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Precolonial Dahomey: Space & Power

The kingdom of Dahomey emerged in the 17th-18th centuries on the Slave Coast of West Africa. Oral traditions describe the founding involving the murder of a chief named Dan and the building of a palace over his body. However, recent scholarship casts doubt on this story and suggests it was constructed later to legitimize royal power by connecting to a deeper history. The production of royal architecture and urban planning was important for crafting political authority and histories in Dahomey.

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Precolonial Dahomey: Space & Power

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Current Anthropology Volume 52, Number 6, December 2011 769

In the Belly of Dan

Space, History, and Power in Precolonial Dahomey

by J. Cameron Monroe

The kingdom of Dahomey arose on the Slave Coast of West Africa in the tumultuous era of the
slave trade. This essay explores elite architectural strategies designed to cope with political instability
in this period, particularly the role of urban landscape planning and resettlement schemes in the
creation of political order. Attention is directed toward the role of palace construction campaigns
across the Abomey Plateau, the core zone of Dahomean political power. Drawing on multiple lines
of evidence (archaeological, oral, and documentary), I argue that the production of space was centrally
important for crafting orthodox histories of dynastic origins and gerrymandering social identities
vis-à-vis the emerging state, providing new insights into the sources of political authority in West
Africa in the Atlantic era, as well as into the complex intersections between space, power, and “history
making” in the past.

The life of Dahomey is based in history, and it is history Dakodonu responded by skewering Dan with a kpatin pole,2
that governs the country. (Herskovits 1938:208) and building a royal palace over his exposed entrails. The
usurper-come-king thereby proclaimed that his kingdom
The kingdom of Dahomey, situated in the modern Republic would forever rest “in the belly of Dan.” It was from this
of Bénin, emerged over the course of the seventeenth through architectonic event that the kingdom purportedly earned its
nineteenth centuries as a primary example of centralized state- name: Dan for the victim, xo meaning “stomach,” and me
hood in precolonial West Africa (fig. 1). Oft-cited royal oral meaning “inside” in Fongbe, the branch of the Gbe language
traditions recount that its ruling dynasty was born of a suc- cluster spoken by Dahomeans (Blier 2005).
cession dispute involving claims made by two rival princes Thus was born, or so the story goes, the Alladaxonou3 dy-
of the kingdom of Allada (Teagbanlin and Dogbari), the dom- nasty of the kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa. The killing
inant polity in the region, in the first quarter of the seven- of Dan represented the upturning of a social order based on
teenth century (Le Hérissé 1911:276–279). At the town of established patron-client relationships between members of
Huegbo these two princes agreed that Teagbanlin would de- local Guedevi and exotic Fon ethnic groups. This exotic/au-
part for the south, where he subsequently founded the king- tochthonous dichotomy would remain an essential trope of
dom of Porto Novo, and Dogbari would seek his political Dahomean political rhetoric throughout its subsequent his-
fortunes on the Abomey Plateau to the north. After a brief tory. The very name of the kingdom would forever memo-
sojourn near Cana, Dogbari’s son Dakodonu was granted rialize the fact that the Fon rulers usurped autochthonous
permission to settle at Huawe by the Guedevi, a confederation Guedevi “rights of first arrival,” a guiding principle in the
of chiefdoms who dominated the region. Dakodonu later re- political organization of peoples across sub-Saharan Africa
quested additional territory at Abomey, nearby that of a local (Kopytoff 1987). Following nearly a century of Dahomean
chief named Dan. According to royal traditions documented expansion across the Abomey Plateau, King Agaja (1718–
as early as the eighteenth century, Dan asked the Fon chief, 1740) marched southward and conquered the kingdoms of
Have I given you so much land and yet you want more?
Allada (1724) and Hueda (1727), overturning Alladan he-
Must I open my belly for you to build your house upon?
1. Skertchly and other nineteenth-century sources attribute this event
(Skertchly 1874:86–87).1 to the reign of King Wegbaja, whereas earlier eighteenth-century sources
identify Dakodonu as Dan’s murderer (Norris 1789). Robin Law has
suggested that this reflects a broader pattern of historical revision in the
mid-to-late nineteenth century, wherein Wegbaja was identified as the
founder of the kingdom (Law 1988:446).
J. Cameron Monroe is Assistant Professor in the Department of 2. The kpatin pole is a common component of Dahomean architectural
Anthropology at the University of Santa Cruz (1156 High Street, practice, serving as the first stake in a fenceline that marks the boundaries
Santa Cruz, California 96064, U.S.A. [[email protected]]). This of a new house compound (Blier 2005).
paper was submitted 6 III 09 and accepted 1 III 11. 3. Literally “people of Allada” in Fongbe.

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Figure 1. Regional map of seventeenth-century polities in southern

Bénin, West Africa.

gemony in the region and establishing Dahomey as a major accuracy of the orthodox history of dynastic origins sketched
player in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. More than a century above. Drawing from documentary evidence and a broad sam-
of political expansion and centralization followed, character- ple of oral traditions, scholars have argued that key elements
ized by experiments in building an expansive bureaucratic of this story (the killing of Dan, dynastic connections with
apparatus geared toward controlling the traffic in human cap- Allada, the founding of Porto Novo, etc.) were manufactured
tives destined for New World slave societies. However, the in the eighteenth century as a strategy to legitimize royal
legitimacy of this new political dynasty remained in question power in reference to a deeper historical past (Blier 1995; Law
throughout the eighteenth century, during which time rulers 1987, 1988). It is, in fact, likely that this polity emerged
struggled to establish a semblance of stable authority over through a combination of local and exotic influences, but a
their newfound conquests (Akinjogbin 1967; Bay 1998; Law direct dynastic connection with Allada is increasingly doubtful
1991). (Blier 1995). Tales of the construction of Dakodonu’s palace
Recent scholarship has cast serious doubt on the historical over the corpse of Dan can be read, therefore, as a metaphor

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for the “writing” of one dynastic history and the silencing of however, had important implications for our understanding
others in the historical imagination of the emerging Fon state. of the relationship between space, history, and power. On the
As Suzanne Blier has noted, the building of royal architecture one hand, scholars increasing explored how cultural values
in Dahomey was as much an act of destruction as creation implicated the structure of space and, alternatively, how space
(Blier 2005), although it is the destruction of alternative his- reflexively shaped cultural conceptualizations of the world
tories that is suggested here. History making, and its material (Hodder 1994; Knapp and Ashmore 1999; Low and Lawrence-
manifestation, the Dahomean royal palace, was clearly a tool Zúñiga 2003a). The built environment was seen as a form of
of power. nonverbal communication, a cultural text intended to be
In this essay, the story of Dan’s murder is used as an entrée “read” (Blier 1987; Cosgrove and Daniels 1988; Duncan 1990;
into the discussion of the role of architectural space in the Hattenhauer 1984; Rapoport 1982). Socially constructed space
production of particular visions of Dahomey’s past in the thereby emerged as a primary window into the process of
eighteenth century, a period of dramatic political instability. cultural production. The design of urban landscapes, for ex-
Drawing from multiple lines of archaeological, oral, and doc- ample, was often explained in reference to cultural cosmol-
umentary evidence, I argue that royal palaces and the urban ogies wherein urban form stood as a material microcosm of
landscapes they generated served as fundamental tools in elite the universe (Ashmore 1989, 1991; Ashmore and Sabloff 2002;
attempts to establish political legitimacy in Dahomey because Fritz 1986; Vogt 1983; Wheatley 1971). Additionally, scholars
they projected a particular orthodox narrative of royal origins explored how the ground plans of buildings followed cultur-
and sociopolitical order. This narrative served to promulgate ally shared principles of spatial organization, or spatial gram-
both dynastic claims of royal descent from Allada and legit- mars (Deetz 1996; Glassie 1979; Hodder 1994). Transfor-
imate transfers of power, as well as to rewrite memories of mations in the design of such spaces were read as
lineage origins at the local level. Dahomean urban spaces representative of shifts in cultural worldview, intimately tied
served as important tools both for quashing political counter to broader patterns of culture-historical change (Deetz 1996;
narratives and for refashioning social identity vis-à-vis the Hodder 1984).
nascent state. Urban landscapes thus emerge as critical com- Despite claims that scholars were illuminating the active
ponents of elite attempts to construct a Dahomean “imagined role space played in shaping human conceptualizations of the
community” (Anderson 2006) in the face of real contests for world, this “symbolic turn” did little to illuminate how cul-
power, providing a valuable entrée into ongoing discussions tural statements materialized in space were internalized by
regarding the nature and limits of political authority in West subjects. Indeed initial forays into the symbolic nature of built
African states of the Atlantic era more broadly (Akinjogbin environments were more concerned with how buildings re-
1967; Bay 1998; Law 1977, 1991, 1997; McCaskie 1995; Wilks flected cultural values rather than illuminating the mecha-
1975, 1993). nisms whereby they might shape those values. Important
moves to bridge this gap came from studies of the connection
between architectural design and elite power in stratified so-
Anthropologies of Space, History, cieties. The relationship between power and history played
and Power an important role in this discussion. Notable studies examined
how architecturally rendered worldviews served as a propa-
Concepts of space and history have been linked to the an- gandistic tool that linked elites to deeper histories of political
thropological understanding of politics since the nineteenth or cosmological origins (Ashmore 1989, 1991; Fritz 1986;
century. Anthropologists (ethnologists and archaeologists Helms 1999; Innomata 2006; Leone 1984; 2001). Forging links
alike) of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries between space (architecture) and time (historical pasts) was
focused enormous attention on the study of buildings and thus revealed as a primary strategy for creating affective ties
monuments as a window into the rise and regional extent of between leaders and followers in the past. Temples, palaces,
ancient civilizations (Childe 1936; Morgan 1985). Such studies plazas, and gardens stand as not only broad statements on
tended to see the nature of the built environment as closely cultural values but also as the politicization of time through
linked to various environmental, cultural, social, or economic symbolic declarations of elite power rooted in historical prec-
stimuli (Trigger 1968). These observations were eventually edent. Such constructions thereby stand as the hitching posts
used by archaeologists to make claims about the nature of of history (Helms 1999).
political-economic organization in ancient societies (Johnson However, it is clearly one thing to proclaim power mon-
1972; Sanders 1974; Wright and Johnson 1975), allowing for umentally and quite another to naturalize that power in the
the generation of universal rules of thumb to gauge levels of hearts and minds of subjects. Indeed, by highlighting the
social complexity over time (Flannery 1998; Kent 1990). power of space to materialize elite agendas, we run the risk
Transformations in the built environment were thereby seen of ignoring sources of factionalism, discontent, or resistance
as passive byproducts of broader political and economic pro- that rendered such strategies difficult to manifest in practice
cesses in the past. in the past. The destruction of urban cores, the tearing down
The symbolic turn taken by anthropology in the 1980s, of walls and boundary markers, and other forms of “van-

