Abstract: | Recent studies of the jihad of Dan Fodio in Hausaland leave much to be desired. Lack of a conceptual framework means that certain questions have not been asked. For example, what kind of society existed in Hausaland before the jihad? What point did it represent in the development of African history? What was its economic base, its political and social structures and why did their equilibrium break down? Did the jihad bring about change in the social, economic and political structures of Hausaland or merely place members of a new ethnic group in political power? And if it brought structural change, was this of a qualitative or merely quantitative kind? In the present article, the author presents some theoretical work that may provide more adequate tools and be of relevance for the above problems. The conclusion suggests a number of hypotheses intended to put the jihads back into a process of historical development from which they have been somehow abstracted. Notes, ref. |