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Food in the Domestic Economy of the Tallensi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

M. Fortes  and
S. L. Fortes
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Extract

The hinterland of the Gold Coast north of the 10th parallel N. Latitude is a land of sparse forestation lying within the Sudanese Zone. The continuous plains, the monotony of which is, in the dry season, broken only by scattered trees, occasional patches of low bush or a low range of hills, have been described as belonging to an ‘Orchard bush’ type of country. The Tale settlements occupy an area of some 200 square miles, immediately north of the White Volta river, and have a population density of over 170 to the square mile in the settled parts. Agriculture is the basic industry of the Tallensi and their neighbours, but their farms yield only a bare living to the majority of the populace. Unduly late rains or a visitation of locusts spells food deficiency bordering on famine for thousands.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , April 1936 , pp. 237 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1936

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References

page 237 note 1 See Cardinall, A. W., The Gold Coast 1931, Government printer, Accra, p. 6.Google Scholar

page 237 note 2 ‘The Sociological Study of Native Diet’, Africa, vii. 4.

page 237 note 3 In addition to our observations we have made use of statistical and other information from an unpublished report of Mr. C. W. Lynn, the Assistant Super intendent of Agriculture in the Zuarungu district, of which Tale land forms a part. We wish here to acknowledge our indebtedness to Mr. Lynn, not only for permission to use his report, but also for the direct assistance he gave us in our efforts to study Tale agriculture in the field.

page 238 note 1 Statistics quoted here and in subsequent paragraphs are derived from a sample of 40 compounds selected at random from a sociological census we made at Tongo.

page 239 note 1 Two gates are usual, three gates infrequent, and more than three gates found only in exceptional circumstances.

page 239 note 2 It is taboo for the head of a compound and his first-born son to continue to use a single entrance after the latter has married and founded a family, though this taboo is never enforced until the younger man's children approach adolescence. But few men live long enough to see their first-born sons make their own gate ways.

page 241 note 1 The two units of food economy in excess of the number of gateways represent pairs of full brothers who were economically independent of each other, but continued to occupy the same compound for kinship reasons. Four other units of food economy were in process of splitting up at the time the census was taken.

page 242 note 1 According to Mr. Lynn, who reports observations on 29 compounds in Zuarungu district, five being in Tale settlements. Four were somewhat larger and richer then the average Tale Compound, as they belonged to headmen or elders. Botanical names are taken from Mr. Lynn's report.

page 243 note 1 Rough calculations based on a survey of farms made for us by Mr. D. S. Commey. Mr. Lynn's records show that the Tale compound farms he measured vary from nearly 7 acres to under an acre; the average being 3·36 acres.

page 243 note 2 Mr. Lynn found bush farms to vary from about 5 to 10 acres in extent. How much bush farm is cultivated depends, of course, upon the number of men co operating and upon the food requirements of the unit, as well as upon the amount of saman they have.

page 244 note 1 Actually 50 per cent. (28 out of 58) units of food economy have two or more households.

page 246 note 1 A bull is usually reckoned as worth about 30s., a heifer £2, a sheep from 3s. to 6s., a goat from 2s. 6d. to 4s. Prices depend on the season, and the age and condition of the animal. A bull exchanges for about 40 large baskets of unthreshed grain, sheep, and goats in proportion.

page 247 note 1 We have seen elm-trees in toηbana (sacred groves) and in the bush (where of course, any one can pluck the leaves) but not as shade trees in front of compounds.

page 248 note 1 Mr. Lynn, op. cit. finds that 1 man supports 3·7 people on the average, on 2·03 acres of farmed land. In addition to the sources of error mentioned in the text, it should be noted that the simplicity of Tale agricultural technology makes it possible for quite small boys to be of occasional, if somewhat casual, assistance in the fields.

page 248 note 2 The Chief of Tongo slaughtered a cow for his wives and elders at the New Year (Daa) Festival in 1934, the only case of the kind we came across.

page 249 note 1 These fishing expeditions are described in a paper by M. Fortes, ‘Communal Fishing and Fishing Magic in the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast’, to be published in the J.R.A.I.

page 250 note 1 Guinea-fowls sell at 1½d. to 6d., chickens at 1d. to 9d. (depending upon size and the season).

page 252 note 1 Op. cit. Mr. Lynn records that in both 1930 and 1931 the harvest was bad owing to locusts and adverse rains. In 1934 the neighbouring areas were worse off than Tale-land.

page 253 note 1 The Tallensi have a lunar calendar, but we are following the European calendar to simplify the exposition. All dates given refer to 1934.

