The emergence of Hausa identity: religion and history

今天，居住在尼日尔和尼日利亚的豪萨人有2400万，在整个西非，还有1500万人把豪萨语作为第二语言。尽管豪萨人在历史和文化上都很突出，但人们对豪萨人社会和政治组织的发展几乎没有共识。拟议的研讨会基于两个前提：1.宗教是理解西非豪萨族演变的关键。2.由于豪萨族早期历史的书面记录稀缺，新的工作必须依靠跨学科的方法。我们的研讨会将通过汇集来自不同学科的学者的贡献，推进当前对豪萨历史的了解，并探索豪萨民族身份观念的变化。我们将共同考虑历史文本，考古遗迹，社会习俗和语言变化，重点关注宗教和身份的中心主题。历史上，北方尼日利亚和尼日尔南部的豪萨中心地带被划分为独立的“城邦”，表现出不同的社会和文化特征。在这一地区之外，豪萨人因其与制造业和贸易的传统联系而在整个次区域闻名并具有影响力。豪萨人最近的历史特点是发生了很大程度的变化，特别是在宗教身份方面。众所周知，第一批豪萨人是异教徒，但随着时间的推移，伊斯兰教在社会中发挥着越来越大的作用。当地的历史文献《卡诺编年史》（Kano Chronicle）表明，世纪，西方的商人和传教士将伊斯兰教带到了豪萨人的一些城市，但来自东方的影响也很重要，世纪，一些精英皈依了伊斯兰教。起初，接受伊斯兰教的人数可能很少，传统的宗教信仰和习俗继续存在。但到了15世纪，豪萨人的城市与伊斯兰世界体系联系在一起，并在19世纪通过圣战（圣战）的征服，在一个被称为索科托哈里发的伊斯兰政府内实现了统一。书面记录揭示了过去200年的一些情况，记录了伊斯兰改革和皈依运动带来的变化，当然在过去的世纪，豪萨人被视为穆斯林的同义词。然而，许多豪萨群体仍然从事万物有灵的仪式和信仰，一些少数民族最近接受了基督教。融合主义，即宗教的融合，事实上可能是几个世纪以来豪萨社会的一个典型特征。它一再受到改革主义浪潮的挑战，最近对伊斯兰教的某些解释的激进化正在威胁豪萨人在容忍和尊重宗教多样性的气氛中保留不同宗教习俗的能力。随着时间的推移，伊斯兰教的影响已经发生了变化。我们将把我们的研究结果出版成一卷，这不仅有助于豪萨人的研究，而且还将提出适用于西非和世界其他地区的假设。今天，宗教在界定和往往分裂社区方面发挥着重要作用。我们的讲习班将挑战日益增加的宗教不容忍现象，重点是宗教多元化、融合以及和平融合西非社会各种信仰的历史根源。我们的目标是以这种方式促进对非洲历史和社会的现有理解，从而使专家和更广泛的公众受益。

Today the Hausa number 24 million people living in Niger and Nigeria, with a further 15 million throughout West Africa speaking Hausa as a second language. Despite the historical and cultural prominence of the group, there is little agreement on the development of Hausa social and political organisation. The proposed workshops are based on two premises:1.Religion is key to understanding the evolution of Hausa ethnicity in West Africa.2.Due to the scarcity of written records on the early history of the Hausa, new work must rely on an interdisciplinary approach. Our workshops will advance current knowledge of Hausa history and explore changes in the notion of Hausa ethnic identity by bringing together the contributions of scholars from different disciplines. Together we shall consider historical texts, archaeological remains, social customs, and language change, focusing on the central themes of religion and identity. Historically, the Hausa heartland of northern Nigeria and southern Niger was divided into separate 'city-states,' which exhibited distinct social and cultural traits. Outside this area, the Hausa became known and influential in the entire sub-region due to their traditional association with manufacture and trade. The recent history of the Hausa has been characterised by a great degree of change, especially in terms of religious identity. It is known that the first Hausa people were pagan, but Islam played an increasing role in society over time. A local historical text, the Kano Chronicle, suggests that traders and missionaries from the West brought Islam to some of the Hausa cities in the fourteenth century, but influences from the east, where some elites had converted to Islam in the eleventh century, must have also been important. The number of individuals who accepted Islam was probably small at first, and traditional religious beliefs and practices continued to exist. But by the fifteenth century Hausa cities were linked to the Islamic world system, and in the nineteenth century Hausaland became integrated, through conquest in the course of a holy war (jihad), within an Islamic government known as the Sokoto Caliphate. Written records shed some light on the last 200 years, documenting changes brought on by movements of Islamic reform and conversion, and certainly in the past century being Hausa has been seen as synonymous with being Muslim. However, many Hausa groups still engage in Animist rituals and beliefs, and some minorities have recently embraced Christianity. Syncretism, the merging of religions, has in fact probably been a characteristic feature of Hausa society for centuries. It has recurrently been challenged by waves of reformism, and the recent radicalisation of certain interpretations of Islam is threatening the capacity of Hausa people to retain different religious practices in a climate of tolerance and respect for religious diversity.The workshops will advance knowledge of an important West African society by assessing how people's sense of identity ('being Hausa') has changed over time, and what the impact of Islam has been. We will publish our findings in a volume which will not only contribute to Hausa studies, but will also put forward hypotheses applicable to other parts of West Africa and the world. Today, religion plays a major role in defining, and often dividing, communities. Our workshops will challenge increasing religious intolerance by focusing on the historical roots of religious pluralism, syncretism, and the peaceful integration of creeds in West African society. We aim in this way to advance existing understandings of African history and society, and thereby benefit both specialists and the wider public.