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dalism” commonly noted in periods of social instability and possible futures (Low and Lawrence-Zúñiga 2003a; Tilley
collapse, all attest to the degree to which political subjects 1994). Important for the argument presented here, insofar as
genuinely internalize spatially rendered elite political agendas. the foundation of social identities rests on the perception of
Leaders face major hurdles in reshaping nonelite perceptions shared cultural characteristics and subjective notions of us as
of the world, and is not clear that elite-centric building cam- opposed to them (Jones 1997), the built environment provides
paigns can always rewrite the “hidden transcripts” of everyday an important tool for framing such identities in reference to
resistance (Scott 1990). Thus, while architecture may serve as deeper memories of community origins. Space is thus a cen-
an important tool for expressing elite power, we must always tral component in the construction of social identity itself,
question the degree to which it provides an avenue for leaders an insight with significant implications for our understanding
to bridge the fragile gap between power and authority in the of the relationship between space, history, and power in the
Weberian sense of those terms (Weber 1968), a delicate bal- past.
ance that leaders must always strike in the practice of politics. Indeed because architecture is a labor-intensive activity, the
Space itself may, in fact, form concrete barriers to the quest production of space is a decidedly power-laden process, ce-
for political legitimacy by leaders precisely because of its utility menting the values and perspectives of a particular status
in advancing alternative histories of power and social orga- group in place (Lefebvre 1991; Smith 2003). Buildings may
nization. In some contexts, for example, decentralized sacred be powerful tools of domination, therefore, not only because
landscapes provide alternative narratives of social order that they broadcast elite perceptions of the world but precisely
may be marshaled in opposition to elite attempts to impose because they have the potential to shape popular memory of
centralized authority (Dyke 2004; Joyce, Bustamante, and Le- that world in reference to elite-centric worldviews (Smith
vine 2001; McIntosh 2005; Vidal and Duwákalumi 2000; 2003). This process is critical for underwriting elite claims to
Wernke 2007). Space may thereby serve as a particularly pow- power. Indeed some have gone so far to argue that the “pro-
erful source of political opposition, playing an important role duction and reproduction of hegemonic schemes require the
in strategies to deflect hegemonic domination by aggrandizing monopolization of public spaces in order to dominate mem-
elites. Political legitimacy can be generated in such contexts ories” (Low and Lawrence-Zúñiga 2003b:22), memories that
by working through existing power structures resulting in have the potential to shape the fabric of social identity at the
decentralized or heterarchical landscapes of power (McIntosh community level. In this way, elite-centric architectural cam-
1999; 2005). Alternatively, the production of space can emerge paigns may serve as a material form of hegemonic power,
as a potential tool of domination when leaders may overcome underwriting elite claims to power and silencing rival nar-
such obstacles, thereby silencing alternative narratives of po- ratives of political order.
litical order among subjects. The theoretical insights outlined above can account for the
Only recently have inroads been made into understanding intimate relationship between space and historical memory
the spatial mechanisms used by leaders in their quest to in the practice of politics in the past. Critical to these are
achieve this goal in the past. Potential insights into this issue arguments centering on how elite-centric building campaigns
have come from realms of social theory focused on how the can both refashion public memory and restructure social
production of space conditions both the physical and sensory identities vis-à-vis emerging political forces. It is in this way
experience of the world, thereby linking time and space in that political institutions cease to remain suspended above
novel ways. Critical to these have been theories of practice social institutions and begin to play an important role in their
(Bourdieu 1977, 1990; Giddens 1984; Ortner 1984) and phe- very formulation. However, such perspectives have tended to
nomenology (Heidegger 1982; Husserl and Gibson 1962; draw from limited single sets of data; archaeological, ethno-
Merleau-Ponty 2002), which highlight how historical memory graphic, or documentary, respectively. The coordination of
is rendered through spatial practice, an observation with sig- documentary, oral, and archaeological sources (a hallmark of
nificant implications for our understanding of both the pos- anthropologically informed historical archaeology), has the
sibilities for, and limits to, political authority in the past. potential to explore the complex dynamics of the production
Key to these ideas is the notion that the “landscapes” (con- of space along more nuanced lines, resulting in historical
structed, conceptualized, and ideational; Knapp and Ashmore anthropologies of space, place, and landscape that transcend
1999) produce spatial narratives that order the way people the limitations of particular data sets or methodologies.
both think about and experience the world (Bender 1998; Africanist linguists, historians, and archaeologists have been
Tilley 1994). By routinely moving through socially con- engaged in such interdisciplinary projects for decades, with
structed space, buildings, monuments, and other landscape an eye toward creatively integrating multiple lines of evidence
features materialize the popular experience, perception, and to produce more robust interpretations of the past (Connah
imagination of the world (Smith 2003), grounding the his- 2001; Ehret 1998; Posnansky 1969; Schmidt 1978; Vansina
torical memory of communities in place (Basso 1996; Cos- 1990). However, scholars are increasingly wary of the prob-
grove 1993:8–9). The production of space, or “place making,” lems associated with aggregating such data sets together un-
is thus a historical process (Inglis 1977), providing physical critically (DeCorse 2001; Kelly 1997b; LaViolette 2004; Stahl
memorials to a community’s past as well as roadmaps to 2001). These sources speak with different voices, voices

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shaped by divergent factors, some more politically motivated a history manufactured in the eighteenth century to solve
than others, and each riddled with idiosyncratic silences (Stahl specific political problems of that period (Blier 1995; Law
2001; Trouillot 1995). Given the complex nature of these 1987, 1988). In fact, the eighteenth century was a period of
sources, Ann Stahl is correct in demanding that “we should intense factionalism and political instability in Dahomey. Its
not expect ethnographic, historical, and archaeological kings struggled to establish control over conquered territories
sources to combine neatly, additively, to yield a composite and suffered from intense contests for power within the state
view of everyday life . . . viewed supplementally, a richer view sphere itself. Documentary sources suggest that Agaja and his
of African historical practice can result” (Stahl 2001:18). This successor, Tegbesu (1740–1775), faced serious obstacles in es-
approach demands a certain amount of creative play in con- tablishing legitimate authority in this period, resolving to se-
structing narratives of historical change, yet it allows us to cure their new conquests largely through coercive means. In-
begin to consider how the multiple strands of documentary, deed, Archibald Dalzel went so far as to suggest that that
oral, and archaeological evidence available might be coordi- Agaja “left to his heirs a kingdom much enlarged; yet as it
nated effectively. was enlarged by conquest, without being secure by policy, he
In the particular case of Dahomey, the built environment left with it hereditary wars, which, like thorns in its diadem,
provides an important point of convergence between material, have tortured the royal brow of Dahomy to this day” (Dalzel
oral, and documentary archives, and thus a particularly useful 1793:65). As a result, the eighteenth century was marked by
entrée into the analysis of the relationship between the pro- innumerable contests for power and instability at the local
duction of space, history, and political power in the past. level. The authority of Dahomean kings was, therefore, always
Indeed, royal architecture was clearly at the forefront of pol- in question, yet kings adopted novel ritual and political strat-
itics and historical memory in Dahomey. The various do- egies for fostering political legitimacy in this period.
mestic, ritual, and political roles of the elite were played out On the one hand, Dahomean kings faced serious threats
behind and before palace walls (Monroe 2007a, 2007b, 2010), from within the elite sector, and many of these plots originated
and royal palaces served as material manifestations of royal within the royal palace itself. Agaja’s eldest son and heir was
power, authority, and violence (Blier 2005; Pique and Rainer effectively pushed aside by high-level supporters of King Teg-
1999). However, royal palaces were much more than that. As besu, Agaja’s eventual successor (Norris 1789:4–6).4 Tegbesu’s
the story of Dan’s murder illustrates, Dahomean dynastic or- brother, Zinga, furthermore, concocted an unsuccessful plot
igins were expressed in terms of an architectural event, the to take power during his brother’s reign (Le Hérissé 1911:
building of a royal palace. Throughout the eighteenth century, 300–301). Additionally, following the death of Kpengla (1775–
subsequent palace constructions, and the urban landscapes 1789), at least three brothers vied with Agonglo (1789–
that resulted, continued the process of “history making” in 1797)for the seat of power, although the latter would over-
Dahomey. come these rival claims (Dalzel 1793:222–223; Skertchly 1874:
I argue here that royal palaces were implicated in this eigh- 451). Royal wives seeking to advance the claims of their own
teenth-century political project in two interrelated ways. First, sons were often implicated in such plots (Bay 1998:83; Le
palace construction and ritual use symbolically broadcast cer- Hérissé 1911:299–300), as were various state officials on oc-
tain claims to dynastic origins and smooth political succes- casion. In 1735 the prime minister (Meu) took up arms
sion, thereby underwriting historically grounded claims to against Tegbesu (Norris 1789:7), followed in 1745 by the Yov-
power and materially silencing those of political rivals. Sec- ogan (the principle minister of trade; Norris 1789:45).5 Clearly
ond, palace sites served as important anchors in resettlement royal succession and political legitimacy in this period was a
campaigns initiated by kings in this period. These anchors complex and contested process. As Edna Bay has argued, a
refashioned the experience and memory of urban space and clearly designated line of succession may have been less of a
community origins for members of multiethnic neighbor- factor in who ruled than the ability of princes to seize power
hoods in terms of an orthodox dynastic political narrative. with the support of complicitous officials and royal wives (Bay
The construction of royal palaces was thus directly implicated 1998:87).
in strategies designed to gerrymander social identities, in- Elsewhere I have argued that Dahomean kings responded
serting the State into the everyday practice and social memory to such threats with novel bureaucratic measures designed to
of local communities. Space and history were thus mutually curtail the relative authority and autonomy of regional offi-
implicated in elite attempts to establish novel forms of po- cials (Monroe 2007a, 2007b, 2010). Additionally, however, a
litical legitimacy over subjects in the eighteenth century, a key
strategy for surviving the political turmoil that characterized 4. It is worth noting here that Agaja himself may have been a usurper.
the period. One nineteenth-century source proposes that Agaja pushed aside the
legitimate heir to Akaba’s stool, Mbogela, in the early eighteenth century
(Skertchly 1874:449–450).
Tidy Histories and Messy Realities 5. The date for the Prime Minister’s rebellion given by Norris, 1735,
is problematic, since Tegbesu acceded to the royal stool in 1740. It is
Orthodox narratives of Dahomey’s rise to power in the sev- possible that this story relates to Tegbesu’s disputed succession (Robin
enteenth century present a tidy history of political ascendancy, Law, personal communication, 2010).

