147-490: The Kirdi ( / ˈ k ɜːr d ɪ / ) are the many cultures and ethnic groups who inhabit northwestern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria . The term was applied to various ethnic groups who refused to convert to Islam after Islamic conquests of the region and was a pejorative , although some writers have reappropriated it. The term comes from the Kanuri word for pagan ; the Kanuri people are predominantly Muslim . In
294-585: A dough made from boiled and pounded starchy provisions such as mandioca , plantains , yams , cassava , or malanga . In some recipes, fat is added to fufu for added fortification. This fat can derive from animals or plants. Local ingredients include the following staple foods in Cameroon: cassava, yams, rice, plantain, potato, sweet potatoes , maize, beans , millet , a wide variety of cocoyams , and many vegetables. Melons , pumpkins , and beans are also cultivated. Cameroon like other West African countries has
441-496: A host of men, a band of comrades as well as a swarm or flock of animals. In Classical Greek , the word took on a meaning comparable to the concept now expressed by "ethnic group", mostly translated as " nation , tribe, a unique people group"; only in Hellenistic Greek did the term tend to become further narrowed to refer to "foreign" or " barbarous " nations in particular (whence the later meaning "heathen, pagan"). In
588-479: A tributary state . Those groups that both formed their own formidable resistance but lacked the structural integrity available under nations gifted with a centralized government , had but one option: become slaves . The kirdi then became the group that lacked a government to resist Fulani intrusion and so became slaves to the Fulani and placed under their oppressive reign until they submitted to Islam. To this day, many of
735-682: A Christian political bloc, to contrast the Muslims opposing blocs. The Kirdi are the historical people of the Mandara mountains , as well as the historical peoples of the Far North Region, Cameroon . In the nineteenth century the Islamic scholar and jihad , Modibbo Adama , began the Fulani colonization. This mass migration led to more than 60 percent of the region's total population being of Fulani peoples, not native to that region. The great displacement of
882-480: A Muslim Fulani, Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo . The kirdi has had to battle with discrimination and disenfranchisement from many other powers particularly those groups who had a history of campaigns to convert the collection of communities towards Islam . As it currently stands, the religious demographic of the Republic of Cameroon is just under half Muslim, mostly concentrated by the coast by Bantu people communities, while
1029-572: A federal state of nine provinces: Timbo, Fugumbaa, Ɓuuriya, Koyin, Kollaaɗe, Keebaali, Labe, Fode-Hajji, and Timbi. After the Muslim Fulɓe victory, other ethnic groups who had resisted the jihad were deprived of their rights to land except for a small piece for their subsistence and were reduced to servitude. The nomad Pulli Fulɓe lost all freedom of movement, and thus, began to settle en-masse. The Jalonke lost their noble status and became slaves ( maccuɓe ). Later, due to strife between two branches of
1176-794: A fixed or settled homestead not too far away, they are basically "in-betweeners". Settled Fulani live in villages, towns, and cities permanently and have given up nomadic life completely, in favor of an urban one. These processes of settlement, concentration, and military conquest led to the existence of organized and long-established communities of Fulani, varying in size from small villages to towns. Today, some major Fulani towns include: Labé , Pita , Mamou , and Dalaba in Guinea; Kaedi , Matam and Podor , Kolda in Senegal and Mauritania; Bandiagara , Mopti , Dori , Gorom-Gorom , and Djibo in Mali and Burkina Faso, on
1323-421: A focus on the interface between groups. "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries", therefore, is a focus on the interconnectedness of ethnic identities. Barth writes: "... categorical ethnic distinctions do not depend on an absence of mobility, contact, and information, but do entail social processes of exclusion and incorporation whereby discrete categories are maintained despite changing participation and membership in
1470-609: A group of people united by the social ideology that emphasizes resistance overall. The Republic of Cameroon , the locus of most Kirdi began at the start of colonization from insurgent Muslim groups. By the 1400s Europeans started their occupation, such as from the Kamerun then split between north and south regions by France and Britain. Following the Second World War came under the United Nations as UN Trusteeships, anticipating that
1617-569: A major ethnic boundary marker" between them and other African ethnic groups in the Sahel and West Africa. Armed with horses and weapons from the north and inspired by Fula, Berber and Arab clerics, Fulani political units would play a central role in promoting Islam in West Africa through peaceful and violent means. These jihads targeted other ethnic groups but also other Fulani who had not yet adopted Islam or who follows it too loosely. These wars helped
SECTION 10
#17328554907831764-499: A mercurial character. Ronald Cohen concluded that ethnicity is "a series of nesting dichotomizations of inclusiveness and exclusiveness". He agrees with Joan Vincent's observation that (in Cohen's paraphrase) "Ethnicity ... can be narrowed or broadened in boundary terms in relation to the specific needs of political mobilization." This may be why descent is sometimes a marker of ethnicity, and sometimes not: which diacritic of ethnicity
1911-484: A nomadic herding people, they have moved through and among many cultures, making it difficult to trace their relationships and history with other peoples. Speculations about their origins started in the era of European conquest and colonization because of their oftentimes fair skin, wavy long hair and facial features. Fulani oral histories suggest that their origins lie in North Africa. Their ethnogenesis likely arose as
2058-540: A one-party state. Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo , a Fulani Muslim from French Cameroons, would remain in power from 1960 to his death in 1989. The kirdi have sought representation in recent years from minority parties like the Social Democratic Front (SDF) in opposition to the Fulani-dominated Union Nationale pour la Démocratie et le Progrès (UNDP). Christian missionaries have had some success among
2205-438: A pattern of mortality that far outstretches that of the developed world. This has been slowly improving with the help of global initiatives that have aided in bringing vaccines , and western medicine to the region. Diligent workers came to the local communities to assist professionals and provide equipment, establishing a link between traditional medicine and western medicine . However, continuing high rates of mortality indicate
2352-646: A precedent for later, larger, and more disruptive Fula jihads . The Emirate / Imamate of Timbo in the Fuuta Jallon developed from a revolt by Islamic Fulɓe against their oppression by the pagan Pulli (فُلِی or 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞥆𞤭, non-Islamic Fulɓe), and the Jallonke (the original Mande inhabitants of the Fuuta-Jallon), during the first half of the 18th century. The first ruler took the title of Almaami and resided in Timbo , near
2499-519: A preoccupation with scientists, theologians, and the public. Religious institutions asked questions about whether there had been multiple creations of races (polygenesis) and whether God had created lesser races. Many of the foremost scientists of the time took up the idea of racial difference and found that white Europeans were superior. The ethnicity theory was based on the assimilation model. Park outlined four steps to assimilation: contact, conflict, accommodation, and assimilation. Instead of attributing
2646-412: A process known as ethnogenesis, a period of several generations of endogamy resulting in common ancestry (which is then sometimes cast in terms of a mythological narrative of a founding figure ); ethnic identity is reinforced by reference to "boundary markers" – characteristics said to be unique to the group which set it apart from other groups. Ethnicity theory argues that race
2793-550: A result of interactions between an ancient West African population and North African populations such as Berbers or Egyptians. The earliest mention of the Fula in history may go back to the Bible. Maurice Delafosse speculated that they may correspond to the descendants of Put , son of Ham . Josephus wrote of the Phutites, ancient inhabitants of what is now Libya . The precursors of
