The Structure and Significance of Kuranko Clanship

International African Institute

The Structure and Significance of Kuranko ClanshipAuthor(s): Michael JacksonSource: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 44, No. 4 (Oct., 1974), pp.397-415Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International African InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1159059 .

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[397]

THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP

MICHAEL JACKSON

DECENTLY renewed interest in the history and social structures of the Mande- speaking peoples of the West Sudan has brought to attention a problem of both

ethnographical and theoretical importance.' It is the problem of understanding the structure and functions of clanship in Mande societies, while at the same time interpreting the meanings of clan names, rituals, myths, totemic usages, and inter-clan relationships. In approaching the first aspect of the problem one is faced with questions of definition which have not been satisfactorily resolved; for example, are the nyamakala groups properly defined as 'castes', and are the dyamu (or diamu) to be described as 'clans' or as 'patronymic groups'. When one considers questions of meaning and seeks to analyse the myths or totemic usages associated with various Mande 'clans', one enters a domain of anthropological theory and controversy; here are phenomena that are typical of many societies whose social structures differ significantly.2 Despite this diversity, are there in fact general principles which would make cross-cultural comparisons possible and instructive? Levi-Strauss has en- couraged this kind of quest. Where so-called 'totemism' exists, one is prompted and obliged to examine such phenomena in the total context of behaviour and belief, structure and sentiment; one is at once seeking to understand the role of natural symbols in the cultural world.3

My purpose in this paper is twofold. By presenting a study of clanship among the Kuranko, I intend a contribution to our knowledge of the Mande.4 And by seeking to analyse Kuranko clans and clan symbols as systems of relations rather than as systems of discrete elements,s I hope to resolve some of the confusions of interpreta- tion which, in my opinion, arise when social phenomena are examined and explained in piecemeal fashion. I shall therefore study not individual clans nor isolated symbols but the total configuration of clanship and the structuring principles which order the elements of clanship and give them meaning as a system.

In claiming that this system must be understood as a cognitive system rather than a framework for behaviour, I am anticipating my conclusion. But at the level of clanship, Kuranko social structure becomes abstract. Clanship is a 'thought-of' order rather than a 'lived-in' order. It figures more prominently in the concep- tualization of rights and obligations than in their operation; it constitutes an 'ideology of identities', not of behaviour.6 When, as in the Kuranko case, the corporate functions of clanship are absent or attenuated, it becomes imperative that we begin by considering clanship as a 'way of thinking about social organization that may be more or less metaphorical'.7

I See Hopkins, I97I; Launay 1972. acknowledge my gratitude to the Nuffield Founda- 2 Levi-Strauss, 1963: 76-7. tion who generously funded this fieldwork. 3 Levi-Strauss, I963; I966. 5 Dumont, 1972: 78. 4 I carried out fieldwork among the Kuranko in 6 Falk Moore, I969: 374-80.

Sierra Leone in I969-70 and in 1972. I wish to 7 Falk Moore, I969: 380. I have adopted the



398 THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP

THE KURANKO: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The Kuranko occupy a vast, broken, and frequently mountainous region of the western and north-western Guinea Highlands. Of a total population of over I2 5,000 some 80,732 live in Sierra Leone.8 In Guinea the Kuranko area extends east as far as Beyla where the Toma and Konianke peoples form the eastern margins of the Kuranko territories. To the south, also in Guinea, the Kuranko are neighbours of the Kissi, and to the north the Malinke and Sankaran occupy the plains of the Niger and its tributaries.

In Sierra Leone the Kuranko area is roughly defined by the Koinadugu South and Tonkolili North political constituencies. To the south the Kuranko face the Kono, to the north the Yalunka (or Dialonke), to the west the Limba, to the south-west the Temne. With the exception of the Temne and Limba, all the peoples who are

neighbours of the Kuranko belong to the Mande grouping. Murdock identifies the Kuranko as 'Nuclear Mande'.9 Kuranko origins can be traced back to the Mande

empire whose realm of influence and power dominated the West Sudan in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

The Kuranko language is classed with the Mande language group,'0 and within this general class Kuranko belongs to the Malinke-Bambara-Dyula dialect cluster which itself is classed among the Mande Tan group." Kuranko is generally described as a Maninka dialect and it is inter-intelligible with Malinke and Susu, and to a more limited extent with Bambara and Yalunka. Within the Kuranko area of north-east Sierra Leone five minor dialects can be distinguished. These dialects, with which Kuranko can fix a stranger's provenance, reflect the tribal mixing and cultural

heterogeneity which characterize Kuranko history; they also indicate the extent to which various chiefdoms achieved, at various epochs in the past, semi-autonomy.I2

Kuranko are primarily subsistence agriculturalists. Their livelihood is based

upon shifting cultivation of upland rice with several secondary crops (benniseed, maize, groundnuts, cassava, millet, and cocoyam) being intercultivated with the rice or grown in gardens in and around the villages. The low population density (less than 25 persons per square mile in most areas13) and the ready availability of

farming land in Kuranko country may explain certain aspects of Kuranko economy. Land is neither individually owned nor included in the category of inheritable

property (che). This means that kinship groupings lack one of the most important elements of corporateness. Moreover, labour recruitment for farming is only partially based upon kinship groupings; most labour-intensive activities are carried out by co-operative groups (kere) based upon friendship and neighbourhood ties. Affinal and kinship commitments are operationally significant only at the level of household (dembaiye) organization. And household composition, like the relationship among households in each village compound area (luiye), deviates in reality from the ideal principle of close agnatic affiliation.'4

criteria for defining corporateness used by Goody, I2 These dialect areas are: i. the western chiefdoms 1969: o09-Io. (Sengbe, Barawa, Diang), 2. the central area (Woli),

8 I963 Sierra Leone Population Census. 3. the north-eastern area (Mongo), 4. the south- 9 Murdock, I959: 7I-2. eastern area (Neya), 5. the south-western area

1o Dalby, I962. (Nieni). I3 Clarke (ed.), I966: 40-3. " Westermann and Bryan, I970: 31. I4 See Jackson, 1971: chapter 6.