page 253 note 2 Ground-nut gleaning (nyeeh) is a regular pursuit of children, adolescents, and even adults of households with small supplies of ground-nuts. After the ground-nuts have been lifted any one may come and scratch with a hoe for those left in the ground. Thus little groups of boys and girls, from infancy to adolescence, wander about in the fields near their homes scratching with old hoes for the ground-nuts, which they collect and eat. Early in the dry season these ground-nuts are regarded as snacks. When the dry season reaches its end, however, they become scarcer but are searched for more eagerly as a measure to stop the pangs of hunger between one meal and the next, often twenty-four hours later.

page 253 note 3 Shea fruits are collected by the women throughout this season, mainly from trees on bush farms belonging to their compound. Dawa-dawa powder is more difficult to come by as the trees are jealously watched by the owners, who are in some areas the chiefs ex-officio and in others heads of lineages. Dawa-dawa pods are thus often obtained by gift, purchase, or exchange from the owners, or in the market. Every part of the fruit is of great value—the floury powder is eaten, the seeds collected and turned into kpolug, the husks of the pod used to prepare am, the liquid with which the walls and floors of compounds are waterproofed.

page 254 note 1 The following case-record will illustrate more vividly than explanations the state of affairs in May: Baripεta and his adolescent brother had dependent upon them their mother, the former's two wives, and one infant. Baripεta was known as one of the best young farmers in the settlement. His ortho-cousin, head of the compound, farmed independently. At the end of April Baripεta's supplies were so low that he had to purchase small quantities of grain and send his brother to a relative living in the richer Mampuru country to beg some grain. By May 9 the household was living on shèa fruit and vegetable soup, with a meal of porridge every third day, scraped together by the women. Baripεta obtained 2s. and sent his brother and senior wife to Mampurugu to buy grain, he himself being unable to abandon his fields just then. They returned (May 15) bringing about 60 lbs. of guinea-corn. After 2 days of complete starvation the household fed adequately though frugally for over a week. As he had to give some of the grain to the head of the compound, Baripεta was left with about 50 lb. of it. A small quantity dribbled away in gifts to other kinsfolk who came to ‘beg’. Thus the five adults and the infant used, say, 40 lb. of grain in about 8 to 10 days. Baripεta sent his brother to ‘greet’ their brother-in-law in the Nabte country and obtain some grain from him. Thus, alternately starving for a couple of days and having enough for a few days, the household carried on until the harvest in July. This case is typical of dozens; but many households were not reduced to such straits, especially those of heads of compounds or elders with large compound farms and several younger men assisting them.

Ground-uts are chewed all the year round, if available, to stave off hunger, but are never regarded as a substitute for porridge, the real food. But a family with a good ground-nut harvest never starves. There is always a sale for groundnuts, which figure as contributions in all funeral ceremonies when large groups of people gather and sit about for a whole day and chew them to keep off hunger.

page 255 note 1 People tend to hoard their ground-nuts until about June, when the price rises to 1s. a small basketful, as many require seed then. The proceeds are invested in grain. Grain prices at this time are about twice the average price of roughly ½d. a lb.

page 255 note 2 In June even those whose grain supplies have lasted well begin to feel the pinch. One reason for this is that a considerable amount of grain is expended in feeding and recompensing hired kpaarip (lit. hoe-men). These are Nankansi and Builsa who come to Tale-land to seek a few days' work, since their settlements are in a worse plight than those of the Tale. They insist on being paid in grain or ground-nuts which they can take home. As they have to be given flour-water (zomkuom) in the middle of the day and a good meal at night besides a calabash of 4 or 5 lb. of grain per day to carry home, they make considerable inroads on grain supplies. At this time of the year only those with grain to spare engage kpaarip, later even poorer men do so. It may mean economizing on one's own food at the time, but in this way, say the Tale farmers, one can get a large bush farm hoed or weeded expeditiously, and thus make up the grain expended twice over.

page 255 note 3 Early millet is a catch-crop and the Tallensi realize this. Its function is to tide over the period of waiting until the main crops of guinea-corn and late millet are harvested. Hence the necessity for a piece of compound farm if a unit is to be fully independent.

The Tallensi say that early millet normally lasts for two months, and our observations prove this to be the case. When the millet is brought in by the women, the heads are spread out to dry and sorted into two lots, the good heads (naarsomr) and the bad heads (naarbiet). The best of the former are selected for seed, threshed and stored in pots. This is the first task, as it is considered shameful to be without seed at planting time. The bad heads are eaten first, the good millet stored in the granary and eaten later. For a few days there is no restraint. Small children run about all day, nibbling at heads of millet which have been quickly roasted in hot embers. But as soon as the head of the unit of food economy has carried out the thanksgiving sacrifices which permit him, too, to eat of the new crop, he takes control.

