Wa and the Wala
Islam and Polity in Northwestern Ghana

The first full study of Wala history and society, which will be of interest to Africanists, Islamic studies specialists and historians of colonialism.

Ivor Wilks (Author)

9780521894340, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 July 2002

276 pages
23 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm, 0.453 kg

"In this generation no scholar has surpassed Ivor Wilks's contribution to Ghanaian history. This study of Wa, a small yet complex polity, complements his earlier analyses of Asante, Gonja, and the larger field of Islamic historiography in West Africa." Choice

In the late seventeenth century Wala emerged as a small state in what is now northwestern Ghana. Its creation involved on the one hand warrior groups of Mande, Dagomba and Mamprusi origins, and on the other hand scholars from the centres of Muslim learning on the Middle Niger. Ivor Wilks traces the history of Wala from its beginnings to the present, paying particular attention to relations between the Muslim and non-Muslim elements in its population. He also examines the impact of Zabarima, Samorian, British and French intrusions into Wala affairs. By the use of orally transmitted traditions and recensions of these in Arabic and Hausa, he is able to show how the Wala themselves view their past. Wala is periodically convulsed by crises often resulting in communal violence. He suggests that the policy maker involved in the region's political problems needs a sound knowledge of Wala history and an understanding of the deeper structures of Wala society, especially in the context of official support for decentralization.

List of illustrations
List of tables
Preface
List of abbreviations
Preamble
1. Wa and the Wala
2. Wala origins: Lasiri and Kubaru
3. Wala origins: the 'alim as local historian'
4. Wa chronology: an exercise in date-guessing
5. Tajdid and jihad: the Muslim community in change
6. Colonial intrusions: Wala in disarray
7. 'Direct rule': Wala in the early twentieth century
8. Wala under 'indirect rule': power to the Na and schism in the umma
9. Review: the peculiarities of Wala
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], African history [HBJH]