The Dagaaba people (Dagarti, LoDagaa" and "Lobi-Dagarti" or Dagara and singular Dagao) are an amalgamated socially mobile, hard working agriculturalist and highly educated Gur-speaking (Mabia) ethnic group in the West African nations of Ghana, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast (Cote D`Ivoire). Due to their social mobility, the Dagaaba or Dagarti can be found in almost every part of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. Pockets of the Dagara can be found in other West African countries.
Dagaaba people of Jirapa celebrating their Bong Ngo festival. Courtesy http://adbarnes17.blogspot.com/
The concentration of their settlement is found on their land proper, called Dagaabaland. Dagaabaland stretches from the Northwestern corner of Ghana to the West banks of the Black Volta River in Burkina Faso and in the Ivory Coast. Kuukure (1985:23) aptly describes the location of the Dagaaba as follows:
"The Dagarti people... live on both sides of the Black Volta River, which at that point forms
the boundary between the Republic of Ghana and Ivory Coast and Upper Volta [now
Burkina Faso]. These people live largely in the Northwestern corner of Ghana, spreading
across the border into Upper Volta, right up to the 12 parallel north. They are
concentrated particularly around the area where longitude 3 west and latitude 11 north
cross. But they thin out along the Volta, practically astride longitude 3 west, southward to
latitude l0 north. As a result of colonisation, which split them up into zones of British and
French influence, they now live in two different nations, namely Ghana and Upper Volta,
not to mention the sprinkling of them cut off in Ivory Coast." Note: Upper Volta is the former name of Burkina Faso.
Dagaaba dancers at their annual Bong Ngo festival at Jirapa, Upper West Region, Ghana. Courtesy http://adbarnes17.blogspot.com/
The Dagaaba (Dagarti/Dagao) are renowned for being the last people in the modern world to trade and transact commerce with precious cowries. Cowries are still used as a form of security bonds just as people trade in gold, in barter trade as well as a form of bride-price in Dagawie (Dagaabaland).
The actual name of these people is Dagaaba or Lo Dagaa but most outsiders call them Dagarti. One historian, describing the former usage of "Dagarti" to refer to this community by colonials, writes :
"The name 'Dagarti' appears to have been coined by the first Europeans to visit the region, from the vernacular root dagaa. Correctly 'Dagari' is the name of the language, 'Dagaaba' or 'Dagara' that of the people, and 'Dagaw' or 'Dagawie' that of the land." They are related to the Birifor people and the Dagaare Diola. A person from Dagarti or Dagaaba tribe is known as Dagao.
Dagao woman from Bonduku in Ivory Coast
Historically, the origins of Dagaaba people has been a complex mystery to tackle. However, the evidence of oral tradition is that the Dagaaba are an outgrowth of the Mole-Dagbani group (either Mossi or Dagomba) which migrated to the semi-arid Sahel region in the fourteenth century CE. They are believed to have further migrated to the lower northern part of the region in the seventeenth century. In his article "Customary Law of the Dagara” of Northern Ghana: Indigenous Rules or a Social Construction," published in 2002 edition of Journal of Dagaare Studies, Vol 2, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor quoting other sources posited that "The dominant thesis has it that the Dagara are a rebel group that migrated away from the autocratic rule of Dagbon, under the legendary Na Nyanse (see Tuurey, 1982; Lentz, 1997).
Dagaaba people performing Bewaa dance Kakube Festival at Nandom
The Dagaaba people with total population of over 2 million people have the larger percentage of its population residing in Ghana. They are found in Upper West Region of Ghana and reside predominantly in Lawra, Nadowli, Jirapa, Nandom, Lambussie, Kaleo, Bole, Birifu, Tugu, Daffiama, Wechiau and Hamile. Large communities are also found in the towns of Wa, Bogda, Babile, Tuna, Han and Nyoli.
Burkina Faso has the second highest concentration of Dagaaba people and they can be found in Sud-Ouest Region, especially in Ioba Province, but also in Poni, Bougouriba, Sissili, and Mouhoun provinces.
In Ivory Coast where there are smaller concentration of Dagaaba; they can be found in the districts of Bonduku and Buna.
Dagaaba people dancing to gyil (Xylophone) music at Nandom, Upper West Region, Ghana
Among the ethnic groups in Northern Ghana, the Dagaaba or Dagarti are number one ethnic group known for their social mobility from the North to the South long before British colonization of Gold Coast (Ghana). There is a saying/proverb among the Dagaaba that "ka biε ba yor, u kun bang dunia (lit. if a child does not travel, he/she will not know the world). In his work published in Nordic Journal of African Studies 17(1): 1–19 (2008) entitled "”Ka Biε Ba Yor": Labor Migration among the Dagaaba of the Upper West Region of Ghana, 1936– 1957" Gariba B. Abdul-Korah asserted that Dagaaba migration to the Southern Ghana was nothing new, as it has been erroneously claimed by some historians that it started in the late 1890s, when the British colonial administration in the north gave impetus to Dagaaba migration by recruiting labour to work in the south. He posited that "Dagaaba migration to southern Ghana between 1936 and 1957 was an adventure – “to see the world” and gain experience. It did not begin with colonial conquest; it had its roots in the precolonial past – in the slave trade, but more especially, in the period following Asante’s defeat of Gonja (18th century) through the Zabarima and Samorian invasions of the northwest in the late 19th century. Although the imposition of colonial rule may have transformed the nature and pattern of migration, Dagaaba migration to southern Ghana during the colonial period, was not new."
The Dagaaba (Dagarti) are famous for steadily gained popularity of the gyil (xylophone) used in playing indigenous and folkloric songs. Although the land inhabited by the Dagarti is far from any major city, musicians have brought the gyil to national and international audiences. Communicating as performers and teachers across cultural divides is often challenging. In recent times one of their contemporary Hiplife music artist is "Batman Samini aka Emmanuel Andrew Samini, the MOBO Awards 2006 winner from Ghana.
