BREAKING: President Tinubu to address Nigerians today

This is the html version of the file http://intercultural.dk/icms/filer/dissertationfirefemseks.pdf. G o o g l e automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web. To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:wDzc9Lf5vcIJ:intercultural.dk/icms/filer/dissertationfirefemseks.pdf+awogbade+fulani&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=28 Google is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content. These search terms have been highlighted: awogbade fulani Page 1 1 CHAPTER 4 THE HISTORY AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF THE PASTORAL FULBE SOCIETY The sociological context of communication in general and of cross-cultural communication of the gospel in particular is very important. In the words of David Filbeck, For a missionary to understand communication, especially cross-cultural communication, he must first understand the basis on which communication takes place. . . . What is the foundation on which a message is transmitted and received? More precisely, where does a person begin in communicating with another, and on what basis does the other person receive and interpret the communication? The answer is to be found in the way society, of both the communicator and the receiver, is organized. The social organization of the participants, in other words, forms the foundation which underlies communication, the transmission and receiving of messages from one person to another (1985:3). Therefore, if we are to communicate the gospel to the pastoral Fulbe in Northern Nigeria, we have to understand the context in which they live and in which their interaction with the gospel and the church takes place. In this chapter, the social context will be analyzed, and in the next chapter the focus will be the religious context of the pastoral Fulbe. First, I will present a brief overview of the history of the Fulbe in Nigeria in order to show how their identity has been shaped through history. Then the social organization of the pastoral Fulbe society and the effects of modernization on this society will be analyzed. This analysis will provide an understanding of the life situation of the pastoral Fulbe, their felt needs and Page 2 2 aspirations, and other socio-cultural factors that have to be considered when developing strategies for a contextual communication of the gospel. The History of Fulbe in Northern Nigeria Although the origin of the Fulbe has attracted the attention of many ethnographers and historians, little is known, according to reliable historical sources, about their existence before they are found with their cattle around the Senegal River in the 10th century. Before presenting the documented history of the Fulbe, I will give a brief introduction to their mythical past, which also has influenced their self-understanding. The Mythical Past According to their own legends the Fulbe are descendants of Arabs entering Africa. This may be the reason Arabs are not grouped with the non-Fulbe people identified by the derogatory term Haabe (plural of Kaado). White people are also exempted from the term Haabe, but are called Nasaaraa’en (plural of Nasaaraajo) from the Arabic word for Christians. The term Haabe has therefore come to mean the Negroid, non-Fulbe, neighboring ethnic groups, to whom the Fulbe feel superior. Another key element in all their creation myths is cattle, which was given to the Fulbe to look after in the bush. This attachment to cattle sets them apart from their neighbors, just as does their alleged Arabic origin (Labatut 1975:72-84). The ancient myths collected by Bâ give insight into the pre-Islamic religion of the Fulbe. Geno is the eternal and almighty creator, keeper and destroyer, who gives and takes life, but who is not worshipped. Worshipped are the supernatural spirits and divinities that are “emanations” from Geno. In the cosmology of the Fulbe, there are, apart from the realm of Geno, three spheres. In the “land of clarity” live human beings together with animals and plants. In the “land of semi-darkness” reign the divinities and Page 3 3 spirits, and in the “land of the deep night” rest the souls of the dead and of those who are to be born--the souls of human beings and of animals and plants. The spirits may incarnate themselves and appear to human beings in the “land of clarity” (1972:114-117; 1978:9-11, 18-20). The Kumen myth, which has been analyzed by R. Nelson (1997:64-79), is the most important myth and will therefore be briefly analyzed here because it reveals the perspective of life of the pastoral Fulbe before the Islamization. The main character in this myth, which describes initiation into knowledgeable herdmanship, is Sile Sajo who is led by a deity, called Kumen, through twelve “glades” in the mystical wilderness. In the first glade Kumen introduces Sile to Geno, who asks Sile what he wants him to do for him. Sile replies that he wants to increase his knowledge and to become a good herdsman and a priest, silatigi. Then Geno allows him to pass on working through the glades and increasing his knowledge through the journey. After having met the creator himself, he now is introduced to the four elements in creation (earth, air, fire, and water), and the ordering of these elements. In the tenth glade, he is introduced to Kumen’s wife Foroforondu, but he is warned that he will be lost if he submits to her orders. Sile stands firm, and Foroforondu leads him to the eleventh and the twelfth glade. The content of the twelfth glade, which is the most significant, is summarized by R. Nelson. In the twelfth glade are large trees, two termite hills, two ant hills, a pool and a hermaphrodite bovine standing under the tree. After some ritual, Sile goes through a ‘new birth’ as a calf comes out of the pool while he ritually bathes in it. Foroforondu gets milk from the bovine and Sile drinks it. He then tells the significance of 28 knots on a magic rope, and receives gifts for each correct answer. Finally he receives authority from Kumen and Foroforondu, symbolized by Foroforondu’s ring and two herding staffs: one female and the other male. It is because of his occult knowledge that he is able to kill the lion on the way home (1997:69). Page 4 4 In his analysis of this myth, R. Nelson detects, in the twelfth glade, a central tripole of (1) the hermaphrodite bovine, (2) Kumen’s wife Foroforondu, and (3) Sile/Kumen 1 with separate competencies and responsibilities. The bovine produces milk and thereby sustains life. Foroforondu, who was in charge of the ceremonies in the eleventh and the twelfth glade, has all the power over fertility, reproduction and food. Sile/Kumen exercises authority over Foroforondu and provides protection and care. Now Sile is prepared to return from the “land of semidarkness” to the “land of clarity,” the land of people. After having participated in Kumen’s mythical tripole, he is now equipped to participate in the tripole of cattle, wife, and herder. The interpretation of R. Nelson is that this tripole is a network of interdependence. Sile depends on Cattle for milk, strength, self respect. Sile depends on Wife for fertility: both human and bovine, milk production, food preparation, care of sacred objects, magic for finding good pasture. Cattle depends on Sile for pasture, water, protection against natural and spiritual forces. Wife depends on Sile for direction, protection against natural and spiritual forces (1997:71). Through his initiation, Sile has learned not only about the negative forces endangering the life of the Fulbe (such as certain evil spirits, malevolent deities, wild animals, and evil people), but also, and more importantly, about the positive forces at his disposal. Among the positive forces that through his knowledge may come to his aid and protection are Kumen and other deities, certain spirits, amulets, rituals, and magical objects. The myth also outlines the virtues of a Pullo. An ideal Pullo is a man whose main ambition is to know how to keep cattle and be a priest, and who will defend the cow. 1 In Nelson’s analysis, Sile and Kumen are taken as one pole in the tripole, because Kumen, although he is a divine offspring of Geno, is working in close relationship to Sile, whom he initiates into herdmanship. Kumen, being a super-herdsman, is a sort of a spiritual double of Sile. Page 5 5 Having described the mythical past of the Fulbe, I will outline the development of the Fulbe people of historical times who lived in what is today Northern Nigeria. I will use the historical periodization that the Fulbe in Northern Nigeria and Cameroon themselves have used (cf. Bossoro and Mohammadou 1977). The Period of Migrations In the 11th century, a group of sedentary Fulbe (to be known as the Torodbe) were converted to Islam and became some of the chief propagators of Islam throughout West Africa in the following years, whereas the nomadic Fulbe continued to follow their pre-Islamic religion for many centuries. Very early, the Fulbe began their long migration eastward, a migration which is still in progress. At the beginning of the 14th century, the first Fulbe reached Hausa land, which is today part of Northern Nigeria. The Period of Ignorance 1450-1600 In the following two hundred years the Fulbe established themselves in Hausa land and Borno, and soon they started to move southwards to the area that was to become known as Fombina, the south-lands (today’s Adamawa and Taraba states). The vast majority of the Fulbe in this period were animistic nomads and semi-nomads. The Period of Trials 1650-1850 The relationship between the Fulbe and the autochthonous ethnic groups varied from place to place. The Fulbe herders needed pasture land, and to gain access to pasture land they had to acknowledge the autochthonous authorities and pay tribute and grazing dues, and in some cases they also had to accept Haabe customs that were against their Page 6 6 own traditions. Towards the end of the 18th century, tensions between the Fulbe herders and the Haabe authorities increased and sometimes erupted in serious, violent conflicts. 2 The Period of Islamic Rule 1809-1903 Following on the heels of the nomadic Fulbe, groups of Torodbe entered Hausa land and became very active in the Islamization of the area. As in other parts of West Africa, the rulers who accepted Islam did not follow the Shari‘a, but mixed Islamic practices with the practices of their traditional religion. From this Torodbe class emerged a number of politico-religious leaders who in the 18th and 19th century initiated jihads against ruling powers and who were considered to be kafir, infidels, either because they were pagans or because they practiced a syncretistic form of Islam. Levtzion observes, Most--perhaps all--the jihad movements in West Africa were carried out by Fulfulde-speaking groups, including Fulbe pastoralists and Torodbe or Toronkawa scholars. The latter gave the ideological and organizational leadership to the former. This pattern is consistent with a more general pattern in the history of Islamic militant movements--that of radical scholars who mobilized culturally related pastoralists whose warlike potential had not been fully employed politically because of their segmentary system (1987:22-23). This was also the case with the jihad of Shehu Dan Fodio. In 1804, Dan Fodio, a Torodbe cleric in the Hausa state of Gobir, started his preaching. Initially he directed his preaching against the Fulbe nomads and semi-nomads, most of whom were either pagan or only superficially Muslim. But soon the un-Islamic practices of the ruling Hausa people became the target of his preaching, and in 1809, war broke out. In the initial stages of the war, the Fulbe nomads were reluctant to join the jihad, but they eventually supported Dan Fodio (though not confidently), not for religious 2 The development of the relationship between the Fulbe and the autochthonous groups in one area of what is today Northern Nigeria, namely Fombina (what later became the Adamawa lamidate), has been analyzed by Abubakar (1977:29-42). Page 7 7 reasons, but for ethnic reasons (interpreting the hostility of Haabe rulers as directed against all Fulbe), for political reasons (expecting protection of their grazing rights), and for economic reasons (hoping for abolishment of the Haabe taxation on their cattle, jangali, which had become virtually unbearable by the end of the 18th