The origins of Sukur titles

Many Sukur titles have clearly been borrowed, mostly from Bornoan (Kanuri) and Wandala sources (Table 1). The greater number of the former and the chronologies of the Borno and Mandara states might lead one to conclude, somewhat surprisingly, that the influence of Borno was both greater and earlier in this region than that of Mandara. However borrowings may well have been indirect and staggered in time. Thus their potential for recovering history remains limited pending a full scale analysis of titles in the Mandara mountains. Sterner (2003: 218-21) provides the groundwork for such a study.

Table 1. Origins of Sukur titles

Sukur and her Margi and Kapsiki-speaking neighbours tend to share a basic set of titles, some ultimately Bornoan and others Wandala, and some share forms of titles that could be Sukur in origin (Tlyamburum and Mbësefwoy). Another title, translatable as "father of the chief," occurs in Margi, Kapsiki, Mofu-Gudur and perhaps elsewhere. Most casted groups have a chief of smiths whose most important ritual function is probably to divine on matters concerning the community as a whole; their presence is also required at many if not all important ceremonies. However at Sukur and in the Margi polities of Sukur origin, the chiefs of smiths fulfil different functions, and like chiefs and some priestly title holders have hairlocks, though theirs are worn on the back and not the top or front of the head. What is clear is that Sukur has more titles than any other group in the Mandara Mountains.

As titles were borrowed from one group to another, they became disassociated from their original functions (Table 2). Thus, for instance, Tlagama, possibly the earliest Wandala title, was there first an earth priest (Mohammadou 1982b: 132), and later chief minister of state (Barkindo 1989: 122). The Bornoan Midala, royal administrator/inspector, becomes a war leader at Sukur, Wula Mango, Sirak and Muduvu. Similar titles do not imply similar structure of government. The great elaboration of titles at Sukur and their distribution among the kin groups is indicative of their use as an integrative device (David & Sterner 1996). In other cases titles may have been borrowed almost in jest.

Table 2. Comparisons of associated duties

Soje Xidi

There is an institution at Sukur that can provide us with a glimpse of how titles are adopted and change. The Soje Xidi, literally soldiers (from the English) of the chief, are neighborhood-based work groups that operate in the same year as initiation, that is every other year.According to some this institution was previously called Xidi Mbadlavay (mbaldavay = male initiates).Each Soje Xidi has a set of titled officers who oversee the organization of work parties for weeding fields amd otehr matters. The laborers are largely young men, although their wives and other women sometimes take part. The Soje title holders ensure that beer and food are prepared, that the participants' houses are tidy, and that everyone works hard. The entire process has a military flavour. The present titles, several of them Hausa and others English, are Xidi, Wakili, Alkali (judge), Mufti, Dan Sanda or Inspector (see image right), Doctor, Sergeant, Corporal, Treasurer, Timekeeper, and President (of the junior men). Some have replaced earlier titles that included Dogari, Native Administration Policeman, and Bature, meaning white man in Hausa, who filled the role now played by the inspector.

This institution dates back at least to the 1920s when some Sukur worked on Hamman Yaji's farms. It may well be much older, and have, as the name Xidi Mbadlavay suggests, involved primarily the initiates, who used to be older than they are today. We suspect that they were primarily responsible for the building of the paved ways and the house of the Xidi.

Appointment of title holders, inheritance and the transfer of titles
There is considerable disagreement in Sukur regarding Xidi's power to appoint and divest holders of offices, some saying that he can change all title holders except Mbësefwoy, by which is probably meant all those with priestly functions. When Xidi Gezik came to power he in fact changed only Wakili, Makarama and the senior Tlufu. The first two represent his "kitchen" cabinet, and the former senior Tlufu had supported another candidate for the chieftaincy. The other title holders in the supporters category are today of lesser importance than they were in the past.
The following exchange in the meeting held in Mbuk on 24 September 1992 during Zoku is revealing. (The account given below represents a précis of what was actually said.)

Midala remained in ofice. This exchange is of interest for two reasons. First, it makes explicit that in former times Xidis would expect to be compensated by Midala and, by extension, other title holders for ratifying their appointments. Second, Xidi's ruling does not conform with earlier practice as described in oral traditions relating to the Midala title (above) in which Xidi is seen to confer the title first on Bakyang and later on Karando.
Presently, it is agreed, if a title holder wishes to hand over his office - expressed in sakun as handing his forked stick of office (jif) to another - he might engage in informal discussions with members of his clan, but no clan meeting would be held. Most titles are vested in clans but in practice held by local patrilines (juk), resident in Sukur proper, on behalf of their clans. The office normally descends in the juk along lines of seniority, tempered by the aspirant's presence on the mountain or willingness to move back from the plain (as happened in the case of Tlëduv Ndiho), his desire for office and perceived ability to perform the associated duties. In cases where the title holder is a member of the chief's household (e.g., Tlësuku, junior Tlufu, and apparently Midala), the appointee has to be willing if necessary to move to live close to the chief.

Among the retainers, the smiths are tied by self-interest to the office rather than to the person of the Xidi. Others, and in particular the junior Tlufu but also Dzarma, whose office was more important when it included a police function, must be personally acceptable and loyal to the chief. The Tlyamburums are now essentially honorific offices but, before the institution of Blamas, whom Xidi has been known to change, the chief is likely to have counted upon their input on matters of public policy and opinion and their execution of administrative tasks. Today, in the absence of specific political opposition, there would be little for the Xidi to gain by divesting such senior elders of their offices at the considerable risk of offending their clan brothers.