2940-742: A shared cultural heritage , ancestry, origin myth , history , homeland , language , dialect , religion, mythology , folklore , ritual , cuisine , dressing style , art , or physical appearance . Ethnic groups may share a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, depending on group identification, with some groups having mixed genetic ancestry. By way of assimilation , acculturation , amalgamation , language shift , intermarriage , adoption , and religious conversion , individuals or groups may over time shift from one ethnic group to another. Ethnic groups may be divided into subgroups or tribes , which over time may become separate ethnic groups themselves due to endogamy or physical isolation from
3087-508: A stand-in for "paganism" in the 18th century, but now came to express the meaning of an "ethnic character" (first recorded 1953). The term ethnic group was first recorded in 1935 and entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1972. Depending on context, the term nationality may be used either synonymously with ethnicity or synonymously with citizenship (in a sovereign state). The process that results in emergence of an ethnicity
SECTION 20
#17328554907833234-527: A tributary during the Adamawa Emirate were capture as slaves. This is where the term kirdi earned its use. However, writers have repurposed the term to encompass a general collective group not united with language, customs, or religion, but of the specific negation of one religion, as well as being historical peoples of the Mandara Mountains . From this, Kirdi has come to be interpreted in the context of
3381-497: Is Bata , from the Chadic language family . Many Bata people have converted to Islam , while those that remain in their historic region continue pagan practices. The Fali people are concentrated in mountainous areas of Northern Cameroon and some live in northeastern Nigeria. In Nigeria , they are called the Bana people. They speak various unrelated languages. These people have origins from
3528-443: Is a social category and is only one of several factors in determining ethnicity. Other criteria include "religion, language, 'customs', nationality, and political identification". This theory was put forward by sociologist Robert E. Park in the 1920s. It is based on the notion of "culture". This theory was preceded by more than 100 years during which biological essentialism was the dominant paradigm on race. Biological essentialism
3675-627: Is by Denham in 1826 (1985:145) who translates the word Kerdies as "Negroes who have never embraced the Mohammedan faith". Generally, the Kirdi have been underrepresented in the Cameroonian political system . Based on the frequently quoted CIA World Factbook , the Kirdi represent 11 percent of the Cameroon population, compared to the predominantly Muslim and more culturally homogeneous Fulani at 10 percent of
3822-423: Is called ethnogenesis , a term in use in ethnological literature since about 1950. The term may also be used with the connotation of something unique and unusually exotic (cf. "an ethnic restaurant", etc.), generally related to cultures of more recent immigrants, who arrived after the dominant population of an area was established. Depending on which source of group identity is emphasized to define membership,
3969-420: Is called ethnogenesis. Members of an ethnic group, on the whole, claim cultural continuities over time, although historians and cultural anthropologists have documented that many of the values, practices, and norms that imply continuity with the past are of relatively recent invention. Ethnic groups can form a cultural mosaic in a society. That could be in a city like New York City or Trieste , but also
4116-642: Is not a noun in Britain. In effect there are no "ethnics"; there are only "ethnic relations". In the U.S., the OMB says the definition of race as used for the purposes of the US Census is not "scientific or anthropological" and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference". Sometimes ethnic groups are subject to prejudicial attitudes and actions by
4263-493: Is not singularly the creator of all things, such as the monotheistic god adopted by Abrahamic religions , but rather they identify him as purely one who is undetectable to human intelligence . An area where Islamic thought bleeds into other religious sects, the god Muttaf is prohibited from being drawn, as by its very nature he is opposed to being limited by any and all modes of expression. There have been cases where violence has ensued spurred from drawings of Muttaf. Additionally,
4410-497: Is now eastern Senegal, from his home near Podor . Sy settled the lands with relatives from his native Futa Toro and Muslim immigrants from as far west as the Djolof Empire and as far east as Nioro du Sahel . Under Sy, Bundu became a refuge for Muslims and Islamic scholars persecuted by traditional rulers in other kingdoms. Sy was killed in 1699 caught in an ambush by the army of Gajaaga . Still, Bundu's growth that would set
4557-718: Is now illegal, memories of the past relationship between Fulɓbe and Rimayɓe are still very much alive in both groups. Paul Riesman, an American ethnographer who resided among the Jelgooji Fulɓbe of Burkina Faso in the 1980s, states that the Fulɓe are tall, slim, and light-skinned; they have thin straight noses, and their hair tends to be long and curly. In contrast, the Rimayɓe are stocky, tending towards corpulence, dark-skinned with flat 'squashed' noses, and short kinky hair. The first Fulani people who were forcibly expatriated to America during
Kirdi - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-442: Is salient depends on whether people are scaling ethnic boundaries up or down, and whether they are scaling them up or down depends generally on the political situation. Kanchan Chandra rejects the expansive definitions of ethnic identity (such as those that include common culture, common language, common history and common territory), choosing instead to define ethnic identity narrowly as a subset of identity categories determined by
4851-431: Is the belief that some races, specifically white Europeans in western versions of the paradigm, are biologically superior and other races, specifically non-white races in western debates, are inherently inferior. This view arose as a way to justify enslavement of African Americans and genocide of Native Americans in a society that was officially founded on freedom for all. This was a notion that developed slowly and came to be
4998-586: Is unknown, due to clashing definitions regarding Fula ethnicity. Various estimates put the figure between 25 and 40 million people worldwide. A significant proportion of the Fula–a third, or an estimated 7 to 10 million –are pastoralists , and their ethnic group has the largest nomadic pastoral community in the world. The majority of the Fula ethnic group consisted of semi-sedentary people, as well as sedentary settled farmers, scholars, artisans, merchants, and nobility. As an ethnic group, they are bound together by
5145-476: Is well over 250, 000 people, or roughly the same as the population of Suriname (2017). Currently, 99 percent of Fali are Christian. The most prominent churches in Fali land, being in the northwestern region of Cameroon, are Catholic , Baptist , and EYN with few Pentecostal churches emerging in recent days. Ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people who identify with each other on
5292-547: The Atlantic slave trade came from several parts of West and Central Africa . Many Fulani slaves came from places such as Guinea, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Cameroon. Most of the slaves who came from Senegal belonged to Fula and Mandinga peoples. Some of the most common names found on the Registry of Liberated Africans were Fulani in origin. Many of the captors and perpetrators of raids providing sources for
5439-519: The Cameroonian Union or UC. Although the Kirdi community is vastly diverse in cultures, based on pressures from rival groups, such as the Fulani, they have come to see themselves as a single group of people, and have had an increasing interest in representation in the political system. The Bata people of Northern Cameroon number only approximately 13,500 persons in their current historical region. They are Chadic people. The language that they speak
5586-458: The Caribbean and South Asia . Max Weber maintained that ethnic groups were künstlich (artificial, i.e. a social construct ) because they were based on a subjective belief in shared Gemeinschaft (community). Secondly, this belief in shared Gemeinschaft did not create the group; the group created the belief. Third, group formation resulted from the drive to monopolize power and status. This