century). When Dan Fodio died in 1817, most of what is today Northern Nigeria (apart from Borno) had been brought together in the Sokoto caliphate (Last 1979:4-8; Trimingham 1962:199- 200; Hogben and Kirk-Greene 1966:121; Adebayo 1995:122). Hogben and Kirk-Greene, in agreement with other scholars, summarize the causes of this revolutionary movement by pointing to religious, social and ethnic motives: There was undoubtedly the driving motive of the Shehu and his modibbe to reform the lax standards of Muslim life among the Habe rulers. . . . The aim was to reform not only the morals but the institutions in accordance with the precepts of Islam. Apart from this, however, the revolution sprang from mis-government. The Shehu had a large measure of support from the peasants and small traders, who were finding injustice and oppression intolerable: few of these burned with religious zeal. And then there was the feeling of racial consciousness among the Fulani as a whole --from the malamai, who deplored the crudities of pagan practices, to the herdsmen in the bush, who needed the protection of their kinsmen at court (1966:141). The jihad led to the establishment of the Muslim Fulbe Sokoto caliphate. The result was that the Fulbe, who before the jihad had been excluded from power, now came into power. Together with the Hausa people, under the uniting umbrella of Islam, they came to form a new Hausa-Fulbe political leadership. The sedentary Fulbe in general and the Torodbe in particular intermarried with the Hausa people, and socially, politically, and religiously they became more and more united with the Hausa people. For these Fulbe, Hausa became the main means of communication, and many Fulbe cultural customs were replaced by Hausa customs (Hogben and Kirk-Greene 1966:428). For the pastoral Fulbe, the jihad brought both advantages and disadvantages. Before the jihad, the Fulbe were a subject people not allowed to own slaves, but after the Page 8 8 jihad a number of pastoralists came to own slaves, who were occupied both in farming and herding. Some pastoralists settled near Sokoto and other walled towns in order to be near the Shehu, his successors, and his emirs. Some of the pastoralists became learned in Islam. Another reason for their staying near the walled towns was the instability that the jihad brought. This instability restricted cattle movements and led to the development of the Rinderpest epidemics of 1887-1891, in which many cattle died. Furthermore, the jihad state did not abolish the cattle tax (jangali), but rather it insisted that the tax was obligatory under Islamic law. The tax varied from one emirate to the other, according to each emirate’s financial needs. A typical rate, however, was the payment of one cow per thirty cattle (including calves) (Ezeomah 1983:2-3; Adebayo 1995:122-123; Raay 1975:21-22). 3 One of the most far-reaching consequences of the jihad for the pastoral Fulbe was their inclusion in an Islamic empire. The later encounter with the colonial power and with modernization did not affect the pastoral Fulbe’s religious development very much. What continued, however, to impact them after Northern Nigeria had been conquered by the British was their incorporation in the Islamic state at the beginning of last century. Forty years ago, Stenning pointed out, “Social change” for the Wodaabe, as for many another Pastoral Fulani communities does not lie, even today, in the impact of Western technology, modes of distribution, and the new forms of social organizations and ideology attendant upon them. The main manifestations 3 There is some disagreement as to the overall impact of the jihad on the life of the pastoral Fulbe. Hans G. T. van Raay concludes that the jihad “made life considerably more agreeable for the pastoralists,” because they now had better opportunity to acquire land and slaves. Together with the frequent insecurity that continued from the time of the jihad up to the British occupation, these factors “all combined to produce a further differentiation among the Fulani in that an increasing number established more permanent ties with their environment” (1975:21-21). Adebayo (1995:123), however, is of the opinion that the jihad did not lead to any economic improvement for the pastoral Fulbe. On the contrary, the high rate of cattle tax in some emirates led many pastoralists to “evade this tax by choosing more benevolent hosts. It was probably this flight to evade tax which, more than the atmosphere of peace that resulted from the establishment of the caliphate, was responsible for the dispersal of Fulani pastoralists in Northern Nigeria.” Page 9 9 of social change for the Wodaabe are their incorporation into an Islamic state organization, administrative system and ritual idiom, with which, until the post-war period, British administration had little concern. This for the Wodaabe, has been a slow process, lasting for perhaps a century and a half (1959:25). The Colonial Period 1903-1960 When the British declared Northern Nigeria, including the Sokoto caliphate, a British protectorate, neither the caliph in Sokoto nor the emirs were able to withstand the superior British military power. The first British High Commissioner, F. Lugard, considering how to administer the vast protectorate, realized that this could not be done by direct rule. The Sokoto caliphate, however, already had developed a fairly efficient system of government, which the British took over. This system of government left the Fulbe caliph and the emirs with considerable power. As long as they obeyed the colonial masters and their laws, they were supported by the colonial power. In some areas this even led to a situation in which ethnic groups that had not formerly been conquered by the emirs now came under their control. The effect of the indirect rule in the colonial period was also a strengthening of Islam. 4 For the pastoral Fulbe, the British occupation of Nigeria meant that they lost all of their slaves; the nomadic Fulbe lost the slaves who had assisted them in herding and the semi-nomadic Fulbe lost the slaves who had assisted them in herding as well as in farming. On the other hand, they welcomed the stability and security that the British brought, and they took it as an opportunity to move throughout Northern Nigeria in their search for good pasture and water (Ezeomah 1983:3). 4 In 1902, Lugard had promised the emir of Adamawa that the “Government will in no way interfere with the Mohammedan religion. All men are free to worship God as they please. Mosques and prayer places will be treated with respect by us” (Boer 1979:69). This promise was interpreted by Lugard not as a general prohibition of Christian mission in Muslim areas, but as an agreement that missionaries could work in Muslim areas, only if the local emir would agree to it. This also applied to the non-Muslim areas that had been brought under the control of the Muslim emirs (Crampton 1978:48; M. Jensen 1992:20). Page 10 10 The new colonial masters continued to levy the jangali among the Fulbe, and this strained the relationship between the pastoralists and the state. The state collected the cattle tax, sometimes even by force, and the pastoralists tried by all means to evade this tax. Therefore, the nomadic and semi-nomadic Fulbe became suspicious of all government officials (and to a certain extent they were suspicious of the veterinary officers also) and would not reveal the exact number of their cattle to any stranger (Adebayo 1995:131-138). Mahdism, 5 which in Northern Nigeria dates back to the time of Dan Fodio, experienced a resurgence during the colonial rule. The Mahdist ideology had legitimated the jihad and the setting up of the caliphate as a preparation for the coming of the Mahdi and the end time. Now Mahdists identified the British colonialists with the Dajal, the Anti-Christ, against whom the Mahdi and his followers had to fight. In the first decades of this century, dozens of people claimed to be the Mahdi or his Mujaddid, but without much success. In recent years, many adherents of the Mahdiyya movement have joined the Tijaniyya, but without giving up their convictions about the Mahdi. 6 Many Fulbe have been involved in this Mahdiyya movement. Hinds concludes, The men who are attracted to this Mahdi are mainly Fulani speakers but men who have no deep knowledge of Islam. They may be men who have lost their cattle through the drought or are just bewildered by the modern age. They may be originally slave people who see no future for themselves in this present world. At least they have one thing in common. 5 The doctrine of the Mahdi is not found in the Qur’an or in the Hadith, but it has played a significant role among Fulbe and other Muslims in Northern Nigeria as well as in all of Islam. Many orthodox Muslims believe that the Mahdi (who might be called the Islamic Messiah) will drive out the Anti-Christ, who will come before him, and will rule justly for a period of 1000 years until the day of judgment. Some Muslims believed that Dan Fodio was the Mahdi, but he denied it and indicated that he might be a Mujaddid, the “Renewer of the Faith” who is a forerunner of the Mahdi. It is believed that at the beginning of every century (according the Islamic calendar) God will send a learned man to the people to renew their faith and to set things right in society. The last of these reformers will usher in the Mahdi (Hiskett 1973:120-125). 6 This transition has been facilitated by the fact that both the Mahdiyya and the Tijaniyya pray with their arms crossed. Page 11 11 A hope for one who will fill the earth with justice and equity as it has been filled with injustice and oppression (n.d.:11). The Period of Independence Beginning in 1960 When Nigeria, in 1960, gained its independence, the Hausa-Fulbe elite in Northern Nigeria retained much of its political power, and even exerted a decisive influence on the national politics. The pastoral Fulbe in this period were increasingly becoming affected by the modern society, and they were facing a stronger and stronger pressure to change their life-style. The effects of modernization, however, will be discussed later in this chapter after the analysis of the social organization of the pastoral Fulbe society. Sufism, in the form of the Qadiriyya tariqa 7 or the Tijaniyya tariqa, 8 has been practiced by some pastoral Fulbe for centuries, but especially in this century, tariqa membership has increased considerably. Traditionally Qadiriyya was the Fulbe tariqa par excellence, especially for the Torodbe, but today Tijaniyya also has many Fulbe adherents, including pastoral Fulbe. For the masses the main attraction to Sufism 9 was 7 The Qadiriyya tariqa was founded by Abd al-Qadir (1077-1166) in Baghdad and according to tradition established in Kano in around 1610 by al-Maghili (Hiskett 1984:246-248). Dan Fodio belonged to the Qadiriyya tariqa. 8 The Tijaniyya tariqa was founded by Ahmad al-Tijani (1737-1815) in Algeria and reached Hausa-land in the beginning of the nineteenth century. 9 In his book Raf al-ishtiha, Muhammed Bello distinguishes between various Sufi masters: “Sufis who intercede for many people of their community; Sufis who intercede for people of their own time; sufis who intercede for anyone who hears his name; sufis who intercede for anyone who prays behind them; sufis who intercede for anyone who sees them seven times removed; sufis who intercede for disciples; sufis who intercede for anyone who reads their books; sufis who intercede for anyone buried near their graves; sufis who intercedes for anyone who believes in them” (Paden 1973:66). Apart from “spiritual salvation,” Sufism is also attractive because it offers “material salvation,” connected with the baraka of the sufi leaders. The malamai of both Tijaniyya and Qadiriyya turuq are skilled in the techniques of healing and spiritual protection and in helping people through prayers (du‘a’). Paden in 1970 collected 300 hand- written secrets (sirr) prepared by sufi malamai in Kano which promised to help people with a variety of problems. The major categories were: “success in business and commerce; success in love, marriage, and family affairs; success in social life, learning, and curing disease; protection against disease, protection against bodily harm; protection against the evil intentions of others (including ‘kings’); protection against dangers of traveling; protection against animals; protection against jinn” (1973:127). Page 12 12 probably the intercession of the shaykh, which guaranteed salvation after death and escape from judgment. The radicalization of sections of Muslims in Northern Nigeria, which has taken place within the last two or three decades, has also influenced the pastoral Fulbe. The radical Islamic group of Izala 10 (and to a lesser extent Shi’a 11 ) has also found many adherents among young Fulbe who have moved to town. 12 The violent conflicts between Christian and Muslim groups in various parts of Northern Nigeria during the last twenty years have brought an even greater separation between the Muslims, including the Fulbe, and the Christians. This has made it even more difficult for a Pullo to become a Christian. The Social Organization of the Pastoral Fulbe Society in Northern Nigeria Today’s pastoral Fulbe society is a product of this long history of the Fulbe in Northern Nigeria and the Fulbe’s interaction with the neighboring ethnic groups. In this 10 The Izala group, Izalatul Bid‘a wa Iqamat al Sunna, was founded by Malam Ismaili Idris with the support of Sheikh Abubakar Gumi in 1973. They worked for the purification of Islam, abolition of innovations (bid‘a ) and a strict observance of Islam in accordance with the Qur’an and the Sunna. They therefore fought the turuq and treated their followers as infidels (Kantiok n.d.:102; Gilliland 1986:191). 