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“Gendered Narratives,” History, and Identity: Two Centuries Along the Juba River among the Zigula and Shanbara1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Francesca Declich*
Affiliation:
SOAS, University of London

Extract

The argument that a process of “making tribes” has invested Africa from early colonial times has been used to explain the emergence of some ethnicities which appear not to have existed before colonialism. This emergence was often accompanied by the creation of written records of male historical discourse, thus not only giving them undue prominence but also suppressing female historical discourses which were not considered pertinent to “history.”

Yet whenever history is recounted orally by either men or women, it contains messages directed to a “gendered” audience (i.e., an audience composed of people of both genders) whose participants perceive messages differently and reproduce separate but interacting discourses. Such diverse perceptions result from certain aspects in oral genres as well as small, coded markers which can evoke immensely potent but gender-specific experiences. Such instances may become public symbols and, along with more obviously historical narratives, greatly influence how people relate to their past. Thus men and women in the same audience, hearing the same story, can make connections between elements of a narrative which are obscure to outside researchers.

Recently, it has become quite common for historians of Africa to deconstruct written historical sources on the basis of the agendas of both the original writer and his informants. These agendas are rarely explicit and thus hiddenly selective. Such deconstruction is a legitimate scholarly procedure; however, as female voices have rarely been recorded—the resulting analysis reinforces the omission of women's roles in the process of remaking history and creating identity.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1995

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Footnotes

1.

This paper was first presented in May 1993 at the History of Africa Seminar at SOAS. I would like to thank David Anderson, Humphrey Fisher, J.D.Y. Peel, and Andrew Roberts for their comments. Generous finances from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche allowed part of my fieldwork, the Istituto Universitario Orientale supported me with a scholarship for three years, and a grant from the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, together with the British Academy, was very welcomed when writing this paper.

Fieldnotes were accumulated during two years of fieldwork carried out in 1985-86, 1987, and 1988, and contain both ethnographic data and oral historical sources. The latter are mainly personal reminiscences, some gathered from individuals and some from groups. Given the scarce codification of oral traditions in the area under study, some interviews have been conducted as autobiographical in order to grasp historical evidence from personal experiences. Interviews cover historical information about the early migration from east Africa and escape from slavery, the free republic of slaves along the Juba river before the turn of the century, Italian and British colonial vicissitudes, forced labor, and resistance to European power. Many of the historical interviews about events that occurred at the turn of the century and before contain words of songs because this was one of the narrative devices used by informants. Fieldnotes include ethnographic data on genealogies and kinship system, local Islamic practices and brotherhoods, traditional rituals, marriage, traditional medicine, social organization, and inheritance. All material is in my possession in handwritten files and available to interested researchers. Files contain fiche marked by date, informant, and topic. Fourteen files include transcriptions in Chizigula from recordings of autobiographical interviews comprising 27 cassettes and their annotated translation into Italian. Only personal reminiscences and documentation on mviko rituals and versions of songs have been indexed through a DBase3+ package. The indexed data are contained in seven handwritten files whose pages are numbered and marked as above. Much of this information has also been tape recorded on 25 cassettes. Samples of most daylight mviko performances have been video recorded using a VHS Compact non-professional video camera. My notes are in Italian.

References

Notes

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15. Fieldwork was conducted in three phases from 1985 to 1988 between the village of Kumperera (Middle Juba region) and Jamame town (Lower Juba region). Data therefore refer to the pre-civil war period.

16. Other etymologies have been suggested, derived from the Oromo language. For example, Waata Horo means “sons of Horo;” Horo is one of the forerunner ancestors in the Oromo cosmology. Alternatively, Wa haata refers to hunters. See Megresse, R.G., “Knowledge, Identity and Colonizing Structure. The Case of the Oromo in East and Northeast Africa” (PhD., SOAS/University of London, 1993).Google Scholar

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24. See Vail, Leroy, ed., The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa (London, 1989), 13.Google Scholar

25. Declich, “Multiple Oral Traditions;” History and Ethnicity, ed. Tonkin, Elizabeth, McDonald, M., and Chapman, M. (London, 1989)Google Scholar; Willis, “Making of a Tribe.”

26. See Spear, Thomas T., Traditions of Origins and Their Interpretation: the Mijikenda of Kenya (Athens, Ohio, 1982), 17Google Scholar; idem., “Oral Traditions: Whose History?” HA 8(1981), 165-81.

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32. Ibid., 34.

