Language, power and society: orality and literacy in the Horn of Africa

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Language, power and society: orality and literacy in the Horn of Africa

 

Gubo – Somali-Galbeed poetry and the aftermath of the Dervish wars*

Cedric Barnes†

 

†CEDRIC BARNES can be contacted Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, London WC1H 0XG. Email: cb26@soas.ac.uk.

 

(Clan names have been altered in order to comply with the forum rules)

 

*This article is the result of a period of fieldwork funded by the British Academy Small Research Grant, during a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellowship. I would like to thank Abdikarim Mohamed who assisted me during fieldwork (as well as many other Somali friends and interviewees in Somali Region 5, Ethiopia, April–June 2002) especially Farah Dhamel Daahir Hussein, ‘Doodaan’, and Ahmed Sheikh Abul Rahman ‘Shino’, also to Mr Ahmed Abdi Magan for follow-up work in London, and to Dr Martin Orwin who has helped greatly with advice, contacts, and especially Somali language instruction in the preparation of this article. In this article I will use ‘Somali-Galbeed’ to describe the (D) clans, ‘Somali-Galbeed’ to refer to the region that the Somali-Galbeed clans inhabit in the southeast of Ethiopia (now known as Region 5).

Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

 

Abstract

 

The paper asks how Somalis perceived their ‘national’ identity in relation to clan-based society in the context of European colonial and Ethiopian imperial domination in the first half of the twentieth century. The paper uses Somali oral poetry as historical source since poetry is widely acknowledged as the most profound expression of cultural and political discourse in (northern) Somali society. This paper argues that one of the most famous and enduring examples of ‘classical’ Somali poetry – a series of linked poems known as Gubo – sheds light on an important but neglected period of Somali history, the aftermath of the Dervish wars. The Gubo poems map the experience of three clans who are situated along the eastern Ethiopian border with the colonial Somali-lands during the period in which the Ethiopian and the colonial administrations (British and Italian) pacified Somali resistance and demarcated the borders between their Somali-inhabited territories (circa 1920–1950). The poems also form a link between the poetic discourse of the Dervish leader, proto-nationalist and famed poet Sayyid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan, and the first modern Somali nationalists. The Gubo poems comment on two issues that continue to preoccupy Somali politics and history today, namely the division of the Somali peoples into different ‘national’ territories, and the primacy of ‘clan’ in Somali political life.

 

 

Dhagaxa meel dhow buu ku dhacaa hadalna meel fog

A stone falls near while words fall very far (away)—Somali proverb

 

1. Introduction

 

The nineteenth century explorer and polyglot Sir Richard Burton described the Somali speaking lands as a country that “teems with ‘poets, poetasters, poetitos, poetaccios’†(Burton 1856/1987: 82). The ubiquity of poetry in Somalia, has led many scholars to employ Somali poetry as a mirror and source of ‘national’ culture and history. Said Samatar's study of Sayyid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan's religiously inspired proto-nationalist struggle against British, Italian and Ethiopian imperialism, used the Sayyid's poetry as an internal Somali riposte to history written by outsiders (Said 1982), as to a lesser extent have Cassanelli (1982), Abdi Sheikh Abdi (1993) and Jama Mohamed (2002). B.W. Andrzejewski and I.M. Lewis, (1964), John William Johnson (1974), Yaasin Cali Keenadiid (1984), Francesco Antinucci and Axmed Faarax ‘Idaajaa’ (1986) have also presented Somali poems in the context of Somali history, but without the direct and systematic utilisation of poetry as oral history that informs Said's work. There is also much Somali language literature on Somali poetry, for example Aw Jaamac Cumar Ciise produced two invaluable Somali language volumes of Sayyid Maxamed's history and poetry (Jaamac 1974; 1976).1

 

