Article Citation: Ibrahim Uba Yusuf & Umar Yusuf Lawal (2023). The Concept of Urban Culture in Hausari Zango Community: An Overview of ‘Constructed Hausa Identity’. DEGEL: The Journal of the Faculty of Arts and Islamic Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1 & 2. ISSN 0794-9316
THE CONCEPT OF URBAN CULTURE IN HAUSARI ZANGO
COMMUNITY: AN OVERVIEW OF ‘CONSTRUCTED HAUSA IDENTITY’
By
Ibrahim Uba Yusuf and Umar Yusuf Lawal
Abstract
The
study was born out of the need to address the gap in knowledge on the
constructed identity by a group of people from a divergent origin, beliefs and
tradition that were compelled to stay in an area due to migration from from
their original places of abode. The study reviews the concept of urban culture
in relation to Hausari Zango community. The study is situated within the
postulates of symbolic interactionism theory. The study conducted in-depth
interviews with selected elders of the area, who were assumed to have a glimpse
of its historical antecedents and development from the scratch to the present
stage. The study found some cultural transmissions and activities that have
taken place in the area such as the architectural layouts and designs, the tsangaya education
system, assimilation of children, social life and media consumption habit among
others. It is the conclusion of this study that Hausari Zango is serving as a
classical, ritual and mercantile city mainly a habitation for traditional
barbers (wanzam), herbalists (magori) and wealthy
merchants. The study recommends a stop in the sales and conversion of
residential houses into business spaces.
Introduction
Hausari
Zango community, is a commercial hub in Maiduguri Metropolis, Borno State
Nigeria. As the name implies, it is one the earliest settlements of the
Hausa-Fulani communities that the Kanuri call Afunu. According
to Waziri (2012), it is an administrative unit under Yerwa District in 1918 and
it is a known community consisting of people from diverse backgrounds. Out of
the 15 wards in Maiduguri Metropolis, Hausa Zango is assumed to be the root of
all non-indigents that have migrated in search for greener pasture. The
community gave rise to other sister Hausa-Fulani community such as Bulumkutu,
Gomari and Gwange.
This
study was born out of the need to address a gap in knowledge on the review of a
constructed identity by a group of people from a divergent origin, beliefs and
traditions that were compelled to stay in an area due to migration from their
original places of abode. The study argues that the general assumption, that a
significant number of people, if not all, residing in Hausari Zango are Hausa (Afuno).
This is a commonly held assumption by the generality of the public, looking at
the direct translation of the name of the area from Kanuri to Hausa— (Afunori) a
habitation for the Hausa speakers or Hausa people.
Hausari
Zango has become a rallying point for non-indigent (non-Kanuri speakers) and
travelers. It serves as the first port of call for first-timers into Maiduguri.
It is in the light of this, that the study aims to understand the concept of
urban culture, using Hausari Zango as an example. In this study, we seek to
identify selected reconstructed cultural identity of different ethnic groups
situated in the area and how these cultural identities have become part and
parcel of the society.
Methodologically,
the study employed in-depth individual interviews with five (5) purposely
selected elders of the area using the following criteria: (a) born and grew up
in Hausari Zango (b) have depth knowledge of the historical antecedents and
development of Hausari Zango from scratch to present stage (c) willingness and
availability to talk about the subject matter. The father of one the
researcher(s) was also interviewed. The interview sessions lasted between 48,
45, 39, 37 and 35 minutes respectively. All the interviews were conducted in
Hausa language and audio recorded using digital recorder. In the course of the
interview, notes were also taken. Four (4) of the interviews took place in
Hausari at the residents of the respondents while one was conducted in Bolori I
ward because the respondent has relocated to a different apartment.
The Concept of Urban Culture
Interest
in urban culture is attributed to the Chicago School of Thought. It is
connected with urban sociology and its notable for the development of symbolic
interactionism. Urban culture has to do with the study of life and human
interaction in metropolitan areas. Earlier urban cultural studies by Castells
(1983), Wilson (1991) and Jules (1990), provided two notable approaches to
urban culture. The first approach makes a generic definition about what urban
culture is all about, while the second approach emphasizes that every city has
its specific culture. This approach inquires the city and the process, giving
different meaning to the cities. As noted by Stevenson (2003), the Chicago
School Sociologists saw the city as being like an ecological organism or unit,
which, in response to the dictates of the physical environment and the
pressures of population changes evolve systematically and coherently. What this
implies is that the city is an offshoot of the society and as a result of the
influx of people from all walks of life, it becomes a liberating habitant.
