Papers by Constanze Weise
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History
Many societies in pre-1800 Africa depended on orality both for communication and for record keepi... more Many societies in pre-1800 Africa depended on orality both for communication and for record keeping. Historians of Africa, among other ways of dealing with this issue, treat languages as archives and apply what is sometimes called the “words and things” approach. Every language is an archive, in the sense that its words and their meanings have histories. The presence and use of particular words in the vocabulary of the language can often be traced back many centuries into the past. They are, in other words, historical artifacts. Their presence in the language in the past and their meanings in those earlier times tell us about the things that people knew, made use of, and talked about in past ages. They provide us complex insights into the world in which people of past societies lived and operated. But in order to reconstruct word histories, historians first need to determine the relationships and evolution of the languages that possessed those words. The techniques of comparative hi...
The Oxford Handbook of Nigerian History
The chapter provides a brief survey of the major research developments in archaeology, linguistic... more The chapter provides a brief survey of the major research developments in archaeology, linguistics, and the early history of Nigeria. It focuses on some important cultural areas, such as the northeast around the Lake Chad and the Hausa speaking region, the Niger and Benue valleys in central Nigeria, the southwest with the Yoruba–Edo cultural complex, and the southeast with the primary region today inhabited by the Igbo people. In addition to available archaeological and linguistic data and written Arabic texts, special attention is also given to oral traditions, material culture, and ritual, as these elements provide additional layers of historical memory shaping the historical trajectory of this region.
<jats:p>Between 1962 and 1966, after Nigeria gained Independence from Britain, a group of a... more <jats:p>Between 1962 and 1966, after Nigeria gained Independence from Britain, a group of artists emerged in the Yoruba town of Oshogbo in southwestern Nigeria. They participated in art workshops conducted by expatriates, particularly Susanne Wenger, Ulli Beier and Georgina Beier. The artists combined traditional subject matter and stories with Western artistic media and techniques. Many had been involved in dance, theater and music as members of Duro Ladipo's theatre company and remained creatively linked. Their works were characterized as trans-genre and retained the performative momentum of Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork). The artists, among them Jacob Afolabi, Rufus Ogundele, Jimoh Buraimoh, Adebisi Fabunmi, Taiwo Olanyi (Twins Seven-Seven), Muraina Oyelami, Adebisi Akanji, Buraimoh Gbadamosi and Nike Okundaye, gained international fame and patronage, continuing with their work even after the Beiers left Nigeria. The Beiers continued to support Oshogbo artists in Sydney, Australia and Bayreuth, Germany while Susanne Wenger involved them in the artistic recreation of the Osun grove in Oshogbo itself.</jats:p> <jats:p>In the early 1960s, three expatriate artists, the art critic Ulli Beier (1922–2011), and visual artists Georgina Betts (later Beier, b. 1936 ) and Susanne Wenger (Beier's first wife, 1915–2009) settled around Oshogbo, setting an art movement in motion. At the same time playwright Duro Ladipo (1931–1978) arrived with his theatre group. In March 1962, Ladipo opened up his home as a cultural center housing the Oshogbo chapter of Mbari Mbayo (an outgrowth of an arts organization originating at the University of Ibadan) in his "Popular Bar."</jats:p>
Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des études africaines, 2020
ABSTRACT Women played a pivotal role in the economies of the Nupe–Borgu region (today, Nigeria an... more ABSTRACT Women played a pivotal role in the economies of the Nupe–Borgu region (today, Nigeria and the Republic of Benin), a major slave supply area and transit hub for caravans and traders connecting to both the trans-Saharan and the transatlantic trade during the nineteenth century. Many not only managed households but also operated as local and long-distance traders, porters, foodstuff suppliers and financial brokers. Both contemporaneous narratives, written by men and with a male gaze, and scholarship about the region relegate women and their histories to the very margins of society. The article is based on travelers’ accounts stemming from the nineteenth century and on ethnographic studies and archival documents from the early British colonial period of the twentieth century. It brings women back into the social history of this region and demonstrates that female merchants and businesswomen were the major agents in local and long-distance trade, playing an important part in the economies of West Africa.
Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch /ɵːpoˁˈsɛksʃ/) refers to a group of dialects spoken by over two milli... more Upper Saxon (Obersächsisch /ɵːpoˁˈsɛksʃ/) refers to a group of dialects spoken by over two million people in the Free State of Saxony in eastern Germany. It is considered one of the eastern branches of Central German (Wiesinger 1983, Lewis 2009), with major phonological, morphological, and lexical differences from Standard German and other regional dialects. The transcriptions below reflect the speech of middle-aged speakers from Chemnitz, speaking an urban variety of the local Vorerzgebirgisch /foˁːˈaˁːtskəbʌˁːʃ / dialect, which is described in Bergmann (1990: 292) as transitional between theMeissen (Meißnisch), Vogtland (Vogtländisch), andOreMountain (Erzgebirgisch) dialects. Due to both this transitional nature and a lesser degree of influence from Standard German (Hochdeutsch) than what is seen in other urban centers (e.g. Leipzig, Dresden), the Chemnitz dialect is largely intelligible to speakers of other varieties of Upper Saxon while still preserving the most salient phonol...
