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Through the Palace Gates, Chiefs and Chronology: Developing Reliable Dating Structures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

J.B. Webster
J.B. Webster*
Affiliation:
Dalhousie University
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Extract

This paper sets forth the methodology employed to establish and refine a dating system based on genealogies collected during field research in two areas of Africa, Agago county in Eastern Acholi and Awe district in the Benue Valley. Interview sessions with the elders normally lasted from two to four hours and many topics might be, and usually were, discussed in the course of a single interview. To demonstrate the progression of questioning relative to multiple themes would be beyond the space available or the stamina of readers. It is proposed rather to isolate the problem of chronology and show how, throughout the fieldwork period, achieving accuracy should be a major preoccupation and of greater or lesser concern in every interview. The regnal list is not collected once or twice or thrice. It forms a problem which continuously protrudes into the interviews, more so in the early stages of fieldwork, less so in the later, but seldom totally ignored.

When historical research focused on large kingdoms such as Bunyoro or Oyo, a vague and extremely relative chronology was adequate for many research objectives. One consequence of this type of research was a precolonial history of modern African states fashioned from a series of chapters, each one concentrating on spearate tribal traditions. The impression created was of isolated groups whose interaction, except for some outstanding military conflicts, awaited the coming of Arabs and Europeans. Since these aliens brought dates, integrated regional histories were forced to await their coming.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 11 , 1984 , pp. 331 - 349
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1984

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References

Notes

1. Fieldwork was conducted in Agago in 1970 and 1971 and in Awe in 1974 and 1976. The former field interviews were numbered as Acholi Historical Texts (AHI) and are on deposit in Makerere and the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University. The latter were classified as Jukun Historical Texts (JHT) and are located in the Benue Valley Collection in the Killam Library, Dalhousie University. This article is a revision of a part of two seminar papers “To the Palace Gates--And Back?” History Dept., Dalhousie, 1972 and “Chiefs and Chronology: Jukun Colonies in the Benue Valley,” Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies, 1975.

2. As for example Robers, Andrew, ed., Tanzania Before 1900: Seven Area Studies (Nairobi, 1968).Google Scholar

3. Ron Atkinson and Maura Gary were in Acholi, C. Buchanan and A. Adefuye in Bunyoro, J. Tosh and P. Odyomo in Lango, R. Herring, J. Lamphear and J. Weatherby in Karamoja. I had collected traditions in Northern Teso, another neighboring area, in 1969.

4. J. Orkar (Tiv), A. Unomah (Hausa-Abakwariga), A. Adefuye (Alago), R. Sargent (Igala), E. Erim (Idoma).

5. Garry, A.M., “Assimilation and Change Among the People of the Okaka Plains, 1680-1930,” (M.A. thesis, Makerere, 1972).Google Scholar

6. Chief Adamu and five titled men, JHT No. 2, 9 June 1974.

7. JHT No. 41, 24 July 1974.

8. The third interview JHT No. 42 with the chief and two titled elders reviewed the royal chronicle. Not surprisingly no new light was thrown on the chronological problems.

9. Four informants were descendants of king Abe, one of Agwale, and eight of Agwaye, the three brothers whose descendants held fifteen titles in Wuse. See JHT Nos. 43, 44, 46, and 48.

10. The transfer of titles was still going on, hence the political tension in Wuse. The Gyam had been a titled traditionally representative of the stranger community and held by an Abakwariga. The present chief transferred it to the son of an Alago immigrant married to a daughter of the dynasty. So intent was the Alago establishment on proving it was indigenous that new Alago immigrants were being classified as strangers. Two transfers occurred, the titles of “Moyi” and “Kundu,” just before our arrival.

11. The Sarkin Pada's family, of Ankwe origin, had migrated to Wuse about the same time as the Alago, the grandfather having first been given the title by king Abe. During interviews with the female side the Sarkin Pada would drop by and report back to the palace. Interviews had to be arranged in secret.

12. The Wusin (chief), Kundu and Galadima, JHT No. 42, 26 July 1974.

13. Sargent, R.A., “A Methodology of Chronology: The Igala Core Dating Progression,” HA, 11(1984), 269–89.Google Scholar

14. Of the thirty-two interviews conducted in Wuse, fourteen were with royal titleholders, ten with the female-side, and eight among the strangers.

15. Ali, grandson of Sidi Ali, JHT, No. 45, 27 July 1974.

16. JHT No. 55, 1 Aug. 1974, also the ex-kundu, JHT, No. 56, 1 Aug. 1974.

17. JHT No. 64, 5 Aug. 1974. The interview was interrupted by a royal informer and the interview temporarily turned into a comparison of the Nigerian and Canadian educational systems.

18. Adamu, chief of Wuse, JHT No. 82, 17 August 1974. The Azara Jukun woman was related to king Ato, giving rise to the generally-held view that Moyi Shishi was of the Ato female-side line.

19. Deladi of the Jukun house of Azara, JHT, No. 89, 20 Aug. 1974.

20. Nyajon (the ex-Kundu), JHT No. 56, 1 Aug. 1974.

21. Adi Matswen (Kwararafan king no. 11) established a military base near Wuse. Ashu Manu (no. 13) established his court at Wuse Buhu where he was assassinated and his successor Zikenjo ca. 1820 fled just before the Bauchi jihadists entered the town. See Meek, C.K., A Sudanese Kingdom (Ibadan, 1969), 50–52Google Scholar; Webster, J.B., “Animals of the Kingdom…,” History Seminar, Dalhousie, 1975Google Scholar; Shimizu, K., “Comparative Jukunoid; An Introductory Survey,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Ibadan, 1971), 37.Google Scholar

22. JHT, No. 73, 9 Aug. 1974.

23. Field research failed to relate Adiduku to his predecessors (see Chart II). Since the fieldwork two references to drought in the 1780s derived from neighboring states of the south and located in normally wetter environments than Wuse, suggest the possibility of a serious disruption in Wuse prior to Adiduku. A substantial migration would cause a destruction of oral traditions. Sargent, “Methodology of Chronology.”

24. One young Muslim primary school teacher threw lighted matches at the raffia masquerade which represented the spirit of Adasha during one of its public performances during the research period.

25. Meek, , Sudanese Kingdom, 50–52.Google Scholar For Agwabi's occupation of Kano see Hogben, S.J. and Kirk-Greene, A.H.M., The Emirates of Northern Nigeria (London, 1966), 195.Google Scholar Agwabi was also temporarily at Wuse when it was founded by his son Anyazo. Agudu, founder of Azara, took tribute to him there prior to his installation as chief. Alkali Abdullah of Awe, “The First Man To Settle in Azara,” manuscript, ca. 1926.

26. The Galadima, JHT No. 69, 8 Aug. 1974 and the Bunu, JHT, No. 75, 15 Aug. 1975.

27. Meek, , Sudanese Kingdom, 50Google Scholar; “Traditional records do not indicate a date prior to the latter part of the eighteenth century.” Shimizu, , “Comparative Jukunoid,” 37.Google Scholar Mixing up the establishment of the capital at Wuse with the original Jukun settlement, Temple Notes on The Tribes, Provinces… (London, 1965), 174Google Scholar, dates Jukun occupation to around 1815.