Latest documents http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/index/index/ Thu, 01 Feb 2007 08:25:34 +0100 Thu, 01 Feb 2007 08:25:34 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1750 The land use in the Tangale-Waja area is analysed according to the two basic categories of geography: Firstly the manifold interaction between men and environment which form the spatial characteristics of an area, and secondly the decrease of influence with increasing distance. The importance of these two elementary factors is described by indicators as accessibility for the period from the precolonial situation until the time after World War II, when new roads were constructed through the mountainous area. Living in a hilly environment the self contained population (formerly called "hill pagans") had developed special agricultural techniques which can be considered ecologically well adapted. The opening up of the area after the pacification, Christianity and education, led to a considerable increase in population, the expansion of land under cultivation, and the change of settlement structure by down-hill population movement. This resulted in overuse of the fragile natural resources. The size of farm steads became too small for the family unit and the still low accessibility of the hinterland of the main interregional roads as well as inappropriate techniques of agricultural production are shortcomings causing heavy damage to the physical environment and decreasing living standards of the local population. Werner Fricke; Jürgen Heinrich; Dieter Kaufhold article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1750 Tue, 02 Jan 2007 08:25:34 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1765 In the inundation area - the basin of the former larger Lake Chad - a special type of sorghum is grown on the clay soils (firgi). This dry-season guinea corn is also called dwarf sorghum or masakwa. In Kanuri, the dominant language in the region, sorghum is called ngawuli. The dry-season types are called ngawuli firgibe (lit. translated: sorghum of the firgi). During the dry season when the natural vegetation becomes dry and yellow, masakwa fields appear in prominent green covering large areas of the clay plains. The most important natural factor for this specialized dry season cropping is the presence of soils with a high clay content. For a better understanding of masakwa and its related issues, a multidisciplinary sub-project (G1) has been established within the SFB 268 (Joint Research Project: History of Culture and Language in the Natural Environment of the West-African Savannah). This project in which all disciplines participate is entitled: "Natural basis for masakwa cultivation and its meaning for the settlement history of the clay plains (firgi) in the Chad basin". Barbara Zach; Holger Kirscht; Doris Löhr; Katharina Neumann; Editha Platte bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1765 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:37:55 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1766 All over the world meat plays an important role in the nutrition of people. Mostly it is considered to be a special source of strength and health. In many peoples' minds the consumption of animal products, such as muscle, fat, blood, inner organs and bones, is much more associated with vital strength than a vegetarian meal. A reason for this may be the inherent physical similarity between human being and animal, especially mammals. There are other ways of producing meat, such as hunting and fishing, but today the most common method is butchering. The people in Tenkodogo consider beef to be an excellent meat. We will focus our comparative studies on special occasions, specialised butchers, locations, times, technical methods, distribution and ideas connected with the production and consumption of beef. Two fundamental reasons for the butchering of cattle can be identified: firstly, bulls are killed during the rituals of the year and secondly, cattle is slaughtered for daily commercial purposes on the market. In both cases almost the entire carcass of the butchered animal is consumed by people. In Tenkodogo we can actually compare those two different reasons, which have at least one common impact. Hans Zimmermann bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1766 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:37:18 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1774 The Lake Chad Basin is a major geographical region in the central part of the Sudan zone of Africa. The northern parts, however, extend into the Sahel and the southern parts of the Sahara desert. It consists of an extensive shallow depression of about 1.536.000 km2 (600.000 miles2) of which about 10% lies in Nigeria. The greater part is shared between the three countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Climatically and agriculturally, the Chad Basin lies within the dry or semi-arid zone of Nigeria. It is a marginal area which has experienced severe droughts and considerable environmental changes in recent years. The natural environment, its use and misuse, and the threat of life posed by environmental pollution dominate discussions on environmental change. But in addition to the natural or physical environment, there are other equally important 'environments' which deserve some attention in view of the role that they play in generating economic growth and in ensuring sustainable development which is the central issue in our concern about the environment. These other environments are the cultural environment, the political environment and the economic environment, both internal and external. In the Chad Basin, all these other environments, along with the natural environment have been greatly influenced by its land locked location in the heart of Africa. K. Reuben Udo article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1774 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:12:12 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1772 The account of Borno's war with Mandara thus recounted above, at least from the point of view of the Mandara Chronicler, and all the other accounts I have given above clearly portray to us the essence of the Mune in that oppression and/or a war of caprice is not enjoined. And the war against Mandara was clearly a war of caprice, as Mandara had clearly recanted on its recalcitrance, when threatened. The essence of the Chronicle