As to the title holders with priestly duties, their functions become less critical to the community's welfare as more Sukur adopt Christianity. But although it is now very difficult to obtain appropriate animals for sacrifice, it would seem that almost everyone including Christians is keen that these title holders continue their work of protecting Sukur from sickness and evil and ensuring an abundance of children and crops. It is unlikely that any chief would have, or would have had, any reason to remove any of these personages from their offices. Rather it is in his interest by maintaining good relations with them to maintain his own position. Nonetheless, we have little doubt that, by influence rather than decree, Xidi could arrange for a careless or lazy priest to be "defrocked."

The formal installation of the 'Day Kur'ba by the Xidi is exceptional, emphasizing the symmetry and fraternity between these representatives of the first and last chiefly dynasties, 'day and mbilim - and initiating the special relationship of avoidance and respect that will one day terminate with the burial of the latter by the former. However, the installation should be seen as the formal recognition of this relationship rather than as evidence that the Xidi can appoint whomsoever he wishes from the Tuva clan to the post. This he can no more do than he could in the past have appointed the Xidi 'Day or the senior elder of any other clan.

Title holders' benefits
Midala's statement (quoted above) indicates that some if not all title holders used to (and may in some cases still) pay Xidi for ratifying their appointments. It would indeed be surprising if the process of appointment and holding of titles did not involve an ongoing series of prestations (gifts, counter-gifts and exchanges) between chief and title holders although this is likely to have been more sustained in the supporters and retainers categories.

In the heyday of the iron trade the chief's house must have been a center of redistribution. The following story was told by a senior elder of clan Dur:

We need not accept the literal truth of this tradition, though it is possible that in bad times the chief served as a lender of last resort, but it emphasizes that the Xidi is perceived as having been at the heart of economic activity. The quantities of meat accruing to the Xidi at the greater feasts would have exceeded his and his family's ability to consume or process. Much redistribution would have taken place and much of it through the title holders.
In today's cash economy the Sukur are less dependent upon social relationships and more upon their individual or household production and the sale of foodstuffs, craft items and, especially for the young men, their labor. The frequency and intensity of prestations linking Xidi and his people, the title holders in particular, are certainly much reduced but still continue, even if nowadays in a more or less token manner. When bulls are slaughtered a small portion is offered to the chief and he in turn redistributes part of it and of animals he has slaughtered on his own account. For example Fati Xidi receives a heart and some other meat.

There is however one major benefit of office that still accrues to certain title holders: the usufruct of farms (fields) attached to the title. Many of these are in the Xidi's gift, though of course subject to the qualifications regarding the passing on of offices discussed in the previous section. In the category of supporters, Wakili and Makarma, and also Midala, are granted such farms, and, amongst the retainers, Tlësuku, the junior Tlufu, Dzarma, Tlagama, Tlëgëm and Tlyamburum Jira. Birima, a somewhat menial position, did not attract a farm.

Amongst the priests, there are Dalatë, Tlëduv and 'Day Kur'ba, who has the biggest farm of all according to the chief, who also told us that a farm was associated with the Xidi 'Day title. However, while we do not question that farms are perquisites of these offices, we are far from certain that the chief controls or controlled their attribution.
Those with no farms associated with their offices include the Fa të Xidi and the Makarama bin ghu'd. This is consistent with a desire to avoid a conflict of interest affecting the advice given by the former and similarly to encourage political neutrality in the latter. Somewhat surprisingly the senior Tlufu has no farm allotted to him, possibly because he lives and has always lived too far away in lower Sukur (Tëka)

to benefit from fields located in Jira. Perhaps he was compensated in other ways. The same would seem to apply in the case of Tlyamburum Tëka. None of the six Mbësefwoy nor apparently Jirduk or Barkuma hold farms associated with their offices. Their responsibilities, although important, were limited to certain ritual performances for which most of the materials consumed, animals if not perhaps beer and powa, were provided by public subscription - or more probably, in the case of sacrificial victims, by somewhat arbitrary seizure. We suspect that the titles and the position of influence accruing to the office holder by virtue both of the title and of his seniority within his clan may have been, for the most part, their own reward. We lack information regarding Tlëmuziy.

Conclusion
The institutional system of Sukur titles can be approached from several perspectives. Read historically in conjunction with other information, for example legends of origin and clan histories, we find that these different sets of data intersect, and that, despite gaps and imperfections in our ethnographic materials, they mutually support our inferences and suggest avenues for future study, for example a detailed analysis of the diffusion of titles through montagnard societies. Considered broadly in their political aspect, the title holding system can be seen as an apparently effective mechanism for integrating the exceptionally large number of Sukur clans into a political whole. A closer look reveals how the system is adapted and can to some extent be manipulated to manage a complex political entity in which the chiefly clan is divided against itself but stands together with certain allies against the rest of the community. From an economic point of view, the system is largely paid for through the attribution, whether by the chief or by their clans, of farms to title holders, but it also provided the structure for a complex of prestations that, certainly in precolonial times though less so today, helped to bond Sukur together economically. Our research is however inadequate to address the question of the relationships, political, economic, social and other, between title holders and the clans of which they formed part.

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