The making of history in colonial haute volta: Border conflicts between two moose chieftaincies, 1900-1940

Journal of African History

Volumn 40, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 447-467

  Breusers, Mark ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COLONIALISM; POLITICAL HISTORY; TWENTIETH CENTURY;

BURKINA FASO;

EID: 0033379294     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s0021853799007549     Document Type: Article

References (111)

1. M. J. Echenberg, 'Paying the blood tax: military conscription in French West Africa, 1914-19', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 9 (1975), 171-92; R. Gervais, 'Population et politiques agricoles coloniales dans le Mossi, 1919-1940' (Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris 7 Jussieu, 1990); J. W. Gregory, D. D. Cordell and V. Piché, 'La mobilisation de la main-d'oeuvre burkinabe 1900-1974: une vision rétrospective', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 23 (1989), 73-105.
2. M. J. Echenberg, 'Paying the blood tax: military conscription in French West Africa, 1914-19', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 9 (1975), 171-92; R. Gervais, 'Population et politiques agricoles coloniales dans le Mossi, 1919-1940' (Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris 7 Jussieu, 1990); J. W. Gregory, D. D. Cordell and V. Piché, 'La mobilisation de la main-d'oeuvre burkinabe 1900-1974: une vision rétrospective', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 23 (1989), 73-105.
3. M. J. Echenberg, 'Paying the blood tax: military conscription in French West Africa, 1914-19', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 9 (1975), 171-92; R. Gervais, 'Population et politiques agricoles coloniales dans le Mossi, 1919-1940' (Thèse de doctorat, Université de Paris 7 Jussieu, 1990); J. W. Gregory, D. D. Cordell and V. Piché, 'La mobilisation de la main-d'oeuvre burkinabe 1900-1974: une vision rétrospective', Canadian Journal of African Studies, 23 (1989), 73-105.
4. See S. Amin, L'Afrique de l'Ouest bloquée. L'économie de la colonisation 1880-1970 (Paris, 1971); Gregory et al., 'La mobilisation'; J. W. Gregory and V. Piché, 'African migration and peripheral capitalism', African Perspectives (1978), 37-50.
5. See S. Amin, L'Afrique de l'Ouest bloquée. L'économie de la colonisation 1880-1970 (Paris, 1971); Gregory et al., 'La mobilisation'; J. W. Gregory and V. Piché, 'African migration and peripheral capitalism', African Perspectives (1978), 37-50.
6. See S. Amin, L'Afrique de l'Ouest bloquée. L'économie de la colonisation 1880-1970 (Paris, 1971); Gregory et al., 'La mobilisation'; J. W. Gregory and V. Piché, 'African migration and peripheral capitalism', African Perspectives (1978), 37-50.
7. See J. Rouch, 'Migrations au Gold Coast', Journal de la Société des Africanistes, 26, abridged as 'Migrations from French territories into Ghana', Africa, 28 (1956), 156-9; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration and its relationship to socio-cultural change in Mossi society', Africa, 30 (1960), 375-401; A. L. Asiwaju, 'Migrations as a revolt: the example of the Ivory Coast and the Upper Volta before 1945', Journal of African History, 17 (1976), 577-94.
8. See J. Rouch, 'Migrations au Gold Coast', Journal de la Société des Africanistes, 26, abridged as 'Migrations from French territories into Ghana', Africa, 28 (1956), 156-9; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration and its relationship to socio-cultural change in Mossi society', Africa, 30 (1960), 375-401; A. L. Asiwaju, 'Migrations as a revolt: the example of the Ivory Coast and the Upper Volta before 1945', Journal of African History, 17 (1976), 577-94.
9. See J. Rouch, 'Migrations au Gold Coast', Journal de la Société des Africanistes, 26, abridged as 'Migrations from French territories into Ghana', Africa, 28 (1956), 156-9; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration and its relationship to socio-cultural change in Mossi society', Africa, 30 (1960), 375-401; A. L. Asiwaju, 'Migrations as a revolt: the example of the Ivory Coast and the Upper Volta before 1945', Journal of African History, 17 (1976), 577-94.