itself, however, is that we are here seeing, from accounts of an eye-witness, the portrayal of a polity whose language principles and practice of diplomacy, in war and in peace, are not less developed than any we have seen in the states of Euro-Germanic experience, of comparable times. The basis of this well ordered art is essentially the Mune, even though in its universalist form we may wish to assign it to the Book and the Sunna of Islam. Why not then, should we not regard the Mune as the constitution of the pre-colonial Borno State? Munen - ba (not in the Mune), for the Sayfawa ruler is certainly more binding than most modern constitutions had been binding on leaders of present-day African States! Kyari Tijani article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1772 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:04:47 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1775 The investigations carried out within the project in NE-Nigeria since 1989 have been focussing on the late Pleistocene and Holocene landscape development of the south eastern Chad basin. Areas of interest include palaeodune fields, clay plains and former beach ridge systems of Lake Chad. Transgressions and regressions of Lake Chad played an important role in the younger landscape history of NE-Nigeria and have also caused great environmental changes. The term „Megachad“ is well known and describes an enormous lake with an extension comparable with the Caspian Sea of today. The term „Microchad“ stands for the other recent extreme in terms of the lake dimensions varying during the times. Environmental changes in the surroundings of Lake Chad are closely connected with transgressions and regressions of the lake. These lake level changes can be climatically induced as well as non-climatically, due to human impact. Nearly all land units have more or less been influenced by the lake, spatially as well as temporally. It is important, though, to notice the scales of the changes. Some changes took place in a millennial scale, some in the scales of centuries or decades, and at least – as can be observed every year – in a seasonal scale. Heinrich Thiemeyer bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1775 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:02:01 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1777 The objective of this paper is to combine the environmental conception of the Kanuri with detailed findings of pedological and botanical field investigations. Interpretation of multitemporal satellite data and aerial photographs should provide land cover and land use information for an extended area. The area of investigation was outlined within the transitional zone from the clay plains to the sandy areas by interpretation of satellite images. The presented subset of a SPOT-XS-satellite image shows part of the Marte Local Government Area with its capital Old Marte in the north-eastern part of the image. The darker colours represent the clay plains while the lighter parts are related to the sandy areas. Almost half of the research area is covered by clay but all settlements are located on the slightly elevated sandy areas. Within these sandy areas different gray shades demonstrate the pattern of the rainy season farming area. Differences in colour within the clay plains are mainly due to variances in soil, water content and vegetation cover. In the north-eastern part of the image irrigation channels of the South Chad Irrigation Project are visible. The main attention, especially of the pedological and botanical research, was directed towards the south-western part of the subset in the vicinity of the villages of Wulwa, Dura, Kajere and Ngubdori. Hans-Jürgen Sturm; Ina Franke; Holger Kirscht; Mandingo Ataholo; Thomas Skorupinski bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1777 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:00:26 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1780 Yerwa is the last of the Borno capitals. Although established in the first decade of colonial administration, it cannot be compared with the many other towns like Fort Lamy, Jos, Kaduna, Niamey et al. which all developed about the same time. Colonial interference with the development of Yerwa appears restricted, mainly, to insistence upon wider roads than a Borno town otherwise would have featured and resettlement schemes, e.g. Mafoni, Ari Askeri. The following is based on the premise that as the town - despite time and political circumstances of its emergence - is a distinctive Borno town, also occupational diversification and structure are distinctively related to urban Borno culture. Wilhelm Seidensticker article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1780 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:57:19 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1784 Numerous ecologists postulate that West African savannas are mostly the result of degradation of formerly closed forests. This hypothesis can only be tested by palaeoecological investigations. The palynological results summarised in this paper document the history of the Sudanian and Sahelian savanna of NE-Nigeria during the last 11.500 years (uncal. BP). Both sites investigated provide evidence for the persistence of savanna throughout the entire Holocene. Patches of closed dry forest may have occurred, but never completely displaced the savanna vegetation. Humid conditions during the early and mid Holocene (from 10.000 BP onwards) caused a rapid spread of Guinean and Sudanian taxa into the northern vegetation zones. A slow return to drier climatic conditions between ca. 6800 BP and ca. 5500 BP can be recorded at both sites. Finally, between 3800 BP and 3300 BP a strong aridification resulted in the establishment of the modern vegetation zones. In both the Sahelian and Sudanian zone the vegetational changes appear to have been primarily controlled by climatic changes, whereas the effects of human activities remain palynologically silent even for the late Holocene. Ulrich Salzmann bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1784 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:49:59 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1829 Two sites situated in the Sahelian and Sudanian zones of NE-Nigeria were chosen for pollen analysis. A sediment core from an interdunal depression in the eastern Manga Grassland provides information on the Holocene vegetation history of the Sahel between