5733-529: The Fali religion have kept this faith for thousands of years. Their beliefs include that there is a creator god that is omnipotent . This superior overarching character to the Fali and similar branches have dubbed it as Muttaf, although other names have also been adopted for the same general concept. As well as the creator god, the Fali believe, there is another by the name of Ona, which has come to signify mother earth . The Ona deity has been used interchangeably with
5880-685: The Faro River , to the foot of the Mambilla Plateau , which they would later ascend in subsequent years. The heaviest concentrations of their settlements were at Gurin, Chamba territory, Cheboa, Turua and Bundang. Today, Fula oral historians recognize three different Fuuta , or Fula lands: Fuuta Kingi , meaning 'Old Fuuta', encompassing the Tagant Plateau , the Assaba Region , the Hodh , Futa Toro and
6027-549: The Fula language , their history and their culture. The Fula are almost completely Muslims with a tiny minority being Christians and Animists. Many West African leaders are of Fulani descent, including the former President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari ; the first president of Cameroon Ahmadou Ahidjo ; the former President of Senegal, Macky Sall ; the President and the vice president of Gambia, Adama Barrow and Muhammad B.S.Jallow;
Kirdi - Misplaced Pages Continue
6174-621: The Fulfulde word Ballo meaning “helper or assistant”, this name is spread across several ethnic groups in Nigeria), Tukur (from Takrur ), Gidado, Barkindo, Jallo, Ahidjo and Dikko. In Mali , the most common Fulani family names are Diallo, Diakité, Dia, Sow, Sidibé, Sangaré, Bah, Dicko, Tall, etc. These names can be found among the Fulani populations of the following Malian regions and areas of Mopti , Macina , Nioro , Kidal , Tomboctou , Gao , Sikasso , and others. These names are also found among
6321-575: The Fulɓe Wuro . Fulani towns were a direct result of nomadic heritage and were often founded by individuals who had simply chosen to settle in a given area instead of continuing on their way. Evidence of Fulani migration as a whole, from the Western to Eastern Sudan is very fragmentary. Delafosse, one of the earliest enquirers into Fulani history and customs, principally relying on oral tradition, estimated that Fulani migrants left Fuuta-Tooro heading east between
6468-533: The Fulɓe ladde . While the initial expansionist groups were small, they soon increased in size due to the availability of grazing lands in the Sahel and the lands that bordered it to the immediate south. Agricultural expansions led to a division among the Fulani, where individuals were classified as belonging either to the group of expansionist nomadic agriculturalists or the group of Fulani who found it more comfortable to abandon traditional nomadic ways and settle in towns or
6615-921: The Maccuɗo , Rimmayɓe , Dimaajo , and less often Ɓaleeɓe , the Fulani equivalent of the Tuareg Ikelan known as Bouzou ( Buzu ) or Bella in the Hausa and Songhay languages respectively. The Fulani rulers and merchants were, like many other ruling ethnic groups of Africa, also involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, sourcing the enslaved people through raids and from captives they took by waging war. Many Fulani were enslaved and raided by ethnic groups who adhered to traditional African religions . The Fulani castes are endogamous in nature, meaning individuals marry only within their caste. This caste system, however, wasn't as elaborate in places like northern Nigeria , Eastern Niger or Cameroon . According to some estimates, by
6762-450: The New World were multi-ethnic from the onset, as they were formed as colonies imposed on existing indigenous populations. In recent decades, feminist scholars (most notably Nira Yuval-Davis) have drawn attention to the fundamental ways in which women participate in the creation and reproduction of ethnic and national categories. Though these categories are usually discussed as belonging to
6909-665: The Ouaddaï highlands of Eastern Chad, the areas around Kordofan , Darfur and the Blue Nile , Sennar , Kassala regions of Sudan, as well as the Red Sea coastal city of Port Sudan . The Fulani on their way to or back from the pilgrimage to Mecca , Saudi Arabia, settled in many parts of eastern Sudan, today representing a distinct community of over two million people referred to as the Fellata . While their early settlements in West Africa were in
7056-565: The Sahel from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea , particularly in West Africa . In addition, many also speak other languages of the countries they inhabit, making many Fulani bilingual or even trilingual. Such languages include French , Hausa , Bambara , Wolof , Soninke , and Arabic . Major concentrations of Fulani people exist in the Fouta Djallon highlands of central Guinea and south into
7203-548: The Wolof term Pël , which is variously spelled: Peul , Peulh , and even Peuhl . More recently the Fulfulde / Pulaar term Fulɓe , which is a plural noun (singular, Pullo ) has been Anglicised as Fulbe , which is gaining popularity in use. In Portuguese, the terms Fula or Futafula are used. The terms Fallata , Fallatah , or Fellata are of Arabic origins, and are often the ethnonyms by which Fulani people are identified by in parts of Chad and Sudan. The Toucouleur people of
7350-524: The 1991 election campaign. The term is only recognized in the Extreme North and North regions, while it is not used in the Adamawa region, the Fulfulde term Matchoubé, meaning "slave" or "servant," is used instead. Most groups, that are recognized under the umbrella term that is the kirdi peoples speak Afro-Asiatic languages , though some speak Niger-Congo Languages, this depends on the geographic dispersal of
7497-561: The 19th century, the term came to be used in the sense of "peculiar to a tribe, race, people or nation", in a return to the original Greek meaning. The sense of "different cultural groups", and in American English "tribal, racial, cultural or national minority group " arises in the 1930s to 1940s, serving as a replacement of the term race which had earlier taken this sense but was now becoming deprecated due to its association with ideological racism . The abstract ethnicity had been used as
SECTION 50
#17328554907837644-781: The 74th President of the United Nations General Assembly , Tijjani Muhammad-Bande ; and the Secretary-General of OPEC , Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo . There are many names (and spellings of the names) used in other languages to refer to the Fulɓe . Fulani in English is borrowed from the Hausa term. Fula , from Manding languages , is also used in English, and sometimes spelled Fulah or Fullah . Fula and Fulani are commonly used in English, including within Africa. The French borrowed
7791-755: The African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, the Fulani people have held on to "a strict caste system". There are the Fulani proper, also referred to as the Fulɓe , including the Pullo (also called the Rimɓe (singular)) and the Dimo , meaning "noble". There is the artisan caste, including blacksmiths, potters, griots , genealogists, woodworkers, and dressmakers. They belong to castes but are considered free people . Then there are those castes of captive, slave or serf ancestry:
7938-463: The Cameroon population; then Cameroon Highlanders 31 percent, Equatorial Bantu 19 percent, Northwestern Bantu, 8 percent, and Eastern Nigritic 7 percent, and other African and non-Africans representing 14 percent. Given their historical under-representation, the Kirdi has never constituted a political voting bloc. Seeking to gain Kirdi votes, the Fulani, while historically they despise the Kirdi, cajole them into boosting their electoral chances, such as for
8085-603: The European slave merchants were also Fulani. Fula society features the caste divisions typical of the West African region. The fairly rigid caste system of the Fula people has medieval roots, had become well established by the 15th-century, and has survived into modern age. The four major castes, states Martin Kich, in their order of status are "nobility, traders, tradesmen (such as blacksmith) and descendants of slaves". According to
8232-454: The Fali followers, so as to make pardons for the holy deities on the believer's behalf. Some of these supernatural deities of the intermediary realm include genies capable of granting wishes, sacred crocodiles that are to be coveted and praised, and the black snake. By 2009, a growing proportion of Fali Kirdi had converted to Christianity, although many of these converts still maintain their syncretic dogmatism . The population of Fali in total
