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798 TUNJUR
still harvested in order to brew the local beer (mdrisd). Camels and cattle are
few, sheep and goats numerous, at least they were before the great drought of
the 1970s.
The Tunjur of Kanem cultivate millet, sorghum, maize, haricot beans. One
typical crop rotation is millet, beans, sorghum; afterwards the land lies fallow
a few years. Cattle are pastured on the fields in the dry season in order to have
them naturally manured. Wild fruit (jujube, Balanites aegyptiaca) is collected
in some areas; gum is collected when available. Cattle raising in Kanem is
sedentary; there is no transhumance. The Tunjur of Kanem raise sheep and goats
for their meat, skins and hair; camels and oxen are used for transport.
In Kanem and in Dar Furnung, wealthy Tunjur ride horses and own donkeys
for transport and for their women; the poor have only donkeys. Traders live in
the big villages or towns and cannot easily be distinguished from traders of
different origins. They still own fields in the countryside, cared for by members
of the family. Usually they have one wife and household in the trading center
and another in the country.
Tunjur social organization rests on segmentation into clans. Six clans are
known in Kanem, and a much greater number are in Darfur. The royal clan
seems to be present in both regions, far apart as they are. Very little else is
known of these clans except for the cattle brands used in Darfur. Clan founders,
taboos, exogamy need further investigation.
The Tunjur may marry a non-Tunjur, but never the son or daughter of a
blacksmith (see Haddad). Marriage customs such as brideprice are similar to
those of the surrounding peoples; in Darfur the brideprice is not excessive, as
it is among the Zaghawa. Family life is governed by the Shariah (Islamic law),
interpreted by the local faqi (cleric). Polygyny, while legal, is not common
among the peasantry. Male circumcision is practiced between 8 and 16 years of
age. They say that they do not practice female circumcision.
Political leadership was destroyed by the defeat of the Tunjur at the hands of
the Fur, Maba and Kanembu. In Darfur, the Fur rulers placated Tunjur by
appointing one of the highest dignitaries of the Fur sultanate, the takanyon, from
among the Tunjur clan of the Kunyanga. Otherwise, clan authority was vested
in foreigners. This practice was continued by the colonial powers.
Tunjur leaders consider that their people as a whole have been kept out of
any kind of governmental positions in the nation where they live. However, one
may discover among the national elite prominent personalities who soberly claim
a Tunjur ancestry.
The Tunjur are zealous Muslims and may be described as orthodox Sunni
following the Maliki school of jurisprudence and following mainly the teachings
of the Risala. Traces of pre-Islamic rituals do exist and deserve further research,
but this is a difficult and sensitive matter.
For this humiliated people Islam is a link with the outside world. Only religion
permits them to regain access to the large community on an equal footing with
the people who destroyed their states. Through it, they assert a kind of superiority