Serfs, Peasants, and Socialists: A Former Serf Village in the Republic of Guinea 0520017285, 9780520017283

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Serfs, Peasants, and Socialists

Serfs, Peasants, and Socialists A FORMER SERF VILLAGE IN THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA

William Derman WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF

Louise Derman

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS BERKELEY

LOS ANGELES

LONDON

.2) ¥7

University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England Copyright © 1973, by The Regents of the University of California ISBN: 0-520-01728-5 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 78-117148 Printed in the United States of America

To David and Rosalind

Contents

x

Acknowledgments One Introduction

i

FULBE, SERFS, AND FRENCH, I

GUINEA, 5

Two Geography and History THE

PHYSICAL

SETTING,

7

THE

HISTORICAL

SETTING,

12

7

Precolonial Social and Political Organization, 12 Precolonial Serfdom, 27 the impact of french colonial rule, 43 The Political Impact, 43 The Economic Impact, 49

Three Fulbe

57

THE FULBE AS PEASANTS, 57

THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF

Kinship Terminology, 66 So¬ cial Relations among Kinsmen, 68 The Kin Groups, 78 Marriage, 95 Divorce, 111 Fulbe-Serf Marriage, 116 a

former-serf village, 65

summary, 119

Four The Economy of the Fouta-Djallon the

145

Women’s Gardens, 122 Cash-Crop Gardens, 144 Cattle-Herding,

subsistence

The Fields, THE

Migration,

121

economy,

131

COMMERCIAL

122

SECTOR

OF

Local Wage Labor,

151

THE 154

ECONOMY,

I50

Specialists,

156

THE MARKET, 162

Five Political Organization

173

Six Ideology

192

Life-Cycle Ceremonies, 198 in the village, 211 Islamic Education, 221 224 Islam and Sorcery, 230

the

life-cycle,

193

vii

islam sorcery,

CONTENTS

Seven

Conclusions Appendix

I.

Appendix II.

237 fuble kinship terminology

252

a note on the

257

fieldwork

Glossary of Fulbe Words

260

Bibliography

267

Index

273

TABLES AND FIGURES Tables: 1. Marriage patterns in Hollaande, 101 2. Difference in area of land held by Fulbe and serfs, 133 3. Ownership of cattle in Hollaande, 148 Figures: 1. Genealogy of the chiefly maximal lineage of the FoutaDjallon, 20 2. Genealogy of the maximal lineage of the Ragnaabe, 24 3. A kin relationship among age-mates, 77 4. Model of a minimal lineage, 84 5. Outline of the genealogy of Hollaande, 87

vm

A ckn owledgmen ts

To the government of the Republic of Guinea I owe a great debt for accepting me as a representative of the discipline of anthro¬ pology and thereby allowing my wife and I to live and study in their country. Anthropologists have not always deserved this trust, which assumes that the only purpose of ethnographic study is to contribute to mankind’s knowledge as a whole and not to serve short-term national political interests. In particular I wish to thank Mr. Bounama Sy and Mr. Ray Autra, who served as directors of the National Institute of Research and Documenta¬ tion of the Republic of Guinea during the time of this study, for their help in setting up and facilitating my work. I hope that my material will be of some use to the National Institute’s historical and cultural studies of the people of Guinea. A special word of appreciation is also due Mrs. Fanny Lalande-Isnard, then li¬ brarian of the institute who went out of her way to see that a raw scholar learned the complexities of working in the Fouta-Djallon, and made available the resources of the library. Ultimately, it is the villagers of Hollaande, who permitted my wife and me to live with them, who patiently tolerated our ig¬ norance, and who shared their knowledge, experiences and feeling with us, to whom we owe the most. The friendship they gave us will never be forgotten even if the means of keeping that friendship fades with time. To Alpha Oumar Diallo and Mamadu Baillo Diallo—friends, interpreters and assistants—I cannot find words to express ade¬ quately what they gave in terms of insight, patience, and con¬ stant comradeship. Reverend and Mrs. Harry Watkins, missionaries formerly at Labe, greatly assisted our understanding and learning of Fulfulde by making available their outstanding unpublished work on the IX

