3 - Al-Hakkamat Women

Summary

This chapter investigates and analyses al-Hakkamat women, as individuals, and as a traditional institution of authority within Darfuri Arab society, specifically the Baggara agro-pastoralists. It argues that the attendant uncertainties surrounding the pastoralists’ livelihood patterns have dictated the creation and development of al-Hakkamat using well-established procedures that usually start at a quite young age for females who aspire to be Hakkamat. The dynamism of circumstances within the tribal boundaries have enabled and reinforced al-Hakkamat's agency and power as the successor to a rich history of women and gender power relations in Darfur. This chapter clarifies and discusses the trajectory of the emergence and development of al-Hakkamat.

AL-HAKKAMAT: MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE

Many Darfuris think that the term al-Hakkamah (pl. al-Hakkamat: al is the definite article in Arabic) is the feminine form derived from the Arabic meanings of the word ‘hukm’, a semantic field that ranges from ‘judgement’, ‘ruling’, ‘governing’ or ‘condemnation’, to hākim or hakkam, meaning a male arbiter. This is reminiscent of the common vernacular term that the Darfuris often use to describe themselves as hukkām (sing. hākim), meaning ‘people with a sense of ruling canon and etiquette’ (Kamal El-Din, 2007, p. 93). The senses of these male-oriented descriptions are feminised in a single word: ‘Hakkamah’, denoting a female who possesses a raft of special qualities: a poet, a performer and a singer. Her verse focuses on the words of wisdom, and she can exercise judgements and arbitration. These are the qualities that the respective society distinguishes as the basis for individual female's excellence.

Baggara society thus generally agrees that ‘Hakkamah means hukum – ruling; if she orders you to offer help, you should obey, otherwise, she would dub you a coward’. ‘She is a person of wisdom and has the ability to judge others’, and she is ‘one of the women in the village or the camp who have a specific form of authority of arbitration. It is her power to exercise authority that qualifies her to be Hakkamah.’

However a retired Baggari teacher who is well versed in Baggara culture argues that the term Hakkamah is definitely not the feminine form in the Arabic language; rather, it is the neutral form of exaggeration (having more of a something) derived from hukm, just like the Arabic words allāmah, meaning a knowledgeable person, from ilm (knowledge), and fahhāmah (a very perceptive person) from the word fahm (comprehension/ understanding).