c. 9600-3400 B.P. The 3 m pollen record indicates an open savanna during the mid-Holocene. The presence of Sudano-Guinean taxa, which were mainly restricted to the interdunal depressions, points to more humid conditions. Already before c. 4000 B.P., a slow change towards drier conditions and the establishment of the modern Sahelian vegetation is visible in the diagram. This development was accompanied by high fire frequencies. A 16 m core from a crater lake (Lake Tilla) in the Sudanian zone of NE-Nigeria provides a pollen record which can be dated back to approximately 11-12000 B.P. Preliminary pollen spectra show a relatively constant pattern with a dominance of grass pollen even during the middle Holocene. Ulrich Salzmann bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1829 Wed, 20 Dec 2006 08:48:29 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1787 The study investigates elements influencing agricultural development in villages of the hinterland of Gombe, Gombe State, Nigeria. It aims to discover changes in socio-economic and socio-cultural interactions that exist among household, region, nation and world market. Of special interests are rural households as well as wholesale markets where dynamic processes in the structure of agricultural enterprises and the individual reasons of innovations are recognisable. The final objective of the study is to analyse the agricultural sector in the investigated villages in time and space, by typifying rural households, there strategies of action in relation to different factors: for example, farmsize, cultivation techniques and marketing of agriculture products. The study is also interested in operational profits and costs of farms, income of households as well as expenditures, etc. Because of the fact that statistical work is still going on, it is only possible to present a small portion of the results. Namely, the change in cultivation and marketing of farm products with special emphasis on cash crops during the last 30 years. Gilbert Malchau bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1787 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:54:16 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1788 We can conclude that the Dughwede calendar lasts for two seasonal years, marked by the bull festival as a culminating and turning point. All ritual and agricultural activities are interlinked and need to be seen comprehensively together with the social and cosmological order to understand the underlying cultural pattern. The year is dramatized throughout the seasons to keep the communication between the natural and spiritual forces, both creatively reflected in the individual person. The traditional world was kept in balance as a functional equilibrium over a period of time not known to us, but is now moving towards a process of transformation initiated by structural historical change. The first step towards change is the change of moral values which affects possibly first individuals and then groups. This encourages them to give up the traditional way of interacting with their environment. This process can be described as secularisation and leads to another quality of relationship between man and his natural environment. The same process can also be described as socio-economic change. Gerhard Müller-Kosack bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1788 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:53:34 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1789 Traditional land rights in Dagara and Sisala societies in Burkina Faso and Ghana which were stateless in pre-colonial times are closely connected with the concept of earth-shrine parishes under the protection of a local land god and ideally under the control of the “first-comers” to the area. The earth priests perform regular sacrifices at the shrine and allocate land to later immigrants as well as the right to build houses and to bury their dead, often in exchange for gifts. The international border between Ghana and Burkina Faso, which was drawn up in 1898 and runs along the 11th parallel, often cuts across earth-shrine parishes. Particularly since the border demarcation exercise in the 1970s, the spatial separation of the Sisala earth priests on one side of the border from the Dagara immigrants on the other side has given rise to intricate conflicts over land rights. The paper will present the history of one such conflict and look at the various landrelated discourses – traditionalist, nationalist, and Christian – which the adversaries put forward in order to substantiate their claims. Carola Lentz bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1789 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:52:58 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1794 Maiduguri, an important city in the Sudano-Sahelian zone of West Africa, experiences both drought and floods. Although droughts are more popular, floods are a seasonal occurrence in parts of the city in the average rainy season. Both hazards exert a heavy toll on their victims. Present response to the hazard problems is characterised by a fire-fighting approach which does little about future occurrence. Much of the perception and response is spiritual and stops short of needed structural and organisational programmes for effective mitigation of hazards. Future occurrences of drought and flood may have more adverse effects as land use in the city becomes more complex and agricultural and water supply system comes to depend heavily on surfacial sources. Future effects will also depend on the socio-economic conditions of the people at risk and the capacity of those who help them. Governments and people need to work together to reduce drought and flood hazards. John O. Odihi bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1794 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:50:18 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1803 The Nigerian agricultural sector deserves to be studied not less for the contribution of such knowledge to our understanding of the past, and present, but more for the usefulness of such knowledge in shaping the sector. The role that agriculture plays in Nigeria’s national economy since her independence may be determined by considering first, the changing structure of the national economy. As the national economy changes, also the role of agriculture. The observed structure at successive periods thus reveals the contribution