The Pulaar-Fulfulde Project

Introduction

The Pulaar-Fulfulde Project aims to nurturing value creation through personal dedication out of a sense of responsibility toward society. It attempts to implement the mandate of striving and serving those goals which make society cohesive yet diversified and always moving to new heights as defined by the Pulaagu, the essence and way of life of FULƁE centered around the chief virtues of Fulɗude (being hospitable), semteende (in Fulfulde or gacce in Pulaar), meaning shyness in the sense of being on guard not to inadvertently hurt, or being subject of slightest criticism especially when in the presence of unfamiliar people, cuusal [thiusal] (in Pulaar or cuucal in Fulfulde), meaning courage as well fidelity to commitments, muñal [munial], patience for commitment to the goals, as well hakkile , intelligence along careful discernment and ndimaangu, meaning nobility. These spiritual and cultural cardinal virtues have further been crystallized in interaction with Islamic philosophy and culture centuries later on, as we shall elaborate. Therefore the process of nurturing value creation derives its strength and its rationale from the FULƁE Culture and Language. Perhaps it may be here helpful to explain the concepts of Culture and Language in the Pulaar-Fulfulde context to grasp the anchor point of the said process: the Culture prompts and streamlines the mindset resulting in a given type of conduct in society, i.e. the Culture feeds and trains the mind as well guides it and in turn the mind produces new uplifting values. The Language is the medium through which this interaction takes place, i.e. succinctly described, evolving from the ability of naming things, explaining relationships between things to provoking new thoughts. The perceiving reader may draw a parallelism between this succinct description and modern curricula: primary and secondary education to the tertiary level which is thought of as the level of research and discovery. In the Pulaagu reference however, the mandate of striving to new uplifting values is much more pervasive and incumbent. Therefore promoting full command of scientific expression and investigation, along spiritual uplift is one of the core tenets of the Pulaar-Fulfulde Project, as illustrated through item1 Marmbilde .



Features: Context and Method

In order to put the Pulaar-Fulfulde Project into context, it may be helpful to first answer the question:



Who are the FULƁE?

The FULƁE are an ancient pastoralist folk, presently stretching from Ethiopia to Senegal, along the SAHEL Zone but also present in Nigeria, Cameroun, and the Central African Republic (CAR); being a sizeable demographic group in Guinea, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroun and Senegal, whilst in minority in the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaire). They have a multi-millennium civilization, being credited with having been the first ones to establish the rules pertaining to cattle rearing and pastoralism; by the way Sinai comes from Seeno Nay, i.e. the cattle's Mountain ; and Taurus, or El Toro coming from Ngaari Tooro [To:oro] the Bull bearing the sign of abundance; from thereon, the name has been applied to the Mountain where the bull used to be left free pasturing, and where people used to retreat individually or assemble on particular occasions. Their mastership of the art of pastoralism goes alongside their then unparalleled knowledge of stars, (because sogginoyde, i.e. cattle pasturing during nights requires perfect knowledge of stars indicating the cardinal points, duration of nights according to seasons as well variations of lunar months). Although presently mostly visible in African soil, they are traced in Uur, (around 4000 BC) located in present-day Bagdad's southern suburb, and Suudu (chieftain, house, Dynasty) Uur, which later on gave Uururɓe, is the oldest tribe among FULƁE bearing the family name BAA, being the most prevailing form among FULƁE (also called Fulaani in Arabic) in the Arabic peninsula and spelt off as Ba or Bah in West Africa, the second being Suudu Mboɗa (dominant in Niger), from which the Woɗaaɓe tribe hails bearing the family name SOH (mispronounced Sow), then Suudu Ngirel , which gave birth to the Yirlaaɓe tribe bearing the family name JALLO (also spelt Diallo) and finally Suudu Njaw bearing the family names JAH and Barri. They also had a strong presence in Egypt (around 3000 BC), because Abu Simbel is beyond doubt Pulaar, because the suffix el is a much-used diminutive as a mark of affection and the vocable Simbel cannot be transliterated with the usual Arabic letters. The FULƁE origin is ascribed as far as in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (around 6000 BC). The thesis is much backed by the fact; the Indo-Gangetic Plain was open grassland,

„ In many ways similar to the landscape of modern Africa. Gazelle, buffalo, rhinos, elephants, lions, and hippo roamed the grasslands, the same way as they do in Africa today. Large herds of Indian elephants, gazelles, antelopes and horses lived alongside several species of wild cattle including the now-extinct Aurochs“ (Ref.1).