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 399 The land is 'owned' by the Paramount Chief (Manse) in a particular chiefdom or

'country' (nyemane or dugue). One of the titles of a Paramount Chief is Nyeman' tigi (owner/master/protector/lord of the land). Disputes over land claims and allocations of farm boundaries are all settled by the chief and he has a customary right to a portion of all produce from the land, including meat from animals killed by hunters.'s

Abundance of bush land has also made possible a degree of choice in settlement; political intrigues and competition for high office, rivalries between half-brothers, pressure on land adjacent to large villages, can be cited as factors which have caused individuals and groups to break away from established communities and seek independence in marginal areas. This process of fission and dispersion implies on the micro-scale a process which characterizes Kuranko history: a continual oscillation between consolidation and fragmentation and between centralized and decentralized political organization.I6 For this reason I prefer to speak of lineage 'fragmentation' rather than 'segmentation' when referring to Kuranko descent structures; fragmentation emphasizes discontinuities in space rather than levels of segmentation through time.17

KURANKO SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Within each chiefdom there is a main town (sue) where the Paramount Chief resides. The population of these large towns is often as great as I,ooo, seldom less than 0oo. Other villages and hamlets in the chiefdom are under the jurisdiction of a town chief (sutigi); ideally the town chiefs are members of the Paramount Chief's clan.18 Within a town one finds clan and sub-clan (kebile) 'barrios'-circular clusters of houses, each household ideally interlinked by close agnatic ties. These 'barrios' or luiye are also sectors of jurisdiction, each under the authority of an elder (the lutigi).

In each chiefdom the ruling clan dominates, both in numbers and in terms of status. It is typical to find that the ruling clan is divided into several sub-clans which may or may not be recognized as distinct kebile. Each of these sub-clans or clan sections may be further divided into 'senior' and 'junior' lines or 'houses' (ban). In Barawa, the Mara ruling clan is divided into five clan sections (in this case they are known as bonloli-five houses), and the founding ancestor of each clan section is said to be a son of Mamburu, himself a direct descendant of Yilkanani. These five named clan sections all once had the right to contest for the Paramount Chieftaincy in Barawa, but for about one hundred years the Woldugu section (renowned as a warrior group) have alone had this right.I9 Again, within the Woldugu clan section a 'senior' and a 'junior' line are well-defined genealogically; for about fifty years the Barawa chieftaincy has remained in the 'junior' line.20

Most Kuranko ruling-clan genealogies align clan and sub-clan ancestors in such

15 In the past a chief would be given the head; hamlets which are 'owned' by clans other than the today it is customary for hunters to present their Mara (notably, Dabu, Sano, and Kalame), although chief with the animal's hind leg. all the large villages have Mara townchiefs.

16 Cf. Hopkins, 197I: 99. In the mid-nineteenth I9 There is no evidence that Kuranko ever had a century a powerful Barawa chief, Balansama, had system of 'circulating succession'. See Person, established a 'kingdom' extending as far as the 1962: 467. Sankaran. See Laing, I825: I95. 20 This point of schism is genealogically defined

17 Cf. Groves, 1963. in terms of competition between two brothers for 18 This is not always the case. In Barawa, there are high office.




a way that lateral (i.e. fraternal) connections are stressed and demonstrated; direct lineal connections are invariably putative.21 This emphasis on lateral links reflects the manner in which Kuranko conceptualize the schisms and differences between

ruling-clan 'houses'. The ideal unity of brothers as sons of the same father is

frequently disrupted by conflicts between non-uterine brothers (fa den-literally 'father's children'). In this way an area of ever-present tension and potential schism in Kuranko social life is made to serve as a model for expressing and explaining political fragmentation in the past.22

Within a chiefdom or within a large town, several patriclans will be represented; in general the ruling clan predominates. It is important to note that, apart from

ruling clans, Kuranko clans are not associated with particular areas. Descent

groups are not usually 'locally anchored', and even at the level of household and

luije agnatic-descent ties only partially explain and determine the composition of these groups.23

Kuranko society is composed, at least from a ruler's point of view, of four major estates: the rulers (sunike or tontigi), the non-ruling 'commoner' clans with whom rulers may marry (furunyorgonu),24 the traditionally Muslim clans (the 'moris' or morenu), and the occupational and hereditary groups with whom rulers may not

marry (nyemakale),25 The nyemakale estate theoretically includes the cobblers (karanke), the blacksmiths (nume), the orators, praise-singers and keepers of chiefly traditions

(finaba), and the xylophonists and praise-singers of the chiefs (jeliba). Among the Kuranko the professions of cobbler and blacksmith are no longer clearly associated with particular clans (although in my experience they are usually either Yaran or

Sise). Neither are these hereditary occupations. Today there is no prohibition on members of a ruling clan intermarrying with these particular groups, a fact that

may emphasize the diminished significance of cobblers and blacksmiths in Kuranko

society.26 Like other voluntary associations (such as the hunter's society), membership of these occupational groups is open to any man prepared to serve an apprenticeship under a master.

However, the finaba and jeliba clans cannot intermarry with ruling clans. They are not exogamous as a consequence; nor can one speak of the nyemakale group as

'endogamous'. However, the finaba are sub divided into two groups-the Musa Kule finas and the Finaningbe (little white/pure finas); these two sub-groups of

finaba may intermarry and Finaningbe may marry Finaningbe.27 Clans of the Muslim estate are not endogamous; patrilateral cross-cousin marriage is unknown and one finds only a loose preference for marriage with other Muslims.28

21 Also noted by Person for the Kuranko in Guinea that the word is derived from nyema (a crowd/ (I962: 469). gathering/assembly) and the verb a I kala (to stop

22 Cf. Hopkins, I971: Ioo. speaking/pray silence). Thus, finaba and jeliba act 23 Refer Jackson (1971: chapter 6) for further as mediators in court cases and meetings.

discussion and data. 26 In warrior days cobblers and blacksmiths were 24 Furunyorgonu is sometimes said to be derived connected with war rituals, notably the making of

from the word furu or fure (marriage), but many weapons and protective charms. informants insist that the key word is furu (to mix 27 These are not, however, prescriptive rules. up, mingle); thus 'the ones we mix with' (through 28 Although Muslims prefer their daughters to marriage). marry other Muslims, there is no prescriptive

25 Kuranko often specify that nyemakale really marriage rule in this case; nor is there any clan includes only finaba and jeliba clans. They suggest endogamy in the Muslim estate.



