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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Gure of eastern Zazzau: their colonial experience
Author:Nengel, J.G.
Year:1999
Periodical:Afrika und Übersee: Sprachen, Kulturen
Volume:82
Issue:1
Pages:19-38
Language:English
Geographic terms:Nigeria
Northern Nigeria
Great Britain
Subjects:Gure
colonialism
rites of passage
matriarchy
Abstract:One of the lasting and momentous effects of the period of colonial rule on the Gure was the change from mother-right to father-right. This social transformation was brought about by colonial policies such as the imposition of taxation immediately following the subjugation of the Gure in 1907 and the introduction of 'native courts', and the activities of the Sudan Interior Mission in the 1930s. With the exception of the Kono, the Gure were the largest matrilineal society among the many small patrilineal communities in the savannah region of the eastern Zazzau. They used to live in the Kauru mountains and now reside at the foot of the Kauru in the western part of Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The paper describes traditional rituals surrounding the agricultural activities of the Gure, their political and kinship systems, and rules of inheritance, refers to attempts to explain the origin of matrilinealism in Gure, and considers the process of social change within the framework of the concept and theory of matrilineage and perceptions of the colonial officials, who regarded the Gure as 'low grade pagans', and anthropologists, who regarded matrilinealism as a primitive stage in human development. The 'civilizing mission' of colonial rule included the abolition of mother-right. Notes, ref.
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