page 256 note 1 The different settlements harvest at such different times corresponding to their times of planting that more than a month elapses between the beginning of the harvest at one end of Tale-land, and its conclusion at the other end. This gives rise to a system of reciprocities the effect of which is to cancel out the lag to some extent. People from the late-planting settlements visit their relatives in the early-planting settlements as soon as these begin to harvest and receive gifts of early millet from them. Women, especially, go thus to visit their parental homes, and no man would send his daughter or sister away empty-handed. Later, when the early-harvesting settlements begin to reach the end of their early millet stores, the process is reversed. The Tallensi never think of this in terms of economic interchange or reciprocal payments. They insist that A gives to B freely and without expectation of return because B is A's daughter. Later, when B's husband harvests his millet he will send some to A freely—because A is his father-in-law. It is significant that these mutual ‘good turns’ always occur between people of different settlements, not between patrilineal kin of the same settlement.

page 256 note 2 Soon after early millet has been brought in, the elders and others who have had a good crop begin to ‘invite hoemen’ (pooh kpaarip). An elder sends round to all the compounds of his section (a sub-division of a clan settlement) requesting the young men to come out and weed his farms, compound or bush, for him on the following day. As no one would be so ill-mannered or so negligent of a kinsman's duties as to refuse, some 20 or 30 young men turn out next day. The one who issued the invitation recompenses them with two meals, flour-water (zomkuom) at noon and a lavish cooked meal at night. Thus commences a round of collective weeding, as every farmer who can afford the 20 or 30 lb. of grain and the meat for feeding them in turn invites his kinsmen and neighbours to come and weed for him. Others have to hire foreign labour to the best of their capacity. The Tallensi account for this institution firstly on the ground that it is only by such a mass attack that the rapidly growing weeds can be kept under, and secondly on the ground that it relieves the strain of unremitting toil in the fields and increases the crops.

Gifts to relatives and feeding collective labour are a considerable strain on a man's granary at this time, though, in the long run, much of it comes back. Reliable informants told us that half of their total crop was expended thus, leaving them short of millet in September.

page 257 note 1 Early millet appears in some quantity in the market only at this time; but the prices are about twice the average price of grain. There is some aversion to selling early millet on account of its function in the food cycle.

page 257 note 2 Bakaa is not only used in cooking, but is also chewed with tobacco; hence, there is always a sale for it. The women collect the stalks from their husband's fields, but the bakaa is their own property.

page 257 note 3 With the guinea-corn harvest comes the season of plenty. The tempo of social life and the configuration of social interests changes as completely as the landscape and the climatic conditions. On the economic side attention is at first directed to the selection of seed for storage and the drying and stacking of the grain in the granaries. Women dry and store all kinds of vegetables, especially the much-valued ocro.

page 257 note 4 The ritual and social activities which dominate this season all require great expenditure of foodstuffs. Marriage involves a period of courtship, during which the suitor brings frequent gifts of guinea-fowls and tobacco to the girl's father and mother. A few days after marriage, the bridegroom sends a large basket of grain and several guinea-fowls to his mother-in-law, and finally has to supply several chickens and guinea-fowls for the legal formalities. The transfer of bride-wealth cattle does not affect the domestic economy materially. Altogether, a man is fortunate if his expenditure is not more than 15 to 20 birds, a block of tobacco (costing 1s. or more), a couple of baskets of grain, and a few shillings in money. The girl's family gains correspondingly.

page 257 note 5 The Harvest and New Year Festivals are celebrated in November. Fowls, guinea-fowls, sheep, goats, and dogs are slaughtered in profusion as sacrifices to ancestral and magical shrines. Beer (daam) made of malted grain is boiled, though in small quantities; much food is cooked to receive kinsfolk who call upon and greet each other. Recently married men send baskets of sweet potatoes, frafra potatoes, and yams to greet their parents-in-law. The Festivals last only a few days, but the tubers and animals are consumed over a period of some weeks.

page 258 note 1 In this period, too, are celebrated all those clan and family religious ceremonies in which animal sacrifices and cooked food and beer play a great part. Indeed, these rites are often postponed for several years until a sufficiently good harvest enables enough supplies to be accumulated. We have seen a cow, a donkey, about 15 sheep and goats, and a large number of fowls and guinea-fowls slaughtered at the funeral ceremonies for a very venerable elder. We were assured by his sons, who were responsible for these ceremonies, that they had used up the whole of a large supply of guinea-corn in the preparation of ritual beer and food and in providing hospitality for throngs of guests. At such a funeral the deceased's cognatic and affinal kin bring obligatory food-contributions of cooked porridge, sheep, goats, and birds. So great were these contributions at one funeral that two or three basketfuls of porridge had to be thrown away as it turned sour. Funerals are extreme cases of the lavish utilization of food at this time of the year; and only three or four big funerals take place in any settlement in one season. Most funerals require a much smaller expenditure of live stock and grain than that made at an elder's funeral.