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 40I

The Kuranko clans About thirty patronymic groups or clans are widely distributed throughout the

Kuranko area. Each clan name can be linked with similar clan names both within and beyond the Mande area. Thus, the Kuranko Mara recognize a distant affinity or relationship with the Maninka Konde, the Temne Bangura, the Mende Mala, and the Yalunka Samura. The Kargbo recognize a similar kind of relationship with the Maninka Keita and the Mansaray. Such 'related' clans often share the same totem (tane).

Kuranko oral traditions emphasize that at the beginning of the world, in Mande, God (Ala or Altala) created each clan and gave a particular profession to each. In one account the Mansaray were made chiefs, the Mara were given wealth, the Sise were made the 'moris', the Konde were warriors.29 'All the names of clans are names of professions; they go back to the beginning of the world.'30 Today, however, such clear associations between certain clans and certain professions exist only in some cases.

The extensive cross-tribal and infra-tribal relationships between certain clans in Sierra Leone and among the Mande have limited operational significance.3' Although a Temne Dumbuya, for example, can theoretically attend a Kuranko Koroma sacrifice or use the privileged relationship to claim hospitality or protection outside his own tribal area, these links have no automatic or binding validity.

Each Kuranko clan (sie)32 is identified by a common name or patronymic (agnati- cally inherited), by one or more totems which clan members may not injure, kill, or eat, and by a prohibition against marrying-in.33 Each clan is also linked to one or more other clans in a joking partnership (sanakuiye or sanakuiye tolon).34 But these sanaku links, like the individual clan totems, vary from locality to locality. Clan traditions and myths concerning the origins of sanaku links and totemic usages also vary from place to place, and even from person to person. What is consistent is that the same totem and the same sanaku links will be recognized by members of a single clan section (kebile). Unlike the clan, the kebile is usually localized and clan symbols will be identical and consistent within this localized clan section. In fact, Kuranko rarely speak of clan (sie); in practice the clan is the kebile. But like the clan, the kebile is a non-corporate grouping; members cannot trace direct descent to the founding ancestor of the kebile, and members of representatives of a kebile seldom act conjointly for any purpose.35

29 These details are from an account of Kuranko 34 In most cases more than one sanaku partner origins given to me by Yeli Fode Gibate, a notable is recognized. Informants usually point out a Jeliba living in Kabala. He is Maninka; Kuranko often difference, in such cases, between primary and rely upon the more extensive knowledge possessed secondary sanakuiye, the former a long-standing by Maninka since their own knowledge of'historical' alliance and the latter often a local variation or a traditions is often meagre by comparison. recent adoption.

30 Yeli Fode Gibate (oral communication). 35 Nominally the kebile is an 'inheritance group', 3' See Sayers, 1927: 42-53. and although the term probably comes from Arabic, 32 Kuranko do not use the term 'dyamu' and Kuranko derive it from ke or che (inheritable pro-

seldom refer to their sie; in practice 'clan' or sie is perty). Thus, ke-bi-le is literally 'inheritance sharers'. identified with kebile. When inheritable property is shared out, kebile

33 This rule prohibiting inter-clan marriage is not kin are given token shares to symbolize the unity relaxed where only distant clanship relates a man of the group. But the kebile has no headman, never and a woman. acts together for defence, ceremony or mutual aid.




Except in the case of ruling clans, Kuranko genealogies are shallow (they seldom trace direct descent through more than three ascending generations.)36 This 'genealo- gical amnesia' may be one reason why Kuranko have been able to assimilate 'stran-

gers' so easily into the local community and disguise or idealize the nature of descent

origins. The principles of local group attachment often override the principles of descent affiliation; a segmentary lineage system has not been elaborated. Residential

separation or migration has always led to a weakening of descent ties. With the

development of 'kinship at a distance' only the principles or ideals of kinship solidarity remain, often expressed in terms of clanship.37 Since descent is operative only at a low level of profile and since descent groups such as the clan or kebile have no

corporate unity, I am inclined to regard them as elements in a system of thought which serves to make comprehensible and inclusive a complex and diverse social universe. By studying the totemic usages, sanaku linkages, and marriage relation-

ships that define and relate clans over a wide area, it may prove possible to elucidate the significance of clanship at this level of cognitive organization.

In Table I, I have listed all the major Kuranko clans, giving totemic symbols, sanaku links, and other relevant information. For purposes of exposition I have listed the clans under the headings of estates.

Aspects of inter-clan relationships

Among the Kuranko hierarchy and precedence are spoken of in terms of the concept of fisa mantiye ('fsa-than-ship'). The concept connotes seniority in birth order, superiority of agnatic over uterine descent, superiority of male over female, and in reference to clanship, superordination in terms of ruler-subject relationships; sometimes the model for expressing superordination is based upon a clan's early arrival in theferensola.38

Certain clan groups have, however, always had a low-born or inferior status. Finaba andjeliba clans are often thought of as being 'last born', the chiefly clans as 'first born' and 'elder'; in Kuranko thought 'the elder is the master/owner of the

younger'. Clans are therefore ranked. In any chiefdom the ruling clan is fisa than all other

clans, the non-ruling or commoner clans are fisa than the finaba andjeliba clans, and within the latter groupingjeliba arefisa thanfinaba. With regard to the entire Kuranko area, it is often said that Mara are fisa than all the other clans 'because the first

powerful person was Yilkanani and he was a Mara; he commanded the ferensola; no-one was his equal'. None the less, Kuranko observe that a chief or member of a

ruling clan loses his superior status in another chiefdom; thus status is relative to locality just as it is relative to position within a lineage.

