The Dagaaba people (singular Dagao, and, in northern dialects, for both plural and singular
, update as of 25 May 2003, retrieved 2009-02-12.) are an
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
located north of the convergence of
Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
,
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
and
Côte d'Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
. They speak the
Dagaare language
Dagaare is the language of the Dagaaba people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Waale and Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect stemming from other family languages in ...
, a
Gur language
The Gur languages, also known as Central Gur or Mabia, belong to the Niger–Congo languages. They are spoken in the Sahelian and savanna regions of West Africa, namely: in most areas of Burkina Faso, and in south-central Mali, northeastern ...
made up of the related
Northern Dagaare dialects,
Southern Dagaare dialects and a number of sub dialects. In northern dialects, both the language and the people are referred to as . They are related to the
Birifor people and the
Dagaare Diola.
[ The language is collectively known as ]Dagaare
Dagaare is the language of the Dagaaba people of Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Ivory Coast. It has been described as a dialect continuum that also includes Waale and Birifor. Dagaare language varies in dialect stemming from other family languages i ...
(also spelled and/or pronounced as Dagare, Dagari, Dagarti, Dagara or Dagao), and historically some non-natives have taken this as the name of the people.[Dr. A. B. Bodomo. agaare Language and Culture, Introduction: The Dagaare language and its speakers from The Structure of Dagaare (1994) Posted by author March 9, 2004. Retrieved 2009-02-12.] One historian, describing the former usage of "Dagarti" to refer to this community by colonials, writes: "The name 'Dagarti' appears to have been coined by the first Europeans to visit the region, from the vernacular root ''dagaa''. Correctly 'Dagari' is the name of the language, 'Dagaaba' or 'Dagara' that of the people, and 'Dagaw' or 'Dagawie' that of the land."
Geographic spread
Although sometimes divided into Northern and Southern Dagaare speakers, their combined population was estimated in 2003 at over one million spread across the Northwest corner of Ghana[ and Sud-Ouest Region in Southwestern Burkina Faso.] The Southern Dagaare are a people of around 700,000 living in the western part of Upper West Region
The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East region to the east, Northern region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional capital and largest set ...
.[ The Northern Dagaare speakers, with an estimated population of 388,000 (in 2001)][ live primarily in ]Ioba Province
Ioba is one of the 45 provinces of Burkina Faso, located in its Sud-Ouest Region. In 2019 the population was 265,876. The capital of Ioba is Dano.
Departments
Ioba is divided into 8 departments:
* Dano
*Dissin
* Guéguéré
*Koper
* Niégo
* O ...
, but also in Poni, Bougouriba, Sissili
Sissili is one of the 45 provinces of Burkina Faso, located in its Centre-Ouest Region. In 2006 the population was 212,628 and in 2011 the population was 240,830, an increase of 13.3%.
Its capital is Léo.
Education
In 2011 the province had 194 p ...
, and Mouhoun provinces. In Ghana, several waves of internal migration, beginning with the start of colonial rule in the late 19th century (but possibly having been begun sooner) and spiking in the 1980s, have brought a sizable Dagaaba population to towns in the southern part of the nation, notably Brong Ahafo Region. In modern Ghana, the Dagaaba homeland of the Upper West Region
The Upper West Region of Ghana is located in the north-western corner of Ghana and is bordered by Upper East region to the east, Northern region to the south, and Burkina Faso to the west and north. The Upper West regional capital and largest set ...
includes the Districts
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
and towns of Nandom
Nandom is the capital town of the Nandom Municipal of the Upper West Region of Ghana.
Nandom town and the multiple villages that surround it to the north, south, east, and west are inhabited by Dagara people. The Dagara of the Nandom municipal a ...
, Lawra
Lawra is a small town and is the capital of Lawra district, a district in the Upper West Region of Ghana.[Lawra ...](_blank)
, Jirapa
Jirapa is the capital town of the Jirapa Municipal in the Upper West Region of Ghana.
Institutions
* The only girls' secondary school in the region, Saint Francis of Assisi Girls' Secondary School, is situated in the town.
* Jirapa Senior Seco ...
, Kaleo
Kaleo (stylized as KALEO) is an Icelandic blues rock band which formed in Mosfellsbær in 2012. It consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Jökull Júlíusson, drummer David Antonsson, bassist Daniel Kristjansson, lead guitarist Rubin Pollock ...
, Papu, Nadowli
Nadowli is a small town and is the capital of Nadowli district, a district in the Upper West Region of north Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea a ...
, Daffiama, Wechiau
Wechiau is a small town and is the capital of Wa West district, a district in the Upper West Region of north Ghana adjacent to the border with Burkina Faso.
Wechiau has a stretch of the Black Volta and this is the home to a wild population of Hi ...
and Hamile
Hamile is a village in the Jirapa/Lambussie district, a district in the far northwestern Upper West Region of north Ghana, close to the border with Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no ...