11 The Shi’a group in Northern Nigeria was formed in the early 1980s by Ibrahim El-Zakzaky. The group’s doctrines are based on the Iranian revolution and the group is much more aggressive and violent than the Izala movement (Kantiok n.d.:103). 12 Bakari (1998), a young man from the Bokoloji clan who had attended Arabic Teacher’s College and later was trained as a medical lab technician, joined an Izala group in Gombe. He did not respect his parents as true Muslims, so he refused to drink the milk offered to him by his mother and the meat from animals slaughtered by his father. In his opinion, they were infidels, worse than Christians. Among the Fulbe elders and their religious leaders, these radical Muslims are very unpopular. A striking example of their dissatisfaction with this form of Islam is seen from the response from a famous religious leader to a pastoral Fulbe father who was very sad and ashamed because his son had become a Christian. “You would really have reason to be sad if your son had joined the Izala group. Then I would shed more tears than you do. But since he has entered the Christian religion, and he is holding to the truth in it, you just leave him. God knows what must be done. Leave him, and do not worry” (Dawda 1998). Page 13 13 section the social organization of the pastoral Fulbe society in Northern Nigeria today will be analyzed. Filbeck defines a society as “a large group of people internally organized to live in an environment” (1985:7). The physical environment in which the pastoral Fulbe live is the bush in the Savanna belt of Northern Nigeria. A key component of the environment of all pastoral Fulbe is the cattle to which they are closely attached. 13 The cattle also play a significant role in the social organization of the Fulbe. The status of individual Fulbe in society is to a large extent determined by their relation to cattle. Most of the elements of the behavioral code of the Fulbe (Pulaaku) are directly or indirectly related to their concern for their cattle. Ownership of cattle gives membership in the society and their loss results in expulsion. Membership in the society places an individual under the obligation to live according to a strict code of conduct. . . . Serious breaches of this code are believed to cause a reduction in the fertility and milk yield as well as an increase in the mortality of the herd upon which the offender is dependent (Hopen 1958:27). The society to which the pastoral Fulbe belong may be characterized as a kinship society, whereas the society from which the European or American missionaries come is a modern society, and the society from which the Nigerian missionaries come most often is a peasant society. 14 These differences in the sociological base of communication must 13 The significance of cattle is evident from the following Fulbe proverbs: “If one harms the cattle, one harms the Fulbe,” “If the cattle die, the Fulbe will die,” and “Cattle surpass (in the widest sense) everything, they are even greater than one’s father and mother” (Hopen 1958:26). 14 A kinship society (Filbeck uses the term tribal society) is a holistic society, which means that “all social institutions are (1) highly integrated and interrelated, and (2) the functional load of maintaining society is distributed more or less equally throughout all five institutions” (Filbeck 1958:34). A peasant society is a ‘part society’ “dependent on an elite or dominating society. . . . While peasants are self- sufficient, their society is not. As a society peasants are dependent on the urban elite who are economically and politically more powerful” (Filbeck 1958:34). A modern society is a society in which “all social institutions have each become highly ‘institutionalised’, i.e., they are highly visible in society and are largely autonomous in relation to one another.” And “the two social institutions of government and economics share the heaviest, or most important, functional load in maintaining society with education not far behind” (Filbeck 1985:34). Page 14 14 be taken into consideration when a strategy of contextual communication of the gospel is designed. In particular, it is important to remember that although the gospel is addressed not to societies but to individuals, these individuals are individuals in a society. As Filbeck puts it, “The gospel is received and interpreted both on the basis on how society is organized and how an individual has interacted with his social organization” (1985:54). In the following, the social institutions that contribute to the functioning and maintenance of the pastoral Fulbe society will be analyzed. 15 The analysis of the social institution of religion, however, will not be treated until in the next chapter. Economics Historically, Fulbe have been known mainly as pastoral nomads. Pastoralists may be defined as people “who are principally dependent on livestock,” and nomads may be defined as people “for whom spatial mobility is regularly employed as a survival strategy” (Awogbade 1991:1). Pastoralism as well as nomadism is found in various degrees among different groups of Fulbe, and forms of pastoralism and nomadism are sometimes combined with forms of agriculture. Livestock rearing may be associated with sedentism or with nomadism, but the more dependent a society is on livestock as its only livelihood, the greater the tendency toward some degree of nomadism (Awogbade 1991:1-3). The social institution of economics in the pastoral Fulbe society differs significantly from the corresponding institution in an agricultural society to which most 15 I follow Filbeck’s definitions of the institutions: (1) Economics is the social institution that takes care of the production and distribution of goods and services throughout society. (2) The family is the social institution that provides new members of the society, nurtures the young, defines kinship obligations and privileges, and cares for the old. (3) Education is the social institution that spreads knowledge and skills to the members of society. (4) Government as the social institution that fulfills the function of maintaining law and order in society. (5) Religion is the social institution that provides “a rationale for group cohesion, including an explanation of one’s ultimate destiny as a member of the group” (1985:25-26). Page 15 15 of the members in the five churches belong. An understanding of this difference is of great importance for effective communication of the gospel to the pastoral Fulbe in all three phases of conversion. How and where can the missionaries meet the pastoralists with the gospel? What are the economic implications of a decision to become a Christian? How should pastoralists gain their livelihood after they have become Christians? Questions like these, which form the background for the following analysis of the economy of a pastoral Fulbe society, are crucial for the development of strategies of contextual communication of the gospel to pastoral Fulbe in Northern Nigeria today. Fulbe Movements The Fulbe have been a very mobile people due to their original pastoral life-style. The reason for the movements of the pastoral nomads, however, is not only the exploitation of pastures. As Moses O. Awogbade puts it, “a unique constellation of ecological, political and economic factors determine the patterns of movement of each pastoral society” (1991:2). The different types of Fulbe movements are transhumance, migratory drift, and migration. Transhumance is “the regular shifting of people and herds from one locality to another in response to the seasonal demands” (Stenning 1960:139). Transhumance is brought about by the ecological conditions under which the Fulbe herders raise their Zebu cattle 16 in the Savanna zone of West Africa. The herders, looking for pasture and water in areas that are free from the tsetse flies (carriers of human sleeping sickness and Bovine Trypanosomiasis), move their cattle southward (or nearer the rivers) in the dry 16 The cattle of the Fulbe belong to the humped Zebu species (bos indicus). The most well- known type of Zebu cattle is the Mbororo Zebu (mainly kept by Mbororo’en), which is known for its long horns. The other common type is the Fulbe Zebu (Dupire 1962:16-20). Page 16 16 season in response to shortage of pasture and water, and northward (or into mountainous areas) in the wet season to avoid the tsetse flies (Stenning 1960:145-146). This transhumance movement may extend over several hundred kilometers, or it may only be a short distance depending on the distance of a river area to a mountain area. In the cool wet season, herding is easy and can be done near to camp, whereas in the hot dry season the herds are dispersed because the search for good pasture and water is much more difficult. Migratory drift is “a gradual displacement of the transhumance routes that results eventually in a completely new geographic setting for a particular group” (Stenning 1960:139). Due to climatic changes, extension of farmland, markets changes, and political changes, Fulbe herders may over one or more generations change their transhumance patterns. In Nigeria, the general trend in the migratory drifts have been from northwest to southeast. Migration is “a dramatic shift in transhumance patterns for a specific cause” (Stenning 1960:139). Transhumance and migratory drift are caused mainly by ecological factors; migration can also be caused by ecological factors, but the ecological factors causing migration would likely involve catastrophic ecological changes. The Rinderpest epidemic in Northern Nigeria from 1887-1891 sent pastoral Fulbe on the flight to escape the epidemic. The famine in Borno in 1913 was the major cause of the migration of many pastoral Fulbe to Adamawa. The typical Fulbe migration (perol), however, is carried out in response to intolerable political conditions. All over West and Central Africa, the Fulbe have been minorities among sedentary populations, without ownership of the land they use for grazing. When the conditions for the use of this land become intolerable, or when farmers take over too many grazing areas for cultivation, Fulbe herders decide to leave Page 17 17 the area. In the same way, when taxation becomes intolerable, they respond by fleeing the political unit (Stenning 1960:140-157; Maliki 1992:3-8; Bocquené 1986:143-144). Differentiation of Fulbe Societies In the process of moving from Senegal into other regions of the West and Central African savannas, different groups began to appear within the Fulbe society. Three groups were distinguished according to their degree of attachment to pastoral nomadism. This differentiation within the Fulbe society was brought about by a number of factors. Some Fulbe groups gave up nomadism, because they found good pasturage where they could settle down more permanently. In other cases a serious cattle decline was brought about by disease or other accidents, so that the Fulbe could no longer rely entirely on their cattle for subsistence. Sedentarization among Fulbe has also been encouraged by Islam. When Islam in the eleventh century entered West Africa, the Fulbe were the first people to embrace this new religion, and they became some of the most ardent propagators of Islam in many parts of West Africa. Islam is not merely a religion but a complete culture, and those nomadic Fulbe who embraced it tended to devote more of their time to Islamic observances and less to cattle husbandry. They moved from one Malam to another in search of education till they themselves became “learned” (Modibbe). They then settled down with their dependants, as teachers, judges, advisers to local rulers, or simply as worshippers (Torobe). Those who did not take Islam so seriously continued as pastoral nomads, practicing their traditional customs (Abubakar 1977:28). The three major groups of Fulbe that evolved may be called the nomadic Fulbe (Mbororo’en), the semi-nomadic Fulbe (Fulbe Na’i), and the settled Fulbe (Fulbe Siire). These categories are not sharply distinguished from each other and some Fulbe families may move from one category to another. Page 18 18 Nomadic Fulbe--Mbororo’en The original group of Fulbe was the Mbororo’en, that is, the fully nomadic Fulbe (Hopen 1958:1-2). 