The concept of fisa mantiye implies a kind of reciprocity. A ruler not only has authority over his subjects but he is responsible for their welfare and protection. This principle also obtains in the case of kinship structure. In the context of clanship

36 Kuranko often speak of their bonson (literally far and wide through lateral connections. 'coming from'): a cognatic descent group which 37 Cf. Ruel, 1969: 74 (Banyang); also Goody, includes the descendants of one man, traced patri- 1967: 74 (Lo Wiili). lineally and matrilineally, down to the sixth descend- 38 Animals, plants, and things are also said to be ing generation. Bonson, although non-corporate, is less fisa than people. a way of speaking inclusively of kin who are spread



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 403

TABLE I

Kuranko clans RULING CLANS

Clan Totem Sanaku clans Other details

Mara leopard (kuli) Wulare Mara is the 'younger brother' of the Konde; guinea corn (sonyon)a Konde Mara adopted the Konde totem (leopard)

Kalokkob

Koroma eagle (tamba koroma) Kalame Kalame is often said to be the most im- Gaboon and Rhinoceros Fofona portant sanacu clan; Koroma and Kalame

vipers (tunfe)c Dabu (or do not intermarry bronze mannikin bird Dolaka)

(tengbengbe)

Kargbo crocodile (bambe) Sise Sise are the most important sanaku clan Norwe Mansaray

Yalo bushfowl (wolei) Yalo rule in Sambaia. Of Fula extraction (or Jallo)

Thoronka spotted grass mouse Dabu Thoronka once ruled in Kalian. Of Fula (tule) extraction

MUSLIM CLANS

Sano spitting cobra (bire) Dabu In Barawa the Sano are sanaku of one of cricket (keran) the Mara 'houses' (Kandambasie Mara)

Dabu spitting cobra Koroma Sometimes the Thoronka are recognized as cricket Kalame sanaku

Sise crocodile Kargbo

NON-RULING CLANS

Konde leopard Tarawali Tarawali and Konde cannot intermarry

camel (nyome)

bushfowl

bushfowl

Mansaray crocodile hippopotamus

(yimalan)d Yaran chimpanzee (wuron)

(or Yagaran) rice found under a bird- scaring platform

Mara Wulare

Tegere

Toli

Sise Norwe

a Guinea corn is recognized as a secondary totem and not always mentioned as significant. I was unable to collect any myths referring to the origin of this totem.

b A Sankaran clan, recognized as only marginally Kuranko. c Bitis gabonica and Bitis nasicornis.

d Sayers (1927: 46) observes that the hippo- E

Seldom found (a Sankaran clan)

Mansaray and Kalame are sometimes recognized as sanaku clans

Tegere are said to have occupied the area around Lake Sonfon before the Koroma entered Diang.

In Kamadugu Mansaray identify with Kargbo

Camarae Yaran and Sunike Kamara cannot intermarry. Yaran are often blacksmiths

potamus and crocodile are often confused. Kuranko, however, invariably makes a clear distinction between the two animals although the hippopotamus is unknown in Koinadugu.

e The Sunike Kamara are the non-finaba Kamara. In the words of one informant 'all finaba are Kamara but not all Kamara are finaba'.

e [continued on p. 404

Faro

Toli (or Togole)

Tegere




TABLE I (cont.)

Clan Totem Sanaku clans Other details

Sonkon any food that is to be Seldom found shared

Dumere ? Seldom found

Norwe crocodile Kargbo Said to be closely related to Sise Sise

Wulare leopard Mara Konde

Fofona same as the Koroma Koroma totems

Tarawali hippopotamus Konde Cannot marry Konde

Kaira dog Kamara Seldom found same as the Koroma

totems

Kalame ? Koroma Cannot marry Koroma

Gbelan ? ?Probably no longer exist

Gberete ? ?

Yinke any snake Mara Known only from the village of Komoia in Kamadugu; said to 'own' snake medicines

Sunike Kamara chimpanzee Yaran Cannot marry Yaran Gaboon and Thoronka

Rhinoceros vipers

FINABA AND JELIBA CLANS

Kuyate monitor lizard Mansaray (?) Kuyate are the jeliba clan associated with (kana or kurumgbe) Kargbo (?) Mara rulers

Gibate monitor lizard Konde (?) Gibate are the jliba clan associated with Kargbo and Koroma rulers. Gibate are said to have 'come after' the Kuyate

Finaba Kamara chimpanzee Cannot marry sunike Kamara

Dondolakaf leopard (?) Mara (?) Said to be a jeliba group who lost their Jelibas identity and adopted the Mara totem

f dondo means to borrow or lend; this jeliba from the Gibate. Gibate regard them as an 'inferior' group are said to have borrowed the xylophone group.

this principle means that the most junior and dependent clans (the nyemakale grouping) are, like last-born children, in a privileged position which is directly related to their marginal status. In return for bolstering the prestige of a chief, a finaba or

jeliba is licensed to 'beg' favours and to make claims on the patronage of their lord. In short, chiefs rely upon the knowledge and services of the nyemakale and the

finabas andjelibas are in turn reliant on the charity and favours of their lord. Similarly, chiefs may be dependent upon medicine-masters (besetigi) for protective medicines and reliant upon the ritual services of 'mori men'.



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 405 The hierarchical structure is most dramatically challenged by clan joking partner-

ships (the sanakuiye) which entail a privileged, egalitarian, and symmetrical relationship where the politico-jural structure demands hierarchy and asymmetry. The joking and badinage which characterizes the sanakuiye is often compared with bonds of affinity which create and affirm a relationship of mutual respect, reciprocity, and alliance between two clans. Just as affines will speak of one another as kinsmen (na keli nyorgonu), so sanaku partners speak of themselves as 'kinsmen'. In both cases two kinds of identification conflict: the linked clans are nominally distinct yet marriage or sanaku ties unite them. The joking relationship ritualizes this ambiguity within social structure.39 And sanaku clans thus come to mediate between clan A and other clans, linked to it by no reciprocal bonds.40

It is common to find that where there is a sanaku link between two clans (or clan sections) there will also be a sharing of totems. This is sometimes seen by Kuranko as a metaphor for mutual respect, sometimes taken literally and said to indicate a 'real' kinship link which existed in the past. Where a 'real' kinship link is posited (descent identification rather than alliance) the related clans will usually prohibit intermarriage.