Canadian Journal of African Studies, 2020
ABSTRACT
Women played a pivotal role in the economies of the Nupe–Borgu region (today, Nigeria an... more ABSTRACT
Women played a pivotal role in the economies of the Nupe–Borgu region (today, Nigeria and the Republic of Benin), a major slave supply area and transit hub for caravans and traders connecting to both the trans-Saharan and the transatlantic trade during the nineteenth century. Many not only managed households but also operated as local and long-distance traders, porters, foodstuff suppliers and financial brokers. Both contemporaneous narratives, written by men and with a male gaze, and scholarship about the region relegate women and their histories to the very margins of society. The article is based on travelers’ accounts stemming from the nineteenth century and on ethnographic studies and archival documents from the early British colonial period of the twentieth century. It brings women back into the social history of this region and demonstrates that female merchants and businesswomen were the major agents in local and long-distance trade, playing an important part in the economies of West Africa.
RÉSUMÉ
Les femmes ont joué un rôle essentiel dans les économies de la région de Nupe-Borgu (aujourd’hui le Nigeria et la République du Bénin), une zone majeure d’approvisionnement en esclaves et un centre de transit pour les caravanes et les commerçants liés à la fois au commerce transsaharien et au commerce transatlantique au dix-neuvième siècle. Nombre d’entre elles géraient non seulement des ménages, mais jouaient aussi le rôle de commerçantes locales et à distance, de porteuses, de fournisseuses de denrées alimentaires et de courtières financiers. Aussi bien les récits contemporains, écrits par des hommes et à partir d’une vision masculine, que les recherches sur la région, relèguent les femmes et leurs histoires aux marges mêmes de la société. Cet article est basé sur les récits de voyageurs datant du dix- neuvième siècle, sur des études ethnographiques et des documents d’archives remontant jusqu’au début de la colonisation britannique au vingtième siècle. Il replace les femmes dans l’histoire sociale de cette région et démontre que les marchandes et les femmes d’affaires furent les principaux agents du commerce local et à distance, jouant un rôle important dans les économies de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.
Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 2013
African Arts Exhibition by Constanze Weise
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Papers by Constanze Weise
Women played a pivotal role in the economies of the Nupe–Borgu region (today, Nigeria and the Republic of Benin), a major slave supply area and transit hub for caravans and traders connecting to both the trans-Saharan and the transatlantic trade during the nineteenth century. Many not only managed households but also operated as local and long-distance traders, porters, foodstuff suppliers and financial brokers. Both contemporaneous narratives, written by men and with a male gaze, and scholarship about the region relegate women and their histories to the very margins of society. The article is based on travelers’ accounts stemming from the nineteenth century and on ethnographic studies and archival documents from the early British colonial period of the twentieth century. It brings women back into the social history of this region and demonstrates that female merchants and businesswomen were the major agents in local and long-distance trade, playing an important part in the economies of West Africa.
RÉSUMÉ
Les femmes ont joué un rôle essentiel dans les économies de la région de Nupe-Borgu (aujourd’hui le Nigeria et la République du Bénin), une zone majeure d’approvisionnement en esclaves et un centre de transit pour les caravanes et les commerçants liés à la fois au commerce transsaharien et au commerce transatlantique au dix-neuvième siècle. Nombre d’entre elles géraient non seulement des ménages, mais jouaient aussi le rôle de commerçantes locales et à distance, de porteuses, de fournisseuses de denrées alimentaires et de courtières financiers. Aussi bien les récits contemporains, écrits par des hommes et à partir d’une vision masculine, que les recherches sur la région, relèguent les femmes et leurs histoires aux marges mêmes de la société. Cet article est basé sur les récits de voyageurs datant du dix- neuvième siècle, sur des études ethnographiques et des documents d’archives remontant jusqu’au début de la colonisation britannique au vingtième siècle. Il replace les femmes dans l’histoire sociale de cette région et démontre que les marchandes et les femmes d’affaires furent les principaux agents du commerce local et à distance, jouant un rôle important dans les économies de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.
African Arts Exhibition by Constanze Weise
Women played a pivotal role in the economies of the Nupe–Borgu region (today, Nigeria and the Republic of Benin), a major slave supply area and transit hub for caravans and traders connecting to both the trans-Saharan and the transatlantic trade during the nineteenth century. Many not only managed households but also operated as local and long-distance traders, porters, foodstuff suppliers and financial brokers. Both contemporaneous narratives, written by men and with a male gaze, and scholarship about the region relegate women and their histories to the very margins of society. The article is based on travelers’ accounts stemming from the nineteenth century and on ethnographic studies and archival documents from the early British colonial period of the twentieth century. It brings women back into the social history of this region and demonstrates that female merchants and businesswomen were the major agents in local and long-distance trade, playing an important part in the economies of West Africa.
RÉSUMÉ
Les femmes ont joué un rôle essentiel dans les économies de la région de Nupe-Borgu (aujourd’hui le Nigeria et la République du Bénin), une zone majeure d’approvisionnement en esclaves et un centre de transit pour les caravanes et les commerçants liés à la fois au commerce transsaharien et au commerce transatlantique au dix-neuvième siècle. Nombre d’entre elles géraient non seulement des ménages, mais jouaient aussi le rôle de commerçantes locales et à distance, de porteuses, de fournisseuses de denrées alimentaires et de courtières financiers. Aussi bien les récits contemporains, écrits par des hommes et à partir d’une vision masculine, que les recherches sur la région, relèguent les femmes et leurs histoires aux marges mêmes de la société. Cet article est basé sur les récits de voyageurs datant du dix- neuvième siècle, sur des études ethnographiques et des documents d’archives remontant jusqu’au début de la colonisation britannique au vingtième siècle. Il replace les femmes dans l’histoire sociale de cette région et démontre que les marchandes et les femmes d’affaires furent les principaux agents du commerce local et à distance, jouant un rôle important dans les économies de l’Afrique de l’Ouest.