Title:
RELIGION OR CULTURE: GENRE OF ORAL TRADITIONAL HERBAL DRUGS PROMOTERS IN HAUSALAND OF NORTHERN NIGERIA

Authors:
Bulus Wayar

Volume:1 Issue: 9

Abstract:
Hausa people have maintained a long culture and tradition which have been diffused into Islam - their religion. The oral traditional way of marketing herbal products involved the ecology of socio - culture and religion. This long cultivated oral culture conveyed a variety of genres - jokes, advertisements, songs, etc. Oral tradition as the Hausa is concerned remains a central human communication tool. However, both orality and literacy co -exist in all cultures of the world. The understanding of these interfaces is better known in the light of socio -religious frameworks. The herbal product promoters employed multiple discourse strategies to multiple audiences in order to pass their messages. One powerful means was the inclusion of religious concept - the involvement of divinity - Allah, and the Prophet Mohammed. The promoters were proficient in Hausa, the lingua - franca of the North as well as non classical Arabic. Thus, language manipulation is their weapon. As a strategy, some of these Mallams (Islamic teachers) spent a lengthy time preaching in public places. When they noticed that a large crowd had gathered, that was the right time to venture into commercial activities. This was a deliberate trick which had yielded positive results as far as the business was concerned. The question was always asked: was the gathering religious or commercial? My interactions with some of them indicated that this has been the style which has been passed from generation to another. The findings indicated that the Hausa herbal drug sale promoters used religious devices to penetrate into the desires of the customers via the use of divinities.

Citation:

[Wayar, Bulus. "RELIGION OR CULTURE: GENRE OF ORAL TRADITIONAL HERBAL DRUGS PROMOTERS IN HAUSALAND OF NORTHERN NIGERIA." IJAH, vol. 1, no. 9, 2017, pp. 793-812. October. ]