Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T09:23:43.495Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Karnu's Message and the ‘War of the Hoe Handle’: Interpreting a Central African resistance movement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Extract

In writing the history of the Gbaya-speaking peoples, a group of some half-million population inhabiting east-central Cameroon and the western third of the Central African Republic, we are seldom able to recount the careers of famous individuals, and genealogical charters which link present leaders with long-dead heroes are uncommon. For the most part, in the pre-colonial and early colonial periods, the Gbaya were not organized politically at a level greater than very localised, clan-based groupings, and political leadership was more a matter of competition for short-lived political powers among locally influential men than of formally institutionalised chieftaincy (see Burnham, 1980a: 19 et seq.). However, in some cases during the late pre-colonial period, particularly in the westernmost parts of the Gbaya region, certain leaders began to consolidate their positions as a result of political and economic relations with the neighbouring Fulbe states of Adamawa and their associated Hausa and Kanuri traders (Burnham, 1980b). The names of men like Dogo Lokoti, Bafio and Mbartua (Bertoua) then occasionally figure in the oral histories and colonial documents, and we obtain glimpses of their personalities and careers. It is all the more striking, therefore, when we encounter a Gbaya figure who stands out clearly in the historical record. Without a doubt, Karnu, the inspiration behind the movement that has been called the Karnu Rebellion or the ‘War of the Hoe Handle’ in the Gbaya language, is the most widely known name in Gbaya history.

Résumé

Interpretation d'un mouvement centre africain: le message de Karnu

Malgré les nombreux commentaires publiés sur la Rebellion de Karnu de 1928, un important mouvement de résistance anti-coloniale mettant en cause les Gbaya et les populations voisines de l'Afrique équatoriale française et du Cameroun, on a très peu essayé d'interpréter ces evènements en relation avec le contexte culturel dans lequel ils ont émergés. Tirant de leur recherche prolongée sur le terrain sur la culture Gbaya ainsi que des enquêtes effectuées avec l'aide des témoins de la rébellion, les auteurs retracent la carrière de Karnu, le chef du mouvement, et analysent les résonances symboliques de son message qui rallia tant de groupes à sa cause. Le message de Karnu était celui d'une résistance sans effusions de sang, mais ses partisans qui étaient aux prises avec les francais et leurs collaborateurs les Fulbe, ne tinrent pas vraiment compte de ce message. Bien que le mouvement ne parvint pas à ses fins, le message de Karnu garde toute sa signification de nos jours et son contenu symbolique est souvent réinterprété pour s'adapter à des contextes historiques que Karnu lui-même n'aurait jamais prévu.

Type
Oral tradition and early colonial politics
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdoullaye, Hamadjoda and Eldridge, Mohammadou. 1979. Ray ou Rey-Bouba. Garoua: Musée Dynamique du Nord -Cameroun, ONAREST.Google Scholar
Anon. 1929. ‘Les Evénements de la Haute-Sangha,’ Bulletin du Comité de l'Afrique Française. April 1929: 171–3.Google Scholar
Bah, Thierno Mouctar. 1974. ‘Contribution à l'Etude de la Résistance des Peuples Africains à la Colonisation,’ Afrika Zamani 3: 105–61.Google Scholar
Balandier, Georges. 1963. Sociologie Actuelle de l'Afrique Noire.Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
Burnham, Philip. 1980a. Opportunity and Constraint in a Savanna Society. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Burnham, Philip. 1980b. ‘Raiders and Traders in Adamawa,’ in J., Watson (ed.) Asian and African Systems of Slavery, pp. 4372. Oxford: Basil Blackwell and Mott.Google Scholar
Christensen, Thomas. 1978. ‘Karnu: Witchdoctor or Prophet?Missiology VI (2): 197211.Google Scholar
Coquery-Vidrovitch, Catherine. 1972. Le Congo au Temps des Grands Compagnies Concessionaires. Paris: Mouton.Google Scholar
Gide, André. 1927. Voyage au Congo. Paris: Gallimard.Google Scholar
Gluckman, Max. 1963. Order and Rebellion in Tribal Africa. London: Cohen & West.Google Scholar
Gwassa, G. C. K. 1972. ‘Kinjikitile and the Ideology of Maji Maji’ in T., Ranger and I., Kimambo (eds.), The Historical Study of African Religion, pp. 202–17. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Hilberth, John. 1962. Les Gbaya. Uppsala: Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia.Google Scholar
Hilberth, John 1973. The Gbaya. Uppsala: Studia Ethnographica Upsaliensia.Google Scholar
Homet, Marcel. 1934. Congo, Terre de Souffrance. Paris: Montaigne.Google Scholar
Kalck, Pierre. 1959. Réalités Oubanguiennes. Paris: Berger Levrault.Google Scholar
Kalck, Pierre 1974. Histoire de la République Centrafricaine. Paris: Berger Levrault.Google Scholar
Michel, Marc. 1966. ‘Les Débuts du Soulèvement de la Haute-Sangha en 1928,’ Annales du Centre d'Enseignement Supérieur de Brazzaville. 2: 248.Google Scholar
Noss, Philip. 1971. ‘Wanto, the Hero of Gbaya Tradition,’ Journal of the Folklore Institute 8 (1): 316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noss, Philip 1972. ‘An Interpretation of Gbaya Religious Practice,’ International Review of Mission, LXI(244): 357–74.Google Scholar
Nzabakomada-Yakoma, Raphael. 1975. La Guerre de Kongo -Wara 1928–1931. Thèse de Doctorat en Histoire, Université de Paris VII.Google Scholar
Ranger, T. O. 1967. Revolt in Southern Rhodesia: 1896–7. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Suret-Canale, Jean. 1971. French Colonialism in Tropical Africa. London: Hurst.Google Scholar
Tessman, Günter. 1937. Die Baja: ein Negerstamm im mittleren Sudan. Teil 2. Stuttgart: Strecker und Schröder.Google Scholar
Vidal, Pierre. 1976. Garçons et Filles. Nanterre: Service de Publication du Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative, Université de Paris X.Google Scholar