Somali poetry and Somali history have been closely linked, not least because Somali poetry reflects the contemporary events and processes of the era in which it is composed. Its composers are the ‘traditional intellectuals’ with the knowledge and insight necessary to ‘sniff the air’ and formulate coherent narratives of the ‘raw events of the real world’ (Ali 1996). Moreover not only do the poems often present a record of historical moments or processes, they also give an idea of the intellectual discourse surrounding those events, often in the form of poetic replies to a seminal poem and its author. Several authors have noted the importance of poetic replies forming ‘chains’ of poems or silsilad that reflect the political events on the ground in oral discourse. Said Samatar has noted the Hurgumo chain of poems arising from the political competition between D clans and dissatisfaction in the aftermath of the failed Somali-Galbeed war (between Ethiopia and Somalia) of 1977–8, famine and the increasing dictatorial tendencies of the Siyaad Barre regime (Said 1989). Ali has noted two other series of politically motivated poetic duels, the Siinley and Deeley chains (Ali 1996: 14) and describes how official and dissenting discourses found modern mediums of dissemination via radio and cassettes (ibid.; Abdi 1981). At a more local level Mohamed Abdillah Rirash has noted the centrality of poetry in the day-to-day cut and thrust of pastoral life (Mohamed AR 1992), and Ahmed Yusuf Farah has noted the use of poetry in wrangles over ‘relief aid’ in modern Somali refugee camps (Ahmed 1996).

 

As a source of history poetic chains are valuable since they bring forth alternating Somali voices giving differing perspectives on certain events and processes; though admittedly the poems are often difficult to translate and peppered with extremely obscure localised and ‘internal’ references. Yet, with the exception of the Sayyid's poetry, poetic historical discourse has been relatively under-researched and has not been systematically utilised as a source for specific periods and problems in Somali history. This I argue is a great oversight. Indeed one of the most famous and enduring examples of ‘classical’ Somali poetry and of the poetic chains alluded to above – the Gubo series – sheds light on an important but neglected period of northern Somali history.

 

The Gubo poems arose directly from the aftermath of the Sayyid's struggle against ‘Christian’ imperialism in the Somali-lands, and the intensity and complexity of the Gubo series, as well the oral history that the poems prompt, suggests a period of immense upheaval, trauma and change. The series is especially important since it almost exactly bridges the gap between the pre- or proto- nationalist resistance of the Sayyid, and the early modern Somali nationalists. The aftermath of the Sayyid's revolt is ignored by most writers; even I. M. Lewis writes that from the early nineteen-twenties ‘the next few years there is little of note to record, until 1935 when the Italian border dispute with Ethiopia at Wal Wal provided the opportunity of launching their conquest of Ethiopia’ (Andrzejewski and Lewis 1964: 14). Indeed rather than following the fortunes of the Somali populations directly affected by the Sayyid's revolt and defeat, most writers subsume the aftermath of the Sayyid's struggle into the narrative of the imposed border between Ethiopia and Somalia that came to have great significance to the post-war nationalists; a classic top-down history that tends to deny any agency to Somalis involved and that is further obscured by nationalist rhetoric (Barnes 2004).

However the historical discourse of Gubo has continued to have importance to a significant population of Somalis transcending the era (circa 1920–1950) in which it was composed. Contemporary Somali-Galbeed individuals stress the continuing strength and relevance of the words in the Gubo series, and how lines are often quoted in relation to recent events (Fieldnotes 2002). Indeed in a recent political communiqué from the autonomous region of Puntland, the Deputy Information Minister of Puntland warning of the consequences of Somaliland interference in the factional conflict in Puntland, declared ‘If you set your neighbour's house on fire, it is likely that your house will also burn’, a line resonant of the famous lines by the Somali-Galbeed poet Qaman Bulhan which gave the Gubo series its name.2

Gubo has much to recommend it as oral history since the poems are classed in a category Martin Orwin has described as a ‘definitive text’. There are various linguistic and stylistic qualities that Orwin has identified that make texts ‘technically’ definitive (Orwin 2003), but ‘traditionally’ the genre of poetry to which Gubo belongs is also held to be ‘definitive’, that is to say it cannot be altered, it must be recited verbatim, and its composer is always credited. The great linguist of the Somali languages, B. W. Andrzejewski, has likened this tradition to an ‘un-written copyright’ (Andrzejewski 1988:2). It is also noteworthy that (contrary to methodological problems with other forms of oral history) since the poetic texts are acknowledged as ‘definitive’, their transcription into writing (although not so much their translation into other languages) is relatively unproblematic. The Gubo series therefore, makes up a series of ‘definitive texts’ largely unaltered since the time of their composition (but see Andrzejewski 1988 on Yaasin 1984), and given their social and political themes they are an invaluable and illuminating source of history. As B.W. Andrzejewski and Musa Galaal noted in the 1960s ‘Poetry which illustrates [a conscious and articulate appreciation of old values], and at the same time set out actual historical events naming men, places, battles and pacts, is a cultural treasure of priceless value to the future Somali scholar’ (Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 205).