17 Theodore Monod defines nomads, as “those who have no ‘home’, no determinate center to which they are attached and in which they have rights and obligations” (quoted in R. Nelson 1981a:4). All of the conditions of this definition apply to the Mbororo’en. They follow habitual transhumance patterns, moving seasonally between their dry season area and their wet season area, and their life-style generally keeps them away from the rest of the society, but as Stenning points out this detachment should not be exaggerated because, the pastoral life is pursued not in isolation, but in some degree of symbiosis with sedentary agricultural communities. Alongside the continuous exchange of diary products for grain and other goods, there have existed, possibly for many centuries, arrangements for pasturing cattle on land returning to fallow, and for guaranteeing cattle tracks and the use of water supplies (1959:6). Semi-nomadic Fulbe Those Fulbe whose herds declined to the extent that they had to supplement their resources by doing some farming became semi-sedentary. The semi-nomadic Fulbe, called Fulbe Na’i (cattle Fulbe) or Fulbe Ladde (bush Fulbe), do not rely entirely on their cattle for subsistence, rather they supplement their cattle with agriculture. They hardly ever raise cash crops (as peasants do), rather they use their crops for domestic consumption. Their farms are normally smaller than those of the sedentary people, and their herds of cattle are normally smaller than those of the nomadic Fulbe. For the semi- 17 Some scholars like F. W. Taylor (1932:19) claim that the term Mbororo refers to “the best known clan of the nomadic Fulani,” but most Fulbe and most scholars agree that the term refers not to a clan but to either a group of fully nomadic Fulbe or all fully nomadic Fulbe. The term Mbororo’en for nomadic Fulbe is mainly used in Cameroon and Northern Nigeria. Page 19 19 nomadic Fulbe, the focus is cattle; only out of necessity do they take up farming, sometimes carried out by hired Haabe laborers. Often semi-nomadic Fulbe have to work with split households and split herds. The farm is located near the dry season grazing area, which tends to become the “home” area for them. The household head stays in this area with a small herd of milk cows, while the sons herd the cattle far away during the rainy season. The sons return home with the herds during the dry season to assist with harvesting and preparations for cultivation (Stenning 1959:6-8; Hopen 1958:29-30). Semi-nomadism/semi-sedentarism may have causes other than poverty in cattle. On some plateaus like Jos and Mambila, many Fulbe herds have found favorable pastoral conditions that have made extensive seasonal movements unnecessary. Permanent households with farms have been established and most of the cattle are kept permanently on the plateau, while the rest are taken to the lowland during the dry season (Hopen 1958:31-32; Stenning 1959:7-9; Frantz 1986). Sedentary Fulbe--Fulbe Siire Some Fulbe left the mobile pastoral life due to loss of herds and became settled peasants, while others became traders or took up other urban occupations. These Fulbe have merged into the ethnic groups among which they live, and in some cases they have even adopted the local language and intermarried with the local people. They are called Fulbe Siire. 18 Some sedentary Fulbe are still pastoralists, but on average the number of animals per household is lower than that of the semi-nomadic Fulbe. The sedentary Fulbe depend more on farming than do the semi-nomadic pastoralists. Often even Fulbe government 18 Siire is a synonym for saare, meaning compound or home. What is implied is that these Fulbe have permanent homes. Page 20 20 employees and businessmen have herds of cattle taken care of by hired shepherds. They use cattle for investment purposes and to acquire prestige. Among the sedentary Fulbe are many livestock traders Some scholars include the aristocratic Fulbe, called Torodbe, with the Fulbe Siire, as a social class of town Fulbe, whereas others consider them to be a distinct subgroup of Fulbe. The Torodbe are, like the Fulbe Siire, completely settled and have been for many years. From among this group come the political rulers and the leading Muslim scholars (modibbe) in Northern Nigeria. (Abubakar 1977:28; Stenning 1959:9; Hogben and Kirk- Greene 1966:110; Raay 1975:76-78). Social Classes in Fulbe Societies The military conquests by the Fulbe in connection with the jihad of Dan Fodio led to the enslavement of thousands of the autochthonous people (maccube). When the British took over Northern Nigeria all these enslaved people were liberated. The extent of slavery and the duration of it in Northern Nigeria, however, was much more limited than it was in other parts of West Africa. The long-term effect of this slave-master relationship in Northern Nigeria has, therefore, been much less severe than, for instance, it has been in the Masina area of Mali where the descendants of the enslaved Fulbeized population, the riimaaybe, form a distinct group of Fulbe much different from the free- born class of Fulbe called the rimbe. Fulbe blacksmiths and other artisans form a third class in some Fulbe societies (Riesman 1977:82; Dupire 1970:427-449). 19 Sonja Fagerberg, who in the late 1970s did a survey of Fulfulde, however, states that, 19 Riesman (1977:266-267) notes that there are two words that designate slaves. Maccudo (plural, maccube) refers a slave captured in war or bought (the female counterpart being kordo), whereas diimaajo (plural, riimaaybe) is a person born of an enslaved woman. In Northern Nigeria today, however, only the term maccube seems to be known. Page 21 21 The three-way division (free born/castes/slaves) is pretty much lost further east in Nigeria and Cameroun where castes and caste members do not really exist. . . . In Nigeria, social relations between the Fulbe themselves have been largely obscured by the more important distinctions of Fulbe/Hausa, nomadic cattle herders/agriculturists, and Muslim/non- Muslim (quoted in Duddles 1992:5). The Family The basic economic and social unit of the pastoral Fulbe societies is the family. From a Christian perspective, the family is also the basic unity in society. Since the goal of the communication of the gospel should include the establishment of Christian Fulbe families, it is necessary for the communicator to understand how a family functions in the pastoral Fulbe society. After a brief look at how a family is established through marriage, the role of a household and the inheritance system will be considered. Marriage The nomadic and semi-nomadic Fulbe are endogamous. Normally, a man takes a wife from within his own lineage group or a lineage group related agnatically to his own. The preferential marriage is between patrilateral parallel cousins, that is, between children of paternal uncles. If the fathers of the marriage partners are not brothers or half-brothers, it is preferred that the marriage partners at least may be able to trace their descent through male links to a common great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather. A man may also, however, marry a woman from another lineage group within that cluster of lineage groups, which is called a clan. This means that the marriage partners may not be able to trace their descent, neither through male or female links, to a common known ancestor, but they know that they descend from the same (legendary) ancestor of the whole clan. Page 22 22 Only when a man has been married and has had his first child does he gain full control of his inheritance of cattle and establish his own homestead. Now the new family is, in principle, economically independent, and it may choose to reside far away from the father’s camp. But often a son will keep his homestead near his father’s homestead until his first son is at least seven years of age. His cattle will be herded together with his father’s cattle by his junior brothers and himself (Hopen 1958:98-103; Stenning 1959:150-151). 20 The Household Attached to a family may be a number of other individuals, and together they form the household, the dwelling place of which is called the homestead. A herd is defined as the cattle that belong to one head of the family and whose calves are tied to one calf rope (daangol). A number of households living together form a camp (wuro). The family lives on the diary produce, the grain and other products, which they either grow themselves or obtain from the sedentary population in exchange for their surplus diary products. Meat does not form part of their staple diet, and animals are not often sold. The killing of animals is normally restricted to the killing of sick beasts, the killing of a beast for ceremonial occasions, or the killing of a beast to fulfill an urgent need for cash (Stenning 1959:101-102). Since cattle are inherited along the male line, women normally do not own cattle. The Fulbe stick to the idea that “men should own the cattle and women should own the milk” (Hopen 1958:23). This reflects the strict division of labor in a Fulbe family. Stenning describes a Wodaabe family as a “herd-owning and milk-selling enterprise,” where “Men have to do with cattle, their seasonal movements, daily pasturing and watering, and veterinary care. Adult men are herd-owners and 20 In the next chapter, the religious aspects of marriage will be treated in more detail. Page 23 23 managers, male children and adolescents are herdsmen. Adult women are dairy women and purveyors of milk, female children and adolescents are dairymaids” (1959:103). Inheritance Most nomadic Fulbe, like the Wodaabe, tend to follow the traditional inheritance system. The purpose of the traditional inheritance system is to keep the cattle within the lineage group. If the deceased leave sons, the sons inherit everything. If there are no sons, the estate passes on to the deceased’s full and half-brothers (or in their absence to their sons, or to the father’s brothers or patrilateral parallel cousins). When there are sons, the sons normally get an equal share of the estate, but some advantages are given to the oldest son. Furthermore, only those sons who have established their own homestead can inherit directly. In the case of sons not having established homestead, the senior brother (or if he is also unmarried, a paternal uncle) is the guardian of the share of the unmarried sons. The daughters are not entitled to any share in the estate. The sedentary Fulbe and some semi-nomadic Fulbe tend to follow the Muslim Maliki law. According to the Maliki law, one tenth of an inheritance has to be paid as death duties to the Muslim authorities; a daughter receives one half of a son’s share; and the oldest son does not get more than the other sons. Most Fulbe object to paying the death duties and to giving a daughter as much as half a share of a son. There is no doubt that it is becoming more common for Fulbe to adapt to the Muslim way of sharing the inheritance. They are to some degree forced to adapt by dissatisfied parties threatening to take those who insist on following the tradition to court. The question of what principle of inheritance should be followed, however, is in practice not