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Figure 2. Representation of the Xwetanu, or Annual Customs (Dalzel

1793: facing p. 55).

critical ideological component of royal campaigns to counter served as a strategy to tie one’s own dynasty to the symbolic
these political threats involved nurturing the perception of a power of old capitals. Dahomean orthodox histories of dy-
deeper dynastic past (Law 1988). This strategy depended at nastic origins were thus materialized at a broad geographic
a fundamental level upon the symbolic capture and appro- level. Through the appropriation of rival “places,” Dahomean
priation of places previously taken by force, and Allada was monarchs captured and incorporated the symbolic power they
the primary target. King Agaja went so far as to relocate the held in the historical imagination of peoples across the region.
capital from Abomey to Allada during his reign, and chose In the face of incessant contests for power in the eighteenth
“Allada Koh” (Lord of Allada) as his royal strong name century, Dahomean ritual practices associated with royal suc-
(Skertchly 1874:88). Tegbesu later returned the capital to cession also expanded dramatically. This is reflected in his-
Abomey, yet he “feared to attract himself the anger of the torical evidence for the florescence of public ceremonies in
Ancestors by leaving vacant the throne of Allada” (Le Hérissé particular, often referred to by European visitors as the “An-
1911:370–371). Consequently, Tegbesu installed a puppet nual Customs,” or Xwetanu in Fon, ceremonies that venerated
king, Semi-djo, on its throne under his authority. successive kings of Dahomey through the distribution of
The important position held by Allada in the historical wealth and effusion of human blood (fig. 2). The origins of
imagination of Dahomean elites was critical for ritually an- this tradition are somewhat unclear. Ceremonies venerating
choring political legitimacy throughout the eighteenth cen- the royal dynasty were performed in Allada, and to some
tury. For most of this period each new king was enstooled at degree in Hueda, throughout the seventeenth century (Law
Allada “where, according to custom, he was to be invested 1987). Here they were probably performed both upon the
with a fine coat, as a token of his sovereignty over that king- passing of the king and annually, thereby legitimizing the new
dom” (Dalzel 1793:226–227). This practice was part of a ruler vis-à-vis his immediate predecessor. King Agaja ex-
broader tradition within the Aja-Fon region, wherein political panded these ceremonies in scale substantially, however, in-
legitimacy was sought in reference to semimythical royal troducing human sacrifice as a key component, and centering
pasts.6 The installation of kings at ancestral towns, therefore, the Annual Customs as the primary node in the state cere-

6. For decades following their expulsion from Hueda in 1727, for their capital, Savi, to install their kings (Norris 1789:27; Skertchly 1874:
example, expatriate Huedan elites attempted unsuccessfully to return to 30).

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monial cycle (Skertchly 1874:179). The veneration of one’s of state schemes to recraft social identity at the local level in
royal predecessors would prove to be a key strategy in each reference to the expanding political dynasty, a particularly
king’s claims on political authority. Importantly, these cere- useful strategy for achieving order in this period.
monies took place before the walls of Dahomean royal palaces Thus, despite royal claims to an unbroken dynastic past,
at Abomey, connecting the performance of power and legit- political order in Dahomey during the eighteenth century was
imate succession to the built environment in ways that will anything but orderly. State formation is a messy process, and
be explored in greater detail below. Dahomey was no exception. Neighbors were conquered, po-
In addition to the aforementioned contests for power, litical rivals silenced, and unwilling subjects forced into a new
which emerged within the elite sphere, grass roots revolts political system. Despite the fact that Dahomean kings had,
appear to have erupted across the Abomey Plateau in the through force of arms, upturned a social order centered on
eighteenth century. A rebellion was purportedly staged against Alladan hegemony on the Slave Coast (Akinjogbin 1967), and
Tegbesu at Hoja in the mideighteenth century (Nondichao faced serious challenges to their authority throughout the
Bachalou, personal communication, Abomey, 2000). Tegbesu eighteenth century, political power in Dahomey depended, at
was also forced to put down rebellion by the oft-mentioned a fundamental level, upon the public perception of order and
Za, a minor chiefdom positioned east of Cana on the Abomey stability. The history of migration and conquest memorialized
Plateau (Nondichao Bachalou, personal communication, in Dan’s murder reflects one aspect of strategies adopted by
Abomey, 2000; Le Hérissé 1911:301–302). These accounts Dahomean kings in this period, strategies that involved forms
contrast starkly with the image conjured by oral traditions of historical revision designed to fashion a sense of political
that describe Dahomey, as it entered the eighteenth century, order, continuity, and integrity in the emerging polity.
in firm control of the entire plateau, where royal authority In the remainder of this essay I will argue, however, that
“overflowed on its sides” (Le Hérissé 1911:295). “history making” and the refashioning of urban space were
One source of such tendencies toward revolt was clearly mutually implicated in the same political project. In partic-
the increasingly draconian polities of Dahomean kings in the ular, royal palace sites, and the urban landscapes they engen-
eighteenth century (Law 1991). However, a powerful source dered, were directly implicated in strategies designed to quash
of local instability was undoubtedly the complex and shifting dissent amongst rivals and rewrite social identity at the com-
nature of the Dahomean population itself. Concomitant with munity level. This strategy served to refashion the experience
Dahomean military expansion into neighboring frontiers was and memory of place vis-à-vis the emerging polity, a key
the uprooting and influx of various ethnic groups (Fon, Yo- aspect of Dahomean attempts to legitimize power in this pe-
ruba, Maxi, Aja, etc.) throughout the kingdom. Dahomean riod.
kings adopted a complex resettlement strategy to integrate
these new groups. One nineteenth-century source claimed, Architecture and the Production of
for example, that following Agaja’s conquest of the village
Akpweh, he resettled the majority of its inhabitants in a series
Dynastic History
of local villages near Abomey (Skertchly 1874:97). Similar Political struggle in the eighteenth century was matched by
practices occurred in the nineteenth century as well. Burton clear attempts to promulgate a sense of political order, and
indicated, “when the King breaks a town he builds another, the production of an orthodox dynastic history was a fun-
and is supposed to place there the poor remnants of his damental factor in royal attempts to do so. Key elements of
captives” (Burton 1864:285). Yoruba captives from Lefu-Lefu this history included claims of direct historical continuity with
were apparently resettled in a village of the same name near Allada and the perception of legitimate dynastic succession.
Abomey under Guezo (Burton 1864:286), and Glele resettled Here I will argue that the fashioning of urban space, centering
captives from Attako and Ishagga in similar villages (Burton largely around royal palace sites, was directly implicated in
1864:285). The activities of these later kings are probably this political project. Urban landscapes thereby materialized
indicative of earlier practices of the eighteenth century. a neat and tidy history of the Alladaxonou Dynasty’s origins
The resulting communities were composed of people drawn and rise to regional supremacy, undercutting rival claims to
from multiple ethnic groups across Dahomey and its frontiers, power in the in the eighteenth century.
and despite clear tensions in the eighteenth century, they were Since 2000, the Abomey Plateau Archaeological Project has
integrated successfully into Dahomean society over time. The identified as many as 19 palace structures (in addition to the
social mechanisms employed to do so, however, are very nine already known at Abomey) on or immediately around
poorly understood at present. A nineteenth-century source the Abomey Plateau and ranging in size from 1 to 35 ha (2.5
suggests that Agaja incorporated people by a policy of “in- to 86.5 acres) in size (fig. 3; Monroe 2003, 2004, 2007a,
termarriage” (Skertchly 1874:97), most likely the granting of 2007b). The dimensions of these structures were determined
captive women as wives to men of local communities, thereby using aerial photography; however, a sample of six structures
integrating Fon, Guedevi, and other lineages. Oral and ar- at the town of Cana were cleared and digitally mapped in-
chaeological data introduced below, however, suggest that tensively (Monroe 2010; fig. 4). Surface collection and ex-
palace-centric urban planning was an important component cavation, used in coordination with relevant oral and docu-

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Figure 3. Dahomean palaces of the seventeenth through nineteenth cen-

turies identified by the Abomey Plateau Archaeological Project, 2000–
2002.

mentary data, has dated each of these structures to within a a separate palace to the southwest, a structure later known
century at the minimum and often to within the reign of a as the Agrigonmey Palace.
particular Dahomean king of the seventeenth through nine- Palace construction on the Abomey Plateau, therefore, was
teenth centuries (Monroe 2003, 2010). Palace construction limited to Abomey itself, standing in notable contrast to the
on the Abomey Plateau is thus a decidedly Atlantic-era phe- pattern of extensive regional conquest on the Abomey Plateau
nomenon associated with the rise of the Dahomean state. in subsequent centuries (Monroe 2007a, 2007b). Dahomean
The loose nature of Dahomean regional authority in the kings in this period were disinterested in directly managing
seventeenth century is reflected in relatively few royal con- their immediate countryside, and there is no historical evi-
struction efforts across the Abomey Plateau in this period dence that any semblance of a rural bureaucracy developed
(fig. 3; Monroe 2007a, 2007b). Indeed, Abomey alone was the in this period (Le Hérissé 1911:73; Monroe 2007a). They were
focus of royal building activities. Dahomean oral traditions deeply concerned, however, with ensuring the regular flow of
indicate that Dakodonu initiated the main royal palace at tribute from rural chiefs to Abomey. Their source of political
Abomey on the grounds of King Dan, referred to as the Da- authority depended largely upon redistributive ceremonies
homey Palace in later sources and reoccupied by King Akaba centered on public feasts and the distribution of wealth before
(1680–1718) in later years. Dakodonu’s successor Wegbaja the walls of the royal palace at Abomey (Herskovits and Hers-
(1645–1680), however, is commonly attributed with initiating kovits 1958:359; Le Hérissé 1911:82, 276–279). Abomey

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Figure 4. Aerial photograph (courtesy of l’Institut Géographique Na-

tionale du Bénin) and views of the ruins of a nineteenth-century palace
complex at Cana-Mignonhi (photographs by J. Cameron Monroe).