 

2. Context

 

The Gubo series is, at least in part, a series of claims and counterclaims about gain and loss of resources – herds, people, territory (grazing and wells) and not least ‘honour’ – in the historical twilight between statelessness and statehood (in colonial form). The poems appear to internalise and mirror the process of ‘externally imposed’ demarcation of the international border between colonial British and Italian Somali-lands and the Ethiopian Empire which formally divided Somali populations into different ‘administrations’; a long drawn out project and process beginning with the defeat of the Sayyid and continuing until the ‘Wal Wal’ incident in 1935 and never fully ratified at independence. The received account has always dwelt on the ‘alien imposition of the borders’ and the ‘nationalist reaction’ especially in the 1950s (Drysdale 1964: 74–87; Lewis 2002: 148–153). However the Gubo series shows that although externally imposed, borders and demarcation also reflected and fuelled a pre-existing internal power struggle over leadership, territory, and Islamic and ‘clan’ morality between Somali clans. The roots of this complex struggle lay in the internal dynamics of the Dervish wars and reflected the ‘moral geography’3 of Somali clans as well as the political economy of imperialism in Northeast Africa.

 

Undoubtedly Gubo is a continuing discourse on the legacy of the Sayyid and his struggle; the Gubo chain is linked to the last poem of the Sayyid known as Dardaaran ‘a farewell’ or ‘parting words of wisdom’ (Mursaal et al 2000). The continuation of some of the Sayyid's preoccupations and prejudices in Gubo is further evidence that the Sayyid's revolt was not only motivated by resistance to colonial rule under an Islamist banner, but was also intertwined with the ‘deep politics’ (Lonsdale 2000) of Somali ‘moral economy’. Furthermore there is the question of the clan ownership of these poems, the Somali-Galbeed clans certainly feel them to be heroic poems, but the other clans involved in the series, the Isxaaq and D-hulbahante, will bring their own interpretation. Like grazing and wells, these poems seem to be common property appropriated temporarily by clans at certain times, but ultimately a shared inheritance. However it seems, like territory and wells, they have become increasingly ‘enclosed’ by clan exclusivity.

 

In the first published extracts from the Gubo series B. W. Andrzejewski and Musa Galaal (1963) – whose polished translations I have used over my rougher ‘field’ versions – concluded that Gubo represented a war of words in the interests of the preservation of the honour of clans without recourse to arms, possibly ‘peace poems’. However contemporary Somali-Galbeed informants saw Gubo as evidence of their own clan's tragedy and resolve, the sheer duplicity of other clans, but also an ultimate Somali-Galbeed ‘victory’, decidedly ‘war poems’ (Fieldnotes 2002). During an interview in London a prominent exiled Somali-Galbeed nationalist gave the impression that Gubo was an example of quintessential ‘Somali-Galbeed-ness’, a moral ethnicity of sorts that represents a fidelity to the true idea of ‘Somaliness’.

 

Another theory is that Gubo is largely concerned with the frustrated leadership ambitions of one of its several authors, Ali Duuh, and an elusive D unity. There are many other possible readings.

 

3. A possible Somali-Galbeed reading

 

The Somali-Galbeed region, a triangular swathe of territory located on the eastern periphery of the modern Ethiopian state, is inhabited by a significant percentage of the Somali speaking population of Northeast Africa. From the outset of imperial expansion in Northeast Africa, the Ethiopian empire and British and Italian colonial territories claimed ownership of the Somali-Galbeed, a dispute that culminated in the Wal Wal incident of late 1935 and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. From the early nineteen-forties Somali nationalists, initially egged on by British Military Administration, also claimed Somali-Galbeed territory as integral to the future independent state of Somalia. The pan-Somali unification project made the Somali-Galbeed a keystone of the Somali nationalist struggle especially after Siyaad Barre's military coup in 1969.