8379-565: The French, then the Germans . Although other cuisines from China, Italy, and Russia have crept into the Northern region of Cameroon , as the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé , is a highly metropolitan city in Africa. The kirdi have some traditional foods specific to their specific region, which reflect some of the many staples common to West Africa. The most popular staple is fufu , which generally refers to
8526-506: The Fula dominate much of the Sahel region of West Africa during the medieval and pre-colonial era, establishing them not only as a religious group but also as a political and economic force. From the 18th century onwards, the frequency of jihads increased and the Fulani became politically dominant in many areas. While establishing their hegemony, the Fulbe defined a strict social hierarchy and imposed limitations on economic and trading activities,
8673-548: The Fula population of Burkina Faso , along with other names like Barry and Sankara (derived from Sangaré). Bocoum, Niangadou, Bassoum, Daff, Djigué, and Lah are some family names that can be found among the Diawambe/Jawambe (Singular: Dianwando/Jawando and Diokoramé/Jokorameh in Bambara ) of Mali. The Jawambe are a sub-group of Fulanis in Mali who are primarily known for trading. In some parts of Mali, like Mopti, apart from
8820-533: The Fulani likely migrated out of the Sahara desert , at the time much wetter than today, as it progressively dried beginning in the 7th century BC. They migrated into the Senegal river valley from the east, pushed by Berber raids and desertification. The kingdom of Tekrur in what is now Futa Toro was formed through the interaction of the Fula (and perhaps Berber) migrants with the native "Negro agricultural peoples" of
8967-557: The Greeks. Herodotus (8.144.2) gave a famous account of what defined Greek (Hellenic) ethnic identity in his day, enumerating Whether ethnicity qualifies as a cultural universal is to some extent dependent on the exact definition used. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf , do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. They regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. According to Thomas Hylland Eriksen ,
SECTION 60
#17328554907839114-463: The Hausa and other surrounding groups of the region. This Hausa–Fulani interaction is uncommon outside the eastern subregion of West Africa. In Mali , Burkina Faso and Senegal for instance, those within the Fulɓe cultural sphere, but who are not ethnically Fula, are referred to as yimɓe pulaaku ( 𞤴𞤭𞤥𞤩𞤫 𞤆𞤵𞤤𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤵 , "people of the Fula culture"). As such, Fulani culture includes people who may or may not be ethnic Fulani. Although slavery
9261-526: The Inland Delta. Despite its power and omnipresence, the hegemony of the emirate was constantly threatened. During the reign of Aamadu Aamadu, the grandson of Sheeku Aamadu, internal contradictions weakened the emirate until it fell to the Toucouleur in 1862. The founder of the Toucouleur Empire, El Hadj Umar Tall , was an Islamic reformer originating from Fuuta Tooro . Beginning in Futa Jallon , he led an army that conquered Massina, Segou, and Kaarta , but he died fighting against rebels in 1864. At that point
9408-417: The Kirdi in recent years. Major Kirdi personalities include Luc Ayang and Etienne Hollong. Christian missions have had some success among the Kirdi in recent years. While kirdi generally bears the meaning " pagan ," in opposition to the Fulani and other Muslim groups, they do not all practice atavistic customs and pagan rituals, many have converted to Christianity and are increasingly self-identifying as
9555-403: The Kirdi tend to state in the savanna further inland in the north. Located in West Africa, Cameroon the elongated triangle has popularly been known as miniature Africa, or the microcosm of all of Africa. Many of the staple foods of the Kirdi have been influenced through trade and exploitation from European powers. These influences came first with the arrival of the British in 1800, followed by
9702-427: The Kirdi tended to be sedentary cultivators of their land, the Fulani and associated groups were primarily pastoralists , which led to the land changing starkly to one that better suits cattle. Deforestation by the Fulani had permanently altered the land of the Northern plateau . In line with many sub-Saharan African states Cameroon has had a tumultuous history under authoritarian ruling powers, their first president
9849-408: The Kirdi would be granted their own self-governance, which seemed perspective as most political groups began to form from the people groups. During the eleventh century and onwards into the nineteenth century Muslim Fulani from the Niger basin have migrated to Cameroon , this continued into the nineteenth century. The Fulani population grew at the coast and southern area of Cameroon and converted
9996-461: The Mafa language of the Chadic language family. The Mofu people primarily exist in the extreme North Province of Cameroon. Their languages are separate languages of the Biu–Mandara branch of the Chadic language family. The Musgum people (Musgum or Mulwi) are a Chadic ethnic group in Cameroon. Many Musgums engage in agriculture with staple crops including: ground nuts and cotton which are sold for commercial use. The Tupuri people , also known as
10143-533: The Mafa, Mofu, Podoko Guisiga, or Daba peoples have also remained protected due to their isolated habitat. The Mafa people are located in the Far North Cameroon region and are known for many agricultural technological achievements. These ethno-engineering procedures include: small-scale irrigation, canalization, and drainage systems. In addition, the Mafa practice an extensive variety of soil fertility management procedures, including: crop rotation and mixed cropping, Agroforestry, biomass, nutrient management. They speak
10290-409: The Ngomma people, who founded an ancient capital of their once sovereign land, Timpil. They are monotheistic and atavistic but later became Christian . The Fali are distinguished from the other Kirdi for their vibrant ornately decorated textiles and clothing. The Kapsiki people, also known as the Kamwe people, live in villages of 2000–6000 people, and subsist on livestock farming, agriculture and, in
10437-412: The President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló ; the Vice President of Sierra Leone, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh ; the prime minister of Guinea conakry, Bah Oury; the Prime Minister of Mali, Boubou Cisse and the Wife of Vice President of Ghana Samira Bawumia . They also occupy positions in major international institutions, such as the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations , Amina J. Mohammed ;
10584-654: The Seediayanke royal lineage, (the Soriya and the Alphaya ), a system for the rotation of office between these branches was set up. This led to an almost permanent state of civil strife since none of the parties was inclined to respect the system, which considerably weakened the power of the political centre. A jihad in Futa Toro between 1769 and 1776 led by Sulayman Bal threw out the ruling Denianke Dynasty. Sulayman died in 1776 and
10731-716: The Tupouri, have historically resided east of Kaélé in the Kaele division and in the Kar-Hay subdivision of the Mayo-Danay division of the Far North Province. They are a kirdi ethnic group and language, that stretches from northern Cameroon into Chad . This language is from the Chadic language family. The language they speak is also called Tupuri. While being a Chadic people, their language is from
10878-518: The United States that the ethnicity theory was exclusively based on the immigration patterns of the white population and did take into account the unique experiences of non-whites in the United States. While Park's theory identified different stages in the immigration process – contact, conflict, struggle, and as the last and best response, assimilation – it did so only for white communities. The ethnicity paradigm neglected
11025-506: The Zulgu-Gezmek apart from the Chadic language family . There is controversy regarding the name “Kirdi”, as it has come to be associated as a pejorative . This derogatory term has been adopted by Fulani and other Cameroonian languages. The term has an origin from Kanuri and is ultimately thought to be derived from the Arabic language word for "monkey". Although some writers have considered
