Northern Nigeria is dominated by the cultures of the 14 kingdoms that comprised the region in pr-ehistoric times. These cultures are also deeply influenced by the culture of over 100 ethnic groups that still live in the region. Northern Nigeria inherited much of the literary legacy of the old Sudanic states. The Hausa sultanate from the 9th to 18th century produced numerous literary works.
One of the cultural inheritances is the tatsuniya. The tatsuniya is a script on how to live a good life devoid of corruption. Strongly didactic and linear (without subtle sub-plot developments considering the relatively younger age of the audience), it connects a straight line between what is good and what is bad and the consequences of stepping out of the line.
The central meter for measuring the correctness and morality of a tatsuniya is the extent to which it rewards the good and punishes the bad. Its linearity ensures the absence of conflict resolution scenes which present moral dilemma for the unseen audience. In cases where such moral conflicts exist, for instance, theft situations, the narrator simply summarises the scene.
The imaginative structure of the tatsuniya does not stop merely at narrative styles; it often builds complex plot elements using metaphoric characterisations. Animals thus feature prominently, with gizo, the spider, taking the role of the principal character.
In Hausa tradition, the oldest woman of the household or neighbourhoods, the grandmother, is the master storyteller. Her advanced age is a symbol of a deep experiential understanding of life as it unfolds in its many facets across time and she is culturally regarded as an important source of knowledge production, preservation, and transmission.
This matriarch becomes the mediator/transmitter of knowledge and information across generations. She uses her skills of storytelling to artistically convey information to younger generations about the culture and worldview, norms and values, morals and expectations. Her relationship with her younger audience of girls and boys puts her in a position to educate, through her tatsuniya, about taboo topics such as sexuality, and shame and honour that culturally prevent parents and children from addressing with one another.
The tatsuniya, as part of the culture of Northern Nigeria, has seen no light in most northern homes today. The social fabric was completely devastated and a new culture of violence has been implanted in our homes. Traditional northern systems of conflict resolution learnt in tatsuniya have been destroyed.
It is important to emphasise fundamentally that urgent and more decisive steps need to be taken in order to reorder and reverse this evanescent trend of cultural emptiness, without which Northern Nigeria may experience seasons of cultural extinction and dearth of northern values.
Emmanuel Ayuba,
Maiduguri, Borno state