Whilst reading Editha Platte's work on Musune and women titleholders in Borno, we have been forced to revisit some of the other sources which mention women in the Sayfawa court. One person mentioned in passing from a mahram dated by Palmer in Bornu Sahara and Sudan to 1704 was Gûsa Larabaramma. Identified as the daughter of Dunama b. Ali (who reigned from c. 1696-1715, in Lange's chronology), she served as the bab for the Fulani recipients of the renewed grant (p. 37).
Well, the Larabaramma part of this princess's name might be connected with one of the gates of Birni Gazargamo. According to Kyari Tijani's Dynamics of administrative change in pre-colonial Borno: A Comparative Study of the Sayfawa and Kanemi Dynasties, a gate of the Sayfawa capital was named Larabaram. The meaning of the name could have been related to a Wednesday market held in that part of the capital city, although this is speculation on Tijani's part (p. 185).
One also wonders if the title of larabaramma was one usually assigned to royal daughters of the mai in the days of Birni Gazargamo. If so, this is yet another government function of royal women in precolonial Borno. To what extent she was involved in managing that part of the capital (or the gate?) is not clear, but Tijani's theory linking that gate to a market may mean it involved revenues from market taxes or adjudicating conflicts in the area. Her function as a "gate" for the Fulani associated with the mahram document may reflect her position as someone who could connect visitors who came through that gate with the royal court. As an elite woman, she likely had oversight of lower-level officials or enslaved people to carry out these tasks.
Another title from the same mahram was held by a sister of Dunama b. Ali. Named Ayesha, she was the sokotoma to whom passed the recipients of the mahram. Presumably, this meant their grant, which allegedly began as early as the reign of Ali b. Dunama in the late 1400s, included lands overseen or near chima held by Ayesha bt. Ali b. Umar? Despite the wacky and questionable theories of Palmer on the derivation of this title, a clue to its actual meaning in the Sayfawa court came from a footnote in Editha Platte's Kanuri Women of Borno (Nigeria): Perspectives From the Little Kingdom of Musune. On page 110, she mentioned in passing that in Bagirmi, the eldest of the king's daughter bore the special title of tschukkotoma. Well, upon reviewing Annie M.D. Lebeuf's article, "Le royaume du Baguirmi" from Princes et serviteurs du royaume: cinq études de monarchies africaines, this same title appears as cikotma (p. 174). Given the strong influences on Bagirmi from Borno, we highly suspect that sokotoma in this context merely meant the eldest daughter of the king. Thus, Ayesha (Aisha) was the eldest daughter of Ali b. Umar. Given that senior position among the daughters of the mai, she likely held much influence and was therefore a natural choice for oversight of the grantees of the mahram.
Since we are still in the process of reading Platte's book, we hope to encounter additional surprises or learn more about elite women in the Sayfawa court. It is possible that smaller maiships in places like Musune have conserved practices which were more common in Gazargamo than the subsequent al-Kanemi dynasty. Perhaps there are more insights to be gained from Musune or other polities in the wider region that could shed light on the various responsibilities and powers of women under the Sayfawa. Certainly the possible involvement of a royal daughter in administering the area of one of Gazargamo's gates is important. But also their role in managing relations with respected mallams as the case of Aisha illustrates is an example of (elite) women participating in the state's actions as an Islamic power, upholding the benefits to descendants of reputable Islamic figures like the Gabidâma.
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