33. Trevis, “Considerazioni.”

34. Guillain, Charles, Documents sur l'histoire, la géographie, et le commerce de l'Afrique Orientale (Paris, 1856), 2: 537Google Scholar, cited in Cassanelli, , “Social Construction,” 219.Google Scholar

35. Trevis, “Considerazioni.”

36. Ibid.

37. Cassanelli, “Social Construction;” idem., and “Ending of Slavery;” Carolis-Piga, “Quadro etnico;” Declich, “Goscia;” Grottanelli, V.L., “IBantu del Giuba nelle tradizioni del Watzegua,” Geographica Helvetica 8 (1953), 249–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar and in idem., Gerarchie etniche e conflitto culturale (Milan, 1976), 220-38.

38. d'Albertis, Enrico Alberto, In Africa. Victoria, Nyanza e Benadir (Bergamo, 1912).Google Scholar

39. I thank Bernardo Bernardi for pointing out this aspect. Chiesi, , Colonizzazione europea, 659.Google Scholar

40. “Chi” is the prefix used by the Zigula to indicate names of languages similarly to the “ki” in the Swahili tongue.

41. F. Crevatin, an Italian linguist, personal communication (1988).

42. For a clear, if simplistic, classification of the Bon see Salked, R.E., “A Journey Across JubalandGeographical Journal 46 (1915), 5154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

43. Grottanelli, “Bantu del Giuba;” Puccioni, Nello, Giuba e Oltregiuba. ltinerari della Missione della R. Accademia d'Italia (Firenze, 1937), 97.Google Scholar

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45. Ferrari, G., “Il Basso Giuba italiano,” 63.Google Scholar

46. The elder was from the Moofi village. See fieldnotes, m/sto:57-59.

47. This date has been suggested by Cassanelli, L.V., in Feierman, Steven, The Shambaa Kingdom (Madison, 1974), 137.Google Scholar It is probably based on material in Burton, Richard, Zanzibar: City, Island and Coast (London, 1857), 148Google Scholar; Cooper, Frederick, Plantation Slavery on the East Coast of Africa (London, 1977), 203.Google Scholar

48. Declich, F., “Il Processo di formazione della identità culturale dei gruppi bantu della Somalia meridionale” (Tesi di Dottorato di Ricerca, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli, 1992), 58Google Scholar; Grottanelli, “Bantu del Giuba.”

49. Declich, , “Goscia,” 588Google Scholar; idem., “Processo di formazione,” 52; Menkhaus, , “Rural Transformation,” 122, 548.Google Scholar Menkhaus' informants called this tax baad.

50. Declich, “Processo di formazione.”

51. Giuseppe Caniglia, Cenni di demografia suite popolazioni della Somalia Italiana. La organizzazione della cabila (Rome, 1916), 8-9.

52. Zoli, Oltre Giuba, 150; Giuseppe Caniglia, Genti di Somalia, (Rome, 1935), 156.

53. Regio Governo della Somalia, Museo della Garesa Mogadiscio. Estratto dal “Catalogo” del Museo della Garesa, (n.p., n.d.), 37-38; Declich, F., “La Somalia coloniale alla Garesa” in La Banca, N., ed., L'Africa in Vetrina (Livorno, 1992)Google Scholar; Zoli, Oltre Giuba, 150; Caniglia, Cenni di demografia, 8-9. This museum was destroyed during the civil war which followed the Barre regime.

54. Chiesi, Colonizzazione europea, 628. This policy has been confirmed by oral sources in the field.

55. Rossetti, , “Nassib Bunda,” 86.Google Scholar

56. Ibid., 83.

57. G. Lovatelli, “Lettera.”

58. Hess, Robert, The Italian Colonialism in Somalia (Chicago, 1966), 6484.Google Scholar

59. See, for example, Trevis, , “Considerazioni sulla schiavitu,” 470–71.Google Scholar

60. Cassanelli, , “End of Slavery,” 322.Google Scholar

61. Serrazzenetti, Marcello, Considerazioni sulla nostra attitivà coloniale in Somalia (Bologna, 1933), 1213.Google Scholar

62. This number refers to 1988 and is calculated according to data provided in Somali Democratic Republic, Census of Population and Livestock (Mogadisha, 1982), xiii.Google Scholar

63. Zoli's monograph, Oltre Giuba, is one such tangle of sources, as noted, for instance, by Menkhaus, “Rural Transformation.”