If we now chart interclan relationships according to sanaku linkages the major Kuranko clans are at once classified into three 'sets'. It is clear from Table II that the finaba andjeliba clans are not sanaku-linked to other clans; nor are their totems shared by others. Clans of the Muslim estate are sanaku-linked to both ruling and non-ruling 'pagan' clans, but like the nyemakale clans their totems constitute a grouping apart. If we examine the patterns of continuity-discontinuity, association- non-association, at the various empirical levels presented we arrive at a model which can be schematized as shown in Table III.

Here there are five clans, grouped into three 'sets' because a and b, d and e, and c acknowledge different totems. Sanaku links conjoin a and b, b and c, c and d, while e is unlinked. Permitted marriage unites all clans except e. A dogma of common descent unites d and e while distinguishing a, b, c, and d. By looking at identification as 'identity through opposition' we can see that Kuranko clans are united or linked on one basis, separated on other. If we now turn back to Table II we can see how discontinuities or disjunctions established through the sanakuiye are often replaced by continuities or conjunctions at the level of totemic identification, and vice versa.

The totemic species associated with ruling clans are generally all dangerous, wild, forest-zone animals: crocodile (Kargbo), leopard (Mara), Gaboon and Rhinoceros vipers (Koroma), eagle (Koroma). Species associated with Muslim clans are all creatures of the savannah: cricket (Dabu, Sano), spitting cobra (Dabu, Sano), spotted grass mouse (Thoronka), bushfowl (Yalo). In exceptional cases the totemically based distinctions have been assimilated to the sanaku-based conjunctions, as in the case of the Sise whose totem is the same as the Kargbo totem (crocodile). It is noteworthy that the Kargbo-Sise sanakuiye is emphasized more than in most other cases.

These distinctions allow us to make a discrimination, acknowledged by Kuranko, between ruling clans and Muslim clans. The difference between animals of the

39 Cf. Rigby (I968: I33-53) whose structural 40 See Labouret, 1934: 103; also Hopkins, 1971: model for interpreting joking relationships is used 107-9. here.




TABLE II

Sanaku linkages

SET I: Mara Konde= Tarawali

Wulare

Sano

Dabu

/

Dabu

\\Thoronka- Yaran SET 2: Koroma Kalame

\Fofona Sunike Kamara

SET 3: Kargbo-- Sise Norwe

Mansaray

Independent clans:

sanaku link.

Yalo

Toli - Tegere

Sonkon Dumere Kaira Faro Gbelan Gberete Yinke

sanaku link+marriage prohibition

TABLE III

a b c d clan names clan totems sanaku links marriage allowed common descent

posited.

e



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 407 savannah grasslands and animals of the forest zone is compared with the difference between Kuranko rulers and Muslims. Moreover, the totemic scheme classifies Yalo

(who are rulers) with the Muslim clans (since their totem is the bushfowl, a grassland, open-woodland creature). And it also classifies several Sankaran clans according to a distinction between forest-zone (the Kuranko region) and savannah-zone (a region marginal to Kuranko country).4'

Metaphors of kinship In discussing the concept of fisa mantfye I showed how Kuranko use the kinship

model in an extended sense, as a way of also thinking about relationships between non-rulers and rulers, jural minors and elders, the clan and its totem.

TABLE IV

non-rulers chief jural minors elder clan totem children father lineage ancestor

Respect given Dependence and >

subordination

Distance and constraint

Protection and sustenance given

Independence and superordination

In this way the system of clan totems represents for each particular clan 'the ideal and permanent values of agnation'.42 The relationship between clansmen and their totem is likened to the relationship between politico-jural minors and their 'masters'. At the same time, the status distinction between the two social categories is likened to the difference between totem and group (a creature from nature and a category in culture). If the agnatic structure (which pervades Kuranko society and thought) is represented in the totemic universe, so too is local-group structure. Clans often

adopt the totems of neighbouring clans, making them secondary totems and so

paying their neighbours respect by not injuring, killing, or eating their totem. Where agnatic descent separates group from group, clan from clan, the totemic connections create conjunction. This is not always formalized, since such identifications would diffuse or demolish the discrete elements which define each clan as separate and unique. The adoption of clan totems is a way of affirming social solidarity by an act of choice. Thus, men and their wives often respect each other's clan totems. This may be rationalized as a means of guaranteeing that the man's child

4I Kuranko sometimes refer to lower Kuranko being known as fire korenu (forest people). country as the forest-zone, the people of this area 42 Lienhardt, I96I: 135.




does not assimilate the flesh of his totem should his wife eat it. Neighbours often respect each other's totems in the same way, as do sanaku partners. This is why totems vary from place to place and through time. And it is why the system of clan-

ship and totemic usages must be understood dialectically: as an ongoing process through time and in space according to which given elements are constantly rearranged into new configurations. At any one time or in any one place the system of inter-clan relationships or the system of totemic usages may seem obscure or flawed, but if we look for the principles that compel this continual rearrangement of discrete elements then we are in a better position to elucidate their total structural

significance. If the elements are studied piecemeal or from a static and functional

point of view, we would be obliged to conclude, as others have done, that the system (if it ever existed) has 'broken down', become fragmented and moribund.

It will already be clear that sanaku bonds and totemic associations between various clans are explicable in terms of the principles of kinship. But when we study inter- clan relationships it is kinship in the metaphorical or moral sense, not in the literal or denotative sense. Working from clan myths and Kuranko exegesis I now want to explore this aspect of meaning.

The following myth recounts the origins of the Kargbo-Sise sanakuiye. It refers to the time when the ancestors of these clans journeyed together to Koinadugu. They arrive at the banks of a large river or lake.

Then their (the Sise) ancestor,43 Bakunko Sise, crossed over the river because he could transform himself into a crocodile. But our ancestor (the Kargbo), Mansa Kama, could not cross over. He became very hungry. Then the Sise ancestor cut off his calf and roasted it and sent it for our ancestor to eat. Then he swam across the river and came and took our ancestor across on his back. Because the crocodile was the totem of the Sise our ancestor said let it be our totem too, because the ancestor of the Sise cut off his calf and gave it to our ancestor and came and crossed him over the river. If you notice the Sise and Kargbo calling each other sanaku, it is because of that journey from Mande. Because the Sise offered himself to us, to follow us, and to be with our ancestor through all troubles.44

This mythical event signifies a temporary inversion of the status relationship between a ruling and non-ruling clan; the former, in a time of trouble, becomes

dependent upon the latter. The sanakuzye, like the preferential marriage 'rule' ob-

taining between these two particular clans, recapitulates a relationship which is

ultimately symmetrical and reciprocal. Kargbo and Sise informants are explicit about the similarity between their sanaku links and the affinal ties established through marriages between them.

