23andMe Chromosome Segment Sharing

Since hearing about 23andMe finally bringing back the chromosome browsing feature that allows one to see one's matches with DNA Relatives on the site, we checked it out for our account (and that of our Haitian parent). For us, unfortunately, 23andMe still maxes out one's DNA matches at 5000. This means that the overwhelming majority of matches I have on that site are those sharing my "Hispanic" roots. For African matches, our Haitian parent has more luck. We were able to browse a number of them and see the shared segments with people from Nigeria, Congo (via South Africa), Sierra Leone, Ghana, Liberia, and other places. 

Interestingly, we saw that our Haitian parent shares a segment of DNA on their X chromosome that overlaps with that of a Fulani person (judging from surname) who is likely from Sierra Leone and someone else from Sierra Leone who is possibly Temne (inferring from surname). And through our Haitian parent's account, we saw that we share the Temne person as a match (even though 23andMe doesn't actually list this person in my DNA Relatives). In any case, the shared segments were always small (11.37 cM for the Temne, 11.58 cM for the Fulani). So, through our Haitian parent's side, we appear to have a female ancestor who was possibly from a Temne-like (or adjacent group) background who was trafficked to Saint Domingue. We assume the Fulani shares this Temne-like ancestry with us. But to make things more surprising, our parent did share a segment of DNA with another Fulani on the second chromosome that was assigned as "Senegambian and Guinean."

In terms of the paper trail, the colonial parish registries, runaway slave ads and notarized contracts or plantation inventories list a number of "nations" from what is now Sierra Leone and Liberia. Some examples include the Timbou, Mamou, Susu, and Mende. Cangas, Mesurades, Miserables, Bouriquis, and more from the Liberian and Ivory Coast regions were also present in the colony, according to Moreau de Saint-Mery. 

We will likely keep exploring this new shared segment viewing feature to explore our Haitian parent's matches with Liberians, Nigerians, and Ghanaians. It is just unfortunate that the Historical Matches feature doesn't allow for this. Nor can one see specific shared segments used by 23andMe to assign the African Genetic Group matches that appear in the Ancestry Composition breakdown. Adding these features would make the site more useful and important for genealogical research. 

Ali Eisami of Borno

For our long-term project on the history of Kanem-Borno, we assigned ourselves Koelle's  African Native Literature, or Proverbs, Tales, Fables, & Historical Fragments in the Kanuri or Bornu language. Written in Sierra Leone with the aid of Borno native Ali Eisami, the work consists of several fables, stories, historical narratives, and a glossary of Kanuri words. Eisami, the son of an Islamic scholar, was from a town or village near the old capital, Birni Gazargamo. He received at least a Quranic schooling, and experienced the upheaval of the fall of Gazargamo to the Fulani jihadist forces in 1808. By 1810s, he was captured by a group of Fulani, sold into slavery, and was relatively well-treated by a Yoruba master before Spaniards purchased him for the horrific trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Fortunately for him, a British ship used to suppress the slave trade intercepted the Spanish vessel and shipped the recaptives to Sierra Leone,. 

Although Eisami had arrived in Sierra Leone in 1818 and was thus away from Borno for over 30 years by the time Koelle's book was published in 1854, Eisami's dictated stories are an invaluable source for anyone interested in oral traditions and the history of the region and what we are calling the "Late Sayfawa Period." And while the presence of other Kanuris in Sierra Leone after 1818 provided updated information on events in Borno after Eisami's capture, it is clear that the major value of his experience is the plethora of oral traditions or folktales and his perspective on the early impact of the Fulani jihadist attacks which ushered in several political, economic, and social changes across the region before he became "lost" in captivity. 

Thus, the various short stories, fables, and historical fragments of the text shed light on a Borno that was lost with the fading Sayfawa dynasty and the declining political and economic fortunes of Borno across the turbulent 19th century. In a sense, Ali Eisami is an important final witness to to Borno as a civilization prior to the rise of al-Kanemi. His short stories and fables, which often reflect misogynistic views, also surprise. Some of the proverbs explicitly recognize slaves as untrustworthy. One tale, of a Muslim scholar and his heathen friend, exemplifies the ways in which oral traditions might reflect general social attitudes about religion and social obligation, challenging Islamic holymen on their character and not their adherence to tenets of the faith. His first tale, on the friendship between a rich man and a poor man, seems to reflect the importance of patron-client relations between superiors and inferiors, which could lead to long-lasting and surprising obligations. 

Eisami's tales and historical narratives likewise shed light on family and marriage relations, diet, the relationship between Islamic scholars and elites, and crises that struck Borno on the eve of the 1808 jihadist attack. For instance, we learn of Mai Ahmad's struggles with the vassal state or town of "Deia" which illustrates what might have been the incompetence of some kaygamas in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Or, to take another case, a famine and pestilence which struck Borno before 1808 and must have surely contributed to the weakness of Ahmad to defeat the invasion. Mai Ahmad, perhaps too old himself to have led the Twelve Regiments in person, abdicated and gave the crown to his son, Dunoma. However, according to Eisami, Dunoma was only able to retake Gazargamo thanks to the prayers, ability and "charm-water" of Sheikh al-Kanemi, the Kanembu mallam who would eventually seize effective political power in Borno. Much of this was witnessed by Eisami, or at least he was close enough to have heard the details before he left Borno. Unfortunately, his sources of information on events after his capture are sometimes conflicting, and in some cases, incorrect (the final end of the Sayfawa, for instance).