11172-994: The added value of being able to describe the commonalities between systems of group identity in both tribal and modern societies. Cohen also suggested that claims concerning "ethnic" identity (like earlier claims concerning "tribal" identity) are often colonialist practices and effects of the relations between colonized peoples and nation-states. According to Paul James , formations of identity were often changed and distorted by colonization, but identities are not made out of nothing: Categorizations about identity, even when codified and hardened into clear typologies by processes of colonization, state formation or general modernizing processes, are always full of tensions and contradictions. Sometimes these contradictions are destructive, but they can also be creative and positive. Social scientists have thus focused on how, when, and why different markers of ethnic identity become salient. Thus, anthropologist Joan Vincent observed that ethnic boundaries often have
11319-570: The area around Nioro du Sahel ; Fuuta Keyri , 'New Fuuta', includes Futa Djallon , Massina , Sokoto , and the Adamawa Region ; Fuuta Jula is the diaspora of Fula traders and emigrants in other regions. The Fula, living on the edge of the Sahara, were among the first sub-Saharan groups to adopt Islam. According to David Levison, adopting Islam made the Fulani feel a "cultural and religious superiority to surrounding peoples, and that adoption became
11466-673: The areas occupied by the Sokoto Caliphate , which includes what is now southern Niger and northern Nigeria (such as Adamawa , Tahoua , Katsina , Sokoto , Kebbi , Zinder , Bauchi , Diffa , Yobe , Gombe , and further east, into the Benue River valley systems of north eastern Nigeria and northern Cameroon). This is the area known as the Fombina/Hombina , literally meaning 'the south' in Adamawa Fulfulde , because it represented
11613-519: The areas they occupy. Although within each region, there are even further divisions and sub-groupings as well. Below is a list of the main Fulɓe groups. Fuua Tooro -Massinakoore transitional Fuuta Tooro – Fuuta Jallon transitional Typically, Fulɓe belonging to the same affinity bloc tend to cluster together in culture, customs, and dialectal variety with the Eastern Fulɓe sub-groups tending to be more similar to each other than to other sub-groups, and
11760-491: The basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include a people of a common language , culture , common sets of ancestry , traditions , society, religion , history, or social treatment. The term ethnicity is sometimes used interchangeably with the term nation , particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism . Ethnicity may be construed as an inherited or societally imposed construct. Ethnic membership tends to be defined by
11907-449: The belief of common descent. Jóhanna Birnir similarly defines ethnicity as "group self-identification around a characteristic that is very difficult or even impossible to change, such as language, race, or location." Different approaches to understanding ethnicity have been used by different social scientists when trying to understand the nature of ethnicity as a factor in human life and society. As Jonathan M. Hall observes, World War II
12054-510: The bend of the Niger; and Birnin Kebbi , Katsina , Gombe , Yola , Digil , Jalingo , Bauchi, Misau, Jama'are, Mayo Belwa , Mubi , Maroua , Ngaoundere , Azare , Dukku , Kumo, Girei , Damaturu, Bertoua, and Garoua in the countries of Cameroon and Nigeria. In most of these communities, the Fulani are usually perceived as a ruling class . Fulani communities are sometimes grouped and named based on
12201-457: The boundaries of the nation-state. Fulbe people The Fula , Fulani , or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara , Sahel and West Africa , widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa , South Sudan , Darfur , and regions near the Red Sea coast in Sudan . The approximate number of Fula people
12348-402: The central Senegal River valley speak Fulfulde / Pulaar and refer to themselves as Haalpulaaren , or those who speak Pulaar. The supposed distinction between them was invented by French ethnographers in the 19th century who differentiated between supposedly sedentary, agricultural, fanatical, and anti-European Toucouleurs on one hand and nomadic, pastoralist, docile and cooperative Peulhs on
12495-510: The common Fula surnames like those previously mentioned, you will find surnames like Cissé and Touré. Though these names are commonly associated with the Manding tribes, some in Mali have adopted the Fula culture and language through centuries of coexistence, and thus now consider themselves as part of the Fula ethnic group. A notable example of this is Amadou Toumani Touré , the former president of Mali. The Fula people are widely distributed, across
12642-458: The consumption of raw plants, crude extraction methods, decoctions , and fermentation processes. Plants used for medicinal practices include Cissus quadrangularis , which is significant to Fali in Cameroon, who are reported to wash their dead in a decoction of the plant. The kirdi, in keeping with their traditional practices prior to the jihad , had practiced pagan beliefs. These beliefs had been identified as monotheistic . The followers of
12789-573: The context of European colonial expansion, when mercantilism and capitalism were promoting global movements of populations at the same time that state boundaries were being more clearly and rigidly defined. In the 19th century, modern states generally sought legitimacy through their claim to represent "nations". Nation-states , however, invariably include populations who have been excluded from national life for one reason or another. Members of excluded groups, consequently, will either demand inclusion based on equality or seek autonomy, sometimes even to
12936-422: The course of individual life histories." In 1978, anthropologist Ronald Cohen claimed that the identification of "ethnic groups" in the usage of social scientists often reflected inaccurate labels more than indigenous realities: ... the named ethnic identities we accept, often unthinkingly, as basic givens in the literature are often arbitrarily, or even worse inaccurately, imposed. In this way, he pointed to
13083-526: The cultural traits of such groups have no demonstrated genetic connection with racial traits. Because serious errors of this kind are habitually committed when the term "race" is used in popular parlance, it would be better when speaking of human races to drop the term "race" altogether and speak of "ethnic groups". In 1982, anthropologist David Craig Griffith summed up forty years of ethnographic research, arguing that racial and ethnic categories are symbolic markers for different ways people from different parts of
13230-447: The distant past. Perspectives that developed after the 1960s increasingly viewed ethnic groups as social constructs , with identity assigned by societal rules. The term ethnic is ultimately derived from the Greek ethnos , through its adjectival form ethnikos , loaned into Latin as ethnicus . The inherited English language term for this concept is folk , used alongside
13377-452: The distinctions of ethnicity and race that function to set off categories of workers from one another. It is, nevertheless, the process of labor mobilization under capitalism that imparts to these distinctions their effective values. According to Wolf, racial categories were constructed and incorporated during the period of European mercantile expansion , and ethnic groupings during the period of capitalist expansion . Writing in 1977 about
13524-462: The eleventh and the fourteenth centuries. By the 15th century, there was a steady flow of Fulɓe immigrants into Hausaland and, later on, Bornu . Their presence in Baghirmi was recorded early in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, Fulani settlements were dotted all along the Benue River valley and its tributaries. They spread eastwards towards Garoua and Rey Bouba , and southwards towards
13671-905: The eleventh century, people such as the Fulani converted to Islam and spread throughout West Africa in the following centuries. They had also begun migrating to Cameroon, where they had attempted to convert the pre-existing peoples. Therefore, the kirdi, have fewer similarities culturally or linguistically as they do in their general geographic dispersal, primarily situated in the arid steppe and savannahs of North and Far North regions of Cameroon Estimates of how many groups may be described as Kirdi vary, with estimates ranging from 26 (2007) to more than 40 (1977). The Bata, Fali , Fata, Gemjek, Guidar, Giziga, Hurza, Kapsiki , Mada, Mafa , Massa, Matakam, Mofou , Mora, Mousgoum , Muyang, Ouldeme, Podoko, Toupouri people , Vame and Zulgo are all considered Kirdi, due to their resistance to Islam. They speak Chadic and Adamawa languages . The first mentioning of Kirdi