emerged in this period, therefore, as the central node in a orate their individual achievements. By the eighteenth cen-
regal-ritual political landscape (Fox 1977). tury, however, so embedded was the symbolic importance of
However, over the course of the eighteenth century, and the Agrigonmey palace that a royal pretender could claim the
following Dahomey’s conquest of its coastal neighbors, palace kingship only by entering this complex and claiming it as his
construction at Abomey escalated dramatically, a key com- own (Norris 1789:128). He thereby became the owner of the
ponent of strategies designed, I argue, to promote orthodox palace, its inhabitants, all its contents, and by extension, the
histories of dynastic origins and succession. Each king of the kingdom as a whole. This particular site, therefore, became
eighteenth century engaged in palace construction at Abomey. directly implicated in broader claims of dynastic continuity
The main royal residence, or Agrigonmey Palace, was ex- and political legitimacy in the eighteenth century, part of the
panded dramatically by each king of this period (fig. 5). Over process of tidying up the messy histories of royal succession
time, continuous renovations expanded the original structure in this period. The appropriation and renovation of the palace
substantially toward the south, reaching 44 ha (109 acres) by of one’s predecessor thus made a clear statement about royal
the nineteenth century (Antongini and Spini 1995). Each of continuity in this period, one that was “performed” publicly
these wings contained entrances for visitors and the royal during the annual state ceremonial cycle.
wives, royal courts, tombs, and temples devoted to the ven- However, the tradition of individual palace construction at
eration of previous kings (Monroe 2010). Oral sources suggest Abomey did not disappear in the eighteenth century. A cen-
these palace wings were built as an important part of the trally important component of Abomey’s urban landscape in
enstoolment process (Blier 2005) and visited in succession this period was a series of palaces constructed to honor the
during the Annual Customs in the eighteenth century. king as vidaho, or heir apparent (fig. 6). Three vidaho palaces
This eighteenth-century practice of palace renovation and were constructed at Abomey in the eighteenth century and
expansion is a notable shift in Dahomean architectural prac- augmented in the nineteenth century by three more. Oral
tice. The seventeenth-century kings Wegbaja and Akaba traditions from Abomey suggest that each of these palaces
clearly constructed individual royal residences at Abomey, de- was a reconstruction of the residence of a king as heir, initially
siring, as is often suggested by local informants, to commem- walled only in palm fronds. Only when the prince became

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Figure 5. Agrigonmey (bottom left) and Dahomey (top) palaces at

Abomey (after Antongini and Spini 1995).

king and performed certain ceremonies in honor of his pre- as an act that commemorated each king as legitimate heir (a
decessor was he permitted to rebuild these structures in earth.7 title that few if any kings of the period could claim to have
Nineteenth-century observers noted that these structures held). Rather these sites might be read as material acts of
played a central role in ceremonies performed in the days historical revision, whereby royal claims to dynastic legitimacy
leading up to the Annual Customs. They were visited in suc- were written post hoc in earth and thatch, and alternative
cession, and ceremonies were performed behind their walls claims to power were silenced.
to honor the memory of each preceding king. Given the tu- In all, the royal palaces of Abomey engendered a dynamic
multuous nature of royal succession in the eighteenth century, urban landscape in which historical claims to power were
the construction of a vidaho palace can hardly be read simply expressed monumentally and reaffirmed ritually. This dis-
cussion suggests that two contrasting building strategies were
7. In the nineteenth century Skertchly indicated that King Glele’s vi-
daho palace was still under construction a full 13 years into his reign deployed to underwrite claims to dynastic legitimacy at
(Skertchly 1874:65). Abomey. First, renovation and expansion projects in the Agri-

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All use subject to University of Chicago Press Terms and Conditions (http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/t-and-c).
Figure 6. Town plans of Abomey (top) and Cana (bottom) indicating the
location of royal and vidaho palace sites and their builders. Additionally,
a number of city quarters and the century in which they were founded
are identified, highlighting the close connection between palace building
and settlement patterns across both cities. The Abomey plan is compiled
from maps published by Houseman et al. (1986), Antongini and Spini
(1995), and Randsborg and Merkyte (2009).

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gonmey palace at Abomey were implicated in royal narratives “Kana, next to Whydah, [the major port,] [was] the most
of dynastic continuity and legitimacy. Second, the construc- important town in the kingdom” (Skertchly 1874:118).
tion of individual vidaho palaces masked alternative claims Like Abomey, palace construction campaigns defined
to power by potential political rivals. In both cases, the king Cana’s urban landscape. Each of five successive kings of the
attempted to promote orthodox histories of royal succession eighteenth and nineteenth centuries built a royal complex at
and to suppress competing histories of conflict and rebellion. Cana; structures commonly referred to as “country palaces”
Royal architecture at Abomey was thus an important com- by nineteenth-century European observers (Agaja at Cana-
ponent of elite strategies to project a vision of order and the Totah; Tegbesu at Cana-Degueli; Kpengla at Cana-Kpohon;
smooth transition of power in politically tumultuous times. and both Kpengla and Agongolo at Cana-Agouna, Guezo and
By far the most notable pattern to emerge in the eighteenth Glele at Cana-Gbenganmey, and Glele at Cana-Mignonhi).
century, however, was the expansion of palace construction These were no mere provincial complexes, however. Indeed
campaigns outward into Abomey’s hinterland, resulting in a the Cana palaces were impressive structures in their own right.
At 35 ha (86.5 acres), the palace of King Tegbesu at Cana-
complex network of state centers across the region (fig. 3).
Degueli, for example, stood as the largest complex built by a
During his brief captivity in the Palace of King Agaja at Great
single king on the plateau. The extent of building at Cana
Ardra (the capital of Allada), for example, Bulfinche Lambe
attests to the relative importance of this rapidly urbanizing
noted,
community.
He likewise very often adjournes to some other of his pal- One is immediately struck by notable similarities between
aces, which are some miles distant hence; and I am told in the urban plans of Cana and Abomey. Palace sites are dis-
number eleven. (Forbes 1851:186) tributed broadly across the urban landscape, positioned on
the major roads into and out of both communities. Unlike
On the Abomey Plateau palace sites were constructed at
Abomey, however, Cana lacked a central palace structure
Zassa, Hoja, Huawe, and Cana in Abomey’s hinterlands in
around which the community as a whole was organized. In-
the eighteenth century (fig. 3). These rural structures served
deed, whereas individual palace constructions at Abomey
a variety of purposes. The royal family used royal palace struc-
seem to have been a secondary royal concern, at Cana these
tures built at Zassa and Hoja as refuges from Yoruba invaders
sites dominate the landscape. Oral traditions collected from
on a number of occasions in the eighteenth century (Non-
Cana do indicate that both King Kpengla and Agongolo con-
dichao Bachalou, personal communication, Abomey, 2000; structed the palace of Cana-Agouna in successive phases, a
Ellis 1965:264; Norris 1789:14). Additionally, documentary proposal supported by limited archaeological evidence (Mon-
evidence suggests that Tegbesu built a royal enclosure at roe 2003). This pattern continued in the nineteenth century
nearby Huawe (Dakodonu’s second stop on the plateau) to in the shared palace of Kings Guezo and Glele at Cana-Gben-
commemorate Dakodonu’s arrival in the region (Burton ganmey. The tradition of expanding existing palace construc-
1864:285). Four palace complexes were constructed at Cana tions was thus not unknown at Cana, but it appeared only
in the eighteenth century, a site of great political and economic in the later eighteenth century.
importance in Dahomey (see below). Generally speaking, A convincing explanation for the difference in the timing
these regional construction campaigns were part of a broad of this shift in architectural practice at Cana is unascertain-
suite of strategies to establish economic control over major able. It may be that because Cana was always somewhat of a
trade routes in the eighteenth century (Monroe 2007a, 2007b). provincial town in comparison to Abomey, and one that de-
Here I wish to emphasize, however, that these sites also played clined substantially in the nineteenth century, royal renova-
a centrally important role in royal attempts to rewrite his- tion campaigns were not implemented at the same level of
torical imagination in Dahomey. intensity. Thus, the Cana pattern may preserve, in some ways,
The most intensive construction activity in the eighteenth a more accurate record of palace construction activities as
century took place at Cana, situated 11 km southeast of they unfolded in the eighteenth century. Indeed it also may
Abomey (fig. 6). Cana was a Guedevi political center before be the case that Abomean memories of ongoing palace ren-
the rise of the Fon in the early seventeenth century and was ovation from the reigns of Agaja onward are exaggerated.
Dakodonu’s first stop en route to Abomey (Le Hérissé 1911: Could the grand expanse of the Agrigonmey palace have re-
276–279). It emerged as a true urban center by the eighteenth sulted from the incorporation of standing palace structures
century and, with a population surpassing 10,000 (Duncan at Abomey behind a palace wall constructed at a later date?
This would explain the circuitous path made by the Agri-
1847:215–216), was second only to Abomey on the plateau
gonmey palace wall around the palace grounds. It is also
in size.8 Indeed, Cana was considered the “country capital”
interesting that there is no evidence for the construction of
of the kingdom as a whole, and by the nineteenth century,
a vidaho palace by King Agaja at Abomey, and the area at-
8. Some traditional sources claim that Cana was also the usual resi- tributed to kings Tegbesu, Kpengla, and Agongolo within the
dence of the King of Dahomey, who left for Abomey only when annual Agrigonmey palace are vague at best. It is thus possible that
state ceremonies demanded (Dalzel 1793:xx). it was Agaja, and not Wegbaja, who initiated the Agrigonmey

