Fulani Pathways Pulaaku
Central to their life is their
code of behavior called
Pulaaku, which enables them
to maintain their identity
across boundaries and changes
of life style. Pulaaku has been described as ‘Fulaniness’ ,
decorum, good manners,
and pastoral chivalry. Pulaaku
involves important virtues
such as, munyal, which is
patience, self control, mental discipline, prudence;
semteende which is modesty
and respect for others, even for
enemies, and also hakkille, wisdom, forethought,
prudence in managing his
personal affairs and giving
hospitality. The Pullo, as the Fulani call
themselves, is trained to be
stoic, never to show his
feelings. He is disciplined,
thoughtful and proud but
respectful. He also tends tohave a deep emotional
attachment to cattle. It means
that one is a better person if
one is self-sufficient and relies
on few personal possessions
and comforts. Pulaaku implies that one can
manage onself well and also
that one can manage one’s
herd well. The Pullo or Fulbe
male sees his people as having
a priestly role to maintain the triangular relationships of
interdependence between
himself, his wife and family,
and his cattle. Indeed, many
Fulani groups give to their
cattle individual endearing names.His cattle give a man
milk and prestige, and is
treated like an extended
family rather than just an
economic asset. In return he gives them
pasture, water and protection.
The wife contributes food
preparation, dairy production
and fertility. Therefore the
man has both skill as a herder but also wisdom and character
to fulfill his responsibility. To appreciate the moral
principles governing the Fulani
life, one must have a deep
understanding of the notion of
Pulaaku or Fulaniness. Pulaaku
along with their cattle, language and religion, is the
basis of their extreme pride or
dimmaaku/dimaanku. As
Riesman (1977:128) say,
Pulaaku is an exact structural
equivalent of the English word chivalry and, like it,
designates at once certain
moral qualities and a group of
men possessing these
qualities. It is both the
appropriate code of Fulve behavior and simultaneously
refers to the group of men who
embody it. The dominant traits of Laawol
Pulaaku or the Fulani way are munyal, hakkiilo, semteende,
sagata and an intimate understanding of both the
Fulfulde language and people.
Munyal is a cross between
strength and courage in
adversity and a stoic
acceptance or endurance of the supposedly pre-ordained
vicissitudes of life. It is often
translated as patience.
The word hakkiilo (hakkille)
(intelligence or common sense)
conveys a blending of prudence and shrewdness in
livelihood management and
face to face encounters.
Semteende (shame) is best
described both as a lacking of
restraint (gacce/yaage) and self-control in daily social
interaction, and evidencing a
weakness when facing
adversity (Riesman 1974). It is
most often translated as
shame. The French term pudeur or informed sense of decency
is closer to the mark. In
essence it represents any
revelation of weakness or non-
conformity to the code of
pulaaku. When someone acts shamefully Fulve say o sempti
meaning they shamed
themselves, or alternatively, o
alaa semteende (o ala gacce)
meaning they have no shame.
In other words a pullo must know of the social constraints
on behavior and be able to
avoid contravening them in all
situations, especially in front
of his in-laws. But not having
semteende a pullo would escape from social constraints.
A true pullo is in total control
of his emotions and impulses
(Kirk-Green, 1986).
Semteende, is also a lack of
pulaaku (or even a fear of lacking it) is the motivating
force for the Fulani to behave
as Fulani. Without cattle it is
difficult to exhibit pulaaku and
if one has no longer any cattle
then one has probably not acted as a pullo. In pre-colonial
times, loss of cattle was
shameful. It implied that one
was not man enough to defend
his herd and by implication,
not brave enough to get some back. These days the shame is
attached to inadequate
shepherding ability in the face
of a degrading environment.
Sagata means brave in the
senses of both courage of a warrior and hard work of any
person. It is often used to
congratulate someone for their
valor and accomplishments. More often, Pulaaku is
characterized by the taste or
ndaku for cows and an
intimate knowledge of cattle
husbandry, self-control over
physical needs and impulses, and the choice of stimulation
over comfort. One must not
express any discomfort in
public, whether it be a pain,
physical or moral (such as
grief), or a need (like hunger, thirst). Of course one does not
enact pulaaku all day, but for
limited periods of public
interaction. Thus as Riesman
(1975:45-47) maintains, there
are formal and informal aspects of life and behavior
and these are not always easy
to differentiate. Pulaaku, must be passed on by
each generation as high moral
values of Fulve otherwise it
will disappear, which it seems
to be when herds are lost and
clans break up to seek for work in the settled society. It
is taught by any Rimve
relative, or perhaps by his
parents and also by mawdo
laawol pulaaku, a leader of his
clan. To be a true Fulani, and described by terms such as O
waadi, or banti, or teendru
Pulaaku, means he not only
speaks the language but
knows how to live as a Fulani. The Fulani pathways (Laawol
Fulve): · Munyal = patience, self control, discipline
· Gacce/ Semteende = modesty, respect
· Hakkille = wisdom, forethought, managing it’s
own
· Sagata /Tiinaade= courage, hard work Adapted from : Weekley, Paul,
University of Western Sydney
(…Among the Fulbe Jelgobe of
Northern Burkina Faso, thesis)
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Laawol Fulbe 