all-important in cattle-owning families. A head of a homestead usually gives more and more of the rights over the cattle to his sons as they take more and more responsibility for the herd. A son, however, does not own any of his father’s cattle until Page 24 24 he has been married, and has had a child, and has set up his own homestead with wife and child. After the last son marries, the father usually has handed all his cattle over to his sons, and for the rest of his life he depends on his sons to take care of him. If a man lives long enough, there are no cattle to distribute at his death (Stenning 1959:46-50; Hopen 1958:137-140; Reed 1932:43-44). The crucial role of the cattle for the institution of the family has been aptly summarized by Stenning: “The simultaneous formation of a homestead, a household, and a herd demonstrates the interdependence of family and herd. The development of the family, and the divorces which may occur in it, are closely bound up with the reproductive capacity, not only of the family but of its herd” (1959:147). Education Most pastoral Fulbe belong to kinship societies, but they are surrounded by and interact with both peasant and modern societies. Therefore, the socialization of Fulbe children is influenced by the surrounding peasant and modern societies. Most Fulbe are fully socialized into their Fulbe kinship society, but along with this socialization are elements of peasant and modern societies. In Northern Nigeria, there is a long tradition of involvement of missions and churches in education through Bible schools and primary and secondary schools. The target group for these educational institutions and programs has typically been sedentary agricultural ethnic groups from animistic backgrounds. The question concerning education to be addressed through the analysis of the Fulbe background is how can an educational program provided by the churches be adapted to the needs of pastoral Fulbe? Page 25 25 Types of Education In a Fulbe kinship society the content to be transmitted in education is Pulaaku, which makes the individual into a Pullo. The medium used to transmit the content is Fulfulde. The main agents are the mother and father and the elder siblings, and the training takes place in the context of the family in the bush. The vast majority of the pastoral Fulbe are non-literate, and the traditional education does not require any literacy. This training, which all Fulbe boys and girls receive, enables them to survive in the rather inhospitable bush and gives them their ethnic identity. In the Muslim peasant society, with which the Fulbe pastoralists often interact, the content to be transmitted is Islam, which makes the individual into a Muslim. The medium used is most often Hausa (along with Arabic). The main agent is the malam (the Qur’anic teacher) and the training takes place in the context of the mosque in the village. This training, which many Fulbe boys and some Fulbe girls receive, enables them to socialize with Muslim peasants in the village and gives them their Islamic religious identity. In the modern society, which increasingly influences all ethnic groups in Nigeria today, the content to be transmitted is Western education, which makes the individual into a modern citizen. The medium used is Hausa and later, in the upper levels, English, and the education requires that the student become literate. The main agent is the school teacher, and the training takes place in the school in the town or village. Some Fulbe boys and a few Fulbe girls receive at least a partial modern Western education, which helps them to survive when later in life they have to interact with the institutions of the modern Nigerian society. It also gives them their national identity as Nigerian citizens. Page 26 26 The Five Life Stages Most pastoral Fulbe in Northern Nigeria recognize the five life stages of childhood. These stages are youth, young adulthood, senior adulthood, and senility, each with its own developmental tasks (Stenning 1959:154-159). 21 1. Childhood (famarbe--children). Only after naming is a child referred to as a person. A child is taught to speak by its mother, and it is the mother who first teaches the child the ways of Pulaaku. Later the father inculcates the virtues of Pulaaku. Within the lineage group, the children learn from the ardo 22 who exemplifies Pulaaku. Towards the end of this period the boys start helping their brothers in herding animals around the camp, and the girls assist their sisters and their mother in household chores (Stenning 1959:149-150). 2. Youth (sukaabe--unmarried adolescents). When a boy at the age of nine or ten is circumcised, his father earmarks cattle for him and the boy starts herding cattle away from the camp. He is given a herdsman’s staff and a calabash bottle for water, and Qur’anic charms are hung around his neck. From now on he will sleep with his older brothers near the cattle corral. When he reaches puberty, he is called a paanyo (someone who has grown strong), and he enters the geerewol dance, which is described below (Stenning 1959:150-151). Some Fulbe clans practice the ceremonial beating called soro as a manhood test. In soro, young men from different lineage groups or clans take turns in striking a limited number of times each other on the naked breast or back with a stick. The young men participating are expected to endure the pain without showing any sign of displeasure. 21 The age-grouping may vary a little from clan to clan and from area to area. Dupire states that the Wodaabe of Niger only have one category between the bibbe and the ndotti’en, namely sukaabe, whereas the Jafu’en of Adamawa have two categories, namely kae’en (adolescents) and kori’en (young married men) (Dupire 1970:453, 457). 22 The ardo is a lineage group leader. Page 27 27 The young girls watch this ceremony to see how their heroes behave. If a young man shows signs of pain, he is ridiculed by the girls and finds it difficult to find a girl to marry (Dupire 1970:460; Bocquené 1988:44-51, 105-116). A girl in this period before puberty is called a biddo debbo (a girl child), and she assists her mother in household management. At puberty, a girl changes her hairstyle and is then called surbaajo (a woman with firm breasts). There is no initiation rite for the girls comparable to the soro for boys, but the attainment of puberty is marked by a ceremony called tuppal, in which the girl’s ears are pierced. Then she may participate in the geerewol dance. The young men (sukaabe) dress up in beautiful costumes and dance with their faces painted in vivid colors. At a certain time during the dance, two of the young girls are told to choose partners with whom they will spend the night. Both the soro and the geerewol dance are on the decline in Nigeria in recent years (Dupire 1970:461; Stenning 1959:151-158; Bocquené 1988:39, 51-58). 3. Young Adulthood (kori’en--young married adults). This stage begins with the establishment of a homestead and a herd. The young man no longer participates in the geerewol dance. He also changes his dress and hairstyle and may start growing a beard. When a woman marries and gives birth to her first child, she is considered a real woman, kaabo debbo, and she stops participating in the dances with the sukaabe (Stenning 1959:158-159). 4. Senior Adulthood (ndotti’en--elders). Around the age of forty, the man is considered an elder and can participate in the deliberations of the community since he has his own herd, a wife, and children. The wife is called inniraajo (mother) when she has given birth to several children. 5. Senility (naye’en--old People). When a woman ceases to bear children, and when a man can no longer get about, they are taken care of by their sons (Stenning 1959:159). Page 28 28 Government (Decision Making) The institution of government includes authority and leadership on different levels: within the family, within the Fulbe community, and within the wider Nigerian society. Even though there is, in principle, freedom of religion (including freedom to change religion) for all citizens in Nigeria today, Muslim Fulbe are, in practice, not very free to change their religion. Conversion is not a private individual affair. Rather conversion brings a convert into conflicts with the authorities of his/her society. In order to plan a responsible and effective strategy for helping Muslim Fulbe change their religion, it is necessary to understand the authority systems within the pastoral Fulbe society. On different levels we find different authority figures, and the laws legitimizing the authority and the sanctions differ significantly. Within the family and the Fulbe community, the “law,” based on which authority is exercised, is the code of Pulaaku. When Fulbe are relating to the wider Nigerian society, they first encounter Islamic law, which since the jihad of Dan Fodio has been increasingly influencing all of the social institutions of the Fulbe societies. Finally, the pastoral Fulbe are increasingly finding themselves in contact with federal, state and local government institutions and their laws and decrees. For many years, the nomadic Fulbe have tried as much as possible to avoid contact with these government authorities, and in particular with the courts, but the development of the Nigerian society has been such that they have had to relate more and more to these authorities. Authority Relations within the Family Paul Riesman, in his analysis of the Jelgobe Fulbe society in Burkina Faso, distinguishes between three authority relationships within the family: authority based on Page 29 29 age differences, authority of men over women, and authority based on the ties of kinship. 23 In general a child is expected to obey his/her father and mother, a younger sibling his/her older sibling, and a wife her husband. The father, however, normally treats his son (in particular when he is growing up) with a certain respect that allows a considerable amount of freedom. The reason for this respect is that the father wants his son to grow up, not as a slave with a slave mentality of blind obedience, but as a free man. A father hesitates to give his son orders in public because it might damage his reputation if his son does not carry out his orders. The same applies to a husband’s relationship to his wife. He will gives her in public only those orders which he is sure that she will obey. The division of labor between men and women in the camp is such that it is difficult for the husband to exercise much influence over the activities of his wife. The nature of the marriage systems among the Fulbe and their high rate of divorce also limits the authority of the husband over his wife. 24 Authority relations in Fulbe societies are often reflected physically in distances. The men’s area of the camp is clearly separated by the cattle rope from the women’s area, and only at night will the husband enter his wife’s hut. A son and his father tend mutually to avoid each other during the day. An adult son who no longer respects his father’s authority stops living together with his father and begins to keep his herd separate and cultivate his farm separately (Riesman 1977:74-82, 195-209). 23 When asking about the authority relations, Riesman was told: “‘Wanaa baaba na waawi biyum? (Isn’t a father ‘capable of’ his child?).’ In the same way, one hears ‘Gorko na waawi debbo? (The man ‘is capable of’’ the woman),’ and ‘Mawniyo na waawi minyiyo? (The older brother ‘is capable of’ the younger)’” (1977:75). 