iii. Haja Aisaitu and the Tellico; The identity of Fula sub-groups. I noted above, that Haja Aisaitu, in anger, would occasionally call Hamidu a "Tellico". Hamidu's mother was of this pastoral sub-group, but Haja Aisaitu's reference was clearly pejorative. Similarly, at other times Haja Aisaitu would attempt to tease or censure the children by calling them the names of other ethnic groups. I recall one instant when she accused one of the children of being "dirty like the Peace-Corps": an insult which left the household in fits of laughter. Whenever I asked Haja Aisaitu to explain something more about the sub-divisions within the Fula community, I usually received the following sort of information. The Kebu live in the "bush". They have plenty of cattle. They don't like making farms. (But see above.) The Hubu also live in the "bush", but "upline" (i.e. North towards the border). They have cattle and make farms. They are fierce fighters and are always making trouble. The Tellico also live in the bush. They make large farms but also have plenty of cattle. They are greatly feared because of their (Koranic) medicine and their ability to "curse". The Futa come from Futa Jallon. They are traders and live in the town. These stereotypes were repeated by other informants in almost the same form, although a new characteristic would occasionally be added, or an old one embellished. For example, I was told that the Kebu would never give cattle or money to help their friends, and that the Futa did not side with the other sub-groups, but were regarded as peace makers. The Tellico, I was informed, cared more for their cattle than their children. And so on. The identity of these sub-groups was difficult to adduce during my fieldwork. From Haja Aisaitu's comments, I had expected differently. For example, Haja Aisaitu recounted the time when her late husband took a young Tellico wife. "We wouldn't let her near the red palm-oil in case it spoilt", she told me. I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of this statement. However, Haja Aisaitu had never liked this particular woman, and frequently referred to her as a "slave". I was unable to verify the truth of this "accusation". On some occasions, when Haja Aisaitu was being particularly vitriolic, it would appear from her speech as though all Tellico were, by definition, slaves. (*11) However, Haja Aisaitu was frequently visited by members of the Barrie Family of Yufuni, themselves Tellico and related, by marriage, to Haja's own family.(*12) I cannot recall Haja Aisaitu saying anything critical about this family. She fed them and made them as welcome as any of her guests. I remember feeling a little disappointed at this. I had hoped to witness "avoidance" or some other clearly demarcated form of behaviour, that I could specifically and unambiguously relate as intra-sub-group interaction! Perhaps Haja Aisaitu no longer thought of the Barrie's as Tellico, for in her eyes such identities were not determined by birth alone. (*13) One man Haja brought to my attention had a Tellico father and a Kebu mother. However, the man evidently spent a great deal of time with his mother's family and Haja Aisaitu, if no one else, regarded him as Kebu. I was puzzled. On the one hand the Fula I spoke to were able to articulate certain uniform characteristics of the various sub-groups. But the clearly spoken words, were