. Large communities are also found in the towns of Wa, Bogda
Bogda (german: Neuhof; hu, Rigósfürdő, until 1899 ''Bogdarigós'') is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Altringen ( hu, Kisrékas; sometimes Romanianized ''Răcășel''), Bogda, Buzad ( hu, Buzád), Charlotte ...
, Babile, Tuna
A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...
, Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
, Zambo, Ghana
Zambo, one of eight divisional group under the Lawra Traditional council, is a small town in the upper west region of Ghana. It is about north of Wa, Ghana the regional capital. Found under the Lawra Municipal, it and nearby Eremon both claim t ...
, and Nyoli.[A. B. Bodomo. Introduction, in A Dagaare-Cantonese-English Lexicon for Lexicographical Field Research Training (Afrikawissenschaftliche Lehrbücher vol. 14). Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, Cologne (2004). ]
History
The source of Dagaaba communities in the pre-colonial era remain a point of debate. The evidence of oral tradition is that the Dagaaba are an outgrowth of the Mole-Dagbani group which migrated to the semi-arid Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
region in the fourteenth century CE. They are believed to have further migrated to the lower northern part of the region in the seventeenth century. From well before the appearance of Europeans, the Dagaaba lived in small scale agricultural communities, not centralised into any large state-like structure. Ethnological studies point to oral literature which tells that the Dagaaba periodically, and ultimately successfully, resisted attempts at conquest by states in the south of modern Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
, as well as the Kingdoms of Dagbon
The Kingdom of Dagbon is one of the oldest and most organised traditional kingdoms in Ghana founded by the Dagomba people (Dagbamba) in the 11th century. During its rise, it comprised, at various points, the Northern Region (Ghana), Northern, Uppe ...
, Mamprugu
Mamprusis are an ethnic group in northern Ghana and Togo. Estimates are that there are about 200,000 Mamprusis living in the Northern Regions of Ghana as of 2013, They speak Mampruli, one of the Gur languages. In Ghana, the Mamprusis live mainly ...
and Gonja in the north. One thesis based on oral evidence is that the Dagaaba formed as a break away faction of Dagbon under Na Nyagse. The colonial borders, demarcated during the Scramble for Africa
The Scramble for Africa, also called the Partition of Africa, or Conquest of Africa, was the invasion, annexation, division, and colonisation of Africa, colonization of most of Africa by seven Western Europe, Western European powers during a ...
, placed them in northwestern Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
and southern Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...
, as well as small populations in Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
.
Extra-community relations
Dagaaba communities have occasionally come into conflict with neighbouring groups, especially over land rights, as recently as the 1980s with the Sisala people
Sisaala (''Sissala'') is a Gur languages, Gur language cluster spoken in northern Ghana near the town of Tumu, Ghana, TumuEdited by M.E.Kropp Dakubu, ''The Languages of Ghana'', Kegan Paul International, 1988. and in the neighbouring republic of ...
and at earlier times with the Wala people
The Wala or Waala live in Upper West Region of Ghana. They are a predominantly Muslim people who are the founders of the city of Wa and the Kingdom of Wala. They speak the Wali language, which belongs to the Gur group. There are 84,800 speakers ...
. The latter, in alliance with the Wassoulou Empire
The Wassoulou Empire, sometimes referred to as the Mandinka Empire, was a short-lived (1878–1898) empire of West Africa built from the conquests of Malinke ruler Samori Ture and destroyed by the French colonial army.
In 1864, Toucouleur ...
of Diola Samory Toure
Samory Toure ( – June 2, 1900), also known as Samori Toure, Samory Touré, or Almamy Samore Lafiya Toure, was a Muslim cleric, a military strategist, and the founder and leader of the Wassoulou Empire, an Islamic empire that was in present-day ...
, conquered much of Dagawie in the late 1890s, under the generalship of Sarankye Mori.
Some of the southernmost Dagaaba villages were in the early 1890s under the authority of the Kingdom of Wala {{No footnotes, date=October 2022
The Kingdom of Wala was a polity in what is today Ghana based around Wa. According to some traditions it had an imam as early as 1317.
In the early 1890s, Wala was largely west of the Kulpawn River. Its western bo ...
but then rebelled in 1894 and asserted their independence. They were however restored to the domains of the Wala Native Authority {{more sources, date=December 2019
The Wala Native Authority was a division of the British colony of Gold Coast established in 1933. It basically corresponded in its boundaries to those of the Kingdom of Wala {{No footnotes, date=October 2022
The Ki ...
by the British in 1933.
Society
Within the ''Dagawie'' homelands, the Dagaaba have traditionally formed sedentary agricultural communities. Modern Dagaaba lineages consist of ten clans encompassing over one million people.
