the wicked major 49In some contexts, red, red things, and redness appear to partake more of
the associations of black, yet red is not necessarily associated with evil or
with the socially undesirable. In a number of contexts ja tends to denote
the powerful, either personal or spiritual.... Perhaps, then, this notion of
power comes closest to explaining the Hausa connotations of ja” (Ryan
1976: 145). Here again, then, we rediscover the single quality the Babule/
Hauka have been associated with most—from the time of their earliest
appearance back in colonial Niger in 1925—power or “force.” Desired and
feared at the same time, power is an ambiguous quality, and according
to Pauline Ryan, both of these associations—power and ambiguity—
converge in the Hausa conceptualization of the color red. Unlike the early
adepts in Niger, however, the Babule mediums of Kano in the 1990s did
not use this power for any particular purpose beyond the bori framework.
Like any other category of spirits, the Babule were used for healing pur-
poses and spiritual assistance, as well as for entertainment during public
bori dances, which also served to advertise the efficacy of their human
mediums. Moreover, the Babule had to share their mounts with several
other spirits, often belonging to different categories, as each bori medium
had more than just one spirit on his or her “head.” Yet, since each spirit
category was believed to specialize in a certain area or type of affliction,
the Babule were most often sought after to remedy cases that were some-
how connected to “things modern” (abubuwan zamani) or to witchcraft,
the latter reflecting their specialization as witch hunters, the former their
skill with things alien or nontraditional, such as the English language and
modern schools.
A consu ltat ion t hat took place i n Febr ua r y 1993 w it h t he spi r it M a i ya’ k i
illustrates how the Babule and their human clients interacted in Kano dur-
ing the 1990s. The meeting occurred at the house of the bori medium Isa
Mai Babule. Then about thirty-five years old, Isa belonged to a family that
had produced several bori mediums. He dwelt in a section of his father’s
compound and “sat” for private consultations once a week. On such occa-
sions, his wife assisted him as an intermediary while he himself embodied
the spirits his clients came to consult. On that day, the first spirit to come
was ‘Dan Galadima, counted among the category of aristocratic spirits.
W hen he left, Mai ya’ki, a Babule spirit whose name literally translates as
the “Owner of War,” took over. A fter putting on his uniform, aided by Isa’s