that agriculture makes to the national economy. A total picture could also be presented through an examination of the contribution of agriculture to the gross domestic product GDP, over the years. It is also possible to add to the above presentation, the annual production of each agricultural crop over the period, or the productivity of the individual farmer as the years pass by. No doubt, the role of agriculture shall not remain static, for as deliberate efforts are made to develop the economy, the agricultural sector is also affected, although several endogenous factors also influence development within the sector. An emperical approach to the understanding of what is happening within the sector is to be prefered and such is documented in small scale studies conducted already by such scolars as FRICKE (1965), TIFFEN (1976) and MALCHAU (1999a+b). Anametti Ntukidem bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1803 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:46:10 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1813 This paper examines Borno's colonial economy with particular reference to the activity of indigenous traders. Stress is laid on trade within Borno and between the province and other markets in Nigeria and the adjoining colonies of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. An analysis of the involvement of traders, ranging from Kanuri, Hausa, Tubu, Fulani, Shuwa Arabs, Yoruba to Igbo, in items such as livestock, indigenous cloths of Hausaland manufacture (especially turkudi), kolanuts, local salt, natron, dried fish, imported cotton materials and salt is also attempted. Although Maiduguri (or Yerwa), Nguru, Potiskum, Bama, Goniri, Monguno, Geidam, Abadam and Biu were the main market centres in the province during much of the period under review, the activity of traders in Maiduguri is chosen for consideration in the paper. Apart from being the provincial and Shehu's capital, the emphasis on Maiduguri is informed by the town's commercial importance, especially in the overland trade between the rest of Nigeria and the neighbouring colonies of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Yakubu Mukhtar bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1813 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:40:55 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1817 One of the powerful conventional images of pre-colonial Africa is that of a continent of more or less immobile ethnic groups, living since time immemorial on their ancestral lands, steeped in their traditional cultures. In this image, Africa appears like a mosaic, with clearcut ethnic boundaries, each sherd representing a different people cum language cum culture cum territory. Since a number of years, however, historians and anthropologists of Africa have insisted that this image is misleading. Most pre-colonial societies were characterised by mobility, overlapping networks, multiple group membership and the contextdependent drawing of boundaries. Communities could be based on neighbourhood, kinship and common loyalties to a king, but this did not absolutely have to include notions of a common origin, a common language or a common culture. Our own research on the West African savannah has also shown the enormous importance of mobility. Among the societies of southern and southwestern Burkina Faso, for instance, which several projects have studied, there is hardly a single village whose history has not been characterised repeatedly by the arrival and settlement of new groups and the departure of others. In some cases, we can even speak of systematic practices of multilocality. Carola Lentz bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1817 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:40:22 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1816 The conflict I refer to happened at the beginning of the 1998 farming season when the distribution of land started. The seasonal migrants went into the village area were they had been farming since many years, they gave their contributions and payments to the respective officials and started to prepare the land. Shortly after they had started to plant the beans – the main cash crop beside fishing – they were harassed by armed people and had to leave the area. Only several weeks later they were able to go back to their prepared fields and proceeded with their farming business. The question I want to concentrate on is related to the topic of the ethnological sub-project – “Community building in newly founded settlements in the Lake Chad area” – and can be specified as “What do conflicts tell us about the community and people involved?” Editha Platte bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1816 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:39:43 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1814 This paper is concerned with the transition from hunting and gathering to food production in West Africa, based on evidence from the Sahel Zone of Burkina Faso compiled by field research during the last years. Our study intends to enhance the knowledge about the West African versions of this transition, traditionally seen as one of the most fundamental changes in human prehistory. Embedded in an interregional program the Sahel Zone of Burkina Faso has proved to be one of its most unexpected examples. Katharina Neumann; Peter Breunig; Stefanie Kahlheber bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1814 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:38:08 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1818 Tenkodogo, a township situated in the south-eastern part of Burkina Faso on the road leading from the capital Ouagadougou to the Togo border, has approximately 29,000 inhabitants. It is Burkina's seventh largest town and is the location of the regional government of the Boulgou-Province. This regional government is represented by a high-commissioner and a "préfet" as it is the residence of a traditional ruler, otherwise known as Tenkodogo-naaba. His sphere of influence covers many villages and hamlets in the region: in total he is the sovereign of nearly 120,000 people. The power of the traditional rulers was curtailed first by the arrival and following overrule of the French colonialists and then after independence by Sankara and his revolutionary government. The kings ceased to be the ultimate judges who were able to determine life and death of their subjects. Henceforth