Yetkin
(2004), in his study ‘urban culture and space relations: Sakarya
Caddesi as an entertainment space in Ankara’, suggested that urban
culture can be approached as urban living. Clark (2003) equated urban culture
with what he described as undesirable modernism that is partly viewed in
negative terms. Urban cities offer a myriad of lifestyles that are
distinctively urban in nature, and differ from those that occur elsewhere.
Urban
areas have continued to be an attraction for rural dwellers in search of
greener pasture and this is partly attributed to the level of infrastructural
development visibly absent in rural areas. The opportunities and constraints
afforded by the cities are the genesis of what we may consider as urban
culture. Urban culture can, therefore, be seen as a product of urbanization. As
noted by Clark (2003), urbanization begins wholly with a rural society in which
urban influences are absent, and ends when everyone, everywhere, lives in an
urban way of life.
In
his essay, “The Urban Revolution,” Gordon Childe noted that the development of
the first cities was marked by a number of important innovations, including the
increased population size and density. This submission is allusion to the fact
that cities and towns are different from villages in all ramifications.
Within
the context of this study, urban culture is defined as a belief pattern, value
system and specific way of life supposedly developed therein. It is pivoted on
the rural-urban dichotomy.
Hausa Identity: An Overview
Hausa
has become known and influential not only in Northern parts of Nigeria, but in
West African countries. This is so because, the states in Northern parts of
Nigeria and some West African countries have either adopted Hausa as their
first or second language of communication. The age long trade and commerce and
migration practices of the Hausa people have made people they associate with
vulnerable to assimilating and adopting Hausa as a second language.
Hausa
identity, therefore, is seen as a socially constructed labelling or social
categorization based on certain cultural traits or attributes of the Hausa
people and Hausa speakers. To better understand these attributes, Hausa
identity can be viewed using the following variables:
1. Religion: A look at Hausa identity reveals that there is a
change in the religious beliefs and labelling of the Hausa. Historically, the
Hausa people are famous in the practice of what is locally called Maguzanci--Paganism.
The change in this aged long religious belief is a product of the association
of traders and missionaries from the Arab world and the people of Northern
Nigeria. The Usman bin Fodio Jihad equally played a role in changing the
narrative from paganism to Islamism. In spite of these encounters, there seems
to be an insignificant number of group of Hausa people practicing and upholding
the traditional tenets of Maguzanci and ritual beliefs.
2. Business Tourism (Fatauci): Hausa people are famous in partaking long-distance and
seasonal trading activities. They move around to cities or potential places
searching for greener pasture during dry season (rani) and return
to their original places of abode during rainy season (damina) to
practice farming. In the course of this temporary migration, a significant
number of Hausa speakers have permanently settle down in what could be describe
as their new homes.
3. Economy: The average Hausa person is known to be industrious.
Majority are into farming of crops such as maize, sorghum, rice and beans among
others, for their consumption, and perhaps sales to interested buyers from
other regions. They equally specialized in craftsmanship such as thatching,
blacksmith, leatherwork, weaving, tie and die, and pottery. Products of the
crafts, are taken to neighboring cities and towns on their specific market
days.
It
is important to note that, in any plural society, it is difficult to
distinguish ethnic groups, especially if there is a dominant group. This is an
allusion to what Salamone (1975) considers as one interesting problem emerging
from studies in complex societies is the relationship between ethnic identity
and the interaction between various ethnic groups in a pluralistic society.
From this, we can deduce that the relationship between the Hausa migrants,
Kanuri majority and other minority ethnic groups in Hausari Zango, has provided
basis for innovating the concept an urban Hausa identical culture. This means
that Hausari Zango has a combination of different cultural identity drawn from
Hausa, Yoruba, Kanuri and other ethnic groups residing in the area.
Theoretical Framework
This
study is situated within the confines of symbolic interactionism theory as
basis for understanding urban culture and the constructed Hausa culture in
Hausari Zango community. Coined by Herbert Blumer, the theory focused on human
behaviours as shaped by social structures and physical environmental factors
rather than the genetic and personal characteristics.
Blumer
(1986) states that symbolic interactionism rests on three premises: that human
beings act towards things on the basis of the meanings of things have for them;
that the meaning of such things derives from the social interaction one has
with one's fellows; and that these meanings are handled in, and modified
through, an interpretive process. The basic idea this theory put forward is
that people behave based on the meaning they have given to things or persons.