 

The claims to the Somali-Galbeed region were encouraged by another development of the 1969 coup, the increasing institutional lionisation of Sayyid Maxamad Cabdille Xasan as the epitome of Somali nationalism. The Sayyid's paternal Somali-Galbeed lineage and his association with the Somali-Galbeed region brought the region firmly into the nationalist historical account of the antecedents of the Somali state (Laitin 1979; Said 1982; Lewis 1989). Indeed the literary scholar Ali Jimale Ahmed has stressed how from the nineteen-fifties onwards, and especially during Siyaad Barre's regime after the 1969 coup, there was a ‘Dervish-isation’ of Somali state historiography that concentrated on the Sayyid's ‘nationalist’ resistance against foreigners and collaborators. ‘Dervishisation’ appealed to Somali-Galbeed nationalists to identify with the Somali state and made the historical Isxaaq resistance against the Sayyid seem unpatriotic (and thus made the modern northern regional struggle led by the Isxaaq against Siyaad Barre during the nineteen-eighties seem yet more unreasonable). However this discourse of national resistance neglected the history of defeat and division in the aftermath of the Sayyid's struggle. Open debate surrounding the Sayyid and his legacy was stifled, and then engulfed by the civil and political crisis in Somalia of the last decade (Ali 1995).

 

This paper argues that the true relationship between the Sayyid, the aftermath of the Dervish wars, the Somali-Galbeed clans and Somali nationalist discourse has been overlooked, or at least oversimplified. Indeed if we turn again to poetry as a historical source, one of the themes of the Gubo series is the destruction, destitution and demeaning of the powerful and prestigious Somali-Galbeed clans as an indirect result of the defeat of the Sayyid – a long forgotten reading (but see Andrzejewski and Musa 1963; Kakwenzire 1976). British Foreign Office records6 compiled by diplomats in Addis Ababa and consuls nearer to the scene, leave fragments of contemporary evidence that also support the thesis that the Somali-Galbeed suffered very badly after the Dervish movement ended, mostly at the hands of the British-armed Isxaaq clans from the then British Somaliland Protectorate. To be sure the Sayyid's resistance and the Ethiopian, British and Italian ‘pacification’ campaigns (which lasted on and off for twenty years) had left many of the clans involved (that is most of the northern half of Somalia) exhausted and impoverished. However of the three important clan families involved, the Isxaaq, D-hulbahante and Somali-Galbeed, the latter by their close identification with the Sayyid's paternal clan suffered the greatest losses in the immediate aftermath. The Somali-Galbeed clans were arguably the most seriously affected since they had borne the brunt of British and Ethiopian campaigns waged against the Dervish, but also suffering the deprivations of the Dervish forces themselves when Somali-Galbeed clan support for the Sayyid faltered. Moreover when the British armed auxiliary ‘British Protected’ Isxaaq clans in the final push against the Dervish, the Somali-Galbeed lost herds, wells and people, as the war against the Dervish became a struggle for ascendance in the post-Dervish political order. In this end game the Isxaaq objective became control of the well points adjacent to the important Somali-Galbeed wet season grazing areas such as the Hawd and Ammud (located on the modern Ethiopian border with Somalia).

 

The Hawd and Ammud grazing areas were originally claimed as part of the British and Italian colonial territories. However it was only the British and Italian treaties with clans under their jurisdiction that supported claims over the Hawd and Ammud and not ‘effective occupation’. In the British case the Hawd region was formally ceded to Ethiopia in 1897, an act that many writers interpret as careless at best and as a betrayal at worst (Drysdale 1964: 74–87; Lewis 2002: 148–153); Italian claims were still pending on the eve of Wal Wal. Historically Isxaaq, D-hulbahante and Somali-Galbeed all used the Hawd and Ammud regions, but as a rainy season grazing area it could not support permanent populations in the dry season. However a fact that is hardly admitted in relation to the Hawd and Ammud regions is that the economic and demographic change of the colonial experience in Somaliland (and Italian Somalia) – despite the notorious underdevelopment – was far greater than the change prompted by ‘predatory’ Ethiopian rule in the Somali-Galbeed (so often blamed for the instability in the Somali-Galbeed region). Simply put, by the end of the Dervish wars, Pax Britannica even in its most shaky form, had the net effect of making the Hawd and Ammud regions, and especially the wells that served them, more acutely needed by British Somaliland clans than they had been at the end of the nineteenth century by virtue of demographic and herd expansion, the impact of firearms, trade, and changing land use (e.g. the increase in agriculture). Moreover as territorial sovereignty and administration expanded – including the appointment of government ‘chiefs’ and ‘agents’ – the ownership and increasingly the ‘nationality’ of this resource was accentuated and subject to dispute. Exclusive claims to resources made traditional clan rivalry rather sharper than it had been historically, and this fact is not well charted in the secondary literature, but quite explicitly noted in the Gubo series.

