1997
175 pp.
6 maps, 73 illustrations
Text language: English
The present volume has been dedicated to the memory of Wilhelm Seidensticker (1938–1996). It contains five contributions by Nigerian and German scholars on the history of language and culture of the Guddiri region in Northeastern Nigeria. Being situated between the powerful Hausa city states westwards and the kingdom of Borno eastwards, the Guddiri region functions as a sort of buffer zone and has been exposed to frequent changes in prevailing economical and social circumstances during the last centuries.
The linguistic and cultural changes are examined on the basis of three different kinds of sources: Firstly, linguistic sources are taken into account, among them ancient word lists which have been discovered only recently. Another source material is oral traditions which were recorded by civil servants of the colonies at the beginning of the century. And finally, the well-known rock paintings found in the regions of Bauchi, Birnin Kudu, Shira and Uba in Northeastern Nigeria serve as the third kind of source material for this study.
CONTENTS
Norbert Cyffer: In Memoriam Wilhelm Seidensticker (1938–1996)
Ahmad Tela Baba: Lexicographical Approach to the History of Language Movement in the Guddiri Hausa Speaking Area
Michael Broß: Some Remarks on the History of the Extinct Languages Auyo, Shira and Teshena
Wilhelm Seidensticker: The Rock Paintings and Rock Gongs of Shira
Hajara Njidda: TA GHENCIDU – Study of Marghi Rock Paintings
Christopher Yusuf Mtaku: The Rock Paintings of Birnin Kudu, Geji, and Bauchi
Bibliography
Under these links you will find publications by Wilhelm Seidensticker and by the contributors, as well as further studies of rock art research in Africa:
