THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM ON THE SARAUTA SYSTEM IN KANO EMIRATE 1903-1960

THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM ON THE SARAUTA SYSTEM IN KANO EMIRATE 1903-1960

Abstract:

“The Impact of Colonialism on the Sarauta Sytem in Kano Emirate, 1903-1960” is a dissertation that demonstrates the systematic denuding of the essence of the Sarauta during colonialism. It conceptualizes the Sarauta as an indigenous social system evolved by the Hausa. The Sarauta was as fully developed in Kano as elsewhere, if not more so. There is a notion implying that the Sarauta has been immutable. In the same vain the colonial experience of indirect rule is posited as having, by and large, preserved the Emirate system. This assumption of immutability is disproved by this dissertation. The Sarauta developed into a sovereign system up to 1807; thence following the Jihad, it was transformed into a fundamentally different entity, an Emirate of the Sokoto Caliphate, which lasted till 1903. From 1903 the Sarauta was turned into an agent of colonialism for the exploitation of the populace. Colonialism through systematic re-organizations, politically, organizationally and economically, especially taxation, administration and the courts, stripped the Sarauta of its military, executive, legislative, and judicial powers. By independence, the Sarauta had been subordinated to the politicians, whom the colonialists transferred power to. Colonialism marked the nadir of the Sarauta. By independence the Sarakuna, the epitome of the Sarauta, had been reduced to custodians of culture. This is a study of cultural response to colonialism. It studies the relations of power in a colonial context, between the Sarauta and the colonialists. It is a study of the transformation of a hegemonic cultural system into one tampered to oil colonial domination. The study adopted an eclectic method that ranged from dialectical materialism, to structural functionalism. An empirical narrative and analysis, based largely on copious and multiple colonial sources, of prime importance in this study, proved the case of the Sarauta having xii been turned into minions of colonialism, and instruments of exploiting the populace. It demonstrates that despite subordination to colonialism, the Sarauta in the period 1903 – 1918, under the Sole Native Authority, was empowered over the populace. In the subsequent periods examined, the dissertation demonstrated how, while the form of Sarauta was promoted, it was continually denuded of essence, and power slipped away from the aristocracy. The philosophy of the Emirate, of removing evil from government in the context of enjoining what was good, was replaced with the dual mandate as defined by Lugard. Free flowing structural interviews were conducted of key actors or those in vantage positions. The analysis was qualitative.

THE IMPACT OF COLONIALISM ON THE SARAUTA SYSTEM IN KANO EMIRATE 1903-1960

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