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palace, expanding later in subsequent constructions into the mey, thereby silencing competing claims to political power
vast enclosure visited by later eighteenth-century observers that emerged within the elite sphere. Architecture was thus
(Blier 2005). If so, this represents another example of elites central to underwriting royal historical claims to power, ren-
in the eighteenth-century manufacturing a sense of continuity dering a source of authority in politically tumultuous times.
with the past (Law 1988). Architecture, therefore, was an im-
portant part of strategies designed to shape the experience Architecture and the Gerrymandering of
and memory of public urban space vis-à-vis a particular vision
of dynastic origins.
Social Identity
Stepping back from the individual sites and adopting a Documentary references also indicate that Dahomean mon-
regional point of view, the expansion of royal palace con- archs faced difficulties in establishing order at a broader re-
struction toward Cana, can be read as part of broader attempts gional level, and strategies to cope with such dissent included
at materializing historical claims to royal power and authority. resettlement campaigns and intermarriage policies that sought
Orthodox dynastic histories indicate that the Fon dynasty to create new Dahomean communities out of ethnically di-
arrived on the plateau first at Cana and then migrated north- verse peoples. However, what mechanisms of social integra-
westward, passing through Huawe en route to Abomey. Cana tion were established in the place of the kinship relationships
is also commonly cited as the beginning of the Royal Road, that presumably guided social life before such relocation
a processional way that ritually linked these three commu- events? How did functioning community identities emerge
nities during the Xwetanu (Alpern 1999). In the nineteenth out of these diverse groups of people? Here I will argue that
century Forbes described this road as “a broad clean road, as history making did not end at the royal palace gates. In fact
wide as any high road in England” (Forbes 1851:64). Its cer- palace sites in Dahomey were also implicated in royal strat-
emonial functions originated as early as the reign of Agaja, egies to rewrite community memory in terms of moments of
and it became a significant feature in royal ceremonies by the historical rupture and resettlement, thereby gerrymandering
end of the century.9 Referring to customs performed by Agon- local social identity vis-à-vis the emerging state, and making
golo to commemorate his father, for example, Dalzel wrote, strides toward naturalizing the new political order among the
general populace.
The ancient custom, however of celebrating the memory of Discussions about the nature of social identity in anthro-
the deceased Dahoman Kings, by the effusion of human pology have a long pedigree, and it is beyond the scope of
blood still prevailed to such a degree, that Wheenoohew this paper to discuss these ideas in detail (see Banks 1996;
[sic. Agongolo], upon his fist visit to his father’s tomb, took Jones 1997 for a full discussion). It is sufficient to note, how-
with him forty-eight men, tied, ordering, from time to time, ever, that anthropologists have largely shifted away from “pri-
one or two of them to be killed in the path, and saying, mordialist” notions of identity formation, which argue that
“He would walk in blood, all the way from Calmina [sic. social identity was structured around the givens at birth, “im-
Cana] to Abomey, to see his father.’” (Dalzel 1793:224). mediate contiguity and kin connection mainly, but beyond
them the giveness that stems from being born into a particular
Histories of royal migration, palace construction, and the
religious community, speaking a particular language following
Royal Road were thus coterminous, beginning at Cana, pass-
particular social practices” (Geertz 1963:109), toward what
ing through Huawe, and ending at Abomey. The Royal Road
has become known as an “instrumentalist” perspective. The
and the palace sites built along its path where thus part of a
latter emphasizes the fluid nature of identity formation in a
broader regional landscape of power, which ritually com-
variety of historical contexts and the relationship between this
memorated the historical relationship between Cana and
process and the exercise of power (Barth 1969; Cohen 1969;
Huawe as royal stops en route to Abomey.
Wilmsen 1996). Social identity, according to this view, is not
The above discussion clarifies the role of royal palace con-
the product of common origin but rather common condition,
struction campaigns in refashioning the public experience and
emerging as a form of social mobilization in politically
memory of urban space in reference to a deeper dynastic past.
charged historical moments.
The design and evolution of urban landscapes in Dahomey
West Africa in the Atlantic era provides clear examples in
attests to the close relationship between ritual space, politics,
support of this latter model. In particular, Sandra Greene’s
and the production of orthodox dynastic histories in Daho-
study of the social dynamics of gender and ethnicity in Anlo
mey. Indeed, palace construction and use was directly im-
polity (southern Ghana) provides valuable insights into the
plicated in a political project to promote orthodox narratives
nature of identity formation in this period that are relevant
of dynastic origins and unbroken royal succession in Daho-
for this discussion (Greene 1996). Greene’s analysis reveals
that the construction of multiethnic communities out of the
9. Levet reported that Agaja was preparing the Annual Customs at
chaos of the slave trade was, in fact, a common process across
Cana-Tota in 1733 (cited in Law 1991:326). Robin Law has suggested
that this might indicate the procession from Cana to Abomey was already coastal West Africa. For Ewe in the Anlo region social inte-
a part of Dahomean ritual practice as early as the reign of Agaja (Law gration in these heterogeneous communities was fostered by
1991:326). the formation of new clan identities, which made sense out

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of the complex histories of migration that unfolded in the and mythological, in contrast to hennu, which were specific
Atlantic era. Social identity was no longer framed in terms and local (Le Meur 2006).
of claims of primordial kinship ties alone. Rather kinship, In addition to this basic kingship structure, Fon kin groups
place of origin, and timing of arrival were all intertwined in are also defined broadly as either noble (axovi) or commoner
the construction of a complex series of novel clan identities (anato). Although the details of Fon kinship structure described
that differentiated autochthones from early Ewe settlers and above apply to both categories, there are differences significant
differentiated these latter from groups arriving in the more for this discussion. Notably, the nobility all belong to one pri-
recent past. Thus, Anlo-Ewe concepts of self, initially defined mary clan, the Houegbonou, the clan of the royal family as a
in reference to perceived primordial kinship ties, were recast whole. In contrast, at least 25 commoner clans were common
in terms of moments and sites of historical rupture. Impor- at Abomey in the recent past (Houseman et al. 1986:531), and
tantly, memory and place were mutually implicated in the I have come across at least 10 at neighboring Cana.10 The
construction of Anlo-Ewe social identity in the Atlantic era. Houegbonou clan, furthermore, is made up of 12 distinct lin-
Although Anlo-Ewe communities emerged in the absence eages, corresponding to the 12 remembered kings of Dahomey.
of centralized state institutions in this region, Greene’s in- The founding tohosou for each noble lineage, therefore, was
sights present potential explanation for patterns observed in each successive king of Dahomey. Although affiliation with
Dahomey. Oral evidence indicates that Dahomean resettle- royal or commoner clans was generally determined by patri-
ment schemes were closely tied to the palace construction
lineal descent, membership in the royal clan was also granted
campaigns described above. In the remaining pages of this
to those born of a royal princess, and was often granted to
essay I will argue that the revision of historical memory did
individuals who provided key political, economic, or ritual ser-
not end at the palace gates. Rather Dahomean palace con-
vices to the king (Houseman et al. 1986:536). Thus, upward
struction campaigns served as a powerful force for recasting
social mobility across ranked kinship categories was possible,
the historical depth of community memory in terms of par-
and the state bureaucracy was articulated largely in terms of
ticular royal lines. Resettling people around palace walls, I
the royal ako and its respective hennu.
argue, provided elites the opportunity to gerrymander social
These kinship categories tended to have clear spatial cor-
identity vis-à-vis the state. A short discussion of the close
relationship between Dahomean concepts of kinship and ur- relations, resulting in complex urban landscapes linking fam-
ban space will facilitate exploration of this process in greater ilies to house compounds throughout cities and across
detail. regions. In the recent past, families (xwedo) tended to be
In their study of kinship and settlement patterns in pre- spatially segregated in house compounds within Dahomean
colonial Abomey, Michael Houseman, Christiane Massy, towns. Although the spatial clustering of lineages within town
Blandine Legonou, and Xavier Crepin provide an insightful quarters is not uncommon, it is quite normal for lineages to
discussion of Fon kinship organization that may serve as a be settled more widely. Clans generally have weak spatial as-
starting point for this discussion (Houseman et al. 1986). sociations and serve, therefore, as crosscutting affiliations
Family structure in Dahomey was organized at multiple scales. uniting people from multiple quarters, villages, and towns
First, Fon claim association with individual families (xwedo), across broad regions.
defined by patrilineal descent from a recent ancestor and Lineage histories from Abomey demonstrate the close syn-
under the authority of a family head responsible for the eco- ergy between the spatial distribution of noble and commoner
nomic, social, and religious activities of the group. Second, a lineages and royal palace construction campaigns (Houseman
number of such families claim descent from a more distant et al. 1986; fig. 6). For each vidaho palace constructed at
ancestor (tohosou), often one who immigrated from a par- Abomey, both noble and commoner lineages were installed
ticular town or village as the result of the fission of xwedo at in neighboring quarters. In the Adandokpodji quarter of
a broader regional level, and one who is commemorated in Abomey, for example, Houegbonou were installed alongside
important ritual practices. It is quite common for such fam- descendants of captives of war brought to Dahomey during
ilies to share an economic specialty (potting, iron working, the reign of King Kpengla. Similarly King Tegbesu settled
weaving, etc.) that was passed down to them by this common ritual specialists brought from the Aja region of modern Togo
ancestor. These family networks are organized into lineages at Agblome, south of Adandokpodji. This pattern continued
(hennu) under the authority of a lineage chief (hennugan) and into the nineteenth century as kings incorporated foreign
a group of female elders (tanyi) who guard important hennu
traditions. Third, at the highest level stood the clan (ako). 10. Houseman et al. note that the following emerged as the 25 most
Fon clans are composed of lineages claiming common descent common anato clans at Abomey in their study: Adano, Agenu, Ahande,
from a mythical ancestor (tohwiyo; Law 1988:434). Rather Ahwano, Ahantun, Akpaulin, Akpenu, Alino, Anakpan, Ananu, Atakpa,
Ayato, Ayinon, Dehwin, Deno, Devo, Dogonu, Gbeto, Glonu, Hana, Nosi,
than real kinship groups, clans are in practice a referential
Nunte, Jahwedoto, Jeto, and Sadonu (Houseman et al. 1986:531). Oral
category that define for their members certain rights, restric- research conducted by the author, furthermore, has thus far identified a
tions, and obligations in the ritual sphere vis-à-vis their myth- total of 10 anato clans at Cana: Ajanou, Aguènou, Ahantou, Ayato,
ical ancestor. Indeed, as Le Meur has noted, ako were general Ayinon, Aguénou, Dènon, Hana, Jêto, and Sadonou.