 

4. The poems

 

The first poem of the Gubo series Andrzejewski and Musa term as ‘Ali Duuh's lament’ but modern day Somali-Galbeed know as ‘the Somali-Galbeed [are] fools’, Doqonkii Somali-Galbeed ahaa. It is primarily a pointed commentary on the Somali-Galbeed clans who as a result of the final campaigns against the Sayyid's forces had lost wells, territory and camel wealth to the Isxaaq whose clans had acted as auxiliaries to the British forces and had crossed the border taking possession of the Hawd and Ammud wells (circa 1917–21). The period is still known by Somali-Galbeed as Reyd8 referring to the Daahyaale raids (Fieldnotes 2002, Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 23). The composer, Ali Duuh was a poet from the D-hulbahante – the Sayyid's maternal clan – who were supporters of the Dervish but who finally turned against his leadership. The poem arose while Ali Duuh was watering his camels at an Somali-Galbeed well that was now in possession of an Isxaaq clan. Ali's poem was innocently addressed to his favourite camel, but overheard, it is said, by Isxaaq tea-shop owners, who had set up at the well (Fieldnotes 2002) and who demanded to hear it in full.

 

The poem started:

 

Doollo has been taken from the Somali-Galbeed, the fools

If they want to encamp in Dannood and ‘Iid, they are forbidden

Other men rule their country, and their two regions […]

(transl. Andrzejewski and Musa 1963:21)

 

From a historical point of view Ali Duuh's poem explicitly detailed the large gains in traditionally Somali-Galbeed territory and wells, and the looting of Somali-Galbeed camels by the Isxaaq. Ali Duuh's verse not only notes the territorial expansion of the Isxaaq, but also the commercial expansion of Isxaaq as ‘tea-shop’ owners and hawkers (established at well centres), activities that were anathema to pastoral Somali traditionalists (Fieldnotes 2002): ‘Nowadays, in the grazing region of Gaafow [‘tea’] shops are set up’ (Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 22).

 

Ali Duuh's poem goes on to detail the scattering of Somali-Galbeed clans, their forced migration southwards seeking refuge in feverish river valleys, and even their resort to hunting and farming – measures that were again considered very shameful, usually only undertaken by slaves or low-caste Somalis – and utterly demeaning for the once great noble and pastoral Somali-Galbeed clan:

They would not have migrated to a place where plague attacks them

They would not eat barley and millet in the Haarweyne region

[and later] they cultivate the fields, because of their extreme poverty

(Andrzejewski and Musa 1963:23)

 

The Somali-Galbeed, Ali recounts, have been forced to accept refuge with the Isxaaq clans that defeated them and cannot take revenge. The Isxaaq are portrayed as particular callous and shameful in the way they parade looted Somali-Galbeed camels in front of their previous owners.

 

The sweet smell of ‘beastings’9 spreads around and yet you have to hunt (wild game)

The beautiful camels are not far away and they are your camels

Bearing your crescent marks and (your ear) incision marks on the left side

Grunting and lowing they have been brought near you (by the Isxaaq)

(Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 23).

 

Even in prosaic translation it is a very evocative poem. This poem prompted a series of replies that continued for a generation, involving twelve separate poets and twenty different poems.

