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716 soso
The Soso are basically a subsistence agricultural people. In the Sierra Leone
area, fishing is very common, but this does not appear to be so among the Soso
of Guinea, even though they live on the littoral. Hunting for game helps to
supplement the diet. Blacksmithery for tools is also an important profession.
The Soso are historically and contemporarily known as traders. They travel back
and forth between Sierra Leone and the Republic of Guinea, peddling commodities
which are cheaper on one side of the border like clothing and footwear,
consumer goods and others from one capital city to the other country. They also
engage in produce trade, especially in Sierra Leone.
Farming is basically for rice, the staple food. They also plant peanuts, millet
and cassava as subsidiary crops and some cash crops, particularly ginger. There
are also large-scale banana plantations in Soso territory in the Republic of Guinea.
The basic farming unit is the dembaya. This group works together on the main
family farm, while the women keep peanut or cassava farms with some assistance
from their husbands or other members of the dembaya. The women have major
control over the proceeds of their own special farms on which they concentrate
only secondarily to the main family farm.
Apart from this basic labor group, the Soso, like many other ethnic groups
in this area, organize cooperative work groups to execute major tasks. The two
types of work groups of the Sono are the kile and the lanyi. The kile represents
a mobilization of voluntary workers by a man who can afford to provide for
some "paid" labor for his farm. This is the closest approximation to wage labor.
The lanyi is often a semi-permanent group of young workers who farm in turn
on the fields of the members of the group.
The general political order among the Soso in Sierra Leone follows the pattern
of chiefdom administration in that country. Villages have headmen and chiefdoms,
which are groups of villages, and paramount chiefs. These latter are often
descended from the families described as ruling from the pre-colonial era. The
paramount chief is elected by the chiefdom councillors, one councillor representing
19 taxpayers. The position of the paramount chief becomes valid only
after it is confirmed by the president of the state. Though he is enjoined not to
settle legal matters, for which a court chairman is appointed today, people still
take some cases to these inheritors of traditional rule.
The basic unit for the settlement of disputes is the head of the dembaya or,
above that, the village head. Though these have no legal authority recognized
by the central government, their decisions are regarded by the Soso as valid. If
satisfaction is not obtained, the case can be taken to the chiefdom headquarters,
where a court approved by the central government will consider the matter.
The Soso are almost entirely Sunni Muslim and follow the Maliki school. The
form of Islam is laden with pre-Islamic religious practices. Islam is thus understood
by the majority of Soso in terms of patterns which they regard as part of
their culture. The case of polygyny is an example. Islam permits the practice,
but the Soso do not consider it an abomination if even religious elders have
more than the prescribed four wives.