10. See J. Rouch, 'Migrations au Gold Coast', Journal de la Société des Africanistes, 26, abridged as 'Migrations from French territories into Ghana', Africa, 28 (1956), 156-9; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration and its relationship to socio-cultural change in Mossi society', Africa, 30 (1960), 375-401; A. L. Asiwaju, 'Migrations as a revolt: the example of the Ivory Coast and the Upper Volta before 1945', Journal of African History, 17 (1976), 577-94.
11. J.-P. Lahuec and J.-Y. Machal, La mobilité du peuplement Bissa et Mossi (Paris, 1979), 117-8; G. Remy, J. Capron and J. M. Kohler, 'Mobilité géographique et immobilisme social: un exemple voltaïque', Revue Tiers Monde, 18 (1977), 626-7.
12. J.-P. Lahuec and J.-Y. Machal, La mobilité du peuplement Bissa et Mossi (Paris, 1979), 117-8; G. Remy, J. Capron and J. M. Kohler, 'Mobilité géographique et immobilisme social: un exemple voltaïque', Revue Tiers Monde, 18 (1977), 626-7.
13. M. Benoit, Oiseaux de mil : les Mossi du Bwamu (Haute-Volta) (Paris, 1982), 18; G. Remy, Les migrations de travail et les mouvements de colonisation Mossi: receuil bibliographique (Paris, 1973), 87.
14. M. Benoit, Oiseaux de mil : les Mossi du Bwamu (Haute-Volta) (Paris, 1982), 18; G. Remy, Les migrations de travail et les mouvements de colonisation Mossi: receuil bibliographique (Paris, 1973), 87.
15. Remy, Les migrations de travail, 87.
16. Gervais, 'Population', 92-7; J.-Y. Marchai, Yatenga (Nord Haute-Volta): la dynamique d'un espace ruralSoudano-Sahélien (Paris, 1983), 395-428; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration', 398.
17. Gervais, 'Population', 92-7; J.-Y. Marchai, Yatenga (Nord Haute-Volta): la dynamique d'un espace rural Soudano-Sahélien (Paris, 1983), 395-428; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration', 398.
18. Gervais, 'Population', 92-7; J.-Y. Marchai, Yatenga (Nord Haute-Volta): la dynamique d'un espace rural Soudano-Sahélien (Paris, 1983), 395-428; E. P. Skinner, 'Labour migration', 398.
19. Gervais, 'Population', 46; Remy, Les migrations de travail, 87; Remy et al., 'Mobilité géographique', 646-7.
20. Gervais, 'Population', 46; Remy, Les migrations de travail, 87; Remy et al., 'Mobilité géographique', 646-7.
21. Gervais, 'Population', 46; Remy, Les migrations de travail, 87; Remy et al., 'Mobilité géographique', 646-7.
22. J.-F. Bayart, L'Etat en Afrique: la politique du ventre (Paris, 1989), 42, 55.
23. See M. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire des royaumes Mossi (2 vols.) (Paris, 1970); M. Izard, Gens du pouvoir, gens de la terre: les institutions politiques de l'ancien royaume du Yatenga (Bassin de la Volta Blanche) (Cambridge, 1985).
24. See M. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire des royaumes Mossi (2 vols.) (Paris, 1970); M. Izard, Gens du pouvoir, gens de la terre: les institutions politiques de l'ancien royaume du Yatenga (Bassin de la Volta Blanche) (Cambridge, 1985).
25. See J. and J. Comaroff, Ethnography and the Historical Imagination : Studies in the Ethnographic Imagination (Boulder, 1992), 39.
26. L. Tauxier, Nouvelles notes sur le Mossi et le Gourounsi (Paris, 1924), 6-9.
27. Whether the imposition of the nakombse's rule followed military conquest, whereby part of the original population fled and another part was assimilated, or took place by gradual penetration and colonization remains a matter of debate; see J.-M. Kohler, Activités agricoles et changements sociaux dans l'Ouest-Mossi (Paris, 1971), 25; R. Pageard, 'Recherches sur les Nioniossé', Études Voltaïques, 4 (1963), 45-6.
28. Whether the imposition of the nakombse's rule followed military conquest, whereby part of the original population fled and another part was assimilated, or took place by gradual penetration and colonization remains a matter of debate; see J.-M. Kohler, Activités agricoles et changements sociaux dans l'Ouest-Mossi (Paris, 1971), 25; R. Pageard, 'Recherches sur les Nioniossé', Études Voltaïques, 4 (1963), 45-6.