24 The freedom of Fulbe women seems to decrease when Fulbe settle and are more Islamized (VerEcke 1989). Page 30 30 Authority Relations in the Fulbe Community The first and most important level of leadership in the Fulbe community is that of the jawmu saare, the head of the family household. Since each family is a viable economic unit, and since pastoral Fulbe cherish freedom, the leadership structure above the level of the individual extended family is very fluid. The second level of leadership is the leader of a camp, called mawdo (the big one). A camp, wuro, consists of a number of households that have chosen to reside together for a certain period and who recognize a common leader, often called the mawdo. The reasons for joining a camp may be the need for companionship, security, cooperation in herding, and sharing of information. Most often all of the households in a camp belong to the same clan, but relatives on the side of the mother and even friends are sometimes accepted into the camp. The household heads choose their leader from among themselves. “This is done on the basis of such various criteria as the relative age of the household heads, their experience in the area, the size of their family households, the size of the herd, and also according to ‘popularity’” (Hopen 1958:161). Camp leadership, however, is very weak because of the autonomy claimed by each individual household and the fluidity of the camp structure (Hopen 1958:157-162). The third level of leadership is that of the ardo (leader). The ardo is the leader of a lineage group and, as such, the spokesman of the group in their dealings with the sedentary populations. In times of war, he is in charge of defense. Just like the mawdo, however, he does not have much authority. As Stenning puts it, “His duty is merely to hear all that is said, to summarize the various points of view, to lend the weight of his experience to the one which appeals to him, taking into account the least fortunate of his group. He may not command kinsmen, only advise them . . .” (1959:51). At any time, his followers are free to separate themselves from his group and set up a rival group or join another group. Page 31 31 The fourth level of leadership is linked to the whole clan. Among the fully nomadic Fulbe (Mbororo’en) such as the Wodaabe, clusters of lineage groups (each under its ardo) from the same clan sometimes gather in one area in the rainy season. The lineage groups are arranged hierarchically according to their clan purity. The lineage group descending from the senior son of the founding ancestor is considered to have the highest status and is called the core group lenyol gidima. Among the Wodaabe there has been a position of mawdo laawol Pulaaku (guardian of the Fulbe way). He was not elected as the ardo’en are, rather he entered office by succession as a descendent in the purest line of the clan, the lenyol gidima. The office passed from father to eldest son. This mawdo laawol Pulaaku supervised a number of the Wodaabe ceremonies, and in consultation with the ardo’en he had the authority to banish from the clan society anybody who broke the Pulaaku code (and reinstall the offender to the society when the offender confessed his sin) (Stenning 1959:51-59). Pastoral Fulbe under Pressure from the Modern Nigerian Society The pastoral Fulbe society, whose social organization is analyzed above, is undergoing much social changes. All of the institutions of the pastoral Fulbe society are becoming increasingly affected by the modernization of the entire Nigerian society. The pastoral Fulbe have to a large extent been living on the margins of the Nigerian society. The nomadic Fulbe have in particular tried to minimize their contact with the authorities. For centuries the pastoral Fulbe have had to pay cattle tax to various governments, while not benefiting much from government initiative, which have mainly been geared toward the needs of the sedentary population. The colonial conquest of Northern Nigeria in the beginning of this century and the establishment of a united Nigeria have brought Northern Nigeria into closer contact with Page 32 32 the rest of the world. Economic, social, political, and religious ideas mainly from the West have deeply penetrated the Northern Nigerian societal life. All of this has led to a modernizing of Northern Nigeria, which increasingly affects the pastoral Fulbe society. The pastoral Fulbe have come under a strong pressure from the modern Nigerian society in a number of areas. The two most important pressures have been the pressure to settle and to let their children go to school. It is in the midst of these social pressures that the pastoral Fulbe encounter the gospel. The impetus for the study of the effects of modernization on the pastoral Fulbe society is, therefore, the need to discover their problems and the felt needs to which the missionary communicators need to respond. The Land-Squeeze Syndrome The population of Nigeria has doubled during the last three decades. Still the majority of Nigerians depend on agriculture for their livelihood, and therefore more and more land is being cultivated. Some land has become impoverished and therefore produces poor results, which have also lead to an increase in the area of cultivation. The need to bring more land under cultivation has brought about a change of attitude of the land cultivators towards the nomads with whom they have shared a symbiotic existence for many years. The land owners are not willing to allow the nomads to graze on their land and manure such land now that the farmers can obtain fertilizers (Ezeomah 1987:23-24). In Benue state and in parts of what is today Taraba state, the pastoral Fulbe have been effectively excluded from grazing their cattle because of violent conflicts with the local farmers, in particular the Tiv farmers (Gorder 1990). Land traditionally used by pastoral Fulbe is increasingly being used for large-scale agricultural and industrial purposes, and this encroachment on traditional Fulbe pasture land increases the pressure on the remaining grazing areas, both in grazing reserves and in other rangelands. This situation has led to overuse of grazing areas and ecological degradation. The resulting Page 33 33 conflicts between pastoralists and agriculturists is evidence of what Jerome Gefu calls a land-squeeze syndrome (1992:59). Commercialization of Livestock Production The predominant method of animal exploitation among the pastoral Fulbe is subsistence pastoralism, but even so few subsistence pastoralists depend on livestock alone for subsistence. Most have to get grain and other necessities either from their own farms or from the market by selling milk or animals. What is commercialized is the surplus animal produce--milk. The marketing of surplus milk is to obtain the means to purchase other foodstuff, utensils and ornaments. The slaughter of animals for sale has never been considered a major aspect of pastoral enterprise. Animals are sold to farmers or to butchers for slaughter when the animals are ill, barren or too old to be of any use in milk production. Such sales are usually made to meet pressing financial needs such as for tax payment or to purchase grain for the family (Ezeomah 1987:124). There is among pastoral Fulbe today a wish to increase milk production and marketing. This, however, presupposes a better system of collection, processing and distribution. Over the last decades, the demand for meat has greatly increased because of the doubling of the population. During the oil boom in the 1960s and 1970s, the demand increased because of the prosperous economy, which encouraged commercialization of livestock production. The government is pushing for a commercialization of pastoral production, but as Ezeomah points out, “it is clear that the practice of holding animals as prestige symbols and as security against risks resulting from diseases and drought, the constraint of land tenure and ineffective government intervention to improve nomadic Fulbe pastoralism, have made it difficult for the nomads to commercialize extensively” (1987:135). Those who have taken advantage of commercialization of livestock production in Nigeria, however, have been town Fulbe and non-Fulbe businessmen who have Page 34 34 established ranches. This has had very adverse effects for the nomadic Fulbe, who have been displaced from areas where they traditionally grazed their animals. This displacement along with the commercialization of livestock production by the urban elite has put the pastoral Fulbe are under pressure to commercialize their livestock production (Ezeomah 1987:126; Jakobsen 1989:47). Human and Animal Health Problems The pastoral Fulbe are more exposed to attacks of a variety of diseases because of their mobile life-style, and at the same time they have less access to modern health facilities than the sedentary population. “As a mobile population, they live in make-shift huts and in unhealthy surroundings and adverse climatic conditions. Because of their constant migration and dispersion, they are difficult to reach with health services which, therefore, tend to neglect them” (Ezeomah 1987:62-63). Apart from their mobile life- style, their lack of modern education also exposes them to health hazards. For centuries the nomads have tried to avoid drought and disease infections by means of their nomadic movements (migration, migratory drift, and transhumance), but they have not always been successful. When unsuccessful they have had to shift towards mixed farming and a more sedentary life-style. Even so they have not integrated into the modern society but have remained largely marginalized. For decades the government veterinary services have offered substantial preventive and curative services to the Fulbe pastoralists. In the 1960s, the Rinderpest disease was eradicated through immunization, but in 1983, a new severe outbreak occurred (probably brought into Nigeria from the neighboring countries). Because of the tense relationship between the pastoralists, the sedentary population, and the authorities, and because of pastoralists’ lack of modern education, it has sometimes been difficult for Page 35 35 the veterinary people to gain the confidence of the Fulbe to convince them of the need to vaccinate or treat their animals with modern medicine (Ezeomah 1987:30-31, 63-68). Sedentarization All the above pressures push the nomadic and semi-nomadic Fulbe more and more toward sedentarization and participation in the modern Nigerian world through education. When they come into closer contact with the sedentary population and with the modern institutions of Nigerian society, they are also pushed toward a higher degree of Islamization. When pastoral Fulbe settle down they become integrated into the Muslim community and encounter the Muslim institutions In the history of the Fulbe in Northern Nigeria, there has over the last two centuries been a noticeable trend towards sedentarization, so that today the majority of all Fulbe are sedentary or semi-sedentary. When there were abundant grazing opportunities, Fulbe pastoralists made no attempt to acquire land, but within the last decades crop cultivation has dramatically increased because of the rapid growth in the human population. This land scarcity has motivated some Fulbe pastoralists to seek to acquire land to set up a permanent base to which they can always return. 25 This trend toward a higher degree of sedentism has been accompanied with a higher incidence of mixed economy, where pastoralism is combined with farming (Frantz 1981b:83; Calderbank 1991:30). In Nigeria, the pastoral Fulbe control over 85 percent of Nigeria’s livestock population. The livestock production of these pastoral Fulbe makes up 58.5 percent of the nation’s meat consumption and contributes about 40 percent to the national income 25 In 1970, some Fulbe groups established “The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association” to protect their interests, in particular the association dealt with land rights and conflicts with farmers, but it has not gained general acceptance as representative of all pastoral Fulbe. Some Fulbe claim that it only represents the interest of the settled pastoralists (Calderbank 1991:33; Gefu 1992:76). Page 36 36 from agricultural production. For a long time there has been a wide gap between the meat production in Nigeria and the demand, which has led to an expensive importation of meat into Nigeria. Even so, there is not enough meat to supply the population with the needed protein intake of the average Nigerian. This situation has led to the government’s intervening in the livestock sector in order to boost meat production through introduction of modern methods of livestock production (Gefu 1992:11-14). State intervention in pastoral production has a long history in Nigeria. In the colonial period as well as after independence, the headline has been “modernization” and a key concept in all plans has been sedentarization. As Geoffrey Calderbank points out, “administrators and others came to regard pastoral development as synonymous with settlement and, presumably to rationalize this view, have often claimed that this will somehow, in itself, lead to increased production” (1991:30). Over the last fifty years, a number of projects supported by national and foreign agencies have been set up, but none of them have been successful. It is now evident that these sedentarization programs have neither increased the livestock production, nor improved the living standards of the pastoralists, but rather have had serious ecological consequences (Gefu 1992:83-88; Calderbank 1991:30-31). Irrespective of the failure of the government intervention in favor of sedentarization, a spontaneous sedentarization has taken place in many parts of Northern Nigeria (Frantz 1975:347). Traditionally, nomads have given up nomadism because of decimation of their herds due to drought, disease, cattle theft, or other misfortunes, but today some young men are selling their cattle and abandoning pastoralism altogether, as Frantz points out, because of its rigorous demands or out of exhaustion from trying to prevent crop damage or paying heavy fines. The material and social attractions of town life--motor-cycles, radios, leather shoes, commercial beer, travel and recreational activities--sometimes exert compelling influences upon both young men and women (1975:347). Page 37 37 The increased sedentarization of the pastoral Fulbe has had a number of significant social, cultural and religious consequences. The process of social change that has occurred among the Mbororo’en in Mambila in connection with their increasing sedentism, in particular since World War I, indicates what will may happen to many other pastoral Fulbe in other parts of Northern Nigeria . 