In reviewing the theory, Aksan, Kisac, Aydin and Demirbuken (2009) suggests
that the foundation of this theory is meanings, and it examines the meanings
emerging from reciprocal interactions of individuals in social environment with
other individuals.
The
rationale for selecting the theory lies on the fact that people from different
genetic backgrounds, for reasons best known to them have settled and found
Hausari Zango as their new home, a development that marked the beginning of a
new ancestral home for generations yet unborn. The assumption here, is that the
settlers have formed new behaviours, perhaps, alien or different from their
original culture. These behaviours were formed as a result of influence,
intermingle and the new environment they found themselves.
Understanding Hausari Zango: People & Urban
Lifestyle
To
have a better understanding of Hausari Zango community, it will not be out of
place to tie the discussions using the following approaches.
Architectural Layout, Designs & Street Names: According to Yetkin (2004), architectural approach
offers the variety of possible urban meaning and is attributed to different
architectural forms and style. What distinguishes a city from another is its
different buildings and architecture, and this is largely influenced by
socio-cultural values. Based on the above explanations, it is safer to
categorize Hausari Zango as a classical city in Maiduguri. A cursory look at
how the ancient cities in the world were built, shows that they were built
according to complex beliefs and symbolic codes. The architectural layout,
design and master plan of houses situated in Hausari Zango is modelled towards
cities in other Hausa cities from North West. Adamu (2021, personal
communication), submits that early houses in Hausari Zango, were a
reflection of building in Hausa land. The houses were built using mud walls,
with corn stalks as temporary roofing before the commencement of rainy season.
The rooms not more than 10 fits, are designed to accommodate basically a man,
his wife, children and her belongings. The quantity of belongings referred to
as Kayan Daki/Jere is determined by class status of the
parents of the wife or sometimes her husband. The toilets are pit latrines and
are designed not to face or back the East (Gabas), due to Islamic
injunctions that prohibits Muslims to face or back the East while defecating or
urinating.
A
significant feature of houses in Hausari Zango is the entrance room
called Zaure. This is an allusion to what Last (2020) buttress
that new houses in Hausa land have only one entrance into the house’s interior
called Zaure, with a complete wall surrounding the whole
house. Zaure in Hausari Zango and other Hausa settlements has
a social significance. It serves as a reception for guest, protection for the
female folks of the family that have attain puberty age, provides privacy to
the wife, protection against evil spirits and security— with certain
inscriptions no entrance, without the permission of the husband (Ba a shiga
sai da izinin mai gida). In many instances, amulets and talisman are
hanged at the entrance of houses to serve as protection against thieves, evil
spirits and evil eye (iskoki and aljannu). Due to the size of the
houses, it is difficult for families to sleep indoors during hot season. People
resort to sleeping outside. Sometimes, people even sleep in their Majalis—an
assembly of peer groups wining and dining together.
Additionally,
most streets in Hausari Zango have unique names. According to Namadi
(2021, Personal communication), they got their names from
either a popular business taking place, an edifice or symbol, or famous person
that has stayed there. Such names include: Tarotaroma, layin arkin
Hausawa (named after the Village Head of Hausa Community), Pladium (a
popular hotel), Layin Waya Kawoka (hitherto a popular abode
for commercial sex workers), Tabuka (hitherto liquor selling
joint), Famfo Tara (nine taps), Mallam Usman
Bidda (a popular Islamic scholar) among others. These streets have
over the years become popular and known by the names mentioned above.
People and Ethnic Group: Hausari Zango is an assemblage of different ethnic
groups. Apart from the Hausa-Fulani, the area served as breeding space for
migrants from Yoruba land(s), Nupe, Gwoza, Mchika and Chadians. According
Alhaji Alfa (2021, personal communication) Yoruba people seems
to be the second majority ethnic group in the area. The Yoruba people
especially from Ibadan and Ilorin came to Maiduguri and settled in
Hausari/Zango. They came with a unique Islamic civilization/ movement sponsored
and guided by religious bodies and organizations such as Ansar-Un-Deen,
Nawarur- Deen and Nasfat. Ansar-un-Deen was the first
mission mosque to be established in Hausari seconded by Nawarur-Deen. Alfa
Abdurahim was the first Imam of Ansar-un Deen,
The
Yoruba are renowned for skin, beans and kola business. They have a specially
dedicated area called Yan Goro and Zango. They are renowned
academics/religious leaders (Alfas) who established Ansar-un- Deen and Nawarur
Deen, Nafsat. The Yoruba people are among the educated settlers in the
early 1920s and 1930s. Transporters, photographers, electricians, tailors and
mama put.