13818-475: The emirate was divided into three states, each ruled by one of his sons. These three states had their capitals respectively in the towns of Nioro , Segou and Bandiagara . Within 30 years, all three had been conquered and colonized by the French. The Fulani, migrant Arabs and Hausa people have taken some influences from each other's cultures. Upon the success recorded in the 1804 Fulani War of Usman dan Fodio , many formerly nomadic Fulɓe subsequently joined
13965-530: The extent of complete political separation in their nation-state. Under these conditions when people moved from one state to another, or one state conquered or colonized peoples beyond its national boundaries – ethnic groups were formed by people who identified with one nation but lived in another state. In the 1920s, Estonia introduced a flexible system of ethnicity/nationality self-choice for its citizens, which included Estonians Russians, Baltic Germans and Jews. Multi-ethnic states can be
14112-414: The fact that identification of an ethnic group by outsiders, e.g. anthropologists, may not coincide with the self-identification of the members of that group. He also described that in the first decades of usage, the term ethnicity had often been used in lieu of older terms such as "cultural" or "tribal" when referring to smaller groups with shared cultural systems and shared heritage, but that "ethnicity" had
14259-518: The fallen monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the United States. Current topics are in particular social and cultural differentiation, multilingualism, competing identity offers, multiple cultural identities and the formation of Salad bowl and melting pot . Ethnic groups differ from other social groups, such as subcultures , interest groups or social classes , because they emerge and change over historical periods (centuries) in
14406-580: The following types of (often mutually overlapping) groups can be identified: In many cases, more than one aspect determines membership: for instance, Armenian ethnicity can be defined by Armenian citizenship, having Armenian heritage, native use of the Armenian language , or membership of the Armenian Apostolic Church . Ethnography begins in classical antiquity ; after early authors like Anaximander and Hecataeus of Miletus , Herodotus laid
14553-672: The foundation of both historiography and ethnography of the ancient world c. 480 BC . The Greeks had developed a concept of their own ethnicity, which they grouped under the name of Hellenes . Although there were exceptions, such as Macedonia, which was ruled by nobility in a way that was not typically Greek, and Sparta, which had an unusual ruling class, the ancient Greeks generally enslaved only non-Greeks due to their strong belief in ethnonationalism. The Greeks sometimes believed that even their lowest citizens were superior to any barbarian. In his Politics 1.2–7; 3.14, Aristotle even described barbarians as natural slaves in contrast to
14700-558: The genes. Examples of various approaches are primordialism, essentialism, perennialism, constructivism, modernism, and instrumentalism. Ethnicity is an important means by which people may identify with a larger group. Many social scientists, such as anthropologists Fredrik Barth and Eric Wolf , do not consider ethnic identity to be universal. They regard ethnicity as a product of specific kinds of inter-group interactions, rather than an essential quality inherent to human groups. The process that results in emergence of such identification
14847-504: The groups, while there are still groups considered kirdi that have remained within the governance of Nigeria as opposed to Cameroon. Like Cameroon , the kirdi are a vast multitude of many diverse languages, some of which vary by entire language families. The historical meaning of the word, kirdi, can be best translated to mean the following, ‘all those who were non-Muslims and who could therefore be subjected to slavery ’. Those that rejected conversion to Islam or to be relegated as merely
14994-444: The historical residents of these regions started in the early nineteenth century, from what would come to be known as the Adamawa Emirate . The Fulani colonization would eventually lead to the Fulani becoming the preeminent people in the region. Given that the Fulani are not native to the region, it is a remarkable achievement that they became the dominant population. Modibbo Adama was a Fulani scholar and holy warrior . Before leading
15141-566: The jihad, he was a student of the school of Islam . He was mentored under the teachings of Fulani mystic Usman dan Fodio . Adama's reign lasted from 1806 to his death in 1847. Modibbo Adama conquered the region of Fombina, which presently makes up the areas of modern-day Cameroon and Nigeria . His actions opened the opportunity for more of his people to enter into the region and claim the territory as theirs. After declaring his own jihad , as Usman had done in Northern regions in Chad , Adama entered into
15288-433: The kernel of a nation which must be defended in times of conflict, or in iconic figures such as Britannia or Marianne . Ethnicity is used as a matter of cultural identity of a group, often based on shared ancestry, language, and cultural traditions, while race is applied as a taxonomic grouping, based on physical similarities among groups. Race is a more controversial subject than ethnicity, due to common political use of
15435-639: The latinate people since the late Middle English period. In Early Modern English and until the mid-19th century, ethnic was used to mean heathen or pagan (in the sense of disparate "nations" which did not yet participate in the Christian ecumene ), as the Septuagint used ta ethne 'the nations' to translate the Hebrew goyim "the foreign nations, non-Hebrews, non-Jews". The Greek term in early antiquity ( Homeric Greek ) could refer to any large group,
15582-477: The marginalized status of people of color in the United States to their inherent biological inferiority, he attributed it to their failure to assimilate into American culture. They could become equal if they abandoned their inferior cultures. Michael Omi and Howard Winant 's theory of racial formation directly confronts both the premises and the practices of ethnicity theory. They argue in Racial Formation in
15729-655: The modern-day town of Mamou . The town became the political capital of the newly formed Imamate, with the religious capital was located in Fugumba . The Council of Elders of the Futa Jallon state were also based in Fugumba, acting as a brake on the Almami's powers. The newly formed imamate was mostly located mainly in present-day Guinea, but also spanned parts of modern-day Guinea Bissau, Senegal, and Sierra Leone. This emirate was, in fact,
15876-479: The modernist understanding of ethnicity as proposed by Ernest Gellner and Benedict Anderson see nations and nationalism as developing with the rise of the modern state system in the 17th century. They culminated in the rise of "nation-states" in which the presumptive boundaries of the nation coincided (or ideally coincided) with state boundaries. Thus, in the West, the notion of ethnicity, like race and nation , developed in
16023-596: The most southern and eastern reaches of Fulɓe hegemonic dominance in West Africa . In this area, Fulfulde is the local lingua franca, and language of cross cultural communication. Further east of this area, Fulani communities become predominantly nomadic, and exist at less organized social systems. These are the areas of the Chari-Baguirmi Region and its river systems, in Chad and the Central African Republic,
16170-468: The name as a proper moniker for the collection of peoples. Presently, Kirdi bears the general meaning "pagan," in opposition to the Fulani and other Muslim groups. In recent years, many have reclaimed the label as a means of identification and political unity, giving rise to the “kirditude” movement. Kirditude is thought to have been kickstarted as a movement in opposition to the largely Muslim Fulani political base for Maigari Bello Bouba ’s UNDP during
16317-530: The nations that resisted conversion at the time of the Adama Emirate, still are not Muslim now. Major changes occurred based on the legacy of Modibo Adama even after the sovereignty of his caliphate was lost to other powers from the south. New converts to Islam learned Arabic writing and studied the Qur'an (DeLancey, 2010). This introduced increased rates of literacy in a region that had virtually no literacy. While