It is because we are one that we do not quarrel. If a Kargbo offends a Sise it is like offend- ing God. We are all one. When you give your daughter in marriage you have paid respect to another kebile, and they give bridewealth in return. If you are a Kargbo, the child of the marriage will be a Kargbo. But the child's mother is a Sise and the father of the mother is a Sise. So your father-in-law will say: you are a Kargbo, I am a Sise, I have given you my child, therefore we should not quarrel; I have given you my totem and you have given me yours. If you injure that father-in-law a curse (danka) will befall you because he is now your totem. He gave you his daughter for protection.

43 In Kuranko the word bimba means both grand- 44 Here the word kawakile is used, meaning 'to father and ancestor. offer oneself to a friend as a helpmate for all time'.



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 409 Clan myths extend the reciprocity and respect of kinship to other clans and explain

the basis for this 'kinship'. A commonly used myth concerns a fire accident, and the following account relates the origins of the sanakuiye between Yaran and Sunike Kamara.

The wife of the first Yaran and the wife of the first Kamara gave birth to their children in the same house at the same time. A baby boy and a baby boy. There was a fire in the house while the mothers were away. A dog picked up the two infants and took them from the house and placed them under a banana plant. When the mothers returned to the house they began to weep; they thought that their infants had been burned to death. As they were crying the dog was running about by the banana plant. Then a man said: eh, friend, you had better go and look and see what is under the banana plant. They went and found their infants. But the mothers could not tell the difference between them. They decided that since the two infants were indistinguishable the mothers could take either one. This is why we now do not intermarry, because of that mix-up. We are all brothers and sisters. This is what our forefathers told us.

The third kind of myth can be illustrated from an account given of the origin of the Koroma-Kalame sanakuiye.

We the Koroma, Dabu, Fofona and Kalame are all sanaku. We are one person (morgo keli). But the one that is above all is the Kalame. If you notice that the Kalame man or woman does not sit on our mat and that we do not sit on their mat and that we cannot intermarry, it is because of the wars and how hard they were.45 Our ancestor, Fakoli Koroma, was fighting. He had fought many battles. While he was away fighting, his wife conceived a child. He drove his wife away and she went to a Kalame man and gave birth there to a baby girl. He was the ancestor of the Kalame and at that time he had no wife. After the birth of the child the Koroma gave the baby girl to the Kalame. Later the woman bore him a baby boy. Then the ancestor of the Koroma said: that girl that was given to the Kalame is my daughter, therefore whoever gives respect to the Koroma must also respect the Kalame. Then they said: Koroma, the Kalame are your totem. You are all kinsmen.46

The fourth kind of myth pertaining to sanaku origins is used to explain the Konde- Mara and the Konde-Tarawali sanakuiye. In both cases, a quarrel and trickery led to the Konde ancestor killing an ancestor of the Mara and Tarawali; since this time the sanakuiye joking recalls the abuse while mocking it and reducing its significance.

These kinds of clan myth, explaining joking relationships, fall into four categories: (a) assistance given by one clan to another, (b) physical conflict or competition for leadership, (c) intermarriage, and (d) crossing or confusion of hitherto distinct descent lines. Like similar myths elsewhere in Africa,47 the events establish an identity of interests between two or more clans, emphasizing the need to extend and sustain 'kinship' unity between them. The moral values or principles of kinship are invoked, rather than common descent, which is why a variety of fictional ex. planations can be used in support of them. Moreover, unlike real kinship ties (which are given), the fictive kinship bonds expressed in the sanakuiye may or may not be put into effect. They are concerned with choice, not obligation, with the possibility

45 This means that Kalame and Koroma think of 46 Kinsmen (na keli nyorgonu, literally 'mother one each other in terms of siblingship; a man does partners'). not sit on his sister's mat because this implies 47 See Rigby (I968: I37) for a discussion of inter- incestuous intent or contamination. clan joking among the Gogo.



4I0 THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP

of extending 'kinship' to others rather than with the necessity of limiting it to the world defined by common descent.

These structuring principles must, in my view, be understood against a historical background of continual population movement, of territorial dispersal and fragmentation, of inter-tribal mixing. It is as if each local community, always founded on a heterogeneous base (clans of different origins, statuses, and religious affiliations), sought unity and egalitarianism through shared symbols. These symbols are symbols of kinship in the abstract; they concern possibility rather than probability. They incline towards 'generalized reciprocity' and away from 'negative reciprocity'.48

The totemic correlative

How do Kuranko explain the association of certain natural species with particular clans ? According to the general account of one informant:

When you are in a faraway place where there are no towns and there is no food to be found anywhere . . . you suddenly hear a sound. You go to where the sound is coming from and you find something to eat there. But it is a bush thing and you are afraid of it. But it does not harm you. So you take it as food. You then return to your town and explain to your kebile what happened . . . how you lost your way in the bush, had no food, heard a sound, and went there and discovered such-and-such in the bush... how that is how you found food and survived to return to the town. Then you say that no member of your kebile should ever eat that creature again, or harm it. It becomes your totem. It is your kinsman (na keli nyorgonu). You tell your sanaku: that creature that saved my life is my kinsman. And that is how the tane begins.