The first reply to Ali Duuh came from the famous Somali-Galbeed poet Qaman Bulhan, and is a withering reply to Ali Duuh's poem. He accuses Ali Duuh of stirring up bitterness amongst the Somali-Galbeed, and opening old wounds. Qaman also coins the phrase from which the series gets it name, gubo: Dab baad ololisaa / Ku ma na gubo

‘kindling a slow fire that will not burn you’ (although a fire that might yet engulf the igniter).

 

You always kindle fire by which you are not burnt yourself,

And setting ablaze a heavy log, you know how to incite people against each other;

But maybe the encampment, all in smoke (and flames) will burn the homestead in

which you yourself dwell

(Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 95)

 

Qaman goes on to stress the hypocrisy of Ali Duuh, and suggests that the Isxaaq only prevailed because of previous D-hulbahante attacks on the Somali-Galbeed, belittling the Isxaaq victory. Qaman carries on in this vein, declaring that the Somali-Galbeed and Isxaaq live peacefully together – implying a relationship of equals, not victor and vanquished – and that they now enjoy good relations strengthened through inter-clan marriage and offspring. Qaman however belittles the Isxaaq achievements still further by emphasising their ignoble activities as tradesmen and the employees of the British. Therefore without directly addressing the Isxaaq clans, and attacking instead the D-hulbahante, Qaman does his best to play down the Isxaaq achievements, noting their inferior lineage and particularly their reliance on the white-man.

 

With such insinuations against their clan the Isxaaq poets Maxamad Fiin and Salaan Arrabey join the fray. Salaan's poem (coming after several other poets' responses) refutes the claim that the D-hulbahante ‘softened up’ the Somali-Galbeed for the Isxaaq, and notes that the D-hulbahante were beaten by the Isxaaq in similar fashion. However he also proudly admits to Isxaaq occupation of the great swathes of Somali-Galbeed territory and wells, and candidly admits that the British Protectorate officials ‘on the ground’ condoned the Isxaaq gains. Salaan talks frankly about the war parties, the attack on specific Somali-Galbeed clans such as the Rer Haroun and Rer Ali. But he also notes the kind treatment of Somali-Galbeed girls given to the Isxaaq as brides.

 

It was the Hab-ar Yoo-nis (Isxaaq) who took possession of the watering ponds of ‘Iid.

Now they have put their encampments in Hundo and by the ponds of Faaf.

It has been reported even to Himid [a British officer?] that there was a concentration of encampments, in warlike preparation, in Hutuuti;

The reason why the Reer Ammaadin retreated headlong to the river was that they ran away in fear;

They entered the Shabeele river, they abandoned the plains.

The Reer Jeeraar were completely defeated by repeated attacks.

The haughty and proud men have now been licked

We are using to the full the riches of Burqo and the bounty of Eelfuud

Only the Rer Dalal are beyond the reach of enemy penetration and the ravages wrought upon the D.

Now (the ***** invaders) show consideration on account of the girls who have been given to them in marriage.

One should not be lenient in harming the enemy who has been hamstrung

From here to Hiraan (the invaders) took possession of everything, leaving nothing behind on the dish.

(Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 192)

 

Even such a cursory examination of a few poems of this long series demonstrates the local intra-clan discourse in the aftermath of the Sayyid's perceived ‘proto-nationalist’ struggle, exposing all kind of hidden segmentary narratives and ‘moral economies’. Andrzejewski and Musa in their excellent translations briefly commented on the meaning of the poems and generally conclude that the poems act as a kind of proxy combat between clans enabling a kind of post-war reconstruction of honour and material wealth, suggesting that they are peace poems and state:

no fresh fighting started as a result of this poetic exchange, which continued for some years and in which other poets took part. It is reasonable to assume that there was an element of ‘letting off steam’ in the exchange, and everyone was able to bolster up, if not the prestige of his clan among others, at least its self esteem

(Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 203–204).

 

However some present day Somali-Galbeed individuals consider this reading of the Gubo series to be disingenuous, and indeed from later poems the above interpretation would seem historically inaccurate. Somali-Galbeed elders stress that Qaman Bulhan's poem as evidence of how ‘thick’ the Isxaaq were with the British, and the implications of this alliance for the subsequent history of the Isxaaq and Somali-Galbeed. Somali-Galbeed elders also imply that the instability that marked the Ethiopian–Somaliland border for the next twenty years (a favourite topic of the secondary literature) was the aftermath of total Somali-Galbeed defeat by British armed Isxaaq, but followed, over a generation, by deliberate Somali-Galbeed re-conquest and revenge to regain their pre-eminence in the pastoral economy of the region.