they were no longer allowed to recruit subjects for certain work on their fields, and they no longer could claim control over the allocation of resources. Their position was strengthened anew by Sankara's successor in office, Blaise Campaore, who quickly recognized that collaborating with the traditional rulers could only be of advantage: in fact they later proved to be his best supporters in the election campaign. Ute Ritz-Müller article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1818 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:37:32 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1820 The paper gives a brief history of the Fulçe people who are found all over West and Central Africa. Since no study of a people is complete without mentioning their language, the paper also gives a very brief account of Fulfulde, the language of the Fulçe people. However, the central focus of the paper is the concept of pulaaku, that unique attribute of the Fulçe that serves as an unwritten code of conduct for all ‘true’ Fulçe. Pulaaku is Fulçe’s guiding principle in their dealings with their fellow Fulçe as well as with all other people. Rather than talk about pulaaku in isolation, however, the paper tries to mirror it through Fulfulde proverbs. Coded or loaded messages called wise-sayings or proverbs are widely used in all languages. Fulfulde is particularly rich in this, which is why the paper explores this reservoir of knowledge in trying to portray the rich culture of the Fulçe people. The corpus of proverbs from which the selected proverbs come, was compiled in and around Gombe with the help of Mallam Bappayo Bappa Yerima Djibril. Since the Fulçe are easily the most dispersed people in Africa, no single study can do real justice to all of them. This is why this study narrows its scope to cover just the Fulçe of Gombe area of the northeastern of Nigeria. Rudolf Leger; Abubakar B. Mohammad bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1820 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:35:50 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1822 The tale portrays the unhappy life of a dove. Constantly surrounded by enemies, hunted by human beings and animals, disappointed by friends and separated from her family, the dove despairs of her life. She ponders over her unjust fate in this world and in a monologue she begins to consider, whether it would not be better to end her own life. This tragic theme forms the climax of several episodes, in which the tension between life and death is described. The elaborate development of dramatic acts demonstrates the intertwining of guilt and innocence in human existence. Rudolf Leger bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1822 Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:35:18 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1826 It is one of the paradoxes of the history of the states of the Central Sudan that Borno, the state with the longest tradition of Islamic literacy should have such an illestablished chronology - especially for the nineteenth century - when compared with its neighbours. No kinglist has been published, no list with regnal years, such as is known from other states. Our problems are compounded by the fact that every known list is presented in the Christian solar calendar and there is no way in which we can be certain that the original material has been correctly converted from the Muslim lunar calendar. In the paper that follows I have attempted to establish a chronology based primarily upon Arabic sources and upon the Muslim calendar. These sources include state seals which usually are engraved with the date of the year of accession; mahrams, charters, or grants of privilege, or rather renewal of such grants by newly appointed leaders. It was the practice for owners of such documents to have them renewed at the beginning of a new reign. When attempting to date events connected with the eclipse of the al-Kanimiyyin and the advent of Rabih I have also made use of evidence relating to the seasons and to various meteorological conditions. John E. Lavers article http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1826 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:06:39 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1824 Over approximately the last 200 years, north-west Ghana and large areas of neighbouring southern Burkina Faso were the stage for a highly successful expansion of Dagara-speaking peoples. Probably setting out from an area around Wa, small groups of Dagara migrated towards the north, some of them taking a westward route, crossing the Black Volta river into today’s Burkina Faso. They rarely advanced into nomansland but rather displaced peoples such as Sisala-, Dyan-, Phuie- and Bwamu-speaking groups, who then moved further west and north. Today, the Dagara occupy about 3500 km2 in southern Burkina Faso, where they represent the sixth largest language group. In this paper I wish to explore the history of the north-west frontier of Dagara expansion and the interaction between the “land-owning” Phuo and the incoming Dagara. Richard Kuba bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1824 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:05:40 +0100 http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1823 Dumba-fishing was invented at Lake Chad about 10 years ago by immigrant fishermen from Mali and Nigerian Hausaland. The new technique brought about a new era of Lake Chad fishery, characterised by social and institutional changes. Titled Kanuri fishery headmen (Kacalla njibe)2 who traditionally controlled the access to the lake's water were unable to cope with the massive influx of immigrant fishermen. The lack of an institution for effective control lead to serious conflicts between local and immigrant fishermen. With the Fishermen Association Marte Local Government a new institution was invented, in which local and immigrant fishermen, regardless of their ethnicity, should control access to the fishing grounds together. The Fishermen Association was modelled after “modern” urban institutions and thus mirrors the transformation of the lake shores from rural backwaters, with local customs and culture to an economic centre, characterised by inmigration, cultural diversity and several other 'urban' traits. Matthias Krings bookpart http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/1823 Mon, 18 Dec 2006 17:04:56 +0100