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  north. (Cohen 1976: 200)

  164

  ON KINGS

  From the sixteenth century, the Sultans of the Bura realm became subordinates

  of the Bornu rulers, tributary to them materially as well as culturally. Like the

  Bornu potentates, these Pabir were not only Muslim—by contrast to Bura peas-

  ants, who later were largely Christianized—but they also adopted Kanuri titles

  from Bornu, as well as dress styles, house styles, and Kanuri speech, among

  many other items. They even adopted Kanuri cross-cousin terms and marriage,

  in order to marry endogamously, unlike the exogamous Bura clans. The Bura,

  however, remained “owners” and priestly masters of the country, where their

  original ancestors had made covenants with the local spirits.6

  In their actual-historical situation, galactic polities in various states of de-

  velopment or decline exhibit a variety of regional patterns: from centralized

  “empires” like the old Bunyoro-Kitara realm, or the Bornu and Lunda “empires,”

  through multiple kingdom orders like Azande, to a series of greater and lesser

  domains acknowledging the spiritual authority of a quondam galactic center

  that has become politically decentralized like the Borgu kingdoms—and ap-

  parently Kongo before the Ntinu Wene regime (see below). Historians tell that

  at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Bunyoro, centered in a territory

  ranging south from Lake Albert, was ringed by a variety of smaller tributary

  kingdoms and chiefdoms, beyond which “other small stayed usually independ-

  ent of Nyoro armies: Buganda on the east . . . and Rwanda on the south . . . are

  examples” (Alpers and Ehret 1975: 472). Moreover, Buganda, which was des-

  tined to largely displace Bunyoro as the core state of its own “empire,” illustrates

  how great stranger-kingdoms may be developed from the galactic margins by

  smaller states—again, like the takeover of Kongo from Vungu across the Con-

  go—as well as extended from the center by powerful armies or the migrations

  of turbulent princes.7

  Another development on the northern borders of Bunyoro, leading to the

  creation of the Acholi chiefdoms under Luo domination, is an instructive ex-

  ample at once of stranger-king formation in the context of galactic-political

  6. See chapters 4 and 6 for a fuller discussion of galactic polities.

  7. The takeover of Bantu polities by marginal Luo immigrants, followed by the cultural

  assimilation of the latter by the former, was a common process in the Interlacustrine

  area. Alpers and Ehret (1975: 455) write: “over most of northern Busoga, the

  assimilation of Luo elements by the Bantu speakers preceded in accordance with

  the Interlacustrine pattern of immediately preceding centuries—immigrants

  acculturating to local language and customs but being able to move into positions

  of chiefly authority.”

  THE ATEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF HISTORY

  165

  conditions and of the advantages accruing therefrom to the indigenous popula-

  tion—especially to its leaders (ibid.: 478; Atkinson 1989; Girling 1960). The

  process began in the late seventeenth century and in the usual fashion when two

  Paluo groups which had supported the losing side in a Nyoro succession strug-

  gle were forced to emigrate. Moving northward, they were able to set them-

  selves up as rulers—complete with the paraphernalia and concepts of Nyoro

  kingship—over several clans in what became the nucleus of Acholiland. Their

  success stimulated other Luo parties to follow suit, until the former complex

  of independent indigenous communities, usually composed of one clan, “had

  become centrally-organized chiefdoms controlling an average of eight to ten

  clans” (Alpers and Ehret 1975: 478). The centralization was often literal: the

  village of the paramount, the Rwot, was encircled by a protective screen of sub-

  ordinate native communities. In the usual dual pattern of stranger-kingship, the

  Rwot had an indigenous counterpart in the figure of the “father of the soil,” the

  elder of the first lineage encountered by the Luo founding chief. F. K. Girling

  notes that the “soil” ( won ngom) in question referred to its aspect as the source

  of food, for again the indigenous leader was ritually in charge of the productivity

  of the land as well the fertility of the people: “The ‘father of the soil’ symbolized

  in his person the mysterious forces of jok [spirits] which are responsible for the

  fertility of the land and of human beings, and which also controlled hunting in

  the area” (1960: 122). But if the indigenous authority instantiated the bearing

  powers of the local earth and its inhabitants, the Rwot remained connected to

  his foreign origins, and not only through the assumption of Nyoro trappings of

  rule. “Frequently, disputes about the succession in Acholi domains were taken to

  the kings of Bunyoro-Kitara for settlement” (ibid.: 8). Although they had long

  since left Bunyoro, the Acholi paramounts still considered themselves under the

  sway of Nyoro kings.

  Meanwhile the native lineage heads of the Acholi chiefdoms were able en-

  hance to their own powers and privileges under the sway of the Luo rulers.

  Ronald Atkinson (1989: 24ff.) penned a detailed and persuasive argument to

  the effect that the establishment of the Luo stranger-chiefdoms offered ad-

  vantages to the local people not achievable under the previous lineage regime.

