement, I will mention but a few of these people that I encountered along the way: My mother Asbiryu (Susuyu) Sikari Awidau, my father Awidau Papka, and my step mother Kelu Duwamiya Awidau; all worked hard raising the 10 of us children. My mother and elder sister Umbwamtu worked hard on mum’s peanut farm to pay my exorbitant missionary school fees. At that time, the monies earned from selling peanuts was in most cases not enough and my father had to build mud huts and walls for extra money during the dry season to pay the remaining fees. After Primary School, my uncle, Yakubu Haliru, and his wife Aisa Yakubu opened their home to me when they were staying in Kaduna and treated me like one of their blood children; it is through them I met Bello I Pur. From then on Bello became my life-time mentor and a friend. Bello initiated my admission into secondary school, in collaboration with Mr. N. A. Onadepo (former principal G.S.S. Bauchi) and the late Margimari Zamdayu. After Secondary School my uncle Bulama Wjilda and his wife Adama Zandayu Bulama, who is my mother’s cousin took me into their home for few months when I started my first job in Mubi. My former supervisor, the Chief Quantity Surveyor for the defunct Gongola State Government the late O. K. Bakodo, gave me my first job in the building industry, and he iv initiated all the training I received both in state and regional level. After which Bello I Pur stepped in again; and in collaboration with former commissioner, Idris Medugu, they succeeded in attaining an in-service training scholarship for me to attend American University. While at the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg Missouri, U.S.A., the members of Church of the Brethren there made my family and I feel at home, especially Mr. and Mrs. James Baile and Mr. and Mrs. Roger Irle. More especially Elizabeth Irle, who treated my family and I as her own family (our middle child, an only daughter, was given Elizabeth’s name as a middle name). My first son came to know her as Grandma. In the corporate world my thanks goes to Gerald Jones, former Director of Codes Administration, City of Kansas City, Missouri, for giving me my first professional job in the United States where I was introduced to the enforcement of western building laws and ended up working there for 12 years. Wilson Winn, my former supervisor at the Codes administration Department stood by me up-until today. In fact he is the last person I talked to before I started writing this acknowledgement. Here at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, my in measurable gratitude goes to a man, by name Garth Myers (the architect of my intellectual development), he supervised my work at the MA and PhD level; he is a global citizen in the proper sense. He is the only person I have come across whose demeanor never changes. I came to know him as Professor Myers. Garth Myers also hired me as his Outreach Coordinator when he was the Director of Kansas African Studies Center here at the University of Kansas. This was a professional job even though I was a student. Through his influence I helped organizing several global, regional and instate conferences and went to several American cities that I never imagined I would visit. Even after he took his present job as the Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor in Trinity College, v Hartford, Ct., he stayed with me and led me through the complex process, of writing this dissertation and, chaired my defense. Garth Myers has given this effort to at least 95% of Africans that attended the University of Kansas at least for the time I have been here at the University. I have not yet came across any graduate student, white or black, that read Africa related subject matter in any department that Myers has not been on his or her committee. I also want to thank my committee members: Kapila Silva, (whom I visited his office almost weekly to discuss this project); So-Ming Cheong, who is the Co-Chairperson of my dissertation committee; Marie-Alice L’Heureux, for her help in reviewing and shaping my thinking on Margi architecture; and J. Christopher Brown for all his help. In addition, I extend my thanks to all the department staff for their help with the details of my PhD examination and the defense of this dissertation. The research for this dissertation could not have been possible without the help of the followings institutions and the individual working there: The staff at the Church of the Brethren Historical Library and Archives, Elgin, Illinois; The faculty and staff at the African Studies Center, School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, David Pratten, and Wanja Knigton, more especially William Beinart (Rhodes Professor of Race Relations & Director of Graduate Studies) who made it possible for me to present my work to the faculty and students of the University of Oxford; Anthony Kirk-Green, a former colonial officer for Adamawa and Borno for his invaluable insight and for spending hours with me on several occasions both at the university and his home; the staff of Rhodes House Library in Oxford, United Kingdom, especially Lucy McCann for her help, quickly coming to my side when I would get confused in the volumes of old colonial records; the staff at the University of Kansas Library, especially Kim Glover, from whom I took several computer usage classes and vi issues with endnote, Mickey Waxman whom worked with me throughout my data analysis on several occasion, especially the complicated analysis of variance (Anova). Very special thanks to my cousin Stephen Dzugwahi Birdling, and his family (the first to welcome me to the United Kingdom). Stephen took it on himself, using his own resources, to travel to Switzerland to procure Margi photos from Sister Hanni Schlapbach who was a missionary in Gulak. Stephen also travelled to the Netherlands and acquired Margi photos from Mr. and Mrs. Land who were also missionaries in Margi land in the 1960s. I cannot begin to imagine writing this dissertation without these photos. In the words of my committee member Marie Alice L’Heureux, “The photos are Gold mine.” Myers made similar comment, “The photos told the story.” Thanks Brother Steve, we did it together, it is our story. While researching in the Margi cultural landscape the following people made things possible; first my sister Maimuna Aliyu was the first to receive me in Abuja, Nigeria and the last to see me off when coming back to United States. Bello I. Pur and Abasiryu Wajilda were my main advisors on Margi culture. Thawur Njabdi, Bulama Wjilda, Andrew Pteleri Mamza, Jilantikiri Sinamai, gave me additional information I needed on the Margi cultural landscape.