Dagarti man and one of Ghana`s best Musicians, Batman Samini
Like the Tallensi and Sisaala, the Dagaaba acknowledge the value and the tremendous power of the land (Tengan 1989). The Dagaaba or Dagara further acknowledge that land belongs exclusively to the Tengan (Earth Shrine). They also see rain as an indispensable source of life. It is desired and accorded great respect. As with the Sisaala, the Dagara are subsistence farmers who depend primarily on rainfed agriculture (Tengan 1989). From this situation of dependence on rainfed agriculture emerge many taboos connected with the land, the rain and the Tengan. One of these taboos is the Tako daa.
The Dagarti are also known for their whirling "Tigari" dance (healing ritual dance) and Bawa dance as well as the Bagre and the Dyoro Secret Societies.
The Dagaaba shares friendly jokes based on "dog head" with their fellow Mabia group, the Frafra people.
Ethnic Dagaaba dancer
The Dagaaba people have produced some prominent people for Ghana as a nation. The list include Chief Simon_Diedong_Dombo, a King, politician, teacher and the Parliamentary Leader during the first Republic of Ghana, Cardinal Peter Proeku Dery, an assistant traditional (fetish) priest turned Ghanaian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Ambrose P Dery, former attorney-General of Ghana and Member of Parliament for Lawra, Naa Abeifaa Karbo, traditional ruler, astute politician and founding member of Northern Peoples Party, Jatoe Kaleo, traditional ruler, astute politician and founding member of Northern Peoples Party, Peter Tenganabang Nanfuri aka Naa Ansoleh Ganaa II, former Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Ghana and the Paramount Chief of the Jirapa Traditional Area, Bede_Ziedeng, Ghanaian politician and the former Upper West Regional Minister of Ghana, Professor Edmund Nminyem Delle, renowned dermatologist, astute entrepreneur cum politician and former chairman of opposition Convention Peoples Party (CPP) of the late Ghanaian leader Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Alban Bagbin, Ghanaian politician, former Minister of Health in the Ghana, former minority leader and the Member of Parliament for Nadowli West, Benjamin Kunbuor, Ghanaian politician, law lecturer, Member of Parliament for Lawra, former Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Minister for Health, Minister for Interior and currently minister of Defence, Prof. Adams B. Bodomo, professor of African Studies (African Languages and Literatures), prolific writer and publisher/editor of Journal of Dagaare studies, etc.
Chief Simon Diedong Dombo (SD Dombo), ethnic Dagaaba/Dagarti man, one of the Ghana`s earliest most celebrated and charismatic politician, renowned chief of Duori and the founding member and leader of the Northern People’s Party (NPP) and Pogress Party (UP), which off-shot is the Ghana`s biggest opposition party,New Patriotic Party (NPP). Dombo was one-time the only lone vociferous opposition voice in Ghana when Dr Kwame Nkrumah declared Ghana as One-Party State. His name was popularized as "Domocracy."l
Clusters of Dagaaba
The terms "LoDagaa" and "Lobi-Dagarti" (or Dagara) are used for a cluster of peoples situated across the frontier of Burkina Faso and Ghana, originally grouped together by Labouret, following the usage of Delafosse and other francophones. In this cluster, Labouret included the "true Lobi" (or those the Birifor call the "LoWilisi") around Gaoua, who (according to Westermann and Bryan 1952) speak a Dogon-type language (the inclusion of Dogon is disputed); the Birifor (or LoBirifor) to their east, who speak Dagara, a Mole-Dagbane language; and four smaller groups: the Teguessié, the Dorossié, the Dian, and the Gan. The Teguessié (or Tégué) speak a language of the Kulango Group and are sometimes thought of as the autochthons; they were Masters of the Earth in much of the area. The other small groups speak languages related to Lobiri, as do the Padoro and possibly the Komono; Dian and Lobiri (in the east) are more closely related, as is the western group.
Dagaaba women
Subsequently, Père (1988) adopted the francophone use of Lobi ("la région Lobi") to cover the peoples of the Gaoua District of Burkina Faso, including not only the Jãa (Dian); the Gaàn (Gan); the Teésé (Teguessié); the Dòcsè (or Dorossié, but also the Kùlãgo [Kulango]); the Dagara (divided into Dagara Lobr and Dagara Wiili [Oulé]); and the Pwa (formerly known as the Pugula or Pougouli), who speak a Grusi language. Indeed, because she is dealing with the region, she also includes the Wala and the Dagara-Jula in her account.
Alban Kingsford Sumani Bagbin, ethnic Dagaaba, Ghanaian politician, former Minister of Health in the Ghana, former minority leader and the Member of Parliament for Nadowli West.
The problems of ethnic classification in this area are several. In the first place, names differ, depending on whether they are used by francophones or by anglophones. The Lobi described by Rattray (1932) include the Birifor as well as the Dagara of Labouret. Second, the names have changed over time. People who were known as "Lobi" in the Lawra District of Ghana at the beginning of the nineteenth century are now "Dagara." Third, the names themselves often do not describe distinct ethnic groups. There are many differences in custom and organization between neighboring settlements, and these settlements may be referred to by the two quasi-directional terms, "Lo" (Lobi, west) and "Dagaa" (east), to distinguish different practices (for example, the use of xylophones). A settlement may identify with its eastern neighbors on one occasion (as Dagaa) and with its western ones (as Lo) on another. This actor usage has led Goody to identify a spectrum of peoples, the LoDagaa, who use these names for reference to themselves and others. They are, from west to east, the true Lobi, the Birifor or LoBirifor, the LoPiel (around Nandom) and the LoSaala (around Lawra), the Dagara (around Dano), the LoWiili (around Birifu), both DagaaWiili (around Tugu), and the Dagaba or Dagarti. The Wala speak the Dagaba language and constitute a small state that has its origins eastward in Dagomba. That state established itself as ruler over the southern Dagaba and some Grusi-speaking peoples. In the west, a branch of the ruling dynasty extended across the Black Volta to Buna, where they adapted the local Kulango language. The LoPiel and the LoSaala are known to francophones as "Dagara" (or Dagara-Lobr), and they now generally use this term rather than "Lobi" for self-reference because they have been forced to classify themselves unambiguously for administrative purposes. That change is widespread because "Dagara" is often a more prestigious term than "Lobi." The latter is associated in many people's minds with the large lip plugs of gourd or metal that are worn in the west (the easterners wear thin metal plugs) and with the stress that the westerners place on matrilineal inheritance, about which modernizers (church, schools, law, some administrators) generally feel hostile and ambivalent.