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

language of the Fulbe. They gave generously of their time and hospitality. Their aid will be long and warmly remembered. For the many favors done and hospitality offered by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Girdner, Naomi Chamberlain, Karen Doering and Henry Norman go many thanks. To Walter, particularly, much appreciation is due for his interest in my work and the consider¬ able pains he took to help make it successful. Special thanks also go to Larry Busch and Bill Reiss for their invaluable support during inevitable times of discouragement. To my teachers at the University of Michigan, and especially Marshall Sahlins, Elman Service and Eric Wolf, I owe the debt of a student. To Dr. Iwao Ishino I express thanks for helping me see the manuscript through to completion. Professor Jean SuretCanale was kind enough to critically read the manuscript and made several helpful comments and corrections. Albertha Brown and Jane O’Neill set aside much time from other work and did an excellent job of typing the manuscript. This book is a joint effort. Louise and I shared the experience of living and working in Guinea. Together we worked out many problems. Louise gathered information about the Fulbe economy, and the Fulbe women and children. Also she edited one version of the manuscript, thus contributing throughout to the study and this book. Therefore, acknowledgment needs to be greater than a dedication. The study was made possible by a fellowship and research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health and by a dis¬ sertation grant from the National Science Foundation. I ask forgiveness of my Guinean friends and colleagues for my mistakes and errors of interpretation. The responsibility is mine and mine alone. I regard this study as a beginning step toward exploring the rich and significant life of the Fouta-Djallon and the Republic of Guinea. W.D.

x

Serfs, Peasants, and Socialists

One Introduction

FULBE, SERFS, AND FRENCH

The inhabitants of the Fouta-Djallon in the Republic of Guinea are overwhelmingly Fulfulde speakers. Fulfulde speakers refer to themselves as Fulbe, a usage I shall follow despite the extensive literature that refers to them as Fulani or Peul. The Fulbe of the Fouta-Djallon are linked historically, culturally, and linguistically with the other Fulfulde speakers of West Africa.1 Fulbe society in Guinea has undergone a series of profound transformations as a result of French colonial rule and recent in¬ dependence. The crucial impact of these two periods is evidenced by the fundamental change in the role and position of serfs. The institution of serfdom is now legally abolished. Despite the wide¬ spread distribution of hereditarily subordinate populations in precolonial Africa there has been little discussion of the effects of colonial rule on their status. In examining the past relations of former serfs to their Fulbe masters in the Fouta-Djallon, the key economic, social, and ideological institutions of the Fouta-Djallon, and the great changes they have undergone will be discussed. In i. For an introduction to the Fulbe the reader is referred to Stenning (1959), still the most complete summary available of the distribution and characteristics of the Fulbe. Of more recent interest, and unfortunately too late to be incor¬ porated in this study, is M. Dupire’s (1970) study of the social organization of several Fulbe groups.

SERFS,

PEASANTS,

AND

SOCIALISTS

this context, an ethnographic account of contemporary life in Hollaande, a village of former serfs, will be presented. Before the coming of the French at the turn of the century the Fouta-Djallon was a confederation of provinces under the almamy (from the Arabic imam) of the Fouta-Djallon. There existed a relatively developed territorial organization based upon an Islamic model, but it did not supersede the kin organization which was based on maximal, major, and minimal patrilineages. Four major social strata cut across the territorial and kin organizations. These were the chiefs and their patrilineal kinsmen, the free Fulbe, the Fulbe of the bush, and the serfs. We might speculate that had the French not intervened, the Fulbe socio-political organization might have evolved toward a pyramidal “feudal” organization with chiefs as lords, the free Fulbe as vassals, the Fulbe of the bush as freemen, and the “serfs” as serfs. However, French co¬ lonial rule abruptly halted indigenous trends. The features of colonial rule that undermined serfdom also undermined the posi¬ tion of the other strata and led to the creation of a peasantry. The political changes induced during the colonial period re¬ sulted in the alienation of political power from the underlying population. We need not underestimate the power of political leaders during the precolonial era in order to emphasize the far greater power of the French and their Fulbe representatives, the chefs de canton. The legitimacy and the reciprocal nature of chieftainship was ended. The generosity of chiefs toward the population decreased as the exactions demanded from them in¬ creased. A clear separation of interests between the developing peasantry and their new colonial overlords was created. As a result all Fulbe and serfs came to view the “state” (the colonial rulers and the chefs de canton) as separate and distinct from themselves. Admittedly this is a question of judgment as well as an analysis of the relation of chiefs to other Fulbe during pre¬ colonial and colonial times. In the precolonial period the chiefs ruled in conjunction with the elders and religious leaders of the 2

