The making of history in colonial Haute Volta: Border conflicts between two moose chieftaincies, 1900-1940

This article retraces the occupation of land during the first decades of th e twentieth century in the northern part of the province of Sanmatenga, Bur kina Faso. Drawing on a number of cases of conflict over land during the 19 20s and 1930s along the border separating the Moose chieftaincies of Piugte nga and Ratenga, it is demonstrated that this land occupation is to be unde rstood in terms of multiple projects and multiple actors. In the process, t he chieftaincy of Piugtenga expanded and the territory effectively under ri tual control of 'firstcoming' population groups was enlarged. At the same t ime, actors directly involved in the conflicts secured and extended their o wn, their descendants and/or their larger kin group's claims to land. Contrary to what is often assumed, colonial rule was not solely disruptive in its consequences for local social organization. While many movements to the northern aire-refuge were motivated by the wish to escape colonial exac tions, the dispersion of population did not necessarily entail social and p olitical disruption. First, the establishment of Moose institutions in the aire-refuge preceded colonial control of the region. Second, the land-use p attern laid out should be interpreted in terms of kin-group-based 'pools of territories' rather than in terms of 'atomized' production units. It thus becomes possible to understand that people today hold rights in land at sev eral geographically dispersed places. The basis for these rights was establ ished in the struggles over land discussed in this article. Local actors are shown to have responded actively to the circumstances crea ted by colonial rule. Instead of having been passive objects in a history d riven by colonial forces, they continued to pursue their own agendas, somet imes subverting colonial authority.