Tsangaya System:
Hausari
Zango is a reference point for Tsangaya education. The history
and development of Tsangaya education in Maiduguri, to some
extent, is incomplete, without a mention of Hausari Zango. According to Yusuf
(2013), there are about 30 renowned Tsangaya schools in
Hausari Zango. The area is a breeding space for Almajiri. Yan
Mahuci in Bazamfarare, gave birth to smaller Tsangaya schools
in Hausari. The Mai Tamanin is also second to known. Not only Tsangaya
education, formal Islamiyya schools in Borno has roots traceable to the area.
This point is buttressed by Adamu a pioneer student of the first Islamiyya
School in Hausari (personal communication, 2021), who opined that the
school was established in 1952 in the house of a renowned businessman Late
Alhaji Jibrin. The school has pioneer teachers such as Late Sheikh(s) Ahmad
Aliyu Abdulfathi, Abubakar Elmiskin, Umara Kaikai, Mallam Dambazau and Mallam
Akilu. The likes of Usman Islamiyya served as second generation schools that
became famous in the early 1970s and has produced renowned Islamic scholars in
Maiduguri and beyond.
Assimilation of Children:
There
is a general assumption that a child belongs to everyone. Babayo (2021, personal
communication) opines that there is a practice in Hausari that an
elder in the street treats the children of his neighbors as his biological
children. The foster parent shoulders their responsibilities of circumcision,
feeding, clothing, school enrolment, training, skills acquisition and giving
them out for marriage without discrimination. Whether the child has parents
alive, an orphan, or an abandoned almajiri, the elder or
community leader takes care of them. This gave room for children not having a
specific home. There have been instances that children with no accommodation in
their biological parent’s home, move to houses of their peers with provisions
for accommodation for adolescent male children. In view of this change, feeding
and other responsibilities is directly or indirectly transferred from the
biological parents to the foster parents. A significant number of households in
Hausari became breeding spaces for many children from tender age to maturity.
Patterns of Ceremonies:
Weddings,
naming and funeral are ceremonies that have gotten special considerations.
Sallah festivities like Ed-el Fitr and Ed-el Kabir,
and Maulud are celebrated in a grand style. Faruqu
(2021, personal communication) explained that during Ramadan,
there is a practice called Tashe. Tashe, is an annual Hausa
cultural practice by young talented Muslim youth from the 10th day
of Ramadan. It is a popular cultural practice with a lot of moral lessons that
give room for the practitioners, casually dressed to portray and mimic certain
figures, to visit joints or house to house of individuals. The essence of this
age-long practice, is to among other things, provide humor and entertain the
fasting person, educate the younger generation and an opportunity for the
participants to have gifts (cash and kind). This practice has been sustained in
the area. It also makes the area an interesting place to visit during Ramadan.
Additionally, wedding ceremonies are modelled to capture the style of cities
dominated by the Hausa. During weddings and naming ceremonies, traditional
drummers (Yan Mandari & Kalangu) are invited to perform.
Commercial hub for ‘Mama Put’—a local restaurant known
in Nigerian parlance
There
is what we refer to as Kasuwar Kwalama, a depot for selling a
variety of mouth-watering dishes at the Kofar Usman Bidda.
This has affected not only the eating habit but cooking pattern of most
households. A typical resident of Hausari, will in the morning go to the
popular Hajiya Salamatu Mai Danwake’s house with his bowl to buy the locally
prepared Dan Wake. Not only Dan wake, there
is availability of other locally prepared dishes including porridge, beans
cake, bonze, Waina and so on. Hausari Zango is known to be a
hub for ‘mama put’ because it is an abode for migrants from other states and
neighboring countries, as such the demand for food is continuous. The
assumption that food is a daily need and the migrants have no wives or female
relatives to cook for them.
Tailoring hub tied to Ghanaian Model A significant number of tailors in Hausari Zango that
learnt embroidering and tailoring got the talent from Ghanaians. There is a
strong connection with Ghana and the people of Hausari. A part from the trade
ties, sales and purchase of kolanut and potash, Ghanaians who migrated and
settled in Hausari as a result of economic crisis in their country, came with
this craft of embroidering. Enterprising as it is, parents took their children
and dependents to learn the craft. A significant number of the clothes people
wear in Maiduguri are made in Hausari. They have the best of tailors and
embroidery designs, modelled towards Ghana, Mali, Central Africa and Senegal.
Even though the early Ghanaian settlers have returned to their countries, they
have left a footprint.