Dr Benjamin Bewa-Nyog Kunbuor, Ethnic Dagaaba man, Ghanaian politician, law lecturer, Member of Parliament for Lawra, former Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Minister for Health, Minister for Interior and currently minister of Defence
Given these contextual, overlapping, and changing usages by the peoples themselves, actor names are rarely satisfactory to indicate "tribal" groups, by which we refer to larger groupings of settlements with relatively homogeneous practices. These groups can be distinguished, roughly from east to west, as the Dagaba or Dagarti (around Jirapa); the LoPiel (around Nandom) and the LoSaala (around Lawra), both "Dagara Lobr" in French; the DagaaWiili (around Legmoin and Tugu) and the LoWiili (around Birifu), both "Dagara Wiilé" in French; the Birifor or LoBirifor (around Batié and in western Gonja); and the Lobi or LoWiilisi (around Gaoua). There are, in addition, the smaller populations of Gan, Dorossié, and Gian, who speak Lobi languages, and Teguessié, and who speak Kulango. These groups can be collectively designated as the LoDagaa or Lobi-Dagarti cluster, there being no reason to exclude the other Dagara-speaking peoples once the Birifor have been included among the Lobi.
Dagaaba kids coming from the farm in photo-shot with Kirstin, member of Vetinarians Without Borders, at Nadowli, Upper West Region, Ghana. Courtesy http://vwbvsfstudentghana2010.blogspot.com/
Dagaaba Creation Story/Myth
The Dagaaba creation story can be found in Bagre performance that demonstrates the spiritual importance of the environment to Dagaaba. According to Dannabang Kuwabong "Bagre informs us that humans were created from a combination of the soil (earth), okra (plants), God’s saliva (water), and the semen and eggs of flies and cats (animals). Seen this way, the human person is a configuration of the land, the animal, the spirit, and the plant and we owe our lives to a preservation of the balance between us and these first beings. In other words, animals, plants, spirits, and the land must constantly be negotiated with as they have a closer affinity with the divine who oversees everything. That explains why Dagaaba see spirituality in every creation and situation."
Dagao man from Burkina Faso
Language
The Dagaaba speaks the Dagaare language ((also spelled Dagare, Dagari, Dagarti, Dagaran or, Dagao), which belongs to the Oti-Volta group of the Gur branch of the Niger-Congo language family (Swadesh 1966, Bendor-Samuel1971:144, Naden 1989).
Ethnic Dagao Cardinal Peter Poreku Dery.
Dagaare is a two-toned language also referred to as Mabia subgroup of the branch of the Niger-Congo language of West Africa. (Bodomo 1997, Bodomo 2000, Anttila and Bodomo 2001). It is spoken by about 2 million people, mainly in Ghana but also in neighbouring regions of West Africa, like Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast. Phonologically speaking, Dagaare and other Mabia languages, including Moore, Dagbane, Frafra, Kusaal, Mampruli and Buli, are marked by a preponderance of consonants and a scarcity of vowel sounds when compared to Indo-European languages, such as English and French (Bodomo, forthcoming). One distinctive phonological feature is the double articulation of some consonants. These include labio-velar
stops like /gb/ /kp/ and /ngm/. Such features, rare in Indo-European languages, are a common feature in
many African languages. The labio-velar and velar sounds are partially complementary, as in the alternate
causative/non-causative forms of the verbs k/ kp i, ‘die’ in Dagaare. Regular allophones often involve /d/ and /r/, and /g/ and // across the various languages. There may also be limited cases of free variation as it is between /h/ and /z/ in the Dagaare word, ha a / za a , ‘all’.
Prof. Adams B. Bodomo, professor of African Studies (African Languages and Literatures), prolific writer and publisher/editor of Journal of Dagaare studies
There is the typological feature of vowel harmony in Dagaare and many Mabia languages. Words like ko go
(‘chair’), bi i ri (‘(‘children’), and tu u ro (‘digging’) are pronounced with tense or advanced tongue root vowels, while words like k)b) (‘bones’), biiri (‘to brew “pito” the second day’), tuur) (‘insulting’) are pronounced with lax or unadvanced tongue root vowels. Front rounded vowels, found in languages like French and Norwegian, and back unrounded vowels are absent in these languages, except when phonetically realized in particular environments.
Syllabic nasality is also a typological feature in these languages. These are realized in some environments,
most often as pronouns and particles; as in the case of the Dagaare third person pronoun /N/ as in m `ba , (‘my father’), n`zu (‘my head’) and in the Dagaare particle, -N which is a cliticized form of the polarity
marker, la.
Peter Tenganabang Nanfuri aka Naa Ansoleh Ganaa II, Ethnic Dagarti man and former Inspector General of Police (IGP) in Ghana and the Paramount Chief of the Jirapa Traditional Area in his smock sitting in the middle. Courtesy FH Communications Bureau
Dagaare and other Mabia languages primarily have two tonal systems, high and low, (respectively marked
by acute and grave diachritics on the sounds with contain them) with cases of downstep in some of the
languages, i.e. subsequent high tones may not be as high as preceeding ones. These tones serve to express
both lexical and grammatical oppositions as in the Dagaare verbs, da` (‘push’), /da` (‘buy’), and as in the
declarative and hortative readings of pronouns e.g.u` kuli la yiri / `u` kuli la yiri ((‘He went home/ He should
go home’).