29. S. Luning, 'Het binnenhalen van de oogst. Ritueel en samenleving in Maane, Burkina Faso' (Ph.D. thesis, University of Leiden, 1997), 1.
30. Izard, Gens du pouvoir, 6, 319; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 24-5. However, local situations show a wide variation of socio-political arrangements. The nakombse did not appropriate all political power (a tengbiiga too can be village chief), and, although the title of earth priest is reserved for tengbiise, the functions can be performed by members of other population groups: see F. Imbs, Kumtaabo, une collectivité rurale et son rapport à l'espace (Burkina Faso) (Paris, 1987), 26-7; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 25.
31. Izard, Gens du pouvoir, 6, 319; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 24-5. However, local situations show a wide variation of socio-political arrangements. The nakombse did not appropriate all political power (a tengbiiga too can be village chief), and, although the title of earth priest is reserved for tengbiise, the functions can be performed by members of other population groups: see F. Imbs, Kumtaabo, une collectivité rurale et son rapport à l'espace (Burkina Faso) (Paris, 1987), 26-7; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 25.
32. Izard, Gens du pouvoir, 6, 319; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 24-5. However, local situations show a wide variation of socio-political arrangements. The nakombse did not appropriate all political power (a tengbiiga too can be village chief), and, although the title of earth priest is reserved for tengbiise, the functions can be performed by members of other population groups: see F. Imbs, Kumtaabo, une collectivité rurale et son rapport à l'espace (Burkina Faso) (Paris, 1987), 26-7; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 25.
33. Izard, Gens du pouvoir, 6, 319; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 24-5. However, local situations show a wide variation of socio-political arrangements. The nakombse did not appropriate all political power (a tengbiiga too can be village chief), and, although the title of earth priest is reserved for tengbiise, the functions can be performed by members of other population groups: see F. Imbs, Kumtaabo, une collectivité rurale et son rapport à l'espace (Burkina Faso) (Paris, 1987), 26-7; Kohler, Activités agricoles, 25.
34. Marchai, Yatenga, 700.
35. See Pageard, 'Recherches'.
36. Boussouma was founded in about 1570, Piugtenga between 1593 and 1630 (Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 240-3). Ziinoogo was founded earlier than Piugtenga, but later than the Boussouma kingdom, which, however, did not yet extend up to Ziinoogo.
37. The examples of land tenure disputes presented in this paper were developed in the field using an extended-case study methodology. Conflicts over land were identified from either archival documents or oral data and then followed up through both informal and semi-structured interviews with as many of the persons involved in the disputes as possible. Oral data referring to the events in the 1920s and 1930s were provided by elders, most of whom had witnessed the incidents themselves, although at the time they were often just young teenagers. While the accounts and interpretations of these elders are to some extent to be understood in relation to their interests and status at the time of fieldwork, as well as to the stakes their kinsmen had in the conflicts earlier this century, neither this information nor the precise identity of the informants would add to the specific historical argument of this paper, which is intended to show that history is variously motivated and that local actors participated in the making of their own history. Hence, it was decided to refer to informants collectively as 'elders' or 'village elders'.
38. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 140, 245-7, 385; G. Chéron, 'Contribution à l'histoire du Mossi. Traditions relatives au Cercle de Kaya (Haute-Volta)', Bulletin du Comité des Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'A.O.F., 7 (1924), 665.
39. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 140, 245-7, 385; G. Chéron, 'Contribution à l'histoire du Mossi. Traditions relatives au Cercle de Kaya (Haute-Volta)', Bulletin du Comité des Etudes Historiques et Scientifiques de l'A.O.F., 7 (1924), 665.
40. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 240.
41. It was not uncommon for a superior chief to nominate nayiirdamba-courtiers as village chiefs, particularly along the borders of the kingdoms; see Izard, Gens du pouvoir, 54.
42. Some village elders argued that the nayiirdamba chief was evicted because of his harshness towards his subjects. However, others said that naaba Saaga nominated his sons as chief of two other villages at the very same moment he nominated a nakombga chief for Ziinoogo, which suggests that the Piugtenga naaba was appointing close relatives as village chiefs to whom future access to the office of kombere chief was blocked, thereby evicting chiefs of ancient root or of nayiirdamba origin (see also Izard, Gens du pouvoir, 20-9).