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not matched by clearly observable, non-verbal action. Some aspects of these stereotypes could be seen as pejorative. However, I did not think that I was dealing with an expression of prejudice, so much as a modern day myth: a simple story to explain to the anthropologist, among others, how and why things are. My misplaced efforts to ascertain the "real" or "definitive" bases to these sub-groups inevitably met with difficulties. In Krio, the four sub-groups under present discussion were referred to as "nations", a term also used when talking of the larger non-Fula ethnic groups, such as the Limba, Koranko, Mende and so on. However, the term "nation" was also used to refer to still smaller sub-divisions of the Fula. The use of "nation" bore a resemblance to the Fula word "lenyol", which is used to refer to an ethnic group, a sub-division of a larger ethnic group, and even, according to Viellard, a lineage. (Viellard 1940,p.117)(*14) Viellard notes the vagueness of the term's referents; a vagueness that I felt matched in the use of "nation". Were the various occupational groups, the blacksmiths, cobblers etc., that are found among the Fula, also "nations" or "lenyol"? I asked. Some informants thought so, others disagreed. For a time these issues began to worry me. I felt the situation to be altogether too messy for my anthropological peace of mind. I required that everybody should fit into place, rather like Leach's collector of butterflies. I bored a great many of my friends by asking the names of areas or towns which they considered as Hubu, Tellico etc.. But apart from a general agreement that the Hubu were most concentrated north-east of Kabala, and that the Futa Fula were most numerous in the towns, I did not achieve the kind of clear-cut result that I wished for: namely, the discovery that each of these sub-groups had their own "territories". In retrospect, I realise that I experienced something of the colonial administrator's nightmare in discovering that people were not always willing to be pigeon-holed into neat classifications. Or more accurately, in this instance people were willing to provide their own neat classifications, but I was confused as to their significance. I recall mention being made of these four sub-groupings on only one formal public occasion. Ironically, it seems to me, this occurred during the ceremonies that followed Haja Aisaitu's burial. Upon the male congregation's return from the burial ground two cows were sacrificed outside Haja Aisaitu's house. As usual, the meat was divided and publicly distributed. A number of principles serve to identify the recipients of the sacrificial meat. Certain office holders are always included, so, for example, the Fula Headman and the Koranko Paramount Chief received a share. Certain individuals owed their share to their kinship, or other close relationship, to Haja Aisaitu: I was also given a portion of the sacrifice. Other men received because they were recognised elders and/or big-men. But the meat was also distributed on more abstract lines. Thus representatives for the Koranko, the Limba, the Temne etc were called to come forward, as were representatives of the different sections of town, and the representatives for the Fula youth. Representatives for the larger towns in Futa Jallon were also included, and I witnessed men collecting meat on behalf of Pita, Mamou, Timbo etc. Representatives of the Tellico, the Hubu and the Kebu were also called for. I do not recall hearing the Tellico, Kebu or Hubu included in any previous distributions, but I had rarely witnessed such a grand sacrifice. On most other occasions, for example child-naming ceremonies, and weddings, it is less common for a cow to be sacrificed. With less meat to distribute, only the most important individuals, and representatives for the more fundamental categories are called upon.

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"Respect" must be shown to certain individuals and categories before others. At Haja Aisaitu's burial, there appeared to be a surplus of meat, so other sections of the community, not normally called upon to give witness, were included. I would suggest that the infrequent inclusion of Kebu, Tellico and Hubu, as well as the towns of Futa Jallon, in these sacrificial distributions, may be taken as an indication of their relative unimportance in the everyday affairs of the Fula community in Kabala. Although it seems certain, as many of my informants pointed out, that the situation was different in the "past", (See chapter two.) in Kabala at least, the characteristics of the various sub-groups are no longer taken too seriously. Furthermore, many of my acquaintances, when faced with my persistent questioning, were keen to stress the unity of the Fula. "Listen! We are all Fula. We are all the same really", they would say, perhaps attempting to lessen my confusion. There are obvious political reasons for an immigrant group wanting to stress unity, rather than division within their ranks. It should be remembered that Kabala is an urban centre of some importance. It is possible that in more remote rural areas, differences between, say a Tellico and a Kebu, are more clearly manifested in custom, and in life-style. However, within the urban environment, these identities are of minor and, I expect, of decreasing importance. The sub-group identities are being incorporated within the broader and more general ethnic category of "Fula". iv. "Unity and equality": new divisions. One friend, Mohamad A. Jalloh, a middle-aged trader and Islamic teacher, lived in the market centre. He warned me against taking too narrow a view of the Fula community, especially one based solely upon the ideas and opinions of the people in Yogomaia. Mr. Jalloh claimed that the Yogomaia elders and big-men were traditional and, by implication, old-fashioned. He observed that the Yogomaia big-men were very involved in cattle-business, the basis of their wealth, and that much of their time was taken up with settling disputes over cattle. To Mr. Jalloh, Yogomaia represented the old. I do not wish to over-emphasise the Yogomaia-Kabala divide. (Residence is a factor of importance only in very specific contexts. See chapter two.) However, since the various sections of the town are so accessible to each other, a Muslim has a choice of mosques at which to pray. There are two established mosques, one in Kabala near to the market centre, the other in Yogomaia. The latter was built during the early 1950's under the direction of Haja Aisaitu's late husband, Alimamy Alhaji A.R.Jalloh. Harvey (1967) designates the mosque as the "Fula Mosque", although nowadays it is referred to as the Yogomaia Mosque. However, the Yogomaia Mosque remains the focal point of Fula religious worship, and many elders who live on the other side of town regularly make their way to pray in Yogomaia, rather than at the "Town Mosque". Similarly, I observed that the Friday congregation at Yogomaia was always swollen by a large number of Fula from out-of-town. Every Friday, after the religious service inside the mosque had been completed, it was customary for the Fula elders to hold a prayer meeting in the adjacent grounds. During this meeting, further prayers, blessings and readings from the Koran were made, and general issues affecting the community were discussed. These meetings

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Illustration 5:1 Logo of the Fullah Progressive Union

were, in effect, exclusively Fula, although the services inside the mosque were attended by worshippers from all the ethnic groups. The large Fula congregation, the presence of the Fula big-men, and the community-prayer meetings, taken together, show that attendance at the Yogomaia mosque implies or involves a degree of political commitment to the Fula "community", as well as a religious commitment to Islam. However, Mohamad A. Jalloh, and most of his friends who lived in central Kabala, prayed at the "Town Mosque". For them it wasn't worth the effort to travel to Yogomaia. Mohamad Jalloh, himself an Islamic teacher (Karamoko Ma.), argued that it did not matter which mosque one used for prayer. But there appeared to be another reason. Mr. Jalloh was the "Fula Youth Chairman", in a sense a young "elder", or an elder for the young. He would listen to cases brought before him and attempt to settle disputes. He was actively involved in the Fullah Progressive Union (FPU), and also in the All People's Congress (APC), the sole authorised political party in Sierra Leone. Mohamad Jalloh's choice to pray at the "Town Mosque", was not interpreted by others as an outright rejection of traditional Fula values, or any thing of that sort: He was one of many Fula who prayed in the Town centre. However, his avoidance of the prayer and community meetings held at Yogomaia, did enable him to distance himself from his "old-fashioned" elders, and their decisions. For Mohamad Jalloh, the future for the Fula in Sierra Leone lay in the achievement of political power at a national level, and not merely in community solidarity. I believe that Mohamad Jalloh and his closest friends, many of whom had been born in Sierra Leone, and educated to secondary school level, felt themselves to be "the new men", in contrast to the traditional elders of Yogomaia. The motto of the Sierra Leone Fullah Progressive Union is "Fottal eh Pottal", which was translated by Mr. Jalloh as "Unity and Equality". However, the indeterminate expansiveness of the maxim, matched in part, perhaps, by Mr. Jalloh's own occasional political rhetoric, rather belies the divisive impact that national politics has had on certain aspects of the local Fula community. (*15) As a general point, the "incorporation" of certain sub-group identities into a broader and more homogenous Fula identity has not occured without the development of significant further divisions and, hence, groupings within the Fula community, as I have already intimated above. By way of example, it may be observed that if, through a desire to show themselves to be legitimate contributors to the Sierra Leone political system, the FPU ignores or excludes the "Guinean Factor" from its political outlook, it will drive a nationalistic wedge between a people who have traditionally disregarded such identities. I came across few Fula who expressed the same degree of nationalism as Mr. Jalloh. Not that he was ideologically committed to Sierra Leone per se, rather, he felt that Fula political aspirations inside Sierra Leone were being adversely affected by their classification as "outsiders". At times he expressed the frustration of a man identified and defined by his "Guinean origins". "I was born in Sierra Leone-right down in the South! What do people think we Fula do? Crawl underground all the way from Guinea and just appear?" he once retorted. Mr. Jalloh's commitment to Sierra Leone, was shared by his close friends, but not, as far as I could make out, by many elders in Yogomaia. Of those elders I knew, many were ambivalent in their attitudes. Even among the wealthier big-men, who thus had

