320 Abibisika (Black Gold) Points

Rank: Unranked Newbie

The subject of the present study is the effect of Islam on the religious beliefs and practices of a Negro people. The group which was selected for this research consists of the inhabitants of Kano in Northern Nigeria with its surrounding rural districts. These folk constitute an important section of the Hausa-speaking peoples of the Central Sudan. The region chosen seemed to offer certain advantages for a study of the kind contemplated. There was a large amount of control of conditions of contact in the form of authentic historical records. Islamic influences had been at work a sufficient period for their effects to be judged; yet in the rural districts there remained a population which was still pagan and represented to a considerable degree the culture of the Hausa of this region prior to Moslem contact. In conformity with this situation, field studies were made both in Kano city, where Moslem influence had been most intense, and among the rural pagans. Of the eleven months devoted to field research (October 1938 to August 1939), five and one-half months were spent in Kano city, four months in the district of Gwarzo among the pagans of Jigawa and neighboring villages, and one and one-half months among a mixed Moslem and pagan population at ‘Dan Zabuwa in the district of Bichi.