43. 3 siècle', Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, 22 (1982), 363.
44. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 249; Chéron, 'Contribution à l'histoire', 675.
45. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 249; Chéron, 'Contribution à l'histoire', 675.
46. This northern area was probably only subjectively 'empty'. It may, for instance, have been used as transhumance grazing land by Fulbe from both the Moose kingdoms and Djelgodji; see Marchal, Yatenga, 703, and also Kopytoff's observation that: '[societies] often define neighbouring areas as lacking any legitimate political institutions and as being open to legitimate intrusion and settlement - this even if the areas are in fact occupied by organized polities. [The] frontier is above all apolitical fact', in I. Kopyoff (ed.), The African Frontier: The Reproduction of African Traditional Societies (Bloomington, 1987), 11.
47. This northern area was probably only subjectively 'empty'. It may, for instance, have been used as transhumance grazing land by Fulbe from both the Moose kingdoms and Djelgodji; see Marchal, Yatenga, 703, and also Kopytoff's observation that: '[societies] often define neighbouring areas as lacking any legitimate political institutions and as being open to legitimate intrusion and settlement - this even if the areas are in fact occupied by organized polities. [The] frontier is above all apolitical fact', in I. Kopyoff (ed.), The African Frontier: The Reproduction of African Traditional Societies (Bloomington, 1987), 11.
48. See, along with works cited above, D. D. Cordell, J. W. Gregory and V. Piché, Hoe and Wage. A Social History of a Circular Migration System in West Africa (Boulder, 1996); J. M. Kohler, Les migrations des Mosi de l'ouest (Paris, 1972).
49. See, along with works cited above, D. D. Cordell, J. W. Gregory and V. Piché, Hoe and Wage. A Social History of a Circular Migration System in West Africa (Boulder, 1996); J. M. Kohler, Les migrations des Mosi de l'ouest (Paris, 1972).
50. Lettre no. 372 du Commandant de Cercle du Mossi à M. le Résident de Kaya, 4 Nov. 1916. All archive documents cited in this paper are from the unclassified archives of the Cercle de Kaya, Haut Commissariat of the Province of Sanmatenga, Kaya.
51. Such problems of delimitation were not specific to the Moose chieftaincies. Amselle, for instance, observed with respect to the Cercle de Bougouni in present-day Mali, that the delimitation of cercles and cantons proved to be 'extremely delicate' since different entities overlapped and the French territorial model corresponded only partly with 'the segmentary and warlike character' of local societies; J.-L. Amselle, Logiques métisses: anthropologie de l'identité en Afrique et ailleurs (Paris, 1990), 239.
52. Acte constitutif du Cercle de Kaya, Kaya, 1912.
53. Lettre no. 906 A.P. du Lieutenant-Gouverneur de la Haute-Volta à M. l'Administrateur du Cercle du Mossi, 23 Sept. 1920; Note à toutes Subdivisions du Commandant de Cercle du Mossi, 25 Sept. 1920.
54. As in other legal matters, French policy with respect to conflicts over land was to follow customary law. This meant that the earth priests who claimed authority over the land were invited to indicate the earth shrines marking their territory and to take an oath upon their tensé that they were speaking the truth. Those who were not prepared to take an oath in fact withdrew their claim.
55. Procès-Verbal de la délimitation entre Piugtenga et Ratenga, 14 Dec. 1921.
56. Note, firstly, the legitimizing power attributed to the shrines of the tengbiise and the subsequent authority of the Piugtenga naaba to claim his bush, and, secondly, the claim that tengbiise from Ziinoogo even today have a say in matters of land at a place more than 25 km. north of Ziinoogo, from which they are now separated by several other villages not under their authority.
57. See, for instance, Télégramme-Lettre no. 398 du Cercle de Ouahigouya au Cercle de Kaya, 20 July 1926.
58. Rapport de l'Inspecteur des Affaires Administratives à M. le Leutenant-Gouverneur de la Haute-Volta, 7 May 1931.
59. Ibid.
60. 'The area of the field which is the object of the present dispute is very limited [...]. There have been no disputes so far about the neighbouring fields' (ibid.).
61. Ibid. 40 Lettre no. 89 de l'Administrateur du Cercle de Ouahigouya à Monsieur l'Administrateur Commandant de Cercle de Kaya, Ouahigouya, 5 Feb. 1931. Lettre no. 39 A. S. du Commandant de Cercle de Kaya au Commandant de Cercle de Ouahigouya, 18 Feb. 1931.