1. The link between Fulbe and their cattle has been loosened. Fulbe have combined livestock rearing with farming, and some Fulbe have even left cattle rearing altogether and taken up urban professions. At the same time many non-Fulbe have started rearing their own cattle or working as hired shepherds with the Fulbe herds of cattle. 2. The Fulbe have established much stronger links with the modern Nigerian society, through sedentarization, commercialization of cattle rearing, and increased attendance in primary schools. 3. The Fulbe have given up many of their cultural ceremonies, such as the soro and the geerewol, and the traditional marriage customs have been seriously challenged. Exogamous marriages or even inter-ethnic marriages have increased. 4. Through sedentarization, the Fulbe have had much more interaction with Muslim town Fulbe and Hausa, and this has led to a stricter adherence to Muslim beliefs and practices among the Fulbe. Through Islam, the Mbororo’en have become increasingly integrated into an international system, the world-wide Muslim umma. 5. The status of Fulfulde as the lingua franca has been challenged by Hausa and English (Frantz 1981a). The attitudes of the nomadic and semi-nomadic Fulbe towards sedentarization differ greatly. Some Fulbe claim that they would never consider giving up their mobile life-style because they consider it part of their identity. Others claim that it has never Page 38 38 been in the interest of pastoralists to be nomadic, but that they are nomadic only because their pastoral way of life compels them to be so (Alkali 1988:16). JCMWA’s first secretary, John Gorder, in a report based on a small number of interviews of Fulbe in Southern Gongola state, concluded that “Nomadic Fulani desire to settle, but realize that inadequate pasture, cattle disease, and increased farming . . . FORCE MOVEMENT. (Conflicts with TIV farmers, the 1984 Rinderpest epidemic, and expanded farming everywhere confirm Fulani suspicions about settling)” (1990:61). Education A key element of modernization, and the element most often taken as a symbol of modernization in Nigeria today, is the so-called Western education. As described above the pastoral Fulbe have their own traditional education system, and they also make use of the Islamic education system. Literacy in Hausa and/or English has come to be valued very highly in Northern Nigeria. Being a modern citizen today involves being educated, that is, educated according to the Western education system, whereas being non-literate is equated with being backward. Furthermore, Western education is seen as an indispensable prerequisite for socio-economic development of the nation and is also seen as necessary if individuals and groups are to participate meaningfully in the modern society. A continually increasing percentage of the Nigerian population is being educated, and the pastoral Fulbe are under pressure from without and from within to participate in this educational development. A discussion has been going on for decades now as to whether the nomadic and semi-nomadic Fulbe have to be settled before they can be properly educated according to Page 39 39 modern standards, 26 or whether they have to be educated before they can achieve settlement. 27 Proponents of both positions seem to agree that both education and settlement of Fulbe are good and necessary for the Fulbe as well as for the rest of the Nigerian society. The federal government of Nigeria, in principle, opted for beginning to educate nomads before they were settled hoping that nomadic education would speed up the process of sedentarization. In the 1960s and 1970s, private and public experiments with nomadic education were carried out. The experiments indicated that at least some of the nomadic and semi-nomadic Fulbe were interested in modern education. In 1980, Plateau state pioneered a program of nomadic education, the objectives of which were to take the context of the Fulbe pastoralists seriously and to relate the education meaningfully to their needs and aspirations. Although the program ran into many problems and the noble intentions of adapting the education system to the Fulbe context were only partially realized, 28 the federal government in 1988 decided to introduce a similar program in all states in Northern Nigeria. Though no survey of the nomadic education programs in the 26 According to Hamidu Alkali, who is himself a Pullo, education is not the number one priority among the basic needs of the nomads. The most important need is land ownership, so that the nomads may set up a permanent home and have grazing opportunities. Therefore, Alkali concludes that “any program of education for the nomads which leaves out the question of settling them and providing grazing lands for them is an exercise in futility. . . . Settle the nomad first and then give him the same type of education as available to the rest of Nigerians. By settling him he will feel that he is also a Nigerian” (1988:8-9). 27 The then Federal Minister of Education, Jibril Aminu, who is a Pullo, claimed that “to suggest that they must be settled first before they are given education is to condemn the nomads to eternal darkness. Do not forget that if the nomads become literate they can effectively fight for their right to grazing and settlement areas. They would challenge the land grabbing large-scale farmers who are steadily driving them away from the country.” He did not advocate that the nomads should not be settled, but that “while other sectors are making provision for their settlement, there must be a viable sustained educational program for them” (1988:4). 28 In the four experimental schools 250 pupils were enrolled in 1983, and their attendance was relatively high (between seventy-five and ninety percent). Hausa was used instead of Fulfulde, and many of the adjustments of the syllabus intended to make the education more relevant to Fulbe children were neglected. Instead of mobile schools in tents moving along with the nomads, all schools remained permanently each in their area and tents were replaced with zinc sheet or mud buildings (Lar 1989:76-85). Page 40 40 northern states are available, interviews with Fulbe from various parts of Northern Nigeria and my own observations indicate that the program has not so far been successful, neither quantitatively nor qualitatively. In 1983, Ezeomah, in a survey of the attitudes of pastoral Fulbe towards formal (Western) education, found that most of the parents interviewed had recognized some of the advantages of modern education, such as learning to read and write, knowing more about the world, learning more about animal diseases and how to cure them, and being equipped to communicate with the government. 29 The main constraints preventing nomadic children from attending modern schools were the herding responsibilities of children, the lack of land for settlement, and the distances of schools from their settlements (1983a:27). Both the research of Mary N. Lar (1989, 1997) and Ezeomah (1983, 1987, 1988) showed that the reluctance towards Western education might also stem from fear about the eventual outcome of educating their children. Ezeomah reported that some pastoral Fulbe are resistant towards education because “In their interaction with people who have acquired Western type education, they have not seen anyone who has a good herd of cattle. Rather, they are people known to them to be good shopkeepers, office workers and veterinary officers and not even good land cultivators like their parents” (1983:19). Gorder came across a similar fear among pastoral Fulbe in Southern Gongola state: “Nomadic Fulanis desire education for some of their children, but DISTRUST town Fulani and others who will educate their children AWAY from PULAAKU and cattle rearing” (1990:61). 29 A study of the nomadic education project in Plateau state also showed that the pastoral Fulbe saw education as positive. A survey carried out in eighteen local government areas in Plateau state indicated that of all the children available the parents were willing to send more than half of them to school. The fact that a number of pastoral Fulbe are already sending some of their children to the existing primary schools also indicates that pastoral Fulbe are beginning to appreciate modern education to the extent that they will release some of their children from some of their herding and other duties (Lar 1989:161-163). Page 41 41 Although pastoral Fulbe have been pressured and enticed towards modern education and literacy, there are also forces that reduce the attraction of literacy and modern education. The failure of the mass National Literacy Campaign in Nigeria in the 1980s, the goal of which was to make everyone literate before the year 2000, was among other things due to the fact that the rural population did not understand its value. Stephen D. J. Niyang, who participated in the campaign quotes Paul Wangoola to explain the Fulbe’s lack of motivation: “As a result, the need for widespread literacy as rooted in the economy does not exist. You do not need widespread literacy to participate in a ‘subsistence economy’, i.e., an economy where people survive not because of the economy but in spite of it” (1997:232). On top of this, the economic crisis in Nigeria within the last ten to fifteen years has rapidly increased the non-literacy level. Schools have not been functioning well and the opportunities for graduates to get well-paid jobs with the government were drastically decreased. 30 Summary The history of the Fulbe, the social organization, and the present changes due to modernization of the pastoral Fulbe society exert a decisive influence on the encounter of the pastoral Fulbe with the gospel and the church. This study of the history of the Fulbe indicates that the pastoral Fulbe see themselves as a group of people set apart from their neighbors, related more closely to Arabs and white people than to Negroid ethnic groups. Seen from the perspective of the other groups in Northern Nigeria, the Fulbe pastoralists are intruders who have no right to the land. The conflicts between herders and farmers may make it difficult for the local congregations, most of whose members are farmers, to 30 In 1989, the literacy rate in Nigeria was estimated to be forty-two percent (Grimes 1992:316) Page 42 42 communicate the gospel effectively to the pastoral Fulbe. In this situation, white missionaries may be very useful partners in the mission projects since they have not been part of the conflict and since the Fulbe feel an affinity for them. The study of the history further shows that the interaction of the Fulbe with Islam has been so long that Islam is now part of the identity of the pastoral Fulbe. This is so, even though the form of Islam practiced by pastoral Fulbe is often mixed with many non- Islamic elements. The change of religion for a pastoral Fulbe, therefore, affects their identity. The question then becomes, “Is it at all is possible to be a Pullo without being a Muslim?” This means that the mission projects throughout all the phases of conversion must communicate the gospel in messages and through media that are geared to strengthen the Fulbe identity of the converts. Similarly the converts need help relating their new faith to Islam and relating as Christians to the Muslim Fulbe community. Although there have always been tensions between the more Islamized town Fulbe and their pastoral brethren, there still exists a strong bond of loyalty between them. Ever since the jihad of Dan Fodio in the beginning of the 19th century, a town Fulbe elite together with a Hausa elite, has played a dominant role in the political and economic life of Northern Nigeria. Many Christians feel that this powerful Islamic elite still tries to oppress Christians. Over the last two decades, the relationship between Christians and Muslims has deteriorated with recurring outbursts of violence. 