“If you know all the languages of the world and you don’t know your mother tongue, or the language of your culture, that is enslavement.” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, a Kenya-based African humanist and historian.
‘Baushe kasan ciwon kan ka’ captures the advocacy I presented in this piece. It may be a brutal truth but has no intention to make it harmful. Above all, it aims for good.
If you want kill people’s culture and their memory, colonise their language. How often do we realise the power of language? Its ability to ‘colonise’ and ‘enslave’ or even use as a tool of dominating its native speakers? Language is powerful and on its ascending power a culture thrives and dominates ‘others’. Because of it’s ascendency, the Hausa language was in the 19th century a ‘colonising’ one and its culture (the Hausa culture) a so much exploitative. Yet, aside cultural fusion through exogamous marriages and assimilation, the proud of a Hausa man’s language and culture was in a sharp contrast! His pride has been sold out to cultures other than his own. Presently, new and emerging national and international Hausa-adopted “language-speaking professionals” (‘Hausanised Yoruba’, ‘Hausanised Nupe’, ‘Hausanised Igbo’, ‘Hausanised Chinese’, ‘Hausanised Germans’ etc) have, by exceptions, so much appropriated the Hausa man’s cultural prowess, social security benefits, the opportunities attached to his language proficiency etcetera! Why is Hausa man so alienated from all these?
The reason for this is simple, and it’s that the Hausa man’s attitudes and sense of purpose vary sharply with those of other cultures living in his sociocultural, religious and education spaces. Comparing Fulani with the Hausa, a British historian and colonial administrator, Samuel Johnston (1967: 17-26) describes the simplicity (otherwise means lacklustre) of the Hausa as people who compared to Fulani, “do not take life more seriously”, they do not cultivate (as the Fulani does) ‘a greater reverence for learning, neither do they possess ‘a highly developed powers of leadership.” They do not sense the cause which they adopt—have no singleness of purpose and lack superior faith in their own destiny—they “are tolerant and easy-going”. On the eyes of those derogatively referring to Hausa man as ‘Aboki’ (the ‘exploited’), ‘Adamu’ (a village slang disqualifying the ideal of a person’s real name), ‘Arha’ (‘cheap’), ‘Almajiri’ (‘street beggar’) etc., these last two sarcastic words: ‘tolerant’ and ‘easy-going’ is what form the Hausa exhibiting dullness! They’re nothing more than a sheer mockery.
Being the ‘exploited’, the beauty of his language has been laid-hold-of by those making the good fortune out of it—as well as making life better above his imposed-‘Almajiri’ image—a costly life unaffordable to his stigmatised-‘Arha’ identity! Many who learn and adapted his language as ‘non-native Hausa-speaking peoples’ have been prioritised in the consideration of an opportunity that is strictly a Hausa-required. So what? Of course, as a Hausa man, I can also learn and speak Chinese or German and work in China or Germany, right? Yes, because as advanced and sophisticated as these two countries are, they may not worry about a diasporic culture that lack the potentials to demand any reasonable attention. Yet, despite the fragility of a Nigerian presence in Europe, Canada or Americas, you hardly see a diasporic group bearing a ‘Nigerian identity’ that’s not a predominantly Yoruba-composition or a ‘Yoruba-led’; a predominantly Igbo-composition or an ‘Igbo-led.’ Not even in China where the presence of Hausa is most noticeable compared to other Asian or European nations could someone admit has ever seen or heard of a popular ‘Hausa diasporic group or association’ composed of predominantly Hausa people or for that matter, a mixture of Hausa and other groups but leads by Hausa man. Far from the mockery of ‘tolerance’ and ‘friendly’, this is the highest display of a Hausa man’s complete absent-mindedness.
Back home, what if, as a Hausa man, I could speak Igbo or Yoruba but still can’t go and work, own land/estate and operate my full B2B and B2C potentialities in Igbo-‘land’ or Yoruba-‘land’ in the same degree of hospitality the latter enjoy in Hausa-‘land’? The gist here is not to compose ethic mumbo-jumbo and claim a ‘Hausa ethnic champion.’ I am not a tribalist but I do not subscribe to cultural extinction. I believe it is the responsibility of myself, a Hausa man, to reawaken the Bahaushe sense of consciousness especially in a world where no one seems so much caring about another, where cultural inclusivity is shrinking; a world where tribal/ethnic nationalities, multi-cultural states and nation-states are re-asserting their collective territorial identity above everything. Thriving on the ruins of its cultural pride, Hausa language has become a tool of domestic exploitation and a weapon of foreign (specifically Chinese) economic and cultural expansionism. Distracted by the pride of being spoken widely across West and Central Africa, as well as in other countries of the World (China and Germany especially), the Hausa native speakers are increasingly being alienated from the social security benefits associated with the language. The language is widely accepted by many but the culture of Hausa man is unevenly rejected. He may find it difficult to secure a job that is strictly Hausa-required but a non-native Hausa speaker will not!
It is of greater concern that the human ingenuity of Hausa man has been stolen out of his language and cultural prowess! He was made an empty backward native Hausa cultural reservation—a void in the ocean of his language-absorbing cultural coherence—its societal economic, social and religious reach. The reason is clear, that the burst of a Hausa man’s language ‘colonising power’ has only reduced to promoting cultural fusion through inter-marriages. It does hardy exert any force within an existential space of human civilisation—eco-nomity— and eco-polity. The curious must be disturbed by the very obvious fact that the skills needed of a Hausa man to absorb his language potentialities and proficiency benefits, especially in places outside his culture where his aptitudes are needed beyond his marital obsession, are hugely missing.
The void is too wide that non-native Hausa-speaking peoples with more professional—ethical, entrepreneurial and leadership skills—could exploit as much as they could learn, speak and use the Hausa language to secure high-paying jobs in countries like China and in reputably well-tracked national and international NGOs. I worked temporarily in an organisation where a preferred Hausa native was in need to fill a required language gap. A friend, also a native Hausa man was indeed recommended for the opportunity, but it turns out he was denied because according to the HR: “we need a more ethically resembling candidate who speaks Hausa not necessarily a ‘native Hausa man”!
More like the only worshipping a Hausa man gratifies, the jollity of his marital culture, an attitude rooted in his legendary patriarchal masculinity—to marry and give birth—has exposed his physical, psychological and mental drains. He’s so much funny, busy exhibiting a soft lustre on the surface of an increasingly delicate social milieu! A gratuitous mental diversion has overtaken his most deserving societal attention. A clear sense of purpose as to what measures he could employ to manage procreation—guide family planning, adolescence, puberty—and enhance human growth potentials has remained outside his mental framework. Backhandedly, the pride of being a ‘such Hausa man’ expressed mostly in his proverbial “Ranar Hausa” is nothing more than sardonicism—a sheer mockery of a culture already in extinction—of a language already hijacked by “smartest friends” and of a civilisation hallucinated with ‘nativity’ and ‘dialect-ability’!
Time is however promising as this practice is currently facing an intensely fierce challenge by the twist of a ‘dominant culture’ and of course, by compelling search for unity among the still differing and most conflicting religious creeds. Both the religion and the culture of the Hausa man are presently becoming gradually opposed to excuses previously drawn from them to maintain the status quo.
The history of conquests and dominations show that so called ‘super humans’ dominate people not only by imposing their language on the ‘culture others’ but by pitching in their feet firmly and by strongly exerting their cultural dominance on the dominated. British did so by imposing English as both a language of instruction in schools and in public service. Ditto the French. Hausa cannot become British or French overnight, but the lessons are there for us to learn and make a wiser decision!