  (One is reminded of Lucy Mair’s observation of the African principle that it is

  uncivilized to be without a king.) Socially and politically, the native headmen

  not only continued to manage their own lineage affairs, “they also functioned

  as the main advisors and councilors to the Rwot and as major spokesmen for

  and representatives of their lineages within the polity as a whole.” Economically,

  166

  ON KINGS

  they collected tributes for the Rwot, and perhaps retained a small portion. Reli-

  giously, they were “collectively the main ritual figures within the chiefdom” and,

  evidently referring to the father of the soil, “at least one lineage head—usually

  from the group acknowledged as the oldest in the area—became the primary

  ritual figure for the chiefdom as a whole.” In the pages that follow it will be seen

  that these Acholi developments are hardly unique: at least some native authori-

  ties enhance their standing and powers under the aegis of stranger-kings. Given

  these benefits, it is not surprising that an important impetus for the formation

  of the stranger-kingdom may well come from the internal politics of the indig-

  enous communities.

  Engaged in their own rivalries, indigenous leaders and would-be leaders

  have been known to look upon the advent of a powerful stranger as a politi-

  cal resource, most useful for the prosecution of their own parochial ambitions.

  Competing for the leadership of the native community or region, one or anoth-

  er of the rivals will go outside the field and enlist a potent foreign ally—what-

  ever the cost in submission and tribute his people would now pay to the latter.

  Or it may be the conflicts between local communities as such that lead one to

  enlist outside support—upon which the othe
rs will probably do the same. The

  competition in either case is of the form Gregory Bateson (1935, 1958) called

  “symmetrical schismogenesis,” here involving the tactic of trumping the opposi-

  tion by engaging an external political power beyond any that could be mustered

  within the arena of the contest.8 Lloyd Fallers (1965: 145) recounts how the

  endemic struggles over succession in Soga states made them much more vul-

  nerable to the penetration of powerful outsiders by invitation than by invasion:

  “Rulers and princes were constantly on the lookout for powerful allies, and both

  the Ganda and the Europeans were ready to supply such aid in exchange for

  overall control.” In the same way the Soga had viewed the Buganda king, they

  saw the Europeans “as a powerful patron with whom they might ally themselves

  in the traditional manner.” Similarly, among the Acholi in relation to outside

  Luo chiefs:

  Commoner households sought the protection of the Rwot for a variety of rea-

  sons and contracted affinal ties with him directly or with one of the branches

  of his agnatic lineage. Through the enjoyment of the ruler’s favor, some of the

  8. Symmetrical and complementary schismogenesis, à la Gregory Bateson, are

  discussed in more detail in chapters 4 and 6.

  THE ATEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF HISTORY

  167

  household heads became the founders of separate commoner village lineages.

  (Girling 1960: 84)

  Soga, Alur, and others also il ustrate the cascading effect that the acquisition of

  an outside chief by one community can have on the aspirations of others. Speak-

  ing of Mbegha’s accession to power among Shambala, Feierman (1974: 85) notes

  of the two densely populated regions of Vugha and Bumbuli: “Bumbuli could

  not accept the leadership of Vugha; Vugha would not be ruled by Bumbuli. But

  both made al iances with a powerful outsider.” It is not only by the dispersion

  of turbulent princes or by conquest that galactic regimes are formed; they are

  also built up by certain impulses of “upward nobility” arising in the peripheries.

  Indeed, beyond the native leaders, there may be substantial benefits of stran-

  ger-kingship for the underlying population in general. The advantages would in-

  clude: greater political security; judicial means of resolving disputes and curbing

  feuds; a wider range of exchanges, notably by the establishment of markets where

  peace is enforced by regional authorities; a wider social range of intermarriage;

  and dividends from the ruler’s distributions of wealth. Not to forget the latter’s

  magical powers of prosperity: “To believe in the chief,” writes Richards of Bemba

  (1961: 355), “is to cultivate in the hope and assurance that the land is sure to yield

  its utmost.” The benefits of Alur chieftainship for the underlying population are

  summed up in his provision of “rain,” the one blessing standing for “his general

  and ultimate responsibility in the minds of his subjects for both their mate-

  rial and moral well-being” (Southall [1956] 2004: 239). Indeed, like the Lovedu

  queen and the Shilluk king, the Alur paramount can be counted among African

  rulers who rain but do not govern. Just as the landed native people as wife-givers

  are to the immigrant stranger-princes as feminine is to masculine, so their capac-

  ity to make the earth bear fruit is protected and realized through the encompass-

  ing powers of the stranger-king over the natural conditions of human prosperity.