Dagaare, and its group of languages, usually manifest open syllables. Both CV and CVC syllables can be
reconstructed, but it is usually possible to insert a final syllable. Thus, the Dagaare verb ‘to leave’, may be realized either as bar` or bar i`. There are also dialectal differences with respect to these two forms.
.An important typological feature of these languages is the system of noun classes. Noun class
manifestation is a common feature for Niger-Congo languages, but while most of these languages use a
prefixal pattern, i.e. cases in which nominal inflections occur before, rather than, after the root, Mabia
languages mostly use a system of class suffixes. These are typically based on singular/plural alternations.
Most nouns exist in three forms: the root, the singular, and the plural. An example is the Dagaare word for
‘woman/wife’: p)g- (root), p)ga (singular), p) gba (plural), with the further vowel assimilation in some
dialects to give us p)g)` and p)gb).
Bede Ziedeng, Ethnic Dagao and Ghanaian politician and the former Upper West Regional Minister of Ghana
Another important typological feature within Dagaare and its group of languages is verb morphology. In
most of these languages there is a regular form of marking perfective and imperfective aspects by adding
suffixes to the verbs, as in zoe` ‘have run’ and zoro` ‘running’.
As far as possible, the various texts associated with the music on this recording are presented with tonal
transcriptions. For phrases and larger chunks of data, we provide interlinear glossings. These glossings
provide interesting insights into the grammatical and communicative structure of the Dagaare language.
Finally, free translations follow the glosses to capture salient aspects of the linguistic and cultural meaning
behind these texts. This linguistic data transcription is an important aspect for the analysis and
interpretation of the music texts. The following is an illustration:
Ka` Ne3` bi`eng wa` b)ng ba`waa tenee` paal`ong bi`e naa
COMP person Child. FOC NEG know ba`waa 1. PL area child NEG
(‘If a child doesn’t know how to dance baawaa s/he cannot possibly be a child from our town.’)
Ethnic Dagao, Mr Ambrose Dery, Ghana`s former Attorney-Genera and minister of Justice and a former Member of Parliament for Lawra
History
The Dagaaba have occupied their present homeland for some three hundred years. H Labouret, in his study of migration in this area, suggests that the Dagaaba moved north, from south of Wa, in about 1680; G Tuurey (1982) holds that the Dagaaba were originally a group which split away from the Dagomba. See also Herbert (1976). Bodomo suggests that the Dagaaba, Mossi, Dagomba, Kusasi, Farefare, Mamprusi and others are directly descended from a common ancestor ethnolinguistic group, the Mabia.
In his article "Customary Law of the Dagara” of Northern Ghana: Indigenous Rules or a Social Construction," published in 2002 edition of Journal of Dagaare Studies, Vol 2, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor quoting other sources posited that "The dominant thesis has it that the Dagara are a rebel group that migrated away from the autocratic rule of Dagbon, under the legendary Na Nyanse (see Tuurey, 1982; Lentz, 1997).
Retinue og Dagaaba chiefs, drummers and dancers at annual Bong Ngo festival at Jirapa
The Lobi-Dagarti peoples are without any overarching tribal organization or, strictly speaking, any territory. They move not as large units, but as family groups, sometimes into other ethnic areas, where they may be absorbed into the local population. Most of the groups to the west of the Black Volta claim to have been formerly settled to the east of the river, in what is now Ghana. From the eighteenth century on, they have moved across the river. There appear to have been Lobi as well as Dagaba in the Wa area when the ruling dynasty arrived; the Jãa were certainly settled in the Lawra area until, attracted by a sparsely populated region with plenty of farmland and forest produce and under pressure from other LoDagaa, mainly from the south and southwest (but even from west of the river), they crossed the Black Volta. A minority of clans trace their origins from other regions.
One of the factors leading to the movement has been the search for more and better land, following earlier hunting expeditions. Another factor has been the raids mounted by the states of the region (as well as by the occasional freebooters and adventurers) in their search for slaves, partly for their own use but mainly to supply the Asante and, through them, the Europeans in the south. The invaders on horseback terrified the inhabitants, who sometimes retaliated with poisoned arrows. Mainly, however, they fled, using the larger rivers. A number of characteristics—their dispersed settlements of fortress-type houses, the women's lip plugs, their rejection of cloth, and their general aggressiveness—have been attributed to the effects of such raids. In the late twentieth century houses are smaller, the manner of dress is more "European," and less hostility is displayed.
The establishment of the international boundary has brought about a decline in east-west migration. The main movement of the Lobi in the late twentieth century has been of two kinds. The first has been from the Lawra District to the vacant lands southward on the road to Kumasi, which many men have traveled in the dry season as migrant laborers. Settlements that produce food for sale in the markets have grown up from Wa south to the northwest of Asante. The second movement, beginning in 1917, has been eastward across the Black Volta from the francophone territories to Ghana, where there were fewer calls by the government on labor services. Many Birifor moved into the sparsely populated lands of western Gonja, which had been decimated as a result of Samori's wars at the end of the nineteenth century. These migrants have proved to be much more aggressive, market-oriented farmers than their hosts, with whom there has been some conflict over taxes and representation.
