Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 159
Chapter 3.3
The Tur tradition in its wider subregional context
Introduction
The Tur tradition is the most prominent tradition of origin for many groups in and around the
Gwoza hills. During my ethnographic survey of 1994 I learned that 'Fitire' meant Tur in
Dghweɗe, something Wolff (1994:39) indirectly confirms by translating 'Fətər' as 'Tur' in
Lamang. Mathews (1934) also mentions 'Fitire', but wrongly places it in the 'Wula hills',
although he correctly points to 'Johode' as an early arrival zone for many ethnolinguistic
groups of the Gwoza hills. We think that 'Johode' is a Hausa expression referring to the
prominent rock formation in Dghweɗe known as Durghwe, as well as the Dghweɗe hillside
settlement of Ghwa'a facing the eastern plain of the Gwoza local government area. Durghwe
consists of three rock pillars, each owned respectively by the Dghweɗe, the Chikiɗe and the
Guduf. In that sense we see 'Johode' as an early arrival zone not only for the Dghweɗe, but
also for the Chikiɗe, as we know they originally arrived with them.
In this chapter we aim to take a wider view towards a better understanding of the Tur
tradition. By ‘subregional’ we mean the Tur tradition in the context of the Gwoza hills, and
perhaps also the eastern plains and the Moskota massive, because Kirawa as the first Mandara
capital was just to the north of both of them. We will ignore the international border and
attempt instead to take a pre-colonial perspective. By taking a wider subregional view, we
also want to look into traditions of origin from the DGB area, especially as we hold
substantial field data on that subject. By doing so we will soon recognise that the wider
subregional context needs to include the Wula and Sukur massif, and also the connecting
western edge of the central plateau. We are tempted to further include the adjacent western
plain, especially the Margi plain around Mulgwe and Mutube, and the hill Margi of Mt Gulak
to the west of Sukur (see Figure 4).
We start with the Tur tradition as it appears across the Gwoza hills, and in Figure 9 present a
tree of descent showing how many of the groups of the Gwoza hills share an apical ancestor
called Mbra. In the context of this, we will also explore the word 'Ngra' as an alternative
meaning of Mbra. We subsequently discuss the wider subregional context further south and to
the east of Tur, in particular across and along the eastern slopes of the Ziver-Oupay massif.
We will be able to see that the Mafa in that area have an earlier pre-Mafa southwest-tonortheast tradition of origin, which we identify as the Wula-Sakon tradition. They represent
the largest pre-Mafa local clan group, but were eventually pushed further north along the
eastern side of the Ziver-Oupay massif into the DGB area, by the arriving Mafa. The Mafa
slowly progressed from the eastern part of the northern Mandara Mountains and eventually
incorporated the Wula-Sakon.
Next, we will explore a particular outgoing migratory tradition from the DGB area even
further north, which was known among the Mafa as the 'Godaliy' tradition. My oral sources
from 2002 claimed that the Godaliy had been the last occupiers of the largest of the DGB sites
at the tail end of the DGB period. We can show that Godaliy is indeed an ethnic synonym, not
only for the groups of the Gwoza hills, but specifically also for the Dghweɗe, and that it was
used by both the Mafa of the DGB area and those of the Moskota hills. Finally, we will
discuss Mathews’ 'Johode' which we identify with Ghwa'a, and label it artificially as 'northern
Dghweɗe' to distinguish it from southern Dghweɗe. We use this distinction not only from a
perspective of the ethnogenesis of the Dghweɗe, but also to identify Ghwa'a as an early
arrival zone for other Gwoza hills groups. This is apart from the Chikiɗe also the early
Zelidva with their apical founding ancestor Ghwasa, who began, similar to Mughuze, as an
outsider in the area. We show that the Gudule and the Hembe were early inhabitants of
southern Dghweɗe, before the formation of the Mughuze-Ruwa. Also, the Tala Wandala
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