INTRODUCTION

nonchiefly, maximal lineages. In contrast, the French did not seek the consensus, agreement, or support of the Fulbe in the selec¬ tion of the chefs de canton, as the most important criterion for office became loyalty to the French. Another political consequence of colonial rule was the decline in significance of the maximal patrilineages. The abolition of the chiefs’ right to tribute from the Fulbe of the bush led to a decline in the importance of the distinction between them and the free Fulbe. Even the chiefly lineages declined greatly in political im¬ portance for during the 1920s the French began selecting the chefs de canton and village chiefs from the other nonchiefly maximal patrilineages. Moreover, the separation of all strata from the new French rulers deemphasized earlier distinctions and led to a merging of the strata. The economic consequences of colonial rule were as great as the political effects. We shall consider the results of the imposi¬ tion of taxation, the introduction of money and markets, and the competition for the labor of serfs as significant processes leading to the decline of serfdom. The beginning of the end of serfdom appears to have been the breakdown of the reciprocal relations of serfs and master, as serfs had to assume the payment of their own taxes to the French. However, taxation affected all strata of Fulbe society. The new taxes will be viewed as the fund of rent that the new rulers took from the population. Once pay¬ ment in money became a necessity no strata of society was free from the new demands of the colonial authorities. Because taxa¬ tion was imposed on all sectors of Fulbe society it had the effect of forcing most of the population, at least in part, into a money economy. The particular form the economy took was greatly influenced by the ecology of the Fouta-Djallon. The ecology has, at least until the present, mitigated against large-scale cash cropping, inhibited the formation of plantations, and provided no mineral resources of significance. This has meant that there have been no sources 3

SERFS,

PEASANTS,

AND

SOCIALISTS

of large scale employment within the Fouta. In order to earn money, many Fulbe have had to seek sources of employment outside their natal area. Although small cash-crop gardens were introduced and a few state farms were established by the French, these provided only limited employment opportunities relative to the need for cash. The consequence was that many Fulbe left the Fouta for work on the peanut farms in Senegal, the pineapple and banana growing areas of Guinea, and the cities of Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and of the Ivory Coast. In short, the dom¬ inant commodity the Fouta could supply was labor. Unlike most other commodities, land did not greatly enter the money sector of the economy. Some land was sold during the colonial era, but in the land-short area around Hollaande—and I suspect this to be true of most areas—the amount sold was small. This was due in part to the inalienability of land from the major patrilineages. Some serfs became landed proprietors by buying land, but the small extent to which land entered the market impeded the merging of the Fulbe-serf strata. The vast majority of serfs did not become land proprietors, and therefore, despite the gradual ending of their labor obligations, significant social and economic differences remain between serfs and Fulbe. The introduction of taxation, money, and markets, in combina¬ tion with French political rule, produced a merging of the strata of Fulbe society. It should not be thought, however, that this process has taken place at the same rate or in the same direction for the different strata. During the colonial era the distinctions between the various Fulbe diminished, but the distinction be¬ tween Fulbe and serf remained important until the present period of independence. Independence has ended much of the political significance of whether one is Fulbe or descended from serfs, and with independence all the remaining labor obligations of serfs were ended. However, there are strong social and ideological continuities with the past. The merging of former serf and Fulbe is not yet complete.