16464-521: The nomadic-pastoral or Mbororo , the semi-nomadic, and the settled or "town" Fulani. The pastoral Fulani move around with their cattle throughout the year. Typically, they do not stay around for long stretches (not more than 2–4 months at a time). The semi-nomadic Fulani can either be Fulɓe families who happen to settle down temporarily at particular times of the year or Fulɓe families who do not "browse" around past their immediate surroundings, and even though they possess livestock, they do not wander away from
16611-695: The northernmost reaches of Sierra Leone; the Futa Tooro savannah grasslands of Senegal and southern Mauritania; the Macina inland Niger river delta system around Central Mali; and especially in the regions around Mopti and the Nioro Du Sahel in the Kayes region; the Borgu settlements of Benin, Togo, and west-central Nigeria; the northern parts of Burkina Faso in the Sahel region 's provinces of Seno , Wadalan , and Soum ; and
16758-671: The other, but the dichotomy is false. Common Fulani family names in Guinea , Sierra Leone , Liberia , Gambia , Guinea Bissau and Southern Senegal are: Diallo (French speaking regions), Jallow or Jalloh (English speaking regions), Djalo (Cap Verde and Guinea Bissau), Sow, Barry, Bah or Ba, Baldé, and Diouldé. Other Fulani (Toucouleur) family names in Guinea and northern Senegal are: Tall, Sall, Diengue, Sy, Anne, Ly, Wann, Dia and others. Although most Fulbe of Nigeria , Niger and Cameroon use their father's given name as surnames, there are some common Fulani last names such as Bello (likely from
16905-551: The parent group. Conversely, formerly separate ethnicities can merge to form a panethnicity and may eventually merge into one single ethnicity . Whether through division or amalgamation, the formation of a separate ethnic identity is referred to as ethnogenesis . Although both organic and performative criteria characterise ethnic groups, debate in the past has dichotomised between primordialism and constructivism. Earlier 20th-century "Primordialists" viewed ethnic groups as real phenomena whose distinct characteristics have endured since
17052-470: The planet Earth. When the Fali speak of the planet, the soil , the natural resources, and the passing of time, they do so in respect to Ona. Ona, together with Muttaf, is responsible for the creation of all things. These creations credited to the deity known as Muttaf, range from relatives, ancestors, the individual, the natural resources of the Earth, the Earth included, the sky, and everything else. However, Muttaf
17199-416: The pre-existing inhabitants. During the late 1770s and the early 19th century, the Fulani, an Islamic pastoral people of the western Sahel , conquered most of what is now northern Cameroon, subjugating or displacing its largely non-Muslim inhabitants. In 1960, Cameroon declared its independence and adopted a constitution by popular referendum. By 1972, the constitution was redrafted essentially establishing
17346-450: The problem of racism became the sole responsibility of already disadvantaged communities. It was assumed that if a Black or Latino community was not "making it" by the standards that had been set by whites, it was because that community did not hold the right values or beliefs, or were stubbornly resisting dominant norms because they did not want to fit in. Omi and Winant's critique of ethnicity theory explains how looking to cultural defect as
17493-433: The public, political sphere, they are upheld within the private, family sphere to a great extent. It is here that women act not just as biological reproducers but also as "cultural carriers", transmitting knowledge and enforcing behaviors that belong to a specific collectivity. Women also often play a significant symbolic role in conceptions of nation or ethnicity, for example in the notion that "women and children" constitute
17640-707: The purpose of which was to ensure a constant flow of tax revenue and commodities to the state apparatus and the standing army, especially for the cavalry. The freedom for pastoralists to move around was curtailed to ensure the smooth functioning of other production activities, such as cereal cultivation and, in the case of Maasina, of fishing activities. There was considerable resistance to the forced acceptance of Islam. Conversion to Islam meant not only changing one's religion but also submitting to rules dealing with every aspect of social, political and cultural life, intrusions with which many nomadic Fulbe were not comfortable. In 1690, Torodbe cleric Malick Sy came to Bundu, in what
17787-518: The region accompanied with a legion of people dedicated to converting the region under which these tribes resided. Adama met Usman in 1806, probably in Gwandu . There, they learned that his intention was to extend his jihad eastward, into Fumbina. The goal was ostensibly to convert various Kirdi (pagan) peoples to Islam. Once under the control of the region, Adama gave enemy nations two options: either convert to Islam or submit to losing autonomy and becoming
17934-412: The religion includes supernatural beings, as people that have fought to keep their atavistic beliefs while being influenced under the subjugation of religions such as Islam . They establish one realm where the humans inhabit, and another realm of holy deities, and a third intermediary universe that interacts with both where the supernatural beings exist. These spirits can be summoned and communicated with
18081-567: The result of inherited traits and tendencies. With Weber's introduction of the idea of ethnicity as a social construct, race and ethnicity became more divided from each other. In 1950, the UNESCO statement " The Race Question ", signed by some of the internationally renowned scholars of the time (including Ashley Montagu , Claude Lévi-Strauss , Gunnar Myrdal , Julian Huxley , etc.), said: National, religious, geographic, linguistic and cultural groups do not necessarily coincide with racial groups: and
18228-432: The result of two opposite events, either the recent creation of state borders at variance with traditional tribal territories, or the recent immigration of ethnic minorities into a former nation-state. Examples for the first case are found throughout Africa , where countries created during decolonization inherited arbitrary colonial borders, but also in European countries such as Belgium or United Kingdom . Examples for
18375-571: The ruling classes of the many emirates of the Sokoto Caliphate . The Fulɓe of Hausaland dress in the clothing and speak the language of their Hausa neighbours (see Hausa–Fulani ). Because they became the dominant ethnic group in these lands, the Fulɓe in the emirates outside Hausaland , like parts of Kanem-Bornu , Adamawa and Gombe , still retain much of their Fulani culture even still speaking Fulfulde as their first language. The Fulɓe who didn't settle during this period and their descendants, however, still keep an obvious distinct identity from that of
18522-531: The same applies to most western groups. Culturally speaking, the central Fulɓe sub-groups are roughly in between the western and eastern Fulani cultural niches. For example, the Massina Fulɓe share similarities both dialectally and culturally to Nigerian or Cameroonian (Eastern) (both of which end interrogative questions with " na ?"), as well as Senegalese and Guinean (western) Fulɓe cultures (who do not end interrogative questions with such mannerism). Accordingly,
18669-581: The second case are countries such as Netherlands , which were relatively ethnically homogeneous when they attained statehood but have received significant immigration in the 17th century and even more so in the second half of the 20th century. States such as the United Kingdom , France and Switzerland comprised distinct ethnic groups from their formation and have likewise experienced substantial immigration, resulting in what has been termed " multicultural " societies, especially in large cities. The states of
18816-547: The significant impact of infectious diseases and the high risks of death during pregnancy and childbirth. Respiratory diseases remain one of the leading causes of death. To mitigate the harsh conditions that pastoral communities of Far North Region, Cameroon have to deal with, international health organizations have invested in understanding the ethnobotany of this region, and the thousands of years of traditional medicinal practices that have provided some relief before multilateral health initiatives. These medical practices include