Gender Roles: Women as bread winners: Change is a recurring feature of life. The desire for
married women to sustain themselves economically is a key reason for the indoor
small scale businesses practiced by a majority of married women in Hausari. The
proximity of the area to the popular Maiduguri Monday Market is a compelling
reason for married women to utilize the opportunity and start a business. There
is a Hausa saying ‘Mace mai kamar maza’, translated a woman like a
man, a succinct description of women in Hausari Zango. Ahmadu (2021, personal
communication) noted that every household is known for a peculiar
business of the man and the woman. For instance, in my grandfather’s house, my
paternal grandmother is known as Hajja Jummai Mai Kosai. My
paternal step grandmothers were also called Mai Kunu and Mai
Taliya respectively. All of them got these pseudo names after the
small scale business they do in the outside or Zaure. In families
whose financial status is not stable, women that engage in such trade assume
the responsibility of providing basic necessities of life for other family
members. This serves as a huge sigh of relief to the head of the family. With
these small scale businesses, women have sponsored their trips to Holy land for
pilgrimage, buy houses and kitchen utensils for their female children in
preparation for their marriages and so on.
Night/Social Life: Like other places with migrants, Hausari Zango is not
left behind in other social activities. There is a cinema going habit among
residents from Hausari to popular Premier to watch Indian movies, football and
later Hausa movies. As noted by Gujbawu (2018), Hausari, as at 1962, was among
the several locations in the North, where thirty-one film exhibition were
staged. However, the Premier cinema has now been converted to a medical
facility named after Nana Shettima, by the Kashim Shettima led administration in
2018. Football clubs like Shooting Stars became popular and the proximity of
the area to the Ramat square and Maiduguri Sports Centre provided an
opportunity for sport enthusiasts to actively participate in football. Hausari
Zango produced a player Yusuf popularly called GG who played for Super Eagles,
Nigeria’s National team during CAF in 2006, 2008 and other international clubs.
It
is also a liquor selling points in the early 1960s and 1970s. Tabuka,
Waya Kawoka and Bagdad for instance, have provided spaces
that accommodated divorcees and commercial sex workers. The aforementioned
nooks and cranny were famous for playing host to local singers and musicians.
History has it that late Dr Mamman Shata and Barmani Mai Shoge, have been
invited to perform LIVE. The Chad civil war of the 1970, which forced women out
of their country, contributed to the emergence of brothels in Hausari. Rooms
were rented to these women from Chad, who pay higher rate on a daily basis to
the landlords, against the monthly rent payment practice.
Media Consumption Habit: There is a high media consumption of international
media houses such as BBC Hausa, Dutch Welle (DW Hausa) and Voice of
America (Muryar Amurka). The study found varying categories
of media consumers. For instance, those who own radio sets and android phones
with network data have direct access to information on media. This category of
media consumers can safely be referred to as opinion leaders who are active
media audience and mostly filter the news. In other words, they serve as
interpreters and disseminators of information they get from other media
organizations. The tea joints, local eateries and Majalisa in
Hausari Zango have metamorphosed into places of where opinion leaders break the
news stories to other categories that have no access to radio or android phones
with mobile data. The one step, two step and multi-step flow communication
models have explanatory powers to understand the media consumption habit of
residents of Hausari Zango. The study found that those with flair for listening
to the variety of media organizations and have access to their contents have
formed fan clubs of media houses and association of listeners such as Kungiyar
Zabi Sonka and so on.
Conclusion
It
is the conclusion of this study that Hausari Zango can be categorized based on
three dimensions: a classical city, a ritual city serving as habitation for
traditional barbers (wanzam) and herbalists (Magori), and
the performance of older practices such as traditional circumcision,
traditional barbers; and also a mercantile city that is a habitation for small
scale business owners, powerful and wealthy merchants. It is worthy of note to
say that the urban culture is facing extinction. Monday Market is gradually
encroaching the entire area. Ancient residential houses have been sold or given
out on rent and converted to shopping complexes and warehouses due to the
increase demand for business space. Most importantly, the majority culture of
the people of Hausari is Hausa, and has been a source of concern to the
minority cultures. The majority culture has overshadowed the minority culture.
The attendant challenge is that everyone in Hausari is claiming to be Hausa
directly or indirectly.
Recommendations
1. The study strongly recommends the need for
government to put a stop to the continuous sales and conversion of the area
into business space.
2. The study also recommends the need for
Hausari Zango Development Association to preserve certain symbols with which
the streets are known for.
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