4

INTRODUCTION

GUINEA

The Guinean government considers its citizens as Guineans first, members of dieir committee second, and only last as members of different language groups. All persons are theoretically con¬ sidered equal, and earlier social distinctions are no longer recog¬ nized. This attitude on the part of the Guinean political leaders is in advance of the population as a whole. The Guinean revolu¬ tion is young and time is needed to create a new society. Older social categories remain important for the population in the countryside. To refuse to recognize this would be to ignore a key feature in the life of former serfs. The government and party of the Republic of Guinea believes it¬ self to be socialist. In the writings of President Ahmed Sekou Toure one finds perhaps the most systematic examination of so¬ cialist policies and thought in a sub-Saharan African nation. President Toure has already published seventeen volumes—vir¬ tually all of them printed at the Imprimerie Patrice Lumumba in Conakry—setting out in great detail both the theoretical and pro¬ grammatic aspects of his thought. Even though President Toure has been Africa’s foremost radical leader there has been no biog¬ raphy of him and only a few articles concerning his political de¬ velopment and theories in English.2 The Guinean leaders are committed to socialism. In their opinion socialism is both a goal and a process—the way in which Guinean development has and should take place. According to President Toure, socialism involves the transformation of the relationships of humans to each other, of society to nature, and will be the outcome of the present de¬ velopment of all societies (volume 16: 45). Moreover, socialism is not a state which once attained will last forever but is part of an ongoing evolution involving human society as a whole. There seems to be little controversy among American scholars 2. R. W. Johnson of Magdalen College, England, appears to have begun this work.

5

SERFS,

PEASANTS,

AND

SOCIALISTS

that Guinea is in fact socialist, if not communist. In this connec¬ tion William Attwood’s account of his personal fight against the specter of advancing communism is particularly interesting. And among those who have constantly kept in touch with Guinean events, Victor Du Bois stands out for his vitriolic attacks on Guinea and her leaders. Significantly, the real questioning of the socialist character of the Republic of Guinea has taken place among French leftist scholars among whom the debate was touched off by B. Ameillon (apparently a pseudonym) in La Guinee, Bilan d’une Independance. Ameillon argues that Guinea will become neocolonialist and elite controlled as have other newly independent African nations. The debate has been picked up and continued by other scholars such as Yves Benot and Jean Suret-Canale. While it is beyond the scope of this book to engage in extended discussion of the political character of Guinea, it is my hope to provide additional and substantial information about the evolving character of the Guinean countryside. Perhaps this study will be of greater import because it concerns the area of Guinea thought to be most recalcitrant to independence and the government of the Democratic Party of Guinea.

6

Two Geography and History

THE PHYSICAL SETTING

The Fouta-Djallon, now the province of Middle Guinea (Moyenne Guinee), has been subject to long and intensive human occupation. Throughout the central Fouta-Djallon, villages are rarely separated by more than a few kilometers, and the isolated hamlet has become quite rare. There are few forests, as the land has been cultivated time and time again. The Fouta-Djallon can be subdivided into three geographical areas: the central and northern plateaus (in the regions of Dalaba, Pita, and Labe); the eastern plateaus (in the regions of Timbo, Dalaba and Tougue); and the western transition areas of the regions of Gaoual, Telimele, and Kindia. The central and northern plateaus often are denuded of trees, intensively culti¬ vated, and relatively densely populated. Here sedentarization has been fairly complete since the early nineteenth century. The alti¬ tude of this area varies from 1000 to 1515 meters, the highest in Guinea, and the terrain is marked by river valleys that extend into the province of Upper Guinea. In this area is the historic capital of the Fouta, Timbo, and Fougoumba, the place where the almamys, rulers of the Fouta-Djallon confederation, received the turban of office. The population density of the eastern plateau was, and is, less than the central.

7

SERFS,

PEASANTS,

AND

SOCIALISTS

In the past, there were three different kinds of villages: the misside, where the mosque, and usually the residence of a chief were built; the fulasso, a Fulbe village; and the runde, a serf village. All three kinds of villages were constructed in the same manner, but the Fulbe village was usually on high ground, and the serf village on lower ground. The missides were invariably on strategically important high ground overlooking large areas. Vil¬ lages were and are permanent, and the history of each compound in a village is known precisely. The climate of the Fouta is tropical, but because of the altitude there is neither overwhelming heat during the dry season, nor continuous rain during the rainy season. The rainy season is from May through November, but most of the rain falls during the July, August, and September. According to Guinean government figures the average yearly rainfall at Labe from 1959 to 1962 was 207.9 centimeters. The population density of the Fouta-Djallon varies greatly from area to area. The highest density is found on the central plateaus, where the village of Hollaande is located. As of the last census in 1962, the population of the region of Labe was 271,632 people in an area of 7,616 square kilometers. This is a density of 35.6 in¬ habitants per square kilometer. Although the density of the region of Labe is high, it is not the highest in the Fouta-Djallon. Just south of Labe on the same plateau, but in the region of Pita, is an area known as Bantingnel, which has a density greater than 68 inhabitants per square kilometer (Richard-Molard 1951: 101). There is another demographic statistic for the Fouta-Djallon of great interest. Jacques Richard-Molard observed that the greater the density of population in an area of the Fouta, the greater the percentage of serfs in the population. In his enquiry he found that serfs comprised 35-^ percent of the population of Labe whereas in the canton of Djimma (Koubia) in the eastern Fouta they comprised 29 percent. I agree with Richard-Molard’s conclusion that the percentage of serfs grew with the density of population and that the highest percentages of serfs were to be found in 8