 

As well the Gubo poems offering a taste of the intra-clan discourse in the pre-nationalist era, we also find that some significant events directly relating to the wells and territory at issue in the Gubo poems are not mentioned. For example there are many poems that give Somali perspective on the Wal Wal incident and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and indeed on the Somali Youth League nationalist project of a Greater Somalia in the nineteen-forties (Antinucci and Axmed 1986). Yet the last Gubo poems that was probably composed at or after the Wal Wal incident and during the beginnings of the rise of Somali nationalist politics, do not explicitly mention Wal Wal or any Somali political organisations; the Gubo series stay deep in the Somali world of clans, wells, grazing, and Islam. Furthermore the Gubo series do not mention that the heavy defeat of the Somali-Galbeed by the Isxaaq also saw the Ethiopian government penetrating far more deeply into the Somali-Galbeed region during the nineteen-twenties. The Ethiopian forces established a tenuous alliance with some of the Somali-Galbeed clans who, in return for a certain amount of taxation, were supplied with arms and food and a degree of protection by the small garrison towns and trading centres that Ethiopian rule established in the region (Barnes 2000; 104–106, 115–126). Indeed Andrzejewski and Musa note later that Isxaaq dominance and Somali-Galbeed subordination was radically altered by the control of firearms on the British side of the border, but that on the Ethiopian side of the frontier, firearms were still available, and that the ‘balance of power was restored’ (Andrzejewski and Musa 1963: 205).

 

5. Conclusion

 

Despite the silences and long forgotten references, Gubo informs at several levels. First it is an important and neglected account of the aftermath of the Sayyid's rebellion and defeat. Second Gubo displays at its fullest extent the force of segmentary lineage politics in Somali society, and an idea of what this kind of politics mean to the Somali clans involved (Lewis 2002). Third, Gubo appears to play a continued role in the perception of clan identities in the region, for example the reconstruction of Somali-Galbeedi ‘nationalist’ – some would argue ‘particularistic’ – discourse in the context of the collapse of Somalia and decentralisation of Ethiopia (Khalif and Doornbos 2002; Escher 1994). Fourth the ghost of the Sayyid haunts all the poems, Gubo picking up where Dardaaran left off (Ali 1996: 176-181). There is certainly a sense of unfinished business, unfinished until, if we are to take an Somali-Galbeed reading, the Somali-Galbeed return to their grazing and wells, and the D-hulbahante poet admits defeat, and Isxaaq retreat back into their ‘colony’. The last poem of the Gubo series is composed by Muhamed Umar Rage – ‘an orphan’ of the first devastating Isxaaq raids, and leader of the rejuvenated Somali-Galbeed war-parties – that outlines the return to previous pre-Dervish and pre-colonial ‘order’ in the Somali-Galbeed, but composed it seems in the thick of the second world war and on the eve of the birth of modern Somali nationalism.

 

Gubo emphasises local Somali politics detailing the ebb and flow of clan fortunes, and only mentioning ‘colonial rule’ to belittle their opponents. The poems offer an important corrective to the idea that Somalis have been passive victims of arbitrary boundaries and imperialism, the omission of events like Wal Wal, the Italo-Ethiopian war, and the rise of Somali nationalism (sometimes in alliance with colonial forces) is, nevertheless, curious. But perhaps the Gubo poems show as much disregard towards the imperial powers, as the imperial powers did to local Somali society. As classical poems the Gubo series do not descend into the grubby business of ‘town-based’ nationalist politics. Gubo is far more interested in upholding the honour of the Somali-Galbeed clan. This I have argued elsewhere reflects a crucial divide between modern nationalism and the traditional pastoral world and its social and cultural imperatives (Barnes 2005).

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For those interested in the GUBO series. Check this link for the complete series. On the left side of the screen the gabays in chronological order.

 

http://www.doollo.com/mainpage/boggasuugaanta/guba/guba.htm

 

 

Come to think of it this series was the original SOL.