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Oral Tradition in Changing Political Contexts: The Kisra Legend in Northern Borgu*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2014
Extract
Until the mid-1950s all the received traditions in Nigerian Borgu were unanimous that Bussa was established by Woru, the eldest son of Kisra (alhough some versions claim that it was Kisra himself), while Shabi and Bio, his younger brothers, established Nikki and Illo respectively. These traditions were recorded in the early period of colonial rule by colonial anthropologists and most of these accounts are deposited at the National Archives in Kaduna.
From the 1950s new traditions began to emerge challenging certain aspects of these earlier versions. One such aspect that has attracted attention is the order of the establishment of the principal Borgawa states. The new traditions denied any link between Kisra and Bussa, and also condemned the prominent role assigned to the Emir of Bussa. The principal objective of the present paper is to explain the political situation that gave rise to the emergence of these new traditions, and to show how suspectible oral tradition, especially traditions of origin, is to political manipulation.
Edmund Leach and J.A. Atanda have demonstrated this in different works. In his work on highland Burma Leach shows how traditions of origins “change with clock-like regularity in response to shifts in the political constellation.” In his turn Atanda shows how oral tradition “undergoes revisions when regimes change, care being taken that materials ‘useless’ to the new regime are expunged and new ‘useful’ materials added to evolve to an acceptable ‘standard version’.”
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © African Studies Association 1998
Footnotes
*
I am grateful to Georg Elwert, Erdmute Alber (both of the Institut für Ethonologie, Freie Universität, Berlin), and Richard Kuba (Universität Frankfurt) for their helpful comments. I thank as well the German Academic Exchange (DAAD) for granting me a three-month fellowship.
References
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5 The term “Wasangari” has been the subject of debate among the Borgawa themselves. To some the term means “a wise person,” whereas to others it means “a cheat.” Whatever the case, the term is used to refer to the ruling classes in Borgu.
6 NAK, file SNP 17, K2101.
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13 NAK/BORDIV/DOB/HIS/3, Reports on Chiefs, 1911.
14 This version was narrated to me by Emir Kigera of Bussa on 19 September 1992.
15 This version was as offered by Emir Alhaji Omar Tukur of Kaiama, 27 September 1992. It is merely one of several new versions current in Kaiama, all of which take issue with the new ascendancy of Bussa.