This is not the place to discuss the types of ritual and ceremonial situations in which ‘things’ (bon)—the Tale concept which covers every type of property—are consumed. In a good season there will be a tremendous spate of them; in a poor season only urgent rites will be performed. A word, however, must be said about beer, the most important ritual substance apart from the animals and flour used in sacrifices. Beer is cooked (doɤ-) by women, malted grain (kpeya) of guinea-corn or millet being issued to them by the man at whose request it is made. In the average compound beer is never cooked except for ritual purposes which may be twice or thrice a year. Chiefs and headmen, who always have a surplus of grain often, and elders occasionally keep a supply of beer on hand for guests. Tale women never make beer for sale in the markets; indeed, any man would be horrified at the suggestion that his hard-won grain should be used in this way. The Tallensi are a sober people on the whole.

page 259 note 1 This month of plenitude marks the peak of the food cycle. Soon supplies diminish again; men who are setting up compounds of their own commence building operations; but almost every compound requires some repairs. House building and thatching are crafts in which a great many men have no skill. They therefore have to invite (pooh) neighbours or relatives who have the skill to carry out the repairs for them; and these have to be generously fed in recompense. A new house, again, is built co-operatively with the aid of kinsmen, relatives and friends, who also have to be generously fed.

With this further drain on his grain stores, the head of a unit of food economy has to go warily. Hence in spite of the ample and cheap grain available in the market, he begins to reduce the ration of grain he distributes to his dependants. In February the rationing gets stricter, for it is essential to keep a reserve against the first month of the rains ‘to strengthen one’ against the greater demands upon one's energy made by agricultural labour. They say this explains why those who can afford it buy grain for immediate consumption. Finally, just before the rains, supplies are sinking to the minimum which will be reached in the month preceeding the early millet harvest, with the usual effect of causing visits to neighbouring areas in search of grain to purchase.

The temporary migration of young men is more fully dealt with in a paper by Fortes, M., ‘Culture Contact as a Dynamic Process’, Africa, ix. 1, 1936.Google Scholar

page 259 note 2 We have, in the above table, emphasized the place of cereals in the cycle because they constitute the staple food of the Tallensi; and as we are concerned with the domestic economy of food, we have referred to the market only in order to bring out more clearly the fluctuations in domestic supplies. The market is a fundamental economic institution in Tale society, but we have space here only for a cursory comment on its function in relation to our main theme. Every kind of raw foodstuff, from grain to wild fruits and many varieties of cooked food can be purchased in the market. A visit to the market shows at once what the state of the domestic larder is; high prices indicate empty granaries, low prices, plentiful domestic supplies. The cooked food offered in the market illustrates the seasonal variation in supplementary diet very well. As soon as Bambara beans or frafra potatoes are lifted they appear, both raw and cooked, in the market. The food most commonly sold in the market is porridge (saɤabd), the staple cereal food; but other cereal and pulse confections can be bought there, many kinds being especially prepared for sale, and rarely, if ever, cooked for home consumption. Such are maasa—fried millet-cake, guor and kameha, both made of flour cow-pea. A number of women carry on a regular trade in these luxury foods and thus reap a steady income. Beer is always on sale in the Tale markets, manufactured and sold by a few regular women traders, all Nankansi as far as we know. Only in the markets have we seen intoxicated men; never at ritual gatherings. The market is also the main supplier of tobacco, which most mature men and many old women chew or smoke, but which only a minority are able to grow for themselves, and of kola nuts, imported from Ashanti by foreign traders, and universally chewed as a stimulant by men, women, and even older children. Curdled milk (bigbihir), a luxury food, is generally obtained there, too. The market represents the point of contact between the basic subsistence economy of the natives and the money economy which exists side by side with it.

page 261 note 1 A neat illustration of how cultural and psychological factors affect the food values and economy of the natives is shown in the exceptional care they devote to their tobacco patches. The same care expended on their farms would go a long way towards raising the subsistence level; yet recurrent food shortages have apparently not brought this home to them.

page 265 note 1 A Tale friend enquired what kind of food he would be given in our country, and when told that he would eat meat, fish, bread, and eggs, he exclaimed, ‘What, no porridge? I call that starvation.’

page 267 note 1 Neri (cucumis melo) when ripe is buried and covered with guinea-corn stalks and allowed to rot. The seeds are then extracted, dried, and stored for making soups.

page 267 note 2 The chief reason would seem to be the scarcity of water at certain times of the year, and the labour involved in carrying it, as well as the ingrained indifference of the Tallensi to cleanliness. Yet they take great pleasure in polishing their calabashes at the water-holes to make them yellow and shiny, and treat the new calabashes in a special way to attain the gloss. We have seen women carrying gravel home with them when visiting a neighbouring settlement some 4 miles away because their own clayey soil was not satisfactory for cleaning calabashes. We could not obtain an adequate explanation of this attitude from the women themselves, beyond that ‘they like it so’.