Traditional politics
Traditional Dagaaba communities are based on the "Yir" subclan or household group, a series of which are clustered into the "Tengan", an earth deity shrine area. The Tengan system, a constellation of roles usually inherited within the same household group, is called the ''tendaalun''. The head of these shrine area systems, the ''tengan sob'' (sometimes ''tindana'') fulfilled the role of community elder and priest, along with the ''tengan dem'', the ritual custodian and maintainer of the ritual center. Other priestly/elder roles within the tendaalun include the ''suo sob'' who performs ritual animal slaughter to the earth deity, the ''zongmogre'' who performs rituals at the sacred market centres, and the ''gara dana'' or ''wie sob'' who is ritual leader among hunting societies. These remain living forms of community in much of Dagaaba society, and influence, among other things, the community perception of land as held in spiritual custodianship, and different community resources falling under the custodianship of different authorities, lineages, and/or spiritual forces.
Until the latter part of the nineteenth century when institutional chieftaincy evolved (and was later imposed by colonial administration), broader Dagaaba communities functioned under a system of councils of elders.
Some Dagaaba communities maintain traditional ceremonial chieftainships, sometimes contesting. As recently as 2006, the "Council of Elders" of the Dagaaba community of Ghana attempted to unite various factions with the appointment of Naa Franklin Suantah, Principal Librarian of the Saint Louis Training College of Kumasi
Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is the ...
as chief of the Dagaaba community in Ghana.
Culture
Dagaaba communities historically have practiced Traditional religions, as well as Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
.[ The Ghanaian Dagaaba have traditionally had a ]Cousinage
In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...
/Joking relationship
In anthropology, a joking relationship is a relationship between two people that involves a ritualised banter of teasing or mocking.
In Niger it is listed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Structure
Ana ...
with the Frafra (Gurunsi
Gurunsi or Grusi may refer to:
* Gurunsi people, a people of northern Ghana and south and central Burkina Faso
** Gurunsi languages
The Grũsi or Gurunsi languages, also known as the East Mabia languages,Bodomo, Adams. 2020.Mabia: Its Etymologic ...
) people. The Dagaaba, before the influence of the colonialist, were self-reliant in iron production and were very successful in mixed crops farming. They also developed sophisticated musical instruments including gyle (xylophones).
Economics
Communities in Dagaaba homelands remain primarily small scale agricultural, with family farming plots tilled by the family themselves. In the modern era, off-farm wage income is often used to supplement trade income and subsistence from farming. Fishing communities of Dagaaba persist along the Black Volta
The Black Volta or Mouhoun is a river that flows through Burkina Faso for approximately 1,352 km (840 mi) to the White Volta in Dagbon, Ghana, the upper end of Lake Volta. The source of the Black Volta is in the Cascades Region of Burki ...
, a de facto boundary of Dagaaba lands. Because the communities are found along historic coast-to-Sahel
The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...
trade routes, trade has long been an important occupation, but largely in local goods. Markets in larger towns are on Sundays, with others on a six-day cycle.[Emmanuel Yiridoe. Economic and Sociocultural Aspects of Cowrie Currency of the Dagaaba of Northwestern Ghana]
. Nordic Journal of African Studies 4(2): 17-32 (1995)
Some contemporary Dagaaba communities of northern Ghana are notable as the last West African communities to still use Cowrie shells
Cowrie or cowry () is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries.
The term ''porcelain'' derives from the old Italian term for the cowrie shell (''porcellana'') du ...
as currency, alongside the modern Ghanaian cedi
The cedi ( ) (currency sign: GH₵; currency code: GHS) is the unit of currency of Ghana. It is the fourth historical and only current legal tender in the Republic of Ghana. One cedi is divided into one hundred pesewas (Gp).
After independenc ...
. Cowrie are used not only for traditional ornamental and ceremonial purposes (as other West African communities do), but also as an inflation proof form of internal savings and as a safe medium to trade across national (and currency) boundaries which may divide Dagaaba communities.
Oral literature
Oral literature has a long tradition with Dagaaba communities, and remains a living vehicle of education and acculturation in Dagaaba society. There are two main types of literature in Dagaaba society. They can broadly be categorized as secular literature consisting of stories, tales, proverbs and other oral genre and the sacred literature produced during ritual and religious services. The most important of these are bagr mythical narratives recitations and orations produced during initiation rituals and other religious services.[Tengan Alexis, Mythical Narratives in Ritual: Dagara Black Bgar, 2006, Brussels: Peter Lang]
Religion
References
Constancio Nakuma. An Introduction to the Dagaare Language. on DagaareLinguists' HomePage
update as of 25 May 2003, retrieved 2009-02-12.
PanAfrican L10n wiki page on Dagaare
Interpreting Ceramics. Issue 10, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
22. ^ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambo,_Ghana
External links
compiled by Dr. Adams B. Bodomo, retrieved 2009-02-12.
University of Hong Kong, ISSN 1608-0661. Abstracts of 6 issues in 6 volumes, 2001–2006, retrieved 2009-02-12.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagaaba People
Ethnic groups in Burkina Faso
Ethnic groups in Ghana