64. The villages, ordered from north to south, are Kumperera, Kulow, abdalla Kkane, Kamtande, Alessandra, Manyagabo, Hargeisa, Mareerey, Kamsuma, Nassib Bundo, Migwa, Mussa Makua, Masaajiro, Moofi. Kukuyu, Buulo Yaaq, Mugaambo, and Booriini.

65. Ordered from north to south along the Juba River, the most important villages are Bandar Jadiid, Buulo Dhimbilow, Buulo Isaga, Migwa, Baraka Dhurow, Membei, Kayuuyu, Mashaqa, Chigola, Jabbi, Masaajiro, Moofi, Buulo Maamow, Buulo Yaaq, Mugambo, Mukei Gambiila, Taka Wuungu, Boorini, Sheekh Cambuula, Fikiro, Luchindo, Madhamey, Dhosa, Buulo Farxaan, Bugeey, Likhono, Bambila, Araara. Thirty-five Zigula villages are listed in Grottanelli, , “Bantu del Giuba,” 228.Google Scholar

66. Zoli, , Oltre Giuba, 150.Google Scholar

67. See fieldnotes, q/sto:4.

68. Kersten, Baron Claus von der Decken's Reisen.

69. As announced in Chaillé-Long, Charles, Central Africa: Naked Truths About Naked People (London, 1876), 328.Google Scholar

70. Arc Angelo, “Rough Sketch”

71. Kersten, , Baron Claus von der Decken's Reisen, 299.Google Scholar

72. When mentioning Zigula elders, I am referring to Zigula-speakers known as being among the oldest people in their villages.

73. This argument is likely to have been put forward by the Zigula in order to explain why no Zigula became the official representative of the Gosha area instead of the Yao, Nassib Bundo.

74. Fieldnotes, va/2:7.

75. Zoli, , Oltre Guiba, 150.Google Scholar

76. The villages are Mussa Makua, Subutuni, Farbito, Uashan, Malaile, and Gobuen. Makua elders, although they cannot be distinguished by their traditional lanaguage, are the oldest living members of a makua mviko called sharappa and are designated as such.

77. Fieldnotes, q/sto:6.

78. Buinda rituals are those performed for female initiation at menarche.

79. Lovatelli, “Lettera.”

80. Fieldnotes, p/sto:31.

81. Declich, , “Processo di formazione,” 5253Google Scholar; Menkhaus, , “Rural Transformation,” 549.Google Scholar

82. A.S.M.A.I., Pos.55/6, Fasc.42, Fieldnote so/sto:49; E. Perducchi, “Moti del Nassib Bunda” Brava, 16 June 1904, A.S.M.A.I., Pos. 68/2; “Nassib Bundo: capo dei Goscia,” 16 March 1899, A.S.M.A.I., Pos/68/1.

83. This is also highlighted by Menkhaus, , “Rural Transformation,” 107.Google Scholar

84. Fieldnotes, o/sto:50.

85. Kersten, , Baron Claus von der Decken's Reisen, 303.Google Scholar

86. Cassanelli, , “Social Construction on the Somali Frontier,” 221Google Scholar; Menkhaus, , “Rural Transformation,” 98Google Scholar; Handeni District Book, 1934.

87. Grottanelli, , “Bantu del Giuba,” 254.Google Scholar

88. Giblin, James, “Famine, Authority and the Impact of Foreign Capital in Handeni District, Tanzania, 1840-1940” (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1986), 77Google Scholar, and personal communication, 1992.

89. Handeni Districk Book, 1934.

90. Declich, , “Processo di Formazione,” 93.Google Scholar

91. Declich, F., “Identity, Dance and Islam Among People with Bantu Origins in Southern Somalia,” (paper presented at the 35th Conference of the African Studies Association, Seattle, 1993).Google Scholar

92. Feierman, , Shambaa Kingdom, 137.Google Scholar

93. Kersten, , Baron Claus von der Decken's Reisen, 303.Google Scholar

94. Angelo, Arc, “Rough Sketch,” 280.Google Scholar

95. Makua elders give Mze Migwa's name as Zando. Migwa is a Kolwa name, i.e., the name of a matrikin grouping.

96. Tumba is the name usually given to the area to which people were brought as slaves and is mentioned as such in mviko songs.