This explains the FULƁE's earliest contact with the pre-cited animals, and specifically wild cattle and horses as well their millennium-long experience in the process of their domestication. One fact occurring later on, in the African continent in this connection is worth mention: the appearance and distribution of the acacia albida, (caski [thiaski] in Pulaar) whose germination can only be mature when the seed first transits in the digestive tract of ruminants and then dropped. This is an instance of how the FULƁE presence enriched the vegetation and later on the agriculture of sedentarized African communities:

The acacia albida is today extensively used in agriculture taking advantage of her peculiarly to drop her leaves at the onset of the rainy season, thus making a natural fertilizer and additionally providing more sun to plants under cultivation. To further mimic the above-mentioned transit effect in ruminants' digestive tract on acacia albida seeds, it has become custom to pretreat the seeds (for example through short boiling, see also [Ref 2] ) before sowing. Cows fed with acacia albida pods in the dry season yield wholesome milk with exquisite flavor, conferring balanced psyche as well effecting pleasant sweat.

As by essence pastoralist folk, the FULƁE never settled in the conventional sense but formed a hierarchical society, where the agricultural occupation was assigned to other Africans living in FULƁE society, because wealth at that time was only confined within cattle rearing of which they had the prime share and to a minor extent agriculture (up to the introduction of commercial agriculture by the Europeans centuries later). FULƁE further introduced maize, which was left over to Mandinka (the maize name in Pulaar: makkari; Fulfulde: kaaba reminds of its Eastern origin, namely Indo-Gangetic Plain, Uur, Arabian peninsula, Egypt; however the pre-eminence of makka, kaaba in the naming needs investigation). The pastoral vocation is until now the domain of excellence of FULƁE with sedentary jobs assigned to other Africans members of the society, which explains its hierarchical structure with new family names assigned to each job: Caam [thiaam] for the smiths, Gise for the weavers and potters, Labba for sculptors, Taal for lumbermen,... At the top the herdsmen, being also soldiers (recall sogginoyde defined above) and in close relationship, the Bammbaaɗo, the ever-present recorders of battles and majors events; they're the living memory of the FULƁE, transmitting their knowledge from father to son. The herdsmen themselves are led by the Arɗo, meaning political and military leader. In some instances, the Arɗo himself is counselled by a spiritual leader, an ilo, foretelling some events (such as long spells of droughts, wars and advising accordingly). But oral records have shown, personages embodying such qualities do not appear quite often, roughly one and half century period; that's why an ilo is referred to as an four-star sage, i.e. four periods of a reddish forty years period star:

This reddish star has a forty-year period, i.e. it appears once every forty years. It seems closely related to the Ɗaccuki-baawngal (a in the SAHEL Band yearly sighted seven-star constellation rising shortly after sunset in the western horizon around mid-April. It then 'looses' a star approximately every week, so that by June as it completely disappears, the rainy season in full-fledge sets on.



The Arɗo is assisted by a permanent council of Wage, persons well versed in social, plants, stars and veterinary sciences and also sought out as mediators in social affairs and oft entrusted with valuable secrets, (from there the word wagginde, meaning entrusting a heart-felt affair). This long introduction of the FULƁE is intended to shed light on today crises in the SAHEL Band, as well help clarify the debate on genetic-based evidence to ascribe the FULƁE ascendance to a given race: firstly it is important to discern between FULƁE and other , Pulaar-speaking Africans (the Halpulaar): as explained through the historical hierachization of FULƁE-led societies, African communities has become Halpulaar, that's why it is important to keep this fact in mind when embarking to any attempt to sketch a formal proof aiming at ascribing FULƁE a given race.

A propos Halpulaar, i would like to point out, the term is extensively used in FULƁE society since centuries and none should harbor the slightest prejudice on it. Facts have consistently shown, the Halpulaar, especially in the Fuuta Tooro of the Senegal River Valley to have been the most engaged, committed defenders and chief-exponents of FULƁE culture and language.

I believe this attempt is doomed to failure, as firstly FULƁE got thoroughly metised during their stay in Mesopotamia and Arabic Peninsula and also strongly in the then humid Sahara with Berbers, recently with even many others and secondly FULƁE are apart in the sense of their unparalleled migration path along their unique pastoralist culture over millennia. So my viewpoint classifies such attempt as simply aimless; its promptings however needs due consideration, on which we'll come back later on.



*Mi yetti sanne; yoo PULAAGU , foola. Sehil mon, Pullo PEREEJO*



References