THE HUNTER’S LENS: WOMEN IN HAUSA HEROIC HUNTING KIRARI

Abstract

As a performative form common across cultures, not only the Hausa society, kirari requires delivery through staging for its realisation. In Hausaland, it is mostly a masculine vocation, even though a few women participate in it. This paper attempts to explore how heroic hunters revere women (mothers, wives and others) through praises during the realisation of kirari. Although women do not appear conspicuously in hunting, references to their heroism and roles in shaping men and the art of hunting are prevalent. Attention is paid to the place of ‘hunting’ in Northern Nigeria in an attempt to situate the art within the context of Hausa-Fulani culture and vocation. This article problematises the reduction of Hausa Muslim women to primary ‘homely’ duties by assessing their other cultural (sometimes political) roles, some of which they play from the shadows. There has been negligible attention to women’s numerous roles, contribution and place in sustaining festivals and cultural practices, thus the need to bridge this gap by examining their roles and representations in kirari of some selected hunters. A mixed-research method is adopted in this paper, which allows for observations, interviews, and qualitative analysis of kirari as the primary data