18963-420: The source of inequality ignores the "concrete sociopolitical dynamics within which racial phenomena operate in the U.S." It prevents critical examination of the structural components of racism and encourages a "benign neglect" of social inequality. In some cases, especially those involving transnational migration or colonial expansion, ethnicity is linked to nationality. Anthropologists and historians, following
19110-407: The state or its constituents. In the 20th century, people began to argue that conflicts among ethnic groups or between members of an ethnic group and the state can and should be resolved in one of two ways. Some, like Jürgen Habermas and Bruce Barry, have argued that the legitimacy of modern states must be based on a notion of political rights of autonomous individual subjects. According to this view,
19257-441: The state should not acknowledge ethnic, national or racial identity but rather instead enforce political and legal equality of all individuals. Others, like Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka , argue that the notion of the autonomous individual is itself a cultural construct. According to this view, states must recognize ethnic identity and develop processes through which the particular needs of ethnic groups can be accommodated within
19404-507: The state. Abdul Kader defeated the emirates of Trarza and Brakna to the north, but was defeated and captured when he attacked the Wolof states of Cayor and Waalo around 1797. After his release the jihad impetus had been lost. By the time of Abdul Kader's death in 1806 the state was dominated by a few elite Torodbe families. The Sokoto Caliphate was by far the largest and most successful legacy of Fulani power in Western Africa. It
19551-512: The study of ethnicity was dominated by two distinct debates until recently. According to Eriksen , these debates have been superseded, especially in anthropology , by scholars' attempts to respond to increasingly politicized forms of self-representation by members of different ethnic groups and nations. This is in the context of debates over multiculturalism in countries, such as the United States and Canada, which have large immigrant populations from many different cultures, and post-colonialism in
19698-524: The term in social studies in the 1980s and 1990s. Barth went further than Weber in stressing the constructed nature of ethnicity. To Barth, ethnicity was perpetually negotiated and renegotiated by both external ascription and internal self-identification. Barth's view is that ethnic groups are not discontinuous cultural isolates or logical a priori to which people naturally belong. He wanted to part with anthropological notions of cultures as bounded entities, and ethnicity as primordialist bonds, replacing it with
19845-446: The term. Ramón Grosfoguel (University of California, Berkeley) argues that "racial/ethnic identity" is one concept and concepts of race and ethnicity cannot be used as separate and autonomous categories. Before Weber (1864–1920), race and ethnicity were primarily seen as two aspects of the same thing. Around 1900 and before, the primordialist understanding of ethnicity predominated: cultural differences between peoples were seen as being
19992-461: The usage of the term "ethnic" in the ordinary language of Great Britain and the United States , Wallman noted The term "ethnic" popularly connotes "[race]" in Britain, only less precisely, and with a lighter value load. In North America, by contrast, "[race]" most commonly means color, and "ethnics" are the descendants of relatively recent immigrants from non-English-speaking countries. "[Ethnic]"
20139-751: The valley who were "essentially Serer ", Dominated first by Wagadu and later by the Lamtuna , the Mali Empire and the Jolof Empire , in the early 16th century the area was conquered by Koli Tenguella , who founded the Empire of Great Fulo . The Fulani were cattle-keeping farmers who shared their lands with other nearby groups, like the Soninke, who contributed to the rise of ancient Ghana, with eastward and westward expansion being led by nomadic groups of cattle breeders or
20286-545: The vicinity of the tri-border point of present-day Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania, they are now, after centuries of gradual migrations and conquests, spread throughout a wide band of West and Central Africa. The Fulani People occupy a vast geographical expanse located roughly in a longitudinal east–west band immediately south of the Sahara, and just north of the coastal rain forest and swamps. There are estimates of more than 25 million Fulani people. There are generally three different types of Fulani based on settlement patterns, viz:
20433-557: The village of Rumsiki in particular, on tourism. In Nigeria , the Kapsiki people live on the slopes of the mountains and the western plains. The Kapsiki have been living in this area for five centuries, long before the great slave hunts of the 19th century, but due to their isolated habitat they have been able to maintain themselves against the Fulbe people . Other peoples of the Mandara region, such as
20580-448: The ways in which race can complicate a community's interactions with social and political structures, especially upon contact. Assimilation – shedding the particular qualities of a native culture for the purpose of blending in with a host culture – did not work for some groups as a response to racism and discrimination, though it did for others. Once the legal barriers to achieving equality had been dismantled,
20727-521: The western groups are the most divergent from the eastern groups and vice versa. Overall, however, all share most cultural practices to a large extent. In Ghana, the exact number of Fulani is unknown due to systematic oppression that includes not counting the Fulani in the Ghanaian census. This reflects widespread discrimination and negative stereotypes about the Fulani. The origins of the Fulani people are unclear and various theories have been postulated. As
20874-442: The world have been incorporated into a global economy: The opposing interests that divide the working classes are further reinforced through appeals to "racial" and "ethnic" distinctions. Such appeals serve to allocate different categories of workers to rungs on the scale of labor markets, relegating stigmatized populations to the lower levels and insulating the higher echelons from competition from below. Capitalism did not create all
21021-483: Was a turning point in ethnic studies. The consequences of Nazi racism discouraged essentialist interpretations of ethnic groups and race. Ethnic groups came to be defined as social rather than biological entities. Their coherence was attributed to shared myths, descent, kinship , a common place of origin, language, religion, customs, and national character. So, ethnic groups are conceived as mutable rather than stable, constructed in discursive practices rather than written in
21168-407: Was contrary to the prevailing naturalist belief of the time, which held that socio-cultural and behavioral differences between peoples stemmed from inherited traits and tendencies derived from common descent, then called "race". Another influential theoretician of ethnicity was Fredrik Barth , whose "Ethnic Groups and Boundaries" from 1969 has been described as instrumental in spreading the usage of
21315-546: Was established by the Fulbe jihad led by Seku Amadu in 1818, rebelling against the Bamana Empire , a political power that controlled the region from Segou . This jihad was inspired by Usman Dan Fodio and his jihad in Sokoto. This state appears to have had tight control over its core area, as evidenced by the fact that its political and economic organization is still manifested today in the organization of agricultural production in
21462-554: Was succeeded by Abdul Kader ('Abd al-Qadir), a learned teacher and judge who had studied in Cayor . Abdul Kader became the first Almamy of the theocratic Almamyate of Futa Toro. He encouraged construction of mosques, and pursued an aggressive policy towards his neighbors. The Torodbe prohibited the trade in slaves on the river. In 1785 they obtained an agreement from the French to stop trading in Muslim slaves and to pay customs duties to
21609-673: Was the largest, as well as the most well-organized, of the Fulani Jihad states. Throughout the 19th century, Sokoto was one of the largest and most powerful empires in West Africa until 1903, when defeated by European colonial forces. The Sokoto Caliphate included several emirates, the largest of which was Adamawa , although the Kano Emirate was the most populated. Others included, but are not limited to: Gombe Emirate , Gwandu Emirate , Bauchi Emirate , Katsina Emirate , Zazzau Emirate , Hadejia Emirate , and Muri Emirate . The Maasina Emirate
#782217