97. Mseve is a Mviko dance which was performed before going to war.

98. Ukala is a mviko dance performed before hunting.

99. Uganga are charms containing poison.

100. Fieldnotes, o/sto:73-77.

101. Mbuji is the name given to ankle bells.

102. Fieldnotes, o/sto:91-95.

103. Grottanelli, , “Bantu del Giuba,” 254, reports only this version.Google Scholar

104. For fighting over the supremacy of one's own ancestors' veneration, see Declich, , “Processo di formazione,” 120-22, 176–78.Google Scholar

105. A Kolwa is a matrikin grouping. For a few scattered details concerning these groupings among a similar matrilineal people of northeastern Tanzania, see Beidelman, Thomas, The Matrilineal Peoples of Eastern Tanzania (Zaramo, Luguru, Kaguru, Ngulu, etc.) (London, 1967).Google Scholar For more recent information on this kind of unit see Feierman, Shambaa Kingdom; and Giblin, James, The Politics of Environmental Control in Northeastern Tanzania, 1840-1940 (Philadelphia 1992), 7378.Google Scholar

106. For a much more detailed discussion on mviko membership and kolwa names, including a description of the mechanisims through which foreigners were included in mviko membership, see Declich, “Processo di formazione.”

107. Kufunda are secret or symbolic metaphors whose meanings may be hidden in archaic linguistic forms.

108. The word anyago includes several different rituals, some of which are performed for both male and female initiation rituals.

109. The incredible number of conflicting versions, both oral and written, about the origins and early years of Nassib Bundo is explored in Declich, “Goscia.” For an initial analysis, see Declich, “Multiple Oral Traditions.”

110. Rossetti, , “Nassib Bunda,” 84.Google Scholar

111. Puccioni, , “Giuba e Oltreguiba,” 96Google Scholar, mentions Wanankhucha' name as “Managiongia.” Margherita is now called Jamaame. The place where celebrationas for Wanankhucha are held is called Dema, which is close to Jamaame town and is said to be the place where she first performed a mviko.

112. Grottanelli, , “Bantu del Giuba,” 254.Google Scholar

113. Chiasasa is one of the Zigula's most important, if secretive, ceremonies. Elisabeth Grohs describes the same ceremony for northeastern Tanzania in 1980: Kisazi, reiferiten der Mädchen bei den Zigula un Ngulu Ost-Tanzanias (Berlin, 1980).Google Scholar

114. Gango is the second phase of the Buinda rituals and is performed the day before a girl emerges from her ritual period of seclusion.

115. Fieldnotes, p/sto:49.

116. Fieldnotes, p/sto:50.

117. Mkomwa Mwaligo was a Zigula chief and warrior who died ca. 1910.

118. A.S.M.A.I Pos. 55/6 Fasc. 42; Rennell Rodd “More About Todd's Baraza” in Trench, Papers on Northern Frontier District, Kenya.

119. Fieldnotes, p/sto 49.

120. Fieldnotes, tr2.

121. Dower, K.C.G, The First to be Freed: The Record of British Military Administration in Eritrea and Somalia, 1941-1943 (London, 1944), 60.Google Scholar

122. Menkhaus, , “Rural Transformation,” 259.Google Scholar

123. For a study of marriage transactions along the Juba River see Declich, F., “The Significance of Marital Gift Exchange Among Women in Southern Somali Riverine Communities on the Juba River” (M. Sc. thesis, London School of Economics, 1989).Google Scholar

124. Chiesi, Colonizzazione Europea, 636.

125. Grottanelli, “Bantu del Giuba.”

126. Ibid.

127. “Notes on Gobwen Town.”

128. Spencer, O. A., “A Survey of Agriculture in Somalia with Special Reference to the Irrigated Schemes of the Juba & Uebi Scebeli Valleys,” 28 May 1943.Google Scholar

129. Chiesi, Colonizzazione Europea, 631, 634, 635.

130. Alpers, E.A., “Trade, State and Society among the Yao in the Nineteenth Century,” JAH 10 (1969), 413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

131. Ibid, 409-10.

132. Cassanelli, , “Social Construction,” 235.Google Scholar

133. Craufurd, C.H., “Journeys in Wagosha and Beyond the Deshek Wamo,” Geographical Journal 6 (1897)Google Scholar; Dundas, “Expedition;” Perducchi, “Statistica della Goscia.”

134. Chiesi, , Colonizzazione europea, 636.Google Scholar

135. Fieldnotes, o/sto:30.

136. Chiesi, , Colonizzazione europea, 636, 638.Google Scholar

137. Pantano, Gherardo, Nel Benadir. La città di Merca e la regione Bimaal (Livorno, 1910), 91.Google Scholar

138. Heintze, Beatrix, “Written Sources, Oral Traditions and Oral Traditions as Written Sources. The Steep and Thorny Way to Early Angolan History,” Paideuma 33 (1987), 277.Google Scholar

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