Berichte des Sonderforschungsbereichs 268
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08, 019
With one group generally constituting the autochthonous host - representing the core population in the centre - immigrant groups tend to reside in separate ethnic wards and even work in wards/quartiers identified with their ethno-specific crafts and trades - and often named after them. The socio-lingustic survey will therefore use available and new maps and ethno-linguistic statistics: For the former, the urban surveys by the Max Lock Company of north-eastern Nigeria have been of great help, but have to be updated ; for the latter, various censuses had to be supplemented by more recent information . With ethno-linguistic wards constituting enclaves which can only interact through a language or languages in common, we can apply the general model of the triglottic configuration by positing x territorial and y immigrant, ethnic languages of solidarity; one general urban community language or lingua franca of interaction; and the official language of authority and administration. This language of authority was formerly a local aristolect (Kanuri or Fulfulde), but is now mostly an exolect - English or French. This short presentation concerns ongoing work in urban socio-lingustics developed in Maiduguri over some 15 years.
08, 113
The mountains of the Tangale-Waja Uplands are inhabited by a number of small ethnic groups. They speak different languages which belong to two unrelated linguistic stocks. The Afroasiatic stock is represented by Chadic languages, especially Tangale, but also Pero and Kushi (further to the south along the slopes of the Muri Mountains) of the Bole-Tangale Group. But the majority of the languages belong to the Adamawa branch of the Niger-Congo stock. The study of the vocabulary, technical terms and expressions relating to farming in general and 'farming on terraces' in particular constitutes another important aspect of our multidisciplinary research project providing us with valuable information about the history of the settlements and cultures of the entire region. In this communication we will restrict ourselves to a few general observations which are mainly based on the comparison of selected items of the farming vocabularies of those communities which used to farm the slopes of the mountains in our research area. We want to focus on the various designations for "terraced farms" and "terraces" including any arrangement or setting of stones on farms to enhance and support the production of the staple food: guinea corn (sorghum) and/or millet (pennisetum).
08, 231
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.
08, 349
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".
08, 095
In Nigeria terrace agriculture can mainly be found in the so called "Middle Belt Economy" as FORDE (1946)1 coined this type which lies between the grain economy of males in the north and tuber cultivation of females in the south. The people - lacking a hierarchically social and territorial organisation - are called acephalous or segmentary societies. From the geographical point of view the Middle Belt is seen as a zone of transition. Because of the variability of the climate (sometimes it is too wet for grains, sometimes too dry for tubers) a strategy of mixed cropping enables the farmers to overcome these hazards. Their strategy can be seen in the frame of the game theory. A low population density and a lack of sufficient accessibility limited the innovation of cash crops at that time. The papers on the Tangale-Waja Region will reveal manifold facets of the culture and agriculture. In a first step we learn by the research of J. Heinrich that the natural environment is - from the genetic point of view - a prerequisite for the establishing of terraces, but it is still today an important provision to the modern farmers in their resettlement areas.
08, 067
Our paper deals with the problems of migration, culture and language in the wider Benue-Gongola basin. Here are mainly concerned the West-Chadic speaking groups Kwami, Kupto, Kushi and Piya as well as the Jukun who speak a language belonging to the Benue-Congo family. We try to point out the possible reasons for their historical migrations and in particular the consequences of ethnic expansion of the Jukun in the middle Benue region. History shows that contacts of ethnic groups - being peaceful or by force - had always led to mutual influences and changes in culture and language, which finally resulted in cultural fusion of various aspects. Our study, based mainly on oral traditions as well as on linguistic comparisons, focusses especially on the history of the above mentioned Chadic groups, who are considered - according to our hypothesis - to have come in close contact with the Jukun. Subsequently the warlike expansion of the Jukun caused a strong turmoil which led to the scattering of the various ethnic units.
08, 037
The paper takes recourse to oral tradition and linguistics to ascertain the assertion that the presentday Kanuri and Kanembu speech forms emerged from the same parent language. In determining the parent language, the descriptions of the various components (i.e. clans and ethnic groups) of Kanuri and Kanembu are given as a first basis and the relation of each dialect of Kanuri and Kanembu to the other (i.e. dialect contiguity) is demonstrated as a second basis. Taking into consideration the sociolinguistic background of both Kanuri and Kanembu, the brief history of their divergence, the strong contention of the Borno Ulama and the dialect contiguity of the data presented, the paper concludes that Kanuri and Kanembu are initially one and the same language with ancient classical Kanembu being the parent language.
08, 335
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.
08, 303
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.
08, 137
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.