  Providing prosperity is an aspect of the stranger-king’s civilizing benefits, as

  usually acknowledged by all parties. His advent is frequently said to have raised

  the native people from a rudimentary state by bringing them cattle, crops, iron

  (tools and weapons)—even fire and cooking, hence a move from nature to cul-

  ture. The Nyakyusa tell the story of the civilizing mission of the kingship—as

  well as the powers retained by the native villagers:

  All are agreed that chiefs and commoners belong to different stocks; the com-

  moners being descended from the original occupants of the country while the

  168

  ON KINGS

  chiefs trace their descent to a line of invaders from the Livingstone Mountains

  eight generations ago . . . . Moreover, while the most sacred persons in the coun-

  try were “divine kings,” descendants of the original heroes, chosen each genera-

  tion to become their living representatives, to take their name, and to sacrifice at

  their graves, it was the commoners who chose them and . . . put them to death

  when it was expedient for the good of the people . . . . The invaders were sup-

  posed to have brought into the country fire, cattle, crops, and iron; they were

  creators, the guarantors and preservers of fertility; and it was to foster and in-

  crease fertility that men sacrificed and worshipped at the graves of the mythical

  heroes. The aborigines, on the other hand, without fire, without iron, and feeding

  on raw meat as the myth depicts them, possessed one weapon of terrible potency,

  witchcraft, which no chief, not even a priest of the chief ’s lineage, could with-

  stand or would dare to challenge. (M. Wilson 1959a: 1–3)

  Once more: an enduring complementarity coupled to a residual hostility.

  To return to the stranger-king effects of the competition between groups

  in galactic fields, the same kind of schismogenesis when it involves competi-

  tion between the most powerful states can generate a politics of the marvelous,

  leading great kingdoms to conjure ancestors of universal renown from exalted

  realms of ancient memory.9 In the upshot, world-historical figures appear as the

  founder of dynasties with whom they had no connection and progenitors of

  rulers to whom they had no relation: Alexander the Great, for example, who in

  his Islamic incarnation as Iskandar D’zul Karnain became the apical ancestor

  of fifteenth-century sultans in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. The historic

  dynasty of Benin was founded by the son of the Yoruba ruler of fabled Ile Ife,

  Oduduwa, who had been solicited from his father by the representatives of the

  autochthonous Edo people. The latter, the Uzama elders, were reportedly dissat-

  isfied with the unkingly behavior of their existing ruler (Bradbury 1957, 1967,

  1973). Following a pattern we have already noted more than once, the Yoruba

  prince Oduduwa thereupon married a local woman, and their son, combining

  the Edo and Yoruba identities and powers, became the first king of the new or-

  der. By a popular Yoruba narrative, however, the dynasty would have even more

  fabulous antecedents: “The Yorubas are said to have sprung from Lamurudu,

  one of the kings of Mecca whose offspring were: Oduduwa, the ancestor of the

  9. See the extended discussion of this phenomenon in chapter 6 and the related

  discussion of utopian politics in chapter 2.

  THE ATEMPORAL DIMENSIONS OF HISTORY

  169

  Yorubas, and the founding kings of Gogohiri and the Kukuwa, two tribes in

  Hausa country” (Johnson [1921] 2006: 3). In the context of the dynamic West

  African Muslim states, a number of such dynasties competitively traced their

  origins to legendary Middle East ancestors: whether to purported enemies of

  t
he Prophet, such as the aforementioned Kisra of the Borgu kingdoms, or to

  prominent Muslims such as Bayajidda of Baghdad, whose sons by a local prin-

  cess founded the Hausa sultanates. Thus, a real-politics of the marvelous.

  As the tradition goes, the power of the historic Kongo dynasty was abet-

  ted by a similar conflict among the notables of the interior kingdom of Mba-

  ta, which issued in the inclusion of that rich realm and its satellites in Ntinu

  Wene’s regime. Mbata appears in Duarte Lopes’ late-sixteenth-century account

  as a great and powerful kingdom that submitted voluntarily and without battle

  to the oncoming Ntinu Wene owing to certain dissensions among its ruling

  chiefs (Pigafetta [1591] 1988: 61). In the outcome, the victor was one Nsaku

  Lau, the maternal uncle of the Kongo founding hero Ntinu Wene; he thus

  became the ruler of Mbata, the Mani Mbata, within Ntinu Wene’s kingdom.

  Following the usual pattern of the union of the stranger-prince with a daughter

  or sister of the native leader, Ntinu Wene married a daughter of Nsaku Lau.

  Thenceforth it was enjoined on Ntinu Wene’s royal successors to take a daugh-

  ter of the Mbata rulers to wife, in principle as mother of the royal heir: her title

  ne mbanda, referring apparently to “authority” or “tributary rights,” signified the

  conveyance of sovereignty entailed in the union. In the event, the Mani Mbata

  and his successors became the maternal “grandfather” of the kingship, a superior

  kinship status consistent with his bestowal of legitimacy on the alien rulers as

  well his continuing presence in the new order, including an important role as

  kingmaker. The old regime was folded into the new.

  NATURALIZING THE STRANGER-KING

  The marriage of the foreign prince with a daughter of the native leader is the

  final, contractual aspect of the critical process in which the stranger comes out

  of the wild to be domesticated by the native people, and thus become eligible

  to assume the rule of them. It is in this reining in of the king-to-be that op-

  positional tensions between native subjects and foreign rulers are particularly

  expressed. Ritual reenactments of the accession of the stranger-king have put

  social anthropologists in mind of “rituals of rebellion.” But then, as Michel Izard

  170