31 All this has made mission to pastoral Fulbe more difficult, and it has created more problems for Fulbe who convert to Christianity. Christians may be tempted to consider Fulbe to be their enemies, just as Fulbe may regard conversion from Islam to Christianity as treason against the 31 There are, however, also indications that some of the pastoral Fulbe have been dissatisfied with mainstream Islam and have joined alternative Muslim movements such as the Mahdiyya movement and more recently the Izala and Shi’a movements. Probably, groups of pastoral Fulbe have felt that their needs were not met in the traditional group of Muslims to which they belonged. This may be an opening for the preaching of the gospel. Page 43 43 Fulbe community, as well as against the Muslim umma. Mission approaches and structures that are geared to overcome or at least reduce these problems must developed. The most important finding in this chapter, however, is related to the importance of cattle to pastoral Fulbe. Their livelihood is their cattle, and their mobile life-style is determined by the needs of the cattle. The central role of cattle is reflected in all aspects of the traditional organization of their society. A Wodaabe Mbororo from Niger summarizes the significance of cattle in this way: The herd is life. It’s food. The herd is strength. It’s his only security. The herd is prestige; it means having the respect of others. It’s glory. Therefore, the loss of the herd is mockery; it’s shame. The herds also shows the friendship of others. If a man no longer has any cows, he no longer has any friends either. . . . For us Wodaabe, raising cattle is something very important. It allows us to be a people. Without cattle, there’s no community. Besides, we don’t raise cattle and stay alone, away from the group. Raising cattle is like a path which we must travel together (Maliki 1984:34-35). Any effective strategy of contextual communication of the gospel must deal with the pastoral Fulbe’s relationship with their cattle. An evangelism strategy that separates the Fulbe converts from cattle may lead to a few individual conversions but is not likely to lead to the founding of a Christian Fulbe community. Therefore, the Fulbe concern for cattle has to be taken into account in all phases of the communication of the gospel. When trying to attract the attention of the pastoral Fulbe to the gospel, the missionary communicator must consider their felt needs related to cattle and must show--through the use of relevant passages from the Bible--that God is concerned about herders and their cattle. Since the timing of changing religions may seriously affect the convert’s ability to keep his cattle, the convert needs advice in the conversion phase based on a thorough knowledge of the culture. If a convert loses his cattle during his conversion, the mission projects should consider how to help him return to a pastoral life-style. Congregational forms that are geared to the specific needs of pastoral Fulbe should be developed. In Page 44 44 short, the pastoral Fulbe people should understand that it is possible to be a truly pastoral Pullo and a Christian at the same time. The mobility of the pastoral Fulbe and their dispersion all over Northern Nigeria call for a strong cooperation between the mission projects and the local congregations as well as between the denominations. Since effective communication of the gospel is a process of interaction with the gospel and the church, all those concerned about the evangelization of the Fulbe need to work together, each giving his/her evangelistic contribution when they come in contact with the Fulbe. When are pastoral Fulbe most free to make their own decisions? The study of the social institutions of marriage, government and education indicates that they have the most independence in the third life stage, that is, young adulthood. Only when a man and a woman have married and have had their first child, are they respected as an independent social unit and given freedom to follow their own path in life. The young man is then able to establish his own herd and homestead and is free to move away from his father’s control. Even then, however, good relations with relatives and friends, are important for the family to survive socially and economically. What may hold a Pullo back from making socially unacceptable decisions is the expected inheritance from his father. When a Pullo reaches the stage of senior adulthood, he is usually one of the respected community leaders and he may therefore find it harder to deviate from the social norms. This means that a pastoral Pullo probably will have fewer problems with an open change of religion after he has reached young adulthood and after his father has died, but before he reaches the stage of senior adulthood. It has been concluded that women in general have much less freedom to make independent decisions. The above findings must the selection of the target group among the pastoral Fulbe for the communication of the gospel and the timing of specific steps in the conversion process (such as open participation in church services and baptism). Page 45 45 One of the felt needs of many pastoral Fulbe is modern education, particularly literacy, which would help them relate to the modern society. Therefore, the churches, with their long tradition of involvement in education, have a great opportunity to express their concern for the Fulbe by offering to teach them to read and write. This skill will help the pastoral Fulbe claim their rights in the modern society, and it will give the church an opportunity to present the gospel to them. This study, however, also showed that many pastoral Fulbe parents are hesitant towards sending their children and young people to school because of their perception that the modern education pulls them away from their pastoral life-style. The church should, therefore, attempt to develop educational programs that are geared toward the needs of the mobile pastoralists and that do not lead the students to non-pastoral professions. At the same time, this study showed that the vast majority of the pastoral Fulbe are still non-literate and due to the economic situation in Nigeria probably for a long time will remain non-literate. Therefore, it is a great challenge for the church to prove that the gospel is not only for literate people, but that God speaks--through the church--also to non-literate people. It was noted that there is a general trend towards the sedentarization of the pastoral Fulbe. Over the last centuries more and more Fulbe have settled, and it is not likely that this development will be reversed, stopped, or even slowed down. When a people is undergoing rapid social change, it tends to be more open to new ideas. The sedentarization process so far has been accompanied by increasing Islamization of the pastoral Fulbe. This Islamization may make it more difficult to reach the Fulbe with the gospel. The question becomes whether this rapid social change can open some of the pastoral Fulbe to consider the gospel as a new integrating force in a world that to them seems to be disintegrating. For this openness to exists that the gospel and the church must be understood as relevant to their situation. Page 46 46 It is important that the church is not perceived as representative of the interests of the sedentary agricultural population or of the government, but rather as a trustworthy partner defending their rights and helping them to relate to the modern world, which is often perceived by them as hostile. The diaconical work (the social service) of the mission projects should use as its starting point the actual needs experienced by the pastoral Fulbe themselves. The analysis indicates that the most urgent needs are veterinary and medical help to secure the welfare of cattle and human beings, and literacy and assistance to secure land rights so that they are not completely marginalized by the modern society. Page 47 47 CHAPTER 5 THE RELIGION AND WORLDVIEW OF THE PASTORAL FULBE In the previous chapter, the social context of the pastoral Fulbe was analyzed. In this chapter the focus will be the religious context and its significance for the communication of the gospel to the pastoral Fulbe. In the religion of the pastoral Fulbe in Northern Nigeria today, we can identify three dimensions or structures, which will be analyzed separately, although they overlap and interact considerably. The first dimension, and the most visible to outside spectators, is the Islamic rites, which the Fulbe share with the Muslim majority in Northern Nigeria. The second dimension is what has often been termed superstitious practices, but what I will term crisis rites associated with magic and spirits. This religious structure is basically African and is shared with adherents of traditional tribal religions and many adherents of Islam and even Christianity. The last dimension is Pulaaku, which is related to the pre-Islamic religion of the Fulbe. In each section, the religious and cultural information from Oumarou Ndoudi as presented in the book Moi, Un Mbororo will be used as the starting point for the analysis of the actual lived religion of the pastoral Fulbe. After the analysis of Islam, magic and spirits, and Pulaaku, an attempt will be made to identify the worldview of the pastoral Fulbe underlying all these religious systems. Page 48 48 Islam There is no doubt that the pastoral Fulbe of Northern Nigeria today consider themselves to be Muslims. Town Fulbe (and other Muslims) sometimes denigrate the pastoral Fulbe’s Islam and consider them to be pagans, while pastoral Fulbe accuse town Fulbe, who have become heavily influenced by Hausa culture, of having lost their Fulbe identity. Leaving final judgment to the to the Muslim umma in Nigeria, it may be concluded from the perspective of phenomenology of religions that what the vast majority of the pastoral Fulbe practice is an African version of folk Islam (cf. Musk 1994; Gilliland 1986). The Islam of the pastoral Fulbe will be analyzed as follows. First, the place of the five pillars of Islam in the life of pastoral Fulbe will be evaluated. Then the extent to which pastoral Fulbe’s rites of passage are Islamic will be discussed. Finally, the elements that attract pastoral Fulbe to a more dedicated Islamic life will be considered. The Pillars of Islam The most visible sign of the presence of Islamic religion is the pillars of Islam. The question is then, to what extent do pastoral Fulbe practice the five pillars of Islam, and how do they understand them. The declaration of faith in one God and in Muhammad as his prophet (shahada) does not seem to play a significant role in the life of the people of Ndoudi. It seems that the Mbororo’en regarded Allah as another name for their own supreme deity. 1 Ndoudi very emphatically states that his people, the Jafu’en nomadic Fulbe, have never been idol worshippers like the surrounding pagans. We Mbororo have always known the name of Allah. We didn’t wait for Usman Dan Fodio to tell us about him! The name of Allah has always 1 Other ethnic groups in Nigeria such as the Nupe also identify the supreme God of their traditional religion with Allah (Ray 1976:184). Page 49 49 been on our lips, but we didn’t know who he was. We even swore by Allah! If someone really tried to know God, he’d lift up his hands dumbfounded to the sky, point to the clouds, and say, “There he is and he’s looking a…