I rejoice with Messrs Gleave and Prothero in the opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion of a problem which is of interest to both historians and geographers. Before replying to their lengthy ‘Comment’ I feel that an explanatory note regarding the genesis of my article might remove any misapprehensions that it was done as a simple exercise in cavil.

The Sēfuwa dynasty seized power in Kānem around 1075, but it was only in the beginning of the thirteenth century that the rulers of Kānem were able to extend their authority over Bornū. Prior to this move small groups of Saharan speakers had already established themselves among the Chadic speakers of the Komadugu Yobe valley. Towards the end of the reign of Dūnama Dībalāmi (c. 1210–48) the court of the Sēfuwa itself was shifted to Bornū, mainly as a result of disturbances in Kānem. Indeed, according to oral traditions of the sixteenth century, the Tubu, in alliance with certain members of the Sēfuwa aristocracy, staged a major rebellion against the central government, apparently attempting to resist the strict application of Islamic principles of government by Dūnama Dībalāmi. Towards the end of the thirteenth century powerful rulers were again able to establish the authority of the Sēfuwa on firm grounds: in the east, even on the fringes of Kānem, they brought the situation under strict control and in the west they extended – or confirmed – the political influence of the Sēfuwa dynasty over the focal points of interregional trade which began to rise in Hausaland. Thus Bornū became the central province of the Sēfuwa Empire in spite of the fact that several kings continued to reside temporarily in the old capital of Djīmī situated in Kānem. This major shift of their territorial basis affected the position of the Sēfuwa in their original homelands. Written sources from the end of the fourteenth century show that the increasing involvement of the Sēfuwa in Bornū and its western border states must have changed their attitude towards the people living east of Lake Chad: after having acquired the character of an autochthonous (or national) dynasty of Kānem – in spite of their foreign origin – the Sēfuwa progressively became an alien power in this major Sudanic state, even though the people of Kānem and Bornū were closely related. Furthermore, the rise of a powerful kingdom in the area of Lake Fitrī under the rule of the Bulāla became a serious threat to the Sēfuwa in their original homelands as the warrior aristocracy of the Bulāla state – which must have been of Kanembu origin – remained closely connected with the sedentary population of Kānem. When finally during the reign of 'Umar b. Idrīs (c. 1382–7), the Sēfuwa were forced by the Bulāla to withdraw their forces from Kānem, this territorial loss did not affect the future development of the Empire to the extent that has formerly been supposed, since losses in the east were largely compensated by earlier gains in the west.

The following corrections should be made in volume 30 (1989), part 1, in the article by François Manchuelle, ‘Slavery, emancipation and labour migration in West Africa: the case of Soninke’:

p. 89, n. 1, line 2. For ‘Origins of’ read ‘Background to’

p. 89, n. 1, line 3. For ‘1948’ read ‘1848’

p. 90, n. 9, line 7. For ‘125’ read ‘225’

p. 93, n. 20, line 2. For ‘1847’ read ‘1837’

p. 93, n. 20, line 3. For ‘ibid’, read ‘Séneégambie et Guinée (Paris, 1847)’

p. 94, n. 23. For ‘191–38’ read ‘187–96’

p. 94, n. 24, line 3. For ‘3 August’ read ‘31 August’

p. 96, no. 30, line 5. For ‘210–17’ read ‘270–77’

p. 100, n. 45, line 1–2. For ‘3 juin’ read ‘30 juin’

p. 100, n. 45, line 4. For ‘no. 5, 3, 17 October’ read ‘no. 53, 17 October’

Catholic school alumni played a crucial role in shaping Senegal and Benin in the first decades after independence.1 Though they came from a variety of religious and socioeconomic backgrounds, they nevertheless strongly identified with their Catholic schooling experience. Indeed, these West African alumni composed a distinct social group that had been inculcated in the habits and values of ‘Catholic civism’, an ideology based around public service, self-discipline, moral restraint, honesty, and community. While many studies of educated youth emphasize their political activism, Catholic school youth engaged in the subtler process of shaping their new countries by transforming colonial-era institutions from within. Beyond politics, students who graduated in the early independence era used Catholic civism as both a social marker and an implicit social critique.