GEOGRAPHY

AND

HISTORY

proximity to political and military centers such as Labe where the leaders took the lion’s share of the booty of war (1951: 104). In order to place Hollaande in its proper social and political context the traditional, the colonial, and the modern administra¬ tive organization must be considered. Traditionally, Hollaande was a satellite village of Popodara, the village where the mosque was located and where the chief of the area resided. Hollaande in Fulfulde means “plain.” In particular it refers to those plains that absorb water and become muddy during the rainy season. Popodara was part of the diwal (traditional province) of Labe, which was much larger than the present region of Labe. After their conquest of the Fouta-Djallon the French adopted a different governing scheme. Ultimately they formed the Cercle de Labe, which was divided into fifteen cantons. One of these cantons was called Ore Koumba, but was also known as Popodara. The village of Popodara was the residence for the French-appointed chef de canton, or “chief.” This system was brought to an end with the achievement of independence. Today the Fouta-Djallon is one of the four provinces of Guinea —Middle Guinea. (The other three provinces are Maritime (or Lower) Guinea, Forested Guinea, and Upper Guinea). Middle Guinea is divided into a number of smaller administrative units known as regions. Hollaande is located in the region of Labe. The villages are now grouped into committees, which are the functioning political groups in the countryside. There is now a Committee of Popodara, but it is tiny in size compared to the area and numbers of people formerly under the chef de canton. The size of committees approximates the size of the traditional group¬ ings of villages around a mosque. However, the division of vil¬ lages into committees has not necessarily followed the older lines of where people go to pray. Whereas the village of Hollaande was formerly directly under Popodara, Popodara is now in one committee, and Hollaande in another. Popodara has served as the commercial center for die surround¬ ing area, and the school and infirmary are there. To the south 9

SERFS,

PEASANTS,

AND

SOCIALISTS

and east of Popodara is the Regional Farm of Labe. Founded by the French in 1935, it is presently a government farm which serves as a source of employment for the local people. At the farm there is also a primary school and a new College d’Enseignement Rural. A village that was a political and religious center during both traditional and colonial times, Popodara dominates its environs physically, being located on a hill that overlooks the plains and valleys in all directions. Both the mosque and the chief’s former residence are located on the highest point in the surrounding area. Popodara no longer retains the political dominance it had during traditional and colonial times; the former chief still lives there, but he no longer has any real authority. As one looks at the countryside from Popodara, one sees vil¬ lages that seem, from a distance, to be wooded areas. The forests, however, have been destroyed over a long period of time by the peoples who have inhabitated the Fouta, the extent of deforesta¬ tion having increased even within the lifetime of the oldest men. My older informants were all very specific as to areas that are now treeless but which formerly were wooded. They attributed the deforestation to the great increase in the number of people. The village of Hollaande lies one kilometer to the south of Popodara on a road built in the 1930s for a chef de canton, Alfa Yaya. The physical and social relation of Hollaande to Popodara can be exemplified by the fact that during the rainy season all the water from Popodara flows downhill to Hollande, turning much of the land into mud, while Popodara remains dry. The inhabi¬ tants of Popodara maintained that they would never go to Hol¬ laande during the rainy season because of the mud. (The social implications of this statement will be discussed later.) Hollaande lies against a small hill, where the market is located, and spreads out onto a plain that ends rather abruptly about one kilometer from the village where the terrain descends sharply into a large valley known as ainde Sombili, or