62. This was confirmed by village elders who stated that 'before the Piugtenga naaba commanded from Kaya to Samtaaba'.
63. Rapport de l'Inspecteur des Affaires Administratives à M. le Lieutenant-Gouverneur de la Haute-Volta, 7 May 1931.
64. Hostilities started after raids by people from Sanmatenga on herds of Fulbe from Ratenga (Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 377).
65. See also ibid., 389.
66. See also PEDI, 'Le village de Namissiguima', Etudes de milieu social, 3 (Kaya, 1991); PEDI, 'Le village de Koglbaraogo', Études de milieu social, 7 (Kaya, 1992).
67. See also PEDI, 'Le village de Namissiguima', Etudes de milieu social, 3 (Kaya, 1991); PEDI, 'Le village de Koglbaraogo', Études de milieu social, 7 (Kaya, 1992).
68. See also PEDI, 'Le village de Nawoubkiiba', Études de milieu social, 2 (Kaya, 1991).
69. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 387; Izard, 'La politique extérieure', 363.
70. Izard, Introduction à l'histoire, 387; Izard, 'La politique extérieure', 363.
71. Remy et al., 'Mobilité géographique', 620-1.
72. See, for instance, Binger cited by Marchai, Yatenga, 712.
73. J.-Y. Marchai, 'Prémisses d'un Etat moderne? Les projets coloniaux dans le bassin des Volta, 1897-1960', Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, 26 (1986), 408.
74. Lahuec and Marchai, La mobilité du peuplement, 125
75. Gervais, 'Population', 245-6. It should be stressed, however, that an important factor in the frequency of harvest failures of the 1920s was the forced cotton cultivation programme. Cotton competed directly with food crops for both labour and land. The famine of 1926-7 is often attributed mainly to Lieutenant-Governor Hesling's cotton policy; ibid., 82.
76. Gervais, 'Population', 245-6. It should be stressed, however, that an important factor in the frequency of harvest failures of the 1920s was the forced cotton cultivation programme. Cotton competed directly with food crops for both labour and land. The famine of 1926-7 is often attributed mainly to Lieutenant-Governor Hesling's cotton policy; ibid., 82.
77. Lettre no. 558 du Commandant de Cercle de Ouahigouya au Commandant de Cercle de Kaya, 17 Aug. 1932.
78. See Echenberg, 'Paying the blood tax'; Gervais, 'Population'; J.-Y. Marchal, Chroniques d'un Cercle de l'A.O.F. Receuil d'archives du poste de Ouahigouya (Haute Volta), 1908-1941 (Paris, 1980).
79. See Echenberg, 'Paying the blood tax'; Gervais, 'Population'; J.-Y. Marchal, Chroniques d'un Cercle de l'A.O.F. Receuil d'archives du poste de Ouahigouya (Haute Volta), 1908-1941 (Paris, 1980).
80. See Echenberg, 'Paying the blood tax'; Gervais, 'Population'; J.-Y. Marchal, Chroniques d'un Cercle de l'A.O.F. Receuil d'archives du poste de Ouahigouya (Haute Volta), 1908-1941 (Paris, 1980).
81. Gervais, citing the report of an inspection mission which took place in 1932; 'Population', 20.
82. Asiwaju, 'Migrations as a revolt'; Gervais, 'Population', 53-4.
83. Asiwaju, 'Migrations as a revolt'; Gervais, 'Population', 53-4.
84. Rapport Politique, premier semestre 1937, Cercle de Kaya, Colonie de la Côte d'Ivoire.
85. 'At the time chiefs still held their primitive authority such practices were not tolerated, but today the authority of the chiefs is almost ruined. Of course, the French Administration could not tolerate their abuses of the past, but it seems that too much solicitude towards its subjects, without having improved their fate, resulted only in the destruction of the authority of their natural chiefs' (Rapport Politique, quatrième trimestre 1933, Cercle de Kaya, Colonie de la Côte d'Ivoire).
