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The Aja-speaking Peoples of Nigeria: A Note on their Origins, Settlement and Cultural Adaptation up to 19451

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

A. I. Asiwaju
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Extract

The limited objective in this paper is to call attention to the need to bridge an important gap in scholarly literature on the Aja, which so far has focused on the groups within the borders of the present-day Republics of Bénin (formerly Dahomey) and Togo in much the same way as Yoruba studies were once restricted to the groups within the frontiers of Nigeria, particularly the area of it now covered by the States of Ogun, Oyo and Ondo. By drawing attention to the Aja settlements and communities in Nigeria, the present writer hopes to do for this West African group what Geoffrey Parrinder (1947; 1955), Jacques Bertho (1949), Paul Mercier (1950) and Daryll Forde (1951) did in the 1940s and 1950s for the Yoruba-speaking peoples in Bénin and Togo through a series of published studies. There is no doubt that these studies have helped in widening the research horizon of scholars of Yoruba history and culture and have done much to dispel the myth of separation of the Yoruba, as of similarly partitioned groups all over Africa, created by the intercolonial (now international) boundaries, in this case the Nigeria-Bénin boundary.

Résumé

QUELQUES REMARQUES SUR L'ORIGINE, L'IMPLANTATION ET L'ADAPTATION CULTURELLE DES PEUPLES DE LANGUE ADJA AU NIGÉRIA

Les diverses études effectuées à ce jour présentent deux lacunes que cet article tente de combler: il importe en premier lieu d'étendre au Nigéria les travaux portant sur les peuples de langue Adja. En effet, ces travaux ont été généralement limités aux groupes ethniques des républiques actuelles du Bénin (ancien Dahomey), du Togo et du Ghana. D'autre part, en ramenant l'histoire de l'implantation de ces peuples aux guerres Yorubas et aux guerres du Dahomey au cours du 18ème etdu 19ème siècle, on tente ici de dégager uri aspect étudié de ces guerres, à savoir les mouvements de population et le mode d'implantation qui en découlèrent en pays Yoruba. En dépit de leur immigration vers le Nigéria, et d'une longue implantation parmi des peuples de langue Yoruba présentant entre eux peu de différences culturelles, les Adja ont fait preuve d'une remarquable aptitude à conserver leur propre culture. Formant un ensemble réparti à travers quatre états différents d'Afrique Occidentale, les Adja (y compris les Ewe) illustrent un prolongement ethnique des liens sous-régionaux.Cet aspect mérite une étude approfondie visant à mieux comprendre le contexte socio-culturel dans le cadre des efforts actuels en matière de coopération interrégionale.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 1979 , pp. 15 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1979

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