Beautiful Dagaaba girl grinding grain
Settlement
Settlements in the area consist of named units that are usually centered on a specific parish or ritual area of an Earth shrine. Among the Dagaaba, most houses are made of mud and/or cement with either thatched, laterite or aluminum roofs. These settlements are inhabited by members of several exogamous lineages housed in fortress-type compounds with 2.5meter-high walls, a flat roofs, and entrances reached (at least formerly) by wooden ladders to the roofs. These houses are some 100 meters apart and contain an average of 15 persons, but they vary in size, depending on the state of the developmental cycle of the domestic group. Around the walls lies the compound farm, which is fertilized by human detritus and is used by the women to plant their soup vegetables. It is adjoined by home farms; bush farms lie much farther away. The settlements consist of some 250 to 750 inhabitants.
Each of these compounds is inhabited by, among others, an elementary family, consisting of a man, his wife or wives and children. Such a family is established through marriage.
Dagaaba people
Economy
Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The economy is essentially one of the hoe farming of cereals (sorghum, pennisetum [pearl millet], maize), together with some yams, especially in the southern areas that are occupied by migrants. In addition, people grow squashes, peppers, beans (including Bambara beans), groundnuts, and a little rice. Some of this produce is sold in the local markets, especially sorghum in the form of beer. Most compounds also possess a herd of cows, and some sheep, goats, guinea fowl, and chickens, which are mainly killed as sacrifices to be distributed.
Dagarti farmers in their farm at Jirapa
Industrial Arts and Trade. Lobi women produce a certain amount of gold, which finds its way into the hands of Dyula traders. Associated with earlier gold workings, it has been suggested, are the ruins of stone houses. Since the advent of colonial rule, the relative peace that it brought about and the cheaper iron tools that it provided have led to increased production, evidence of which can be seen in the markets. That increase is also true for livestock. Along with wage labor (performed either locally or as migrants), these developments have increased purchasing power. Whereas little was imported earlier except salt, now large amounts of cloth are brought in, and other manufactured objects, such as matches, bicycles, transistor radios, and household utensils, are used in considerable quantities. Local craft production consists of iron implements, brass bangles and other ornaments, musical instruments, some wood carvings, and woven mats.
Today migration—both of the uneducated, seeking work as laborers, and of the educated, who generally work in the towns—is frequent. The age of migrants is now much lower than formerly, and the duration of their absences is much greater. The result is that larger numbers of houses are inhabited by old men, women, and children who have to carry out the agricultural work without the help they would have received from the migrants. Thus, the sexual division of labor has been altered. The south, however, is beginning to lose some of its attraction as the international economy affects the recruitment of labor, potential recruits are frightened by tales of AIDS.
The LoDagaa (including the Lobi) were not themselves traders (except in the state of Wa), but major north-south trade routes of Dyula and Hausa merchants ran through the area from the forest to the Sahel.
Food
Some of the differences that exist between the Dagaare-speaking communities are somehow subtle and not easily noticeable by the on-looker. For example, although the staple dish among the Dagaaba is saabo or Sao (called "to" in many other African languages), the constitution/texture of this millet, sorghum or maize-based meal may vary from one community to the other. In addition, the soup that is eaten with the saabo may be prepared in a slightly different manner in spite of the fact that virtually the same ingredients may be used in each case. Meat is not considered an important food, except in special meals for instance at funerals. Apart from these occasions, only guinea fowl are slaughtered for regular consumption.
Similarly, pito, a mildly alcoholic beverage made of sorghum, is common in all the communities of Dagawie. However, the taste and level of alcohol of this beverage may vary from community to community and from one pito-house (where pito is brewed for sale) to the other within the same community.
Division of Labor
Farming was mostly done by men, but women helped with the planting and the harvesting. In some places, women would organize men to farm for a friend by brewing plenty of beer. Women cultivated soup vegetables, collected forest produce, carried loads, gathered firewood, fetched water, extracted oil, and prepared food and beer.
Dagaaba women of Lawra grinding grain with a pestles in a huge wooden Mortar
Grinding grain, in particular, was a lengthy process. Their workload is now changing as a consequence of the introduction of wells and mills. Men carried out the heavy agricultural work, looked after livestock, and hunted. Both sexes took part in house building during the dry season.
Land Tenure
Dagaaba traditional ethics of property ownership is that no individual can really own land. Land ownership is communitarian, custodial, and spiritual. The power to use land is invested in the Tengdaana (spiritual guardian of the land). The Tengdaana guards the land on behalf of the people, and mediates among the people, the ancestors, the spirit world, and God. He is the High Priest responsible for leading the people in prayer in times of great need, thanksgiving, purification rituals of the land, and other spiritual matters. His position cannot be morally and spiritually challenged, even though he may lack the political authority or the power of legal coercion to carry out his orders and interpretations of the divine will that underpin Dagaaba ‘lesereng’ and ‘Nabaale Yele’ legal culture and customary practice (Yelpaala 1983:367-372, Yelpaala 1992:454-459). Nonetheless, the Tendaana is the only person who can, and who does, sacrifice to the Earth Goddess. The Tendaana’s role ensures that among Dagaaba land ownership is egalitarian, collective, communitarian, and usufructory (Nsiah- Gyabaah 1994). By extension, he oversees the security and sustainability of land use among the people. Accordingly and ideally, no individual traditionally has the moral or political right or power to completely invalidate another person’s entitlement to land use, or to destroy the land’s sustainability
through bad land use practices. For this reason, the highest office of Dagaaba is that of the Tengdaana,
and not that of the king.
At certain times, land tenure took the form of a hierarchy of rights distributed within the lineage. At one level, land was "owned" by the wider patrilineage, and if any land was not being farmed, other members had a claim to use it. Use rights were exclusive and more important where land was scarce or especially valuable (because of water). Where population density was low, it sufficed to approach the local Master of the Earth, who would perform a simple sacrifice.
