“Five and Five Does Not Make Ten …”

Abstract

The scholarship of change and transformations in proverbs has become an emergent industry in contemporary African studies. The term in transgressive paremiography used for this phenomenon of transformation is called postproverbials. Postproverbiality in Fulfulde is one illustration of the engagement with perspectives of modernities, and aspects of change in worldviews among the Ful’be. “Five and five does not make ten, …” is a signal Ful’be proverbial clause which represents the early interactional history of trade, political and jurisprudent relations between the Ful’be and the predominant Hausa communities of Northern Nigeria. The proverb has experienced a radical reception and turning, based on contemporary social relations and literacy. It is employed in this essay as a symbolic example of how change in proverb construction can also be a challenge to received history. Thirteen pairs of Ful’be proverbs and postproverbials will be deployed to establish the phenomenon of transgressive proverb-making among contemporary Ful’be speakers. The essay will highlight the peculiar forms of extensions, adaptations and cutterage that have been invested into the making of new radical Fulbe proverbs, usually by a younger generation of Fulfulde speakers whose attempt (inadvertent or deliberate) is ultimately to break conventions through newly invented proverbs.