86. Lettre no. 490 du Commandant de Cercle de Ouahigouya au Gouverneur de la Haute-Volta, 22 July 1932.
87. Télégramme-Lettre no. 3964 A. P. du Gouverneur de la Haute-Volta au Commandant de Cercle de Kaya, 13 Dec. 1932.
88. According to Arnaud, one of Zindawende's elder brothers would have been nominated village chief of Tamsin before 1931. Elders in Ziinoogo and Tamsin maintained that Zindawende was nominated chief of Baskondo in the 19205, at the very same moment as this chief of Tamsin: 'There were people in Baskondo and because the Piugtenga naaba saw that it had become a large village, he sent Zindawende as naaba'.
89. Gervais, 'Population', 100; Gregory et al., 'La mobilisation', 87.
90. Gervais, 'Population', 100; Gregory et al., 'La mobilisation', 87.
91. Télégramme-lettre no. 416 du Commandant de Cercle de Ouahigouya au Commandant de Cercle de Kaya, 4 July 1933.
92. Procès-Verbaux des Tribunaux du Premier Degré, 18 July 1933. Ranger observes on the functioning of colonial customary law tribunals in Africa: 'Those whose traditions lost a case came back a year or two later with better traditions'. See 'The invention of tradition in colonial Africa', in E. Hobsbawn and T. Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983), 251.
93. Télégramme-Lettre no. 383 du Commandant de Cercle de Ouahigouya au Commandant de Cercle de Kaya, 23 May 1926.
94. Word of Dyoula origin, used to indicate 'compound'; Marchal, Chroniques, 32.
95. Rapport de l'Adjoint Principal des Services Civils sur la tournée effectuée dans le Ratenga à propos d'une affaire de meurtre, Ouahigouya, 30 July 1936.
96. 'And thus appears the name of whom we find at the basis of all friction for years... [Son] of a canton chief, he sees his elder brothers [village] chiefs. Devoured by the ambition to command land, he wants to cut out a Canton for himself and searches a suitable territory' (ibid.). It should be noted that, even though Zindawende held the office of Baskondo naaba, he still may have been striving for a higher office.
97. The borderline inscribed by Zindawende reversed the decision taken in 1921.
98. S. Luning, Les caractéristiques des communautés et de leur terroir villageois dans la région de Kaya (Kaya, 1989), 32.
99. See P. and L. Bohannan, Tiv Economy (Evanston, 1968), 79-80; M. Fortes, 'The political system of the Tallensi of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast', in M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard, African Political Systems (London, 1940), 262.
100. See P. and L. Bohannan, Tiv Economy (Evanston, 1968), 79-80; M. Fortes, 'The political system of the Tallensi of the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast', in M. Fortes and E. E. Evans-Pritchard, African Political Systems (London, 1940), 262.
101. Rapport Politique, deuxième semestre, Cercle de Kaya, 1936.
102. 'Zindawende acquits himself rather well of his provisional functions of chief of the Canton of Piugtenga; he certainly is the only one among the children and grandchildren of the old chief who has some authority over this very difficult population. Zindawende certainly is not irreproachable. These last years, he did create, voluntarily and ambitiously, incidents in the vicinity of the frontier separating the cercles of Kaya and Ouahigouya, and tragically ended land disputes were his doing. [As a] chief, his ambition seems satisfied and we can be assured . . . that he will know how to suppress the actions of his kinsmen who are tempted to imitate him'; Rapport Politique, premier semestre, Cercle de Kaya, 1937.
103. See also Breusers, 'On the move', ch. 3.
104. That is, a history of chiefs, where 'through "heroic segmentation", initiated by the centrifugal dispersion of the royal kindred, typically in anticipation of a struggle over succession', the underlying people are redistributed among the members of the ruling aristocracy; M. D. Sahlins, 'Other times, other customs: the anthropology of history', American Anthropologist, 85 (1983), 522.
105. See Kopytoff, 'The internal African frontier', 62
106. See Breusers, 'On the move', ch. 4.
107. See Izard, 'La politique extérieure', 366-7.
108. See Luning, Het binnenhalen van de oogst, 174-5, and several files in the archives of the Cercle de Kaya.
109. Rapports Politiques, premier trimestre 1934, deuxième semestre 1936, premier semestre 1937, Cercle de Kaya.
110. A. L. Conklin, '"Democracy" rediscovered. Civilization through association in French West Africa (1914-1930)', Cahiers d'Études Africaines, 37 (1997), 59-84.
111. Lahuec and Marchai, La mobilité du peuplement, 142.