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a great deal invested within Sierra Leone, I found those who remained uncertain of their future. It was widely felt that the government could try again to "drive" the Fula from the country, and Mr. Jalloh's vision that there was a place for the Fula within Sierra Leone was not accepted by many of these elders, most of whom, it should be remembered, were born in Guinea. Indeed, I gathered that those who had left Guinea during the years of persecution under Sekou Tour‚'s regime, would be prepared, and be able, to return there in the event of similar circumstances occurring within Sierra Leone. Haja Aisaitu, however, showed little interest in national politics, and although she considered both "whiteman-time" and "SLPP-time" to have been "sweet", one of her common expressions was "Politics? It has spoilt the country!" (*16) I do not think that the issue of nationality affected her to any great extent, and the question of whether she felt herself to be "Sierra Leonean" or "Guinean", (or, for that matter, a "Sierra Leonean Fula" or a "Guinean Fula"), did not arise. To put it crudely, Haja Aisaitu was first and foremost a Fula, and secondly, but perhaps idiosyncratically, a Kebu Fula. v.Pulaar Burruwe and "pure" Fula; some concluding remarks. I have already observed that few of Haja Aisaitu's close kinsmen chose to follow her to Kabala. Despite this, Haja Aisaitu often referred, with some pride, to the many "family" that she had in town. Such a statement may, at first, seem strange. However, Haja Aisaitu's "family" was not confined exclusively to consanguinal or affinal kin. All members of the Fula community in Yogomaia, all Kebu Fula, and all Fula were, on occasions, referred to as "family". By imputing that all "Fula" share some kind of kinship relationship with each other, a common enough assertion I might add, Haja Aisaitu emphasised a certain "closeness" or "likeness" to other Fula; a "likeness" that she did not share with members of other ethnic groups. Furthermore, the preferential rule that Fula should marry Fula, has ensured that intermarriage has occurred widely within the local Fula community. This has, in effect, created a series of affinal networks that now link many of the well-established Fula families. Thus, Haja Aisaitu was able to "relate" to a large number of her acquaintances. She did not make recourse to putative ancestors, directly at least, to account for relationships she could not explain by more apparent means. Rather, she would say, "Oh! We are just Fula family", and attempt no further explanation. The point I wish to make here, is that Haja Aisaitu was happy to live in town. Despite her earlier difficulties in adjusting to a new style of living, (see above) adjust she did. Over the years friends became " family", and Kabala became Haja Aisaitu's home. Whilst Haja Aisaitu never forgot her past heritage as a Kebu Fula, this did not prevent her from attaining a position of some respect and renown within the predominantly Futa community. I detected a definite ambivalence in Futa attitudes towards the pastoral sub-groups. Futa culture is essentially urban in outlook. The stereotype emphasises the Futa Fula's wealth, based on his skills in trade. It emphasises political order, and recalls the names of great chiefs. It emphasises religious learning, and points to the mosques that rouse their towns with the morning cry, "God is Great". By contrast, the pastoral Fula are Pulaar Burrure, "bush Fula", imagined to lead ruder and less

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sophisticated lives. But in the same way that "rudeness" implies naturalness, and "pristine" evokes purity, so does Pulaar Burrure infer a kind of ancient legitimacy: something to take pride in. This was made apparent on a number of occasions. Not long after I had settled in Kabala, I accompanied Haja Aisaitu on a visit to the hospital. On the way we passed the District Office, where we met Alhaji "Jakitay", a Hubu Fula presently working as a government interpreter. Alhaji "Jakitay" spoke good English, having fought with the British in Burma during the Second World War. He had served under a number of administrations, and seen many researchers come and go. "So you want to learn about the Fula customs?", he asked me. "Then you must go and live in the 'warris' and see the real Fula. That's where they have the customs." Alhaji "Jakitay" half-complained that the Fula language and their customs were "mixed-up" in Kabala. Their customs were of great antiquity "One thousand years old, like the Israelis" he added. Haja Aisaitu, I recall, did not appear to agree that it was a good thing that I should go and live with the "men who wear rings and bracelets". I fancy that Alhaji "Jakitay"'s comments made her feel slightly uncomfortable: As I have already noted, Haja Aisaitu cherished the memories of her youth. Alhaji "Jakitay" was not alone in his views. Alhaji Barrie, the present Fula District Headman, told me of the "Deep Fula", spoken in the cattle camps. There were words known and spoken there, that would be unfamiliar to many town Fula, the Headman told me. But more than this, when spoken by "real" Fula, many common words took on other meanings. A "real" Fula could talk in riddles and allusions, you would hear his words but not understand his meanings, he explained. (*17) But there is, I think, another side to the respect shown by the Futa Fula to their rural counterparts. In recent decades there has come about a very sharp rise in the demand for meat. Accordingly the livestock market has expanded greatly, and many Pulaar Burrure have now moved into cattle trading themselves. The pastoralist's herd represents more than a source of subsistence: it represents a source of daily income, and a substantial source of wealth. As one Fula simply observed, "A man who owns cattle in this country, is a rich man". This development has brought the Futa Fula and the Pulaar Burrure into much closer contact with each other, and has, I suggest, placed them on greater economic and social parity than had formerly been the case.

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