Particular clan myths offer variations on this theme. In some cases the totemic animal is a prohibited food because it was once eaten by the clan ancestor whose skin then became disfigured (like the skin of the animal) and who subsequently died.49 Kuranko sometimes connect the prohibition against eating the clan totem with the prohibition against marrying a clan sister; incest is like eating one's own totem. From a more positive point of view, self-denial makes it possible to give to others. Giving a daughter or sister in marriage to another kebile is, in Kuranko thought, the same as giving assistance or food: it signifies respect for the other kebile, a desire that they endure and prosper. One might say that clan myths which state that the totem should not be eaten because it will kill the consumer express in negative terms what other clan myths imply when they state that the totem should not be eaten because it once saved the life of a clan ancestor.50

Clansmen consider respect for the clan totem to be consistent with respect for the clan ancestor who first decreed that it should not be injured or eaten. Because the totemic animal gave life to the clan ancestor, all clansmen perpetuate the memory of this act, this 'free gift', by protecting the totem; their lives and its life become reciprocally linked. Totemic usages here give objective and idealized definition to the principles of mutual respect and reciprocity which should prevail among clansmen

48 These terms have been borrowed from Sahlins their totems. (I965: I39-236). 50 In Maninka versions of the myth concerning

49 Mara say that this is how the leopard became how the leopard became the totem of the Mara, their totem; Koroma use the same explanation for the leopard is said to have once helped both the how the Gaboon and Rhinoceros vipers became Mara and Konde ancestors.



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 41I

through time and over space. Clan solidarity is also symbolically expressed by the words with which men take oaths on their totem: if a man is offended, he might say: 'If you offend me again, then if we do not fight, may I eat my totem.' Or should a man be offended or insulted he might say: 'You have touched my totem.' It may be that such oaths were important in the past when clans formed vengeance groups.51

But we find that several clans often share a common totem. For Kuranko this means sharing a common regard for one another, extending solidarity beyond clan boundaries through a metaphor of kinship and unity. Since Kuranko conceptualize the distinctions between clans or tribes in terms of a distinction between culture and nature, totemic usages often mediate between such opposed categories. The totemic

species is wild, yet it possesses cultural attributes (it saved the life of a clan ancestor). We find the same principle operating in the sanakuiye, a relationship whose form is both abusive and affectionate, condescending and egalitarian, distant and close. Here the status differences between two clans are transcended by an ethic of shared 'kin-

ship'. It is not that hospitality, protection, or assistance are automatically established on this basis, rather that familiarity and inclusiveness are always possible. Sanaku links and totemic usages unite widely dispersed peoples in a network of moral bonds; they permit the expression of humanitas when local-group and descent-

group boundaries appear to deny it. Although people and customs differ from place to place, the various natural species upon which the totemic system is based are

ubiquitous. This allows people to move towards abstract generalization:

This totemic universalization not only breaks down tribal frontiers and creates the rudi- ments of an international society. It also goes beyond the limits of humanity in a biological, and no longer merely sociological, sense, when totemic names are applicable to totemic animals.52

It is important to emphasize that the diffuse bonds of clanship, distant sanaku links, and totemic identifications, define a 'field of amity, wide in extent but of mini- mal structural specificity'.53 General notions of clan 'brotherhood' have moral significance rather than tactical relevance.54 Clan names, sanahu-links and totemic associations are elements in a system of thought which makes possible the preserva- tion of pan-tribal and cross-tribal identifications when history brings about devasta- tions of concrete alignments, localizations, and functions. But Kuranko seem to have apprehended diachrony and put it to work as a servant of synchrony.55 The elements of a devastated system are reworked and rearranged continually so that, whatever their functions might have been, they come to express a way in which contemporaries think about a diverse social universe. Clan myths are not altogether retrospective or nostalgic in their purpose; neither do they produce an immutable charter for social structure. They are not phrased as if recollecting a disjointed history. They are anticipatory or hopeful, recalled in order to conceptualize a basis for possible relationships between dispersed and different people. They allow the possibility of rejoining elements which history has separated in time and space. 51 See Jackson, I97I: 40-I for further details, seems imperative to understand the historical 52 Levi-Strauss, I966: 167. dimensions of social structure (particularly in the 53 Fortes, I969: I62. Mande case) if we are to appreciate the meaning and s4 See Bloch, I971. 'quality' of clanship at the local or contemporary s5 Despite the reservations of Levi-Strauss it level.




This is why it is important to understand clanship in the context of Kuranko thought, and in terms of Kuranko attitudes to 'strangers', the wilderness, history, and

reciprocity.

Particularization

Despite the tendency towards universalization which I have discussed, we discover one set of clans (the nyemakale) whose totems are not generally shared by other clans, who are not linked to other clans through sanaku bonds. When we add to this the possibility that these clans may have once been endogamous, we seem to have isolated a category of clans which share no equality with others. First, why is the monitor lizard the totem of jeliba clans, and the chimpanzee the totem of finaba clans (notably the Kamara)?

Curiously enough, Kuranko observe that it is the absence of kinship and reciprocity in the case of the chimpanzee which makes it appropriate as a totem for the

finaba. The chimpanzee is said to be ugly, both in appearance and behaviour.

The chimpanzee is notorious for flogging its own children. You hear it in the bush, shouting and beating its children. It is also a bad animal; it steals bananas, papaya and corn from our gardens. Among the monkeys the chimpanzee is the strongest, stronger even than the baboon. Children frighten baboons from the gardens by mimicking the noise of chimpanzees.

In short, the chimpanzee parent abuses its authority; it does not give proper protection and succour to its children.56 I have already noted that finaba are the lowest-ranked clan, completely dependent upon chiefs; however, they are respected by chiefs since they possess knowledge of chiefly genealogies and traditions. Finaba do not have any obligations to dependents-they simply do not have subordinates. Their marginality in social structure is comparable to the marginality of the chim-

panzee in the monkey world (other monkeys are said to care for their young). The monitor lizard (varanus niloticus) is said to eat fish, butterflies, snails, ants,

snake's eggs, and crocodile eggs. Kuranko sometimes speak of a small crocodile

(probably the short-nosed crocodile, osteolaemus tetraspis) which they call bambayon- crocodile slave, distinguishing it from both the Nile crocodile (crocodylus niloticus) and the long-snouted crocodile (crocodylus cataphractus)-both called bambe. The monitor lizard is often referred to as bambayonyon-crocodile slave's slave. The social distance and difference between chief andjeliba is compared to the distance and difference between crocodile and monitor lizard. The relationship between crocodile and monitor lizard (the monitor eats the eggs of the crocodile) is a mixture of wary regard or distance and 'social propinquity', both in habitat and behaviour. Kuranko often say that, in the past, jeliba praised chiefs and incited them to rash deeds, that

jeliba often used their skills to exploit the power and wealth of their superiors. Moreover, the monitor lizard lives near water, and in myths explaining the origin of the xylophone (balanje) we learn that it came from a lake or river in Mande. Perhaps too, the skin markings on the monitor lizard were once compared to the series of

keys on the musical instrument most closely associated with thejeliba. 56 This may be a reflection on the dependence of the her infants to fend for themselves. See Yerkes

infant chimpanzee on its mother and the chimpan- I97I: chapter 4. zee's mother's rather brusque manner in training