We shall revisit Eisami later on in a long-term project at the blog. We hope to explore in detail the oral traditions, proverbs, and stories he shared with Koelle. A related project is a comparative approach to Eisami, Nicholas Said, and James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw as authors of slave narratives written by men from Borno. To what extent were all three authors modified or misunderstood by their interlocutors or, in the case of Said, publisher? How did they come to represent Borno and Islam? To what extent were racialization and Western racial concepts shaping their narratives? These and other questions will be addressed in our future project. 

Blyden on Blyden

Perspectives on Edward Wilmot Blyden by Prof. Nemata Blyden from Professor Gloria Emeagwali on Vimeo. This short video featuring Nemata Blyden, a descendant of Edward Blyden is worth a listen. Blyden was one of the most intriguing figures in the history of pan-Africanism, one whose shadow looms large in many areas pertinent to Africa and its diasporas. Although Haiti was, from what I have read of Blyden's work, largely absent or seen as an example of colorism setting back an independent black state, I have long thought of the possible parallels between Blyden and his Haitian contemporaries. 

Rambling Thoughts on Blyden, Christianity, and Islam

Source 

This intellectual and pan-Africanist is perhaps more responsible than anyone else for the fascination with Islam among African-Americans. West Indian-born Blyden, who chose Liberia and West Africa as his ultimate homeland, praised Islam in West Africa for encouraging education, discipline, abstinence from alcohol, and for not degrading Africans into servile conditions like Christianity. Blyden saw Christianity's spread in Africa by European missionaries as instilling a servile nature in converts whereas Islam, with its longer history in Africa, had promoted learning, trade, and, according to Blyden, was a step above 'fetishism' of African traditional religion. Blyden was so taken with Islam that he also traveled to Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, studying the Arabic language and the Koran.

Blyden had also promoted the study of Arabic in Sierra Leone and Liberia, at one point envisioning a partnership between Christian Americo-Liberians and the Muslim states of the West African interior. Of course, Blyden saw Islam as a preparatory step to the 'true' religion of Christianity, but was unique among Western writers for acknowledging many positive elements of the faith. It also becomes clear that he romanticized Islam in Africa, largely ignoring the slave trade, and his praise of Islam over Christianity was clearly tied to the masculinist impulse of black nationalism as a political project. Unlike Christianity, which allegedly connoted servility (and therefore, femininity), for black men, Islamic African societies were masculine, strong, independent, and assertive.

I contend that Blyden, though writing for European and West African readers rather than African-Americans, influenced the way US blacks perceived Islam in relation to their own history and struggles. Islam and the black nationalist imagination of Blyden influenced African-Americans. Without Blyden, would there have been a Malcolm X?

Maringa, Merengue, and West African Music

I do not believe anyone has verified if there is indeed a link between Caribbean merengue and Sierra Leone's maringa, although the ties between Caribbean music and that of West Africa have been fruitful in terms of highlife. The names sound too similar to be a coincidence, and we know maringa's early history in Sierra Leone was linked to Krio people with descent from across the Atlantic, according to Paul Austerlitz. Nonetheless, after listening to some recordings of maringa or "maringar" music from Sierra Leone, particularly the music of Ebenezer Calendar, the music sounds more like Caribbean calypso and highlife (although the rhythms of some songs actually remind me of baião music from Brazil, such as in "Fire, Fire, Fire").

From songs like these, it is difficult to see any correlation between Sierra Leone's maringa and the Dominican merengue, although one can find songs from the United States, such as a classic blues from Bessie Smith re-recorded by Ebenezer Calendar. It's possible maringa from Central Africa was an influence, too, given the popularity of dance called maringa in colonial Brazzaville, according to Phyllis Martin. For similar music from Sierra Leone, check out Famous Scrubbs, and palm-wine music (like the Kumasi Trio), which spread throughout West Africa partly because of coastal sailors, such as the Kru. It seems undeniable that Afro-Caribbean influences were part of this thick musical stew that connected various parts of West Africa from the 19th century to the rise of highlife, but merengue as we know it does not seem to have been a large part of it, at least not as significant as calypso and Cuban son.

n addition, one cannot forget how recaptives, colonialism, religion, and migration shaped culture in West Africa, leading to cosmopolitan or diverse influences for musical culture. Perhaps one day someone will write an exhaustively researched history of highlife music in West Africa that demonstrates how all of these aforementioned influences. Adidtional research is needed on the question of the relationship between the Congolese maringa and that of West Africa, too. For a great example of how West African music as early as the 1920s reflected several cultural influences and was shaped by Europe and the Americas, check out the West African Instrumental Quintet recordings from 1929, here and here.

Edward Wilmot Blyden

Edward Wilmot Blyden, West Indian-born, educated in US, and significant pan-Africanist intellectual in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Blyden criticized Krio elites for emulating Western culture, praised Islamic West Africa's intellectual tradition (as well as romanticized them), believed Islam was better suited for blacks, supported a Dress Reform Society to push Krio men to wear African-styled clothes, supported "Africanization" of Krio names (something already in practice before Blyden's time), and argued for a 'Negro personality' that would lead to development on its own. Blyden was something of a hypocrite, since he never 'Africanized' his name, but his influence is sometimes overstated. Regardless, he was a towering figure in 19th century Black Atlantic intellectual thought.