Kinship
Kin Groups and Descent. Across the LoDagaa cluster, roughly from east to west, there is an increasing emphasis on the role of matrilineal descent groups. In the east, the Dagaba are organized on the basis of patrilineal descent groups alone. Several of these exogamous units exist in each parish. These lineages, which trace patrilineal relationships between their members, belong to wider named clans, segments of which are found in widely dispersed settlements, even those of different "ethnic" groups, roughly tracing out lines of migration. Groups to the west also have matrilineal clans, and all except the Wiili (and formerly even some of the LoWiili) inherit land and immovables agnatically and inherit movables (wealth, cattle) through the uterine line. Hence, the patricians are locally based, but the matriclans are dispersed. These groups are therefore variants of classic double-descent systems.
Patrilineal clans are numerous, each with its own prohibitions, often against the killing of a totemic animal or the eating of foods in a particular way. The clans are paired in joking relationships, and their ritual foci are lineage shrines. Among the Lobi and, to some extent, the Birifor, although patrilineal clanship is concealed, it is significant in landownership and in some ritual affairs, especially in the Dyoro initiations. The matriclans, right across the cluster, are basically four in number—Some, Da, Hienbe, and Kambire. The first two and the last two are paired in joking relationships, which are particularly important at funerals. These dispersed matriclans have particular loci where sacrifices are occasionally performed.
Bewaa group performing at the Kobine festival in Lawra, Upper West Region.
Kinship Terminology. In a double-descent system, one can refer to any kin either in the patrilineal or in the matrilineal mode. The patrilineal mode is Omaha, whereas the matrilineal one is Crow. The dominance of these different modes depends upon the strength of the relevant groups. Kinship terms can be confusing to the casual observer of the Dagaaba. The terms “brothers” and “sisters” do not only refer to people one shares parents with but also to all cousins. There is no Dagaare equivalent of the term “cousin”. Similarly, wives of males of the same descent may refer to each other’s children as “daughters” or “sons”. There is no such word as “step-child” although children generally know who their real mothers are and women may sometimes treat step-children differently from the way they treat their own children.
Another confusing term is n pog, my wife, used by both males and females, in reference to a brother’s wife. There is usually a joking relationship between people and their brothers’ wives. A woman pretends to be a man when cracking jokes with the brother’s wife, hence the use of “my wife” or n pog, which she may also used in everyday language outside the joking context. N pog may also be used by a grandfather in reference to a granddaughter and n seere (my husband) used by a grandmother in reference to a grandson. Grandchildren and grandparents usually have a joking relationship that facilitates a special type of bonding, making it easier for the old ones to impart their knowledge and wisdom on the little ones. The above joking
relationships are different from what exists between all Dagaaba and one of their neighboring groups - the Frafra - which is referred to as loloroung. The Frafra are lolorobo or joking partners of the Dagaaba and this has nothing to do with the denie or play that exists between kinsmen as exemplified above.
Dagaaba women
Marriage and Family
Marriage.
Incest taboo is observed in all the Dagaare-speaking communities of West Africa. In some cases, the slightest indication of a blood relationship, no matter how distant, is enough reason for a prospective couple not to be allowed to proceed with their marriage plans. In other cases, matrilateral cross-cousin marriages are permissible and encouraged. Among the LoWiili, a woman’s first-born girl is encouraged to marry
(and sometimes, as an infant, betrothed to) her maternal uncle’s son (i.e. marriage between the children of a sister and a brother). This is supposed to strengthen the relationship between a woman’s patrikin and her husband’s kin, who are now her kin due to the marriage. Such matrilateral cross cousin marriages may also involve a woman’s sons and girls from the woman’s patrikin. These kinds of marriages give parents the peace of mind (knowing who their children are getting married to) and also help establish satisfactory relations between the in-laws.
In the eastern groups, marriage is strictly virilocal and is effected by the transfer of bride-wealth in cowries and subsequently in cattle. The transfers take place over time, as the marriage is consolidated with the birth of children. Traditionally, the groom also had to bring parties to farm for his inlaws from time to time, although among the educated this practice tends to get commuted into a monetary payment. Each marriage invokes the construction of a new sleeping room and cooking hearth. Among the Birifor and the Lobi, when a fiancé comes to farm, he may eventually be allowed to spend the night with his future wife and, later, to have her visit his own house in return for further work. She did not usually reside permanently in her husband's house until after the birth of their first child. Until death or divorce, she lives away from the main body of her agnatic kin. Due to the general lack of transportation, the need to keep in touch with one’s patrikin, attending every funeral, visiting the sick, etc., girls are encouraged not to marry to men from villages that are not a walking distance (seven miles or less may be considered as the preferred distance) away from
their agnatic home. Similarly, since in-laws are expected to attend each other’s relatives’ funeral ceremonies, parents are particular about how far away their sons go to seek marriage partners. In fact, all the kinsmen of a young man of marriage age keep their eyes open for the suitable would-be bride and may make suggestions to the young man as to who is available and ready for marriage in the near by villages.
In some cases, the selection of a wife and all marriage arrangements are made without the in-put of the groom. The groom is supposed to take their word for it, when his kinsmen bring home a lady and say, “this is the best woman for you”. According to the Dagaaba elders, an ideal bride is one that is hard-working, physically fit and strong enough to be a pog kura (female farmer, capable of all performing such activities as sowing, carrying large loads of firewood, giving birth to as many boys as possible, etc.), and comes from a family with good health and conduct.
Another type of arrangement for first marriages is elopement, which occurs at the age of puberty. The girl is persuaded to leave with her admirer to his home or she may be seized by his kinsmen/colleagues at a dance, market place, or while sleeping at night and forcibly brought to her would-be husband’s home. Although elopement is usually done with the girl’s consent, she is expected to resist and scream the loudest possible
to show that she is up-right, morally, and not a bitch. Similarly, although some of the girl’s relatives may have been aware of the plan to elope, they may express anger publicly. The resistance to elopement marks the beginning of a period of intensive interaction between the girl’s filial and conjugal ties, within which the necessary steps are taken to finalize the courtship and marriage process.
Other marriages may have less dramatic beginnings. After a young man declares his interest in a girl, his kinsmen accompany him to present his proposal formerly to the kinsmen of the girl. During this period of courtship, the kinsmen of the young man are expected to shower gifts in the form of pito, cola-nuts and money on their in-laws each time they make a trip to the girl’s village. When both parties are satisfied with
the way issues have handled during the courtship period, a day is fixed for the bride wealth (kyeru) to be brought to the girl’s family. After the transfer of bride wealth has taken place, the girl (who carries with her a number of accessories including calabashes, bowl/basins and baskets) is accompanied by her kinsmen to her husband’s home. This is known as pog bielle.
Although all marriages among the Dagaaba involve courtship (pog bo) and the transfer of bride wealth/kyeru, the details of what goes on during courtship and what constitutes the bride wealth vary from one community to the other. For example, Goody (1967), reported that among the LoWiili, the bride wealth is not accepted on the first day it is presented. It is only on the third occasion that the bride wealth is finally accepted as being the accurate amount required. This is not the case among other communities like the Sapaare and the Jiribale. However, as to what constitutes a bride wealth, these two communities tend to differ. For example, the amount of bride wealth required for a wife from Sapaare will be insufficient to obtain a wife from a Jiribale community.
Bridewealth: In general, bride wealth among the Dagaaba usually involves some amount of cowries, cash, and livestock. The proportions of these various items may vary but will almost always involve a number of cowries. The cowries and/or cash portion is referred to as the pog libie. Among the LoWiili, the bride wealth consists of a cock and guinea-fowl to the in-laws, and the pog libie, a sum of approximately 20,000 cowries, usually, the same amount that was paid for the girl’s mother. Various rituals accompany the counting and transfer of bride wealth by the groom’s family to the bride’s agnatic home. Once the patrikin of the bride receive the bride wealth, they also perform a number of rituals during the counting, distribution and storing of it. In general, the bride wealth received for a daughter is used to get a wife for a son. Whereas paying the bride wealth of a young man’s first wife is the obligation of his family elders, if he wishes to become polygamous, he will generally be solely responsible for paying the bride wealth of these subsequent wives.
The various rituals performed during the counting and transfer by the groom’s relatives as well as those (the rituals) that go on during the counting and acceptance of the bride wealth, are tied to the fertility and fidelity of the bride. If some of the rituals are not well done, the woman could have difficulty bearing children during the marriage. It is also believed that once those rituals have been performed and the bride wealth accepted, then any infidelity on the part of the woman could result in her death if she does not confess immediately and go through purification rites/rituals.
Birth: When it is noticed that a woman is pregnant the husband’s father consults a soothsayer (baga) to know who should be asked to “throw water“ at her. She is then called out of her hut and the appropriate person “throws water“; from then on she and others may mention the pregnancy.
She gives birth in the chaani or kyaaraa(inner room) of her husband’s house, attended by old women and birth attendants.
A child may be named at 7 days old; in the case of a child who cries a lot the soothsayer may tell the compound head that an ancestor wishes to be the child’s segeraa; a segeraa must have died with white hair. People may then say that ancestor has “come back home“.
Boys are circumcised at a hospital or by traditional experts at the age of 1 or 2 weeks. Female genital mutilation was formerly practised between the ages of 5 and 10 years but was discontinued in the 1940s and 1950s.
Domestic Unit
The domestic unit is generally built on agnatic ties, given that wives join their husbands at marriage, but among the Lobi and Birifor, men do extensive bride-service, and some young children may grow up with their mother's brothers before their mother leaves for her husband's house. In most cases, the farming group is small. A man and his sons may farm together for a longer period among the groups in which patricians dominate. The dwelling group that occupies a compound may consist of several farming groups, and each farming group may be divided into smaller eating groups.
Inheritance
Among the Dagaba and the Wiili, a man's property passes first to his full brothers, if they are farming together, and then to his sons. Among the LoPiel, the LoSaala, the Birifor, and the Lobi, land passes in the paternal line, whereas movable property is transmitted first to uterine siblings and then to sisters' sons, leading to earlier splits in the domestic groups and to tensions between a man and his mother's brothers. A woman's property generally goes to her daughters if it is sex-linked, but livestock may go to her sons.
A man’s brother or other close relative may marry or care for his widow, look after his children, and inherit his gods and voodoo toys.
Dagaaba woman with her two kids, Jirapa, Upper West Region, Ghana
Socialization
Young children are looked after by their mothers and are breast-fed until they can walk and talk, when they "become humans" and are thus entitled to a proper burial (see "Death and Afterlife"). Later on, they are cared for by elder sisters or relatives, who involve them in their play. Boys go off in groups to herd cattle, whereas girls play more domestic games around the compound, helping their mothers from time to time by fetching water or grinding and pounding cereals. Among the Lobi, girls also look after cattle, although boys and girls pass this responsibility to their juniors when they are initiated into the Dyoro society.
Dagaaba women of Nandom dancing
Sociopolitical Organization
Political Organization. Except for the Wala and the Gan, as well as the Kaleo the peoples of this group lacked chieftainship and central political organization until the coming of colonial rule. Inferring from Yelpaala’s (1992) article, the political organization of the Dagaaba was, until the imposition of colonialism, decentralized in its general structure.
Dagaaba people of Nadowli
From the outside, it might have appeared amorphous and not easily susceptible to analysis, for its organization and institutions were not defined in terms of the total territorial unit but in terms of sub-territorial areas teni (villages) referred to by Goody as parishes, and by Fortes in his study of the Tallensi as settlements. The political organization of each teng (village) exhibited a certain degree of centralization of authority with a very limited vertical structure. The central authority was cross-hauled from the elders (ninbere) of different kin-based groups within the territorial area. This body was the basic institution dealing with most issues of general community interest. All elders with the exception of the custodians of the land (tendaana) in certain cases, were theoretically co-equals in all deliberations. However, in matters that related to the teng and the land deity (tengan), the tendaana was the final authority. Thus depending on the issues involved, the central authority was either circular with its functions based on consultation and consensus, or unidirectional, from the tendaana downwards to the rest of society.
In every village (teng), this basic structure more or less replicated itself. Each teng however, enjoyed an independent autonomous existence from the others. Therefore, the society was at the same time centralized at the unit level and decentralized at the total societal level. Centralization within the small units provided the useful check on the abuses or excesses in the use of centralized political power. On very important and
broader cultural or extraterritorial issues involving non-Dagaaba, such as warfare or resistance against slave raiding, these centralized institutions would coordinate, cooperate or deliberate as a larger central unit. However, these higher level organizations did not appear to involve the total territorial area of the Dagaaba. Yet, taking any territorial unit as a starting point, that unit was linked separately to all other contiguous units by a chain of common culture, common descent, and political or legal cooperation. Each of these other units was also separately and similarly linked to yet other contiguous territorial units until the chain of interlocking linkages involve the entire Dagawie. Depending on the issues at stake, contiguity, consanguinity, historical ties and the level of sophistication in the native art of diplomacy, cooperation or integration between different territorial units was great or small in amplitude. The basic philosophy which guided the interaction of all central authorities at the larger unit level was equality. All component units functioned as co-equals, for the Dagaaba say that doo bii pog ba gangna o to (i.e., no man or woman is superior to their peer). This then, has been and continues to be the basis of egalitarian thought among the Dagaaba, what is called the traditional level. Within the national political structure, Dagaaba political thought, like all other traditional systems, is relegated to an inferior status.
Social Control and Conflicts
The main causes of conflict were rights to women and access to forest products. Within the parish, conflicts of this kind were rare because of kin ties and respect for the Earth shrine. Strong sanctions existed against adultery, theft, and other delicts, which were settled within and between local lineages. More recently, local chiefs and headmen have exercised supervision on behalf of the government, and local courts of law have been established.
Crime and punishment are just as much issues of politics as they of religion. Until recently, theft was a rare occurrence among the Dagaaba. It was taken as a very repulsive and anti-social act condemned by all, including the spirits and the ancestors who could be invoked whenever necessary to punish a thief severely. Theft is so much looked down upon that it is not uncommon to hear a person trying to prove her/his integrity, say that (s)he does not steal or rob - N ba zuuro, n ba faara. In a society where houses have virtually no door panels nor to locks, there is understandably a general need for trust and social cohesion.
In Dagaare, the term iibo signifies the general normative value system covering established and accepted norms, principles, practices, procedures which govern life in general and disputing in particular. It is when a specific conduct is in conflict with the Dagaaba iibo that one may be characterized as deviant. In light of this concept of iibo, therefore, the Dagaaba may be viewed as a unified group, vis-á-vis other non-Dagaaba, including their neighbors.
Dagaagba women of Nadowli at their Nadowli Womens meeting
Religious Belief
Dagaaba have strong believe in Naangmen (older spelling Naamwin), supreme God and creator og the Universe. He is good and omnipotent but has no shrines, so there is no means of communication with him. Mwin means “sun“, and Naamwin is sometimes identified with sun, sky, or rain. Goody, in The myth of the Bagre, maintains that God’s practical alienation from his universe is thought of by the Dagaaba as a function of the problem of evil. “If he were to continue in his primordial role“, says Goody, “our problems would not exist. With his aid, disease, evil, and misfortune could be banished“.
In addition, Dagaaba strongly believe and reverence the ‘Mother Earth’ (Tengbane). Tengbane or Mother Earth is the second most powerful deity after the supreme God, Naangmen. Therefore the Dagao sees the Earth or physical environment as sacred and divine; that they are born from the earth, live on and through it, will be buried in it; and that they will join the ancestors who, though invisible, are nonetheless located in the environment with other spiritual beings. This is well articulated in Bagre narrative, and shows that as our Mother, we owe our life to Earth. It is from her breast that the milk of sustenance is drawn, whether it is water, food, soil, wood, or herbal medicine, and it is to her womb that we shall return in death. Likewise, Kukure (1985:55) sees Earth as the ‘controlling agency in life, the source of fertility, of prosperity, [and] of survival [. . . .] Moreover the [Earth must give an account of all that takes place on [her] surface. [She] reports to God the actions of the living, not only of humans, but also of beasts. Hence, the person who is on good terms with the [Earth] (and ancestors) is also on good terms with God.’ This belief system has generated a conceptual frame in which the Dagaaba do not relate to their environment through an ideology of domination, but rather through responsive negotiation.
Dagaaba earth-priest (tengdaana)
In relation to the Tengbane, Dagaaba also have the Sagbane (Father Sky). But unlike the Tengbane who is
responsible for many things that make human life what it is, Sagbane is responsible for rain, sunshine, and moonlight, and the unseen energies of stars, thunder and lightning. Even though Sagbane is the Father, he is secondary in importance to Tengbane during invocatory prayers of Dagaaba. Tengbane comes second to Naangmen. It is also on account of Sagbane’s secondary position that His priest, the Saadaana, does not feature very much in Dagaaba daily existence, and the office is not found in every settlement. It is to Tengbane that daily libations are poured. Tengbane is Goddess, and the Mother of Bagre; she must not be polluted. When Tengbane is polluted, efforts are initiated to perform the appropriate and necessary
sacrifices for the restoration of the broken balance between the self, the community, Tengbane, the spirit
world, and finally with Nangmen. Because Tengbane covers the earth’s surface, it becomes the universal
altar upon which humans, represented by Dagaaba, gather to pray for rain, cure to epidemics, victory in
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