THE STRUCTURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF KURANKO CLANSHIP 4I3

These tentative explanations of why these creatures are totems of nyemakale clans

rely upon inadequate exegesis; they do, none the less, indicate that in these cases, the principle of particularization is at work. The nyemakale clans are socially isolated, and their clan symbols are totemically disjoined from the total system. Here therefore the totemic symbols have particular meanings for particular clans. For Kuranko, each totemic species has an exclusive or particular meaning for each unique clan, as well as an inclusive or universal meaning for those clans which share the same symbols. Let us look at this dimension of meaning in one context.

Among the Mara the leopard (panthera pardus) is associated with ideas of strength and superiority. Not only is it the most powerful of the bush predators, it is also a man-killer and a threat to domestic livestock. Mara say that the leopard is symbolic of the ferocity and power of Yilkanani. Like the leopard, Yilkanani (and allegedly, chiefs in general) would seize the property of others, conquer and subjugate other tribes. And the leopard is also associated with the 'paganism' of the Mara. Mara informants often told me that Fula and Muslim cattle herders would stay clear of the Mara countries because they feared the leopard. It is also believed that certain

specially gifted Mara can transform themselves into leopards and, in this guise, prey upon the livestock or steal the property of others. If a leopard is seen in the process of changing itself into a man (or vice versa), then the leopard-man will approach the witness and ask him if he saw the transformation taking place. The answer must be in the negative, otherwise the leopard-man will die. In this way both the man and the veracity of the belief are protected. It is also said that when a

leopard is wounded mortally, it will drag itself to a village and die in human form. This is why Mara say that when a leopard is killed a man must die.57

Widespread beliefs about the power of certain persons to change themselves into a predatory animal, to become the totem, seem to be evidence of mystical association or confusion between species and person. In Kuranko folklore too, animals like the

Togo Hare, Hyena, Lion, Elephant, Deer, and Dog are commonly used as personae. There are, moreover, numerous other Kuranko beliefs which imply a mystical association of certain human attributes with certain species attributes. A pregnant woman may eat a large soft grub called sonson, in order that her child develop flesh- folds on the neck (a sign of beauty) similar to those on the body of the grub. Or she may wear an armband of antelope skin in order to 'borrow' the grace of the animal for her child. The Senegalese fire finch (tintinburuwe) is not eaten; it is said to be the custodian of the souls of children who died in infancy.58 Although reincarnation is

possible in such cases it is important to note that Kuranko do not regard the bird as the child; it is rather that both share a common structural position in a spatial configuration which successively opposes household space to village space, village space to bush. The Senegalese coucal (duduwe) is not eaten; it is said to be indolent or lazy. The cattle egret (kulangbe) is never harmed nor eaten; it is compared to the

angels (malaika) who protect people. Cows do not appear to see the bird, just as people do not usually see angels. For this reason the cattle egret is sometimes called the 'cow guide bird' (ninkifekona).

57 Cf. Griaule, I960: 369 Kuranko house; this is where the Senegalese fire 58 Infants who die before weaning are often finches are often found and where they often nest.

buried in the backyard or rubbish heap behind the




These examples of a particularizing totemism indicate how Kuranko associate and compare the attributes of persons with the attributes of certain species. Here re- semblances are compared and the qualities of certain species characteristics are emphasized. In my view, Levi-Strauss has often neglected this aspect of natural symbolism. Yet it remains true that when one examines the entire range of totemic beliefs one can confirm that Kuranko thought compares the systems of differences between social categories and animal species. Kuranko make a distinction between edible and inedible natural species; they also make a distinction between biological inedibility and cultural inedibility. In both cases some natural species cause sickness and death, others are contributory to life and well-being. The totemic species might be said to have only marginal significance as food. Likewise, the totemic system of beliefs has only diffuse or marginal significance in Kuranko social structure. It costs little to preserve these species, but the symbolic consequences are worth while because these token acts of respect make it possible to extend the boundaries of humanitas back into time (respect for the ancestors) and out into space (respect for other clans who also respect the same species). The significance of the totemic symbolism therefore lies in its 'objective analogy' rather than in its 'subjective utility'.59

But the symbols are, in the words of Victor Turner, 'polysemic'; 'each dominant

symbol has a "fan" or "spectrum" of referents.'60 In the Kuranko case they have both specific and general applicability, can be both exclusive signs and inclusive symbols. I have also been concerned to show that clan symbols and usages may unite and divide groupings of clans in various ways and on various levels simultaneously. The abstract or moral principles of kinship and reciprocity enable Kuranko to think of the other, both as a potential ally or neighbour and as a potential foe or stranger. Sharing of totems or sanaku links may reflect an alliance in the past and perpetuate it or they may reflect enmity and division in the past and seek to mask it. The 'terror of history' is transformed into a kind of faith, distinction can become unity, difference can become resemblance. But where Kuranko invoke the past in order to explain the present they are using the idea of the past as a way of constructing an ideology for the present.

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Resume

STRUCTURE ET SIGNIFICATION DU SYSTiME CLANIQUE KURANKO

LEs Kuranko, population de parler mande, habitent les hauts plateaux de la Guinee occi- dentale. Cet article explique la structure et la signification du systeme clanique, ainsi que son symbolisme, chez les Kuranko de la Sierra Leone. L'histoire, l'organisation politique, les regles du mariage, la classification des animaux et le systeme de parente sont evoques afin de montrer que les totems claniques particuliers, ainsi que la fonction et la position de chaque clan, ne sont ni fortuits ni aleatoires: ils constituent un systeme et un tout organise.



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The Structure and Significance of Kuranko Clanship

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