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groups into Abomey in communities adjacent to the walls of These traditions confirm commonly cited histories, which
their vidaho palaces (Houseman et al. 1986). suggest that the Guedevi were settled at Cana by the seven-
According to Houseman et al., therefore, teenth century. The area inhabited by these autochthonous
Each royal lineage is a “pole of attraction” at times both residents is now limited to the southeastern corner of the
social and residential. To the extent that each of these lin- modern town at Cana-Kbota. Oral data suggest Cana grew
eages is associated with a different site of the private palace substantially over time as Dahomean kings built royal palaces
of a king, most princely families from the same royal lineage and installed subjects across a relatively open landscape. This
and most of the common families who are attached to it resulted in pattern of growth from the southeast to the north-
are gathered around the same space. (Houseman et al. 1986: west during the eighteenth century, followed by infilling pro-
537–538; author’s translation) jects in a southeasterly direction in the nineteenth century.
Much like the pattern observed at Abomey, the widespread
Palace sites at Abomey were thus the dominant social as distribution of palace complexes across Cana facilitated the
well as symbolic features of the urban landscape, serving as integration of new peoples into Dahomean urban society.
anchors for the diverse communities that arose around their Interviews collected with hennugan from three clans in par-
walls. Each community established, furthermore, served as a ticular, the Ayinon, Houegbonou, and Jêtovi throw important
microcosm of the kingdom as a whole, with palace residents, light on the complex and intensely political nature of settle-
noble elite, and commoners living in relative proximity to ment history at Cana in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
one another. The everyday experience of these spaces un- turies. Members of the Houegbonou clan, for example, il-
doubtedly provided a constant admonition of the structure lustrate a pattern of settlement at Cana that, like that described
of social order in the emergent state. They would have pro- above for Abomey, was closely aligned with the economic and
vided material reminders of both lineage origins in terms of political agendas of the royal family itself. Houegbonou clan
moments of historical rupture engendered by Dahomean po- members interviewed claim that their ancestors were sent
litical expansion, as well as opportunities for social mobility from Abomey under various kings. All indicate that they orig-
in the growing urban community. The spatial pattern de- inally arrived on the plateau via Houegbo with the Fon, and
scribed above can be considered, therefore, an important that they were installed at Cana to work as cultivators in royal
component of settlement strategies designed to recast the ex- fields, to serve as vodun priests, and as officials to “care for
perience and memory of local communities vis-à-vis the Da- the kingdom.” The hennugan of the Aizannon lineage, for
homean state. example, indicated that his ancestor was installed at Cana as
At Abomey, it is clear that palace construction campaigns a priest for Aizan, an important vodun of the royal court
played a critical role in integrating diverse groups into broader (Dah Aizannon, personal communication, Cana-Tota, 2006).
Dahomean society. The same appears to be true at Cana as Of course it is exceedingly improbable that all families at Cana
well. Since archaeological work began at Cana, a central com- who claim Houegbonou affiliation arrived on the plateau with
ponent of the research design has been to conduct oral in- the Fon (particularly given the probably manufacture of this
terviews with hennugan across the town. We have recorded origin story to begin with). As noted above, however, clan
clan and lineage affiliation, memories of specialist roles that membership was a flexible category of reference. Houegbonou
each lineage may have served within the kingdom as a whole, clan status in particular was granted via loyal service to the
the geographic origins and date of arrival for each group king, facilitating some degree of status mobility in precolonial
(expressed in reference to the reign of particular Dahomean Dahomean society. These histories are in keeping, therefore,
kings), as well as any other family memories outlining their with our general understanding of the close association be-
origins in the town. These data reveal that many of Cana’s tween the Houegbonou and dynastic history (Suzanne Blier,
modern residents claim that their ancestors arrived in the personal communication, 2009; Houseman et al. 1986).
precolonial period under circumstances similar to those of Additionally, stories of Jêtovi origins are indicative of a
their neighbors in Abomey: to serve as laborers, artisans, ritual general pattern associated with the resettlement of groups
specialists, and state officials of various sorts. They were of from much farther afield. One member of this clan at Cana
both free and slave status, and they originated from both Gandjé-Kpindji indicated that his ancestors originated in Togo
within Dahomey and from more distant locales. Indeed, much and were installed at Cana as early as the reign of Kpengla
as in the spatial pattern observed in Abomey, quarters across (Jean Houdéhinto, personal communication, Cana Gandjé-
Cana were populated by Houegbonou from Abomey itself, as Kpindji, 2006). At Cana-Tota, furthermore, members of the
well as commoner clans comprising lineages originating on Dessou lineage of the Jêtovi clan expressed origins in Yoruba
Dahomey’s frontiers in Maxi, Aja, and Yoruba country. communities in modern-day Nigeria. Tales of this family’s
As in Abomey, there is little pattern in the spatial distri- origins are particularly illustrative of the broader impact of
bution of clans across Cana. Lineage histories, however, have war and population movement in precolonial Dahomey. Ac-
been very useful in reconstructing the spatial pattern of urban cording to this family, King Agaja acquired a girl named Zoida
growth at Cana, revealing a pattern of settlement very similar during a military campaign against the Yoruba Kingdom of
to that described for Abomey (Houseman et al. 1986; fig. 6). Oyo. He married Zoida and brought her to live in his palace

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at Cana. Over time, however, Zoida became homesick, and According to these sources, however, they were relocated to the
so had she charmed Agaja that she convinced him to bring area of Cana-Malé12 because the sound of their prayers was a
her brother to live nearby. Agaja found and installed him next disturbance for Agaja and his court at Cana-Tota (Moussa Chaı̈-
to the palace at Cana-Tota, and the Dessou family claims to bou, personal communication, Cana-Malé, 2006).
descend from this man (Dessou Weke, personal communi- Three points can be made about the significance of the stories
cation, Cana-Tota, 2006). outlined above. First, the cases introduced above support the
Finally, certain lineages of the Ayinon clan provide illus- notion that clan affiliations were quite flexible. In most cases
trative accounts of the important role of autochthonous cited above the founding lineage ancestors were of exotic or-
Guedevi in the early settlement history at Cana. In Fongbe, igins, and appear to have been loyal servants of state interests
Ayinon means “owner of the earth” and is a clan designation in the initial years of political expansion. The examples of
most often associated with Guedevi lineages across the pla- Ayinon lineage histories introduced here are a clear example
teau. Members of the Aguidi lineage of the Ayinon clan at of this fact. Unlike most examples, which are only suggestive
Cana-Kbota, for example, claim their ancestor Aguidi was of clan flexibility, residents at Cana-Malé were quite explicit in
brother of Guede himself, the mythical founder of the Gued- this fact. Moussa Chaı̈bou, for example, suggested “because we
evi. Members of this lineage recount that following a series were Muslims we had no clan and took the Ayinon clan from
of military campaigns against the Yoruba Kingdom of Oyo the Fon.” (Moussa Chaı̈bou, personal communication, Cana-
in the early eighteenth century, King Agaja asked Aguidi for Malé, 2006). Here we have another parallel with Anlo-Ewe clan
permission to leave captives taken in these battles in Cana. formation in Ghana, in which clans were quite clearly remem-
Aguidi accepted and his family was placed in charge of over- bered to have been constructed to serve particular social func-
seeing their placement. As the population of captives grew, tions, in that case the control over land in the face of the influx
they were distributed across Cana to found new quarters re- of immigrants (Greene 1996).
sulting in the dispersed pattern of settlement observable today Second, these recollections of lineage origins are universally
(Aguidi Vodonou Michel, Aguidi Bodohoue Nicolas, Aguidi framed in reference to the imposition of state authority in
Gbesse, and Da Aguidi Vinanwa, personal communications, the lives of ancestors. Often they are presented in reference
Cana-Kbota, 2006). It is notable that no other Guedevi lin- to individual palace complexes at Cana and the reign of a
eages are present today at Cana, suggesting that the Aguidi specific king. Moments of historical rupture, mapped across
family formed a particularly salient alliance with Dahomey the urban landscape, linked to the exploits of particular kings,
early in its history. thereby define a significant portion of family identity at Cana.
A number of Ayinon lineages at Cana, however, confound In terms of Greene’s discussion of the composite nature of
our current understanding of the broader history of this par- Anlo-Ewe social identity in this period, a case can be made
ticular clan in Dahomey. As noted above, Ayinon is typically that Dahomean building and resettlement activities in the
considered to be an autochthonous Guedevi clan designation. eighteenth century effectively rewrote social identity in Cana
In the Ganjé-Kpindji neighborhood nearby the palace of King vis-à-vis an orthodox narrative of dynastic history.
Kpengla, however, members of the Hounliho lineage of this Third, the Guedevi are nearly entirely absent from these
clan provide accounts that place the origins of their tohosou in stories. Indeed in nearly all cases individuals interviewed sug-
Nigeria. Members of this family recounted how their ancestor gested that their ancestors were the first to settle their re-
was one of four brothers who left Ibadan in the early eighteenth spective quarters. This claim is in sharp disagreement with
century to settle in four towns across Dahomey (Godomey, archaeological research that has been conducted in the area
Calavi, Don, and Cana). At Cana, their ancestor received a large since 2005. Indeed since that year a survey campaign in and
plot of land to work from King Agaja, a sign of his loyal service around Cana has identified relatively dense settlement ex-
to that king (Hounliho Valintin and Hounliho Ahossi, personal tending back well before the seventeenth century. This sug-
communications, Cana-Gandjé-Kpindji, 2006). gests that the landscape into which Dahomean kings inserted
Residents of Cana-Malé on the southeastern end of Cana new settlers at Cana was by no means an empty one, and we
proper consistently tell an analogous story. Here members of must question the historical accuracy of local claims that no
the Moussa and Moufaliou lineages of the Ayinon clan also one lived in these locations before.
indicated that their families originated in Nigeria, in the towns It is perhaps not a coincidence that the origin stories re-
of Blida11 and Kano, respectively. Moussa Chaı̈bou, for example, counted by Cana’s residents tend to be associated with land
recounted how during a war in Nigeria, Agaja captured 33 claims and ritual responsibilities involving the state sphere
Muslims and settled them at Cana-Tota. They were brought to itself. In West Africa more broadly, first settlers are generally
Cana to provide ritual services for the kingdom, and were considered the legitimate owners of the land, and holders of
charged with praying daily to guarantee success in war, to bring important ritual knowledge necessary to supplicate local gods
peace, and to ensure the overall health of the royal family. and spirit forces. Does the pattern described above reflect a
process whereby rights of first arrival were wrested from the
11. “Blida” is possibly a reference to Bida, the second-largest city in
Niger State, Nigeria. 12. Malé means Muslim in Fongbe.

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legitimate owners of the land and granted to newcomers loyal rivals. Orthodox histories of dynastic origins and legitimacy
to the state? Indeed, it is also notable that clan flexibility in were thereby promoted, and competing histories of conflict
Cana appears to be closely associated with social mobility, and rebellion were repressed. The production of space in
suggesting that the spatial patterns outlined above may have Abomey and its hinterlands, therefore, contributed to the
been part of a broader project of creating political “insiders” general perception that elite claims to power were rooted in
loyal to state interests. historical precedent.
In support of this argument, some members of the village The production of Dahomean history did not end at the
of Atchia, a small village 5 km south of Cana, do in fact claim palace walls, however. At both Abomey and Cana, palace sites
to descend from Ayinon dislocated from Cana in the early served as anchors to which peoples of diverse ethnic origins
years of Dahomean expansion. Similar political counternar- were tethered by an expanding state apparatus. This process
ratives to the state-centric histories described above doubt- extended “history making” in Dahomey down to the neigh-
lessly thrive in rural communities across the Abomey Plateau borhood level, initiating a process whereby social identity was
(Blier 1995). One might conjecture that state involvement in effectively rewritten in two important ways. First, urban res-
the construction of social identity was a twofold process, in- idents conceptualized their historical origins explicitly in
volving the creation of an imagined community of urban terms of palaces and population resettlement schemes initi-
“insiders,” whose identity was shaped in reference to inclusion ated by specific kings. Second, the political union between
and participation within the state sphere, as well as rural newcomer settlements and Fon royal palaces must have stood
“outsiders” whose sense of self was framed in opposition to in sharp disagreement with Guedevi claims to corporate own-
it. Linking the reengineering of historical memory and social ership of land and ritual knowledge. The spatial tactics out-
mobility in this way might explain why state-centric lineage lined above not only served to make political “insiders” out
histories appear to have gained traction in the past. Planned of “outsiders,” but also effectively to erase the social memory
future research in rural zones will undoubtedly shed light on of all but a handful of Guedevi lineages in the two urban
this tantalizing possibility. communities examined in this study. The result was the for-
mulation of a set of new social identities conceived in terms
of historical rupture as much as primordial kinship ties, and
Conclusion
rooted in new relationships between lineage, land, ritual
In the mid-to-late eighteenth century Dahomean kings con- power, and state authority in Dahomey.
cocted a political narrative of dynastic origins and lineal de-
scent from kings of Allada. This narrative hinged, in part,
upon the story of Dakodonu murdering a local rival and
building a royal palace over his slain corpse, marking an im-
Acknowledgments
portant moment of historical convergence between oral and The research presented in this essay could not have been
material “archives” in the rise of the Dahomey state. In this accomplished without the support of a number of individuals.
paper, this event is used as a point of departure for exploring I would like to thank Christian Médard Assogba, Da Lan-
the nature of political and social change in precolonial Da- ganfin Glélé Aı̈hotogbé, Obaré Bagodo, Kenneth Kelly, Neil
homey, a polity that struggled to establish order and legitimacy Norman, and Merrick Posnansky for providing invaluable
over 3 centuries of political expansion. In this essay, I have assistance and encouragement during the implementation of
argued that the production of space and orthodox visions of this field research. In particular, I am indebted to Christian
a dynastic past were mutually intertwined elements of this Médard Assogba for his ongoing assistance in the field and
political project. for his help in both organizing and translating the oral in-
On the one hand, orthodox dynastic histories centered on terviews on which much of the argument of this paper hinges.
the migration of Fon kings to the plateau and their subsequent This essay matured from two papers presented in the Emerg-
rise to power were created in the eighteenth century to pro- ing Worlds Workshop in the Department of Anthropology,
mulgate a sense of continuity with the kingdom of Allada. University of California, Santa Cruz (March 2009), and in
The design and placement of royal palaces were important the conference Excavating the Past: Archaeological Perspec-
components of strategies to materialize these particular vi- tives on Black Atlantic Regional Networks, held at the Center
sions of Dahomean dynastic history. The above discussion for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies, University of California,
illustrates three building strategies deployed to underwrite Los Angeles (April 2009). I am grateful for the critical feed-
claims to dynastic legitimacy in Dahomey. First, palace con- back generously provided by respondents and participants at
struction campaigns initiated across the plateau ritually ma- these events. I would also like to express my gratitude to
terialized royal claims to dynastic origins. Second, palace ren- Suzanne Blier, Don Brenneis, Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, Sandra
ovation and expansion projects played an important role in Greene, Rowan Flad, Robin Law, Neil Norman, Francois Rich-
writing royal narratives of dynastic continuity and legitimacy. ard, five anonymous reviewers, and the editor of Current An-
Third, the construction of individual vidaho palaces sought thropology for providing invaluable comments on previous
to mask alternative claims to power by potential political drafts of this paper.

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argues, “political power in Dahomey depended, at a funda-

mental level, upon the public perception of order and sta-
Comments bility,” then we need to understand more about that public.
Monroe builds a convincing case that the practices of power,
Jeffrey Fleisher
manipulated from above, were a crucial factor in the form of
Department of Anthropology MS 20, Rice University, P.O.
Dahomean urban landscapes, but it is worth considering the
Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251, U.S.A. (jfleisher@rice
way the daily acts of non-nobles contributed to the form of
.edu). 22 VII 11
the urban fabric and how the establishment of order may
This case study on the materialization of power in precolonial have been the product of negotiation rather than imposition.
Dahomey is a welcome intervention in the study of the spatial Similarly, the issue of the putatively autochthonous Gued-
practices of the state. With this essay, Monroe adds to a grow- evi and their relations with the emergent state beg more clar-
ing number of studies that examine the manipulation of space ity. Their erasure from the oral traditions may suggest some
and the production of place as key practices in the establish- success over the long term in displacing whatever control they
ment and legitimization of authority. Key to the authorization once held. Only an archaeology of the pre-Dahomean region
of the Dahomean state was the construction of palace com- can adequately address how that process occurred and
plexes and the resettlement of communities around them. whether the policies of the state were as decisive and successful
Through the architecture of the palace, Monroe argues, state as suggested. While oral traditions provide an important in-
leaders sought to fashion a political landscape that was suc- sight into the way settlement programs may have shaped his-
cessful in altering historical narratives and transforming social torical clan identities, this line of argumentation relies heavily
identities. These political landscapes thus were not simply the on nineteenth-century histories and contemporary oral
result of state practices but were instrumental in the con- traditions; archaeological materials from both rural areas and
struction of the ideology of the state itself. the zones in which pre-Dahomean communities lived might
It is refreshing and important that this case is made with just offer a supplemental view that reveals that it is the sources
data from an African state. Except for a few standard examples themselves effecting silence rather than the emergent leaders
(e.g., Great Zimbabwe), African complex societies are sorely at Dahomey doing so.
underrepresented in global archaeological discussions. Al- Finally, while Monroe emphasizes the “performance of
though much has been learned from African cases that seem power” and “settlement strategies designed to recast the ex-
to diverge from traditional models of the state (McIntosh and perience and memory of local communities vis-à-vis the Da-
McIntosh 1993), Monroe reminds us that hierarchical African homean state,” one is left wanting more about how people—
states have much to offer to discussions of the way leaders both nobles and commoners—experienced the palaces them-
sought to manipulate state spaces and the social identities of selves and how the actions of those people may have played
their subjects. The case also builds on a long tradition in an active role shaping the urban landscape. How were the
African archaeology of working between history, archaeology, palaces accessed and lived in? Did the renovation of palaces
and oral traditions and works diligently to coordinate them alter the way people experienced them: did the idea of palace
in productive ways, cognizant that they often speak to dif- space transform over time? In what ways did the “everyday
ferent and conflicting concerns. experience of these spaces . . . provide a constant admonition
Perhaps Monroe’s most important contribution is his in- of the structure of the social order in the emergent state”?
sight into the way architectural and resettlement campaigns These issues should be accessible with the detailed data on
sought to rewrite historical narratives. As a tactic to legitimize palace architecture that Monroe has collected. It seems that
the state, the eighteenth-century palace and its environs be- many of these issues are already in Monroe’s sights, with
came an important arena in which memories were reconfig- future work planned on rural settlements, and a growing un-
ured, captives were made subjects, and rivals silenced. In this derstanding of the spaces beyond the palace walls. In sum,
way, his project moves beyond arguments about elite archi- this is an exciting new contribution to the study of political
tecture as simply materializing power and authority. This is landscapes and the ways history and identity can be trans-
the difference, as Monroe notes, between “proclaim[ing] formed through the spatial practices of the state.
power monumentally” and “naturaliz[ing] that power in the
hearts and minds of subjects.”
However, it is a tricky business to know what goes on in
the hearts and minds of subjects, especially in an eighteenth-
century landscape where we know so little about the com- Rosemary A. Joyce
moner populations. Monroe hints at some possible places to Department of Anthropology, University of California,
look, suggesting that rural areas may shed light on the re- Berkeley, California 94720-3711, U.S.A. (rajoyce@berkeley
structuring of social identities. Such avenues would provide .edu). 28 VII 11
a way of balancing the monumental materialities of the nobles
with a greater sense of how non-noble people came to be Two things strike me as provocative and original contributions
incorporated into the state apparatus, and how. If, Monroe here. First, this article is an important contribution because

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it brings into wider disciplinary debates archaeology of the resettlement of people is one that makes it easier to promote
more recent past in Africa, which remains underrepresented hegemonic experiences over the stubborn identification of
despite the importance of the continent in archaeological re- workers with the products of their labor and the persistent
search of early human evolution. tactics through which people can occupy spaces in ways that
At the same time, Monroe presents us with a kind of anal- exceed the strategic intentions of their patrons. Resettlement,
ysis that reveals quite a lot about changes in archaeological more than building, may have been key to implementing a
practices, including writing practices, over the past 2 decades. regime of new power relations: removing people from the
His argument that palace architecture served as a tool for well-understood and historically rich spaces that would have
politics and nation building diverges from many similar ar- provided inertial drag against new readings of place, for ex-
guments in the past because here, the thorny questions of ample.
agency that this formulation raises are not elided but are Monroe’s appropriation of the term “gerrymandering” for
central to the argument. Architecture is such a tool because this kind of appropriation of space seems precisely right for
particular actors were motivated to do things with space and the political register with which he is concerned. Similar phe-
place. As Monroe’s overview of the history of considerations nomena of making place, where the people acting previously
of space and power in archaeology implies, this is not how did not inhabit space, however, might be approached in other
such arguments traditionally were made. Instead of a Da- registers. Some recent discussions of new colonial societies in
homey cultural logic that would be problematic because it the Americas, for example, have replaced a long-used em-
would exist everywhere and nowhere at once, we have the phasis on the maintenance of multiple distinct “identities” in
pragmatics of a Dahomean agency. new colonial towns with an emphasis on how the people
Refreshingly, Monroe is alert to the pitfall that this new newly located in such novel places reshaped their material
perspective might risk: he is equally concerned with how those worlds, pragmatically, in the absence of an existing agreed
intentions of the builders of palaces were, in practice, incor- upon pattern of daily life, leading to the emergence of new
porated as part of the deep-seated motivations of the rest of identifications, a process increasingly described by archaeol-
the people. Indeed, I would go further than he; where he ogists as ethnogenesis (Card 2007; Voss 2008). I wonder
writes that “in some contexts” understandings of space “may whether Monroe’s analysis might not profitably connect with
be marshaled in opposition to elite attempts to impose cen- this literature, which operates in the social and cultural reg-
tralized authority,” I would suggest archaeologists should al- isters where meaning making might be expected to take place
ways assume that there are understandings of space that run and social memory to be generated. This would involve a
counter to the interests of centralizing and hierarchizing pow- change from describing resettled peoples as integrating into
ers, tactical occupations of space to counter strategic invest- Dahomean society to one of Dahomean society (and cultural
ments in space, following de Certeau (1984; see also Morris identification) emerging from resettlement and the pragmatic
2004). I thus remain dubious that “elites” are ever totally engagements that ensued. I see this as entirely compatible
effective in “silencing alternative narratives of political order with his analysis of this rich case study. What it might lead
among subjects.” to, I think, is an extension of this study that would fully realize
Monroe notes that architectural projects concretize “the his goals of engaging with contemporary perspectives on place
values and perspectives of a particular status group in place,” and history and more fully addressing the question of how
not just broadcasting preexisting elite perceptions but shaping the people come to identify with and accept propositions by
popular memory to coincide with elite views. I would go a minority that seeks to wield power over those whose labor
further (or perhaps in a different direction): the people who they appropriate.
actually build these embodiments of elite intentions and per-
spectives are invested in them, through the stubborn iden-
tification of the workman with his or her labor, even when
it is appropriated (Butler 1997:31–62). It seems to me this is
Kenneth G. Kelly
a very common archaeological challenge: for us to think about
Department of Anthropology, Hamilton College, University
the things we encounter already completed as they would have
of South Carolina, 1512 Pendleton Street, Columbia, South
been while emergent, in process. We see the palace (or palace
Carolina 29201, U.S.A. ([email protected]). 11 VII
in ruins) as a final product of labor and tend to think through
11
the implications for people moving through and around such
a place. We need to remember that buildings and all the other It is a particular pleasure to see Africanist archaeological work
things we encounter had histories before that end point and associated with the Atlantic world period presented to a broad
that much of the meaning and power of things probably anthropological audience; Cameron Monroe’s research in pre-
emerged from those earlier histories, including histories of colonial Dahomey will be of great interest to many anthro-
building. pologists and historians. His work adds to a corpus of ar-
This leads me to a final point about the specific case study chaeological research (see Chouin and DeCorse 2010;
Monroe provides here. It may be that the context of deliberate DeCorse 2001; DeCorse and Spiers 2009; Kelly 2002, 2009,

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2010; Norman 2009, 2010; Norman and Kelly 2004; Posnan- have been much less. Perhaps also a key innovation of Da-
sky 1969; Richard 2009; Stahl 2001; and others) that dem- homey was the more successful management of these mul-
onstrates the necessity of integrating archaeological, ethno- tiethnic resettled palace site communities. In the Hueda case,
graphic, and historical data in order to understand social the European traders were constrained to set up their estab-
processes underway in the context of the emergence and flo- lishments directly in the elite precinct (Kelly 2002, 2009). Was
rescence of the Atlantic world, as Africans, Europeans, and this an early version of resettling foreigners such as Monroe
Americans engaged in commerce and conquest along the At- describes in Dahomey? While this clearly materialized the
lantic coast of West Africa. Monroe also takes as his departure links between the Hueda elite and one of the primary sources
point recent historical scholarship that posits that many as- of their power and wealth, having the European traders and
pects of the “traditional” histories of the Slave Coast region their goods on daily display may also have unintentionally
were (are?) the product of ideological constructions designed induced political rivals to contest that link. When Dahomey
to legitimize and serve particular political interests during took over the coast, it restricted European traders to the
times of contestation. The one constant in the politics of coastal entrepôt of Ouidah and only rarely permitted Euro-
coastal West Africa during the Atlantic trade was the contin- peans to travel to the interior. As Monroe points out, the
uous and significant political infighting within and between palace sites were stages for ritual activities, from processions
groups (Adandé 1986–1987; Law 1990; Norman 2009). Mon- to the annual customs, and by clearly proclaiming consoli-
roe’s contribution explores how royal architecture was used dated power distinct from European entanglements (as in the
to help construct (and perhaps at times deconstruct) these Hueda case), this may have further increased the effectiveness
orthodox narratives of political and social history as Dahomey of the Dahomean resettlement schemes in naturalizing elite
expanded in the face of contested factionalism. Monumental power.
architecture, which in much of the Slave Coast region is as- Monroe’s research is exciting, and it is high time that one
sociated with elite palaces, is asserted to have been employed of the most important Atlantic African kingdoms was studied
in naturalizing power as I have shown for Dahomey’s ante- by anthropological archaeologists. His application of ideas
cedent, Hueda, through their employment of monumental surrounding elite consolidation of power through the archi-
ditch construction to symbolically link Hueda elite with the tectural materialization of history making are compelling and
wealth of European trade and to materialize elite control over complement other scholarship that has explored material
the traders themselves (Kelly 2009). In Hueda (and Daho- strategies for naturalizing associations with power elsewhere
mey), Norman and Kelly (2004) argue that the form archi- in coastal West Africa. In this complicated political setting, it
tectural features take, specifically the ditch systems enclosing is important to consider how some of the strategies elaborated
the royal precincts, materializes an elite association with par- by Dahomey may have had antecedents in other polities.
ticular fundamental aspects of the orthodox cosmology of Monroe’s contribution adds significantly to our appreciation
these states. The materialization of elite strategies is one thing of the complexity of West African societies and the ways in
to identify, whereas naturalization of such strategies remains which elites managed diversity through the creation of a com-
more elusive and contested; Monroe’s contribution suggests mon ideology and history. We should all eagerly await the
how this naturalization was manifest in the considerable com- research Monroe plans to conduct in the rural zones that will
plexity of Dahomean society. help to support the conclusions drawn here.
Monroe presents two primary thrusts; that palace construc-
tion was a fundamental way to ground claims to power during
a time of considerable political factionalism, and that palace
sites were important nodes in schemes that resettled con-
Chapurukha M. Kusimba
quered people in multiethnic communities on the Abomey
Department of Anthropology, Field Museum of Natural
plateau. Certainly the use of palace construction sensu strictu
History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois
to materialize power and authority was not unique to Da-
60605, U.S.A. ([email protected]). 1 VII 11
homey, although as a territorially expansive state, Dahomean
elites significantly elaborated the already present strategies The post-sixteenth-century era in Africa was transformative.
seen at Hueda and probably elsewhere. In other realms, such Africans experienced both small and large-scale migrations
as the management of trade and traders, Dahomey clearly and resettlement. Slavery inspired warfare and its aftermath
followed Huedan antecedents (Kelly 2002, 2010). Perhaps Da- had continent-wide ramifications. The brutality of daily life
homey’s elaboration of these strategies can be linked to the and the hopelessness of what life must have meant both for
ultimate failure of Hueda to successfully manage factionalism, the victim and perpetrator of violence inspired by slave trade
which was a key element in its collapse when attacked by can only be imagined. Mfecane, meaning crushing or scat-
Dahomey (Law 1990; Norman 2009). Monroe’s contribution tering, is the word the Zulu coined to explain this chaotic
regarding resettlement schemes is fascinating, suggesting that era. While Mfecane has been historically used to explain the
Dahomey also learned from the errors of Hueda, although as situation in southern and central Africa between ca. 1815 and
a smaller state, factionalism and ethnic fragmentation would 1840, I think the term is appropriate for explaining what was

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a continent-wide phenomenon. There was a general decline maps and figures. How was the palace and its occupants sus-
in quality and standard of life as legitimate economic and tained? And how was the labor necessary for the construction
social networks were disrupted by warfare and the slave trade. managed, organized, and maintained? What was the nature
Regional insecurity transformed friends and allies to enemies and scope of economic and social catalysts for these trans-
as each tried to outdo the other. Winners created dynasties formations? As an anthropological archaeologist who uses the
and cleansed their histories. Losers were marched to the coasts multiscalar approach in my research, I was disappointed by
and ended up in the Americas if they survived the brutal the author’s neglect of archaeological data. Also, although
Middle passage (e.g., Manning 1982). slavery and the slave trade were the primary catalyst, the
The archaeological landscape of this era is characterized by author hardly refers to them. Instead, prior knowledge of the
the emergence of walled towns and cities. Today, many of situation is assumed. Yes, informants and researchers find it
these settlements have collapsed, leaving palisades, ditches, uncomfortable to discuss servitude. However, how believable
and a few standing ruins that archaeologists have become are these clan histories without verification by other sets of
accustomed to uncritically refering to as “palaces.” The bulk data—archaeology for example?
of these sites, including elite and commoner residences, stock- I had trouble following the narratives and would like to
ades, and marooned settlements, are archaeologically “invis- have seen some qualitative data presented quantitatively. For
ible.” We continue to rely on informant testimonies and oral example, clan histories could be easily rendered in a table.
traditions to learn about the cruel and violent times of the Finally, the author’s singular focus on West Africa weakens
period, including defensive, protective, and offensive strate- his argument. I have already alluded to the mfecane in south
gies employed to ensure survival (e.g., Diouf 2003). The Africa. In east Africa, the rise of plantation slavery and the
choices of places to settle were determined by many factors, ivory trade coupled with the rise of powerful chiefdoms and
but chief among them was site defensibility and to a lesser states during this period of general decline would have offered
extent, resource availability. In eastern and southern Africa, a cross-cultural perspective (e.g., Soumonni 2003; Usman
there is a preference for hillside locales. 2001).
Fortified stone towns, what are referred to as palaces in Oral traditions open new vistas of seeing and reading his-
this article, emerged to replace household residences that once tory. But archaeology can contribute immensely to this nar-
characterized the African landscape and defined sedentary rative.
lifeways. Fortification was a response to insecurity. Qualifi-
cations for leadership increasingly became highly militarized.
Ambitious clan elders and young ambitious men had little
trouble finding followers if they could provide adequate se-
Akin Ogundiran
curity. The complex clan histories, collected and recounted
African Studies Department, Anthropology and History,
in this article, bear witness to the intrigue, rivalries, betrayals,
University of North Carolina, Garinger 113, 9201 Univer-
maneuvering, and posturing for power that characterized the
sity City Boulevard, Charlotte, North Carolina 28223,
seventeenth to nineteenth centuries in Africa. These are his-
U.S.A. ([email protected]). 17 VII 11
tories that have been recounted repeatedly albeit with a dif-
ference emphasis intergenerationally (e.g., Diouf 2003). Dahomey was one of the most prominent political establish-
“In the Belly of Dan” does not dismantle the long-held but ments in West Africa during the Atlantic age and has been
increasingly indefensible position that Africans did little to the focus of many career-defining studies to which Cameron
improve their condition during this period of crisis and tur- Monroe has added new and important perspectives that draw
moil. However, the author makes a strong and somewhat from landscape archaeology approaches. By focusing on how
persuasive argument that even under these extremely difficult the monarchy used palace construction, the distribution of
times, there was no real shortage of leadership. Then, as now, palaces across the kingdom, and population resettlement
history making and legitimating of power, status, and rank schemes to construct political identities and to consolidate
were played out and sustained both on the battlefield and in the power of the monarch, he has provided novel ways for
the palace. He shows how Dahomey is and continues to be understanding aspects of the political processes that heralded
a fertile ground in which to study examples of successful and defined the character of Dahomey Kingdom for roughly
responses to crisis. He illustrates through a persuasive nar- one-and-a-half centuries. Monroe is aware of the political
rative how power can be acquired through might, cunning, economic objectives of these acts of palace construction
and opportunism. To those vying for leadership, the palace throughout the eighteenth century: to establish a firm political
became a symbol of power and legitimacy. Victory on the “control over major trade routes” that funneled revenues to
battlefield only provided temporary occupation of the palace. the state and furnished the wealth of the monarchy. He is,
Keeping it within one’s clan and family-line required much however, interested in the nitty-gritty of political processes
more. that center on the construction of what he calls “orthodox”
The enormous size of “palaces” is intriguing, and the author history and memory.
does precious little to explain it except reference it to the Creating orthodox history was the discursive side of the

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coin that has palace construction on the other side. Both its everyday existence. A comparative analysis of the political
constitute a means to the material objectives of the monar- spaces crafted in Atlantic Africa would make it possible for
chy—political order, authority and legitimacy. Throughout, us to begin to understand how these states theorized power,
Monroe seems to suggest that authority and consolidation of authