Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 196
Because the role of thaghaya as ego-centred actor transcends ancestral lineal descent, we are
not always sure when the classificatory descent of a thaghaya lineage is overtaken by the
genealogical descent of a seventh born as ritual actor. The latter is particularly important in
terms of the inheritance rights of seventh-born sons across the genealogical connections of
full-brothers of the same 'kitchen' up to five or more generations removed. This is why in
Chapter 3.18 we will talk about the underlying complexities of the concept of thaghaya.
However this does not prevent the acknowledgement here that the ritual career of a seventh
born began with the nuclear and extended family into which he was born and ended with the
patrilineal custodianship he might eventually hold for the wider locality.
There are other ego-centred social relationship terms used by the Dghweɗe, such as the term
skmama which refers to patrilineal generational grouping. We will also learn the term jije for
grandfather, and how generational age mates played a crucial role in the worship of a
deceased grandfather. The sequence of rituals for worshipping family ancestors shows
complementary roles for first-born and seventh-born sons. In the context of this, not only
patrilocality but also two types of exogamy rules were important, and in this chapter we will
list and explain those rules. We aim to set a structural scenario of social relationship terms,
but will leave it till later chapters to fill them with practical meaning by illustrating their
function in the context of the ritual calendar regarding the family and the wider Dghweɗe
community as a whole.
We begin the journey through the complex subject of kinship-related terms by looking at a
provisional list I compiled from various oral sources during my very early days of Dghweɗe
fieldwork. In the following section we start to explore what we call clan and lineage groups,
and refer to what Mathews (1934) had to say about lineage exogamy. This is followed by a
section where we explore our own oral data on the Dghweɗe exogamy rules. We will reveal
uncertainties, but reach an understanding by generally distinguishing between gwagha and
zbe. The former was a system of exogamy between patrilineages, while the latter was applied
along matrilateral family connections and was valid over a limited number of generations.
Recent changes in the matrilateral system are important in this context.
In the next section we will present the already-mentioned system of generation mates
(skmama), followed by an analysis of our oral data on family connections. The oral data is
particularly confusing but we will try to structure it to some extent. In doing so we will refer
back to previous contexts, and then discuss how they might relate to the various sequential
scenarios concerning key rituals of the house such as har ghwe and har jije (sacrifices to the
deceased father and grandfather). The gender aspect of ritual behaviour will play an important
role here. The first wife of a man turns out to be of great significance, but this is not expressed
straightforwardly. Later we will reveal the underlying cosmological dimension of gender
division by showing its manifestation in architecture, while our ethnographic narrative
evolves.
The final section is an attempt to present a key towards an illustration of a Dghweɗe model of
local group formation in order to capture the interplay between structural base elements of
social organisation such as descent, locality and exogamy, together with the application of
ritual action. We will do this by incorporating the concept of the local lineage shrine (khalale)
into the model, with the ritual responsibility of the seventh-born son (thaghaya) as lineage
priest. This defines the family home as the base unit of the model, with the social organisation
of custodianship for the promotion of fecundity from the perspective of the ritual actors.
However, the purpose of the final section is only introductory and we will give further
illustrations of the Dghweɗe way of social group formation in later chapters.
As already mentioned, our oral data on relationship terms are extremely limited, and there
might be inaccuracies and possibly mistakes in the interpretation of some of them. We very
much welcome corrections, but fear this might be difficult to achieve since Boko Haram have
destroyed the remaining traditional parts of Dghweɗe society in Ghwa'a and Korana Basa.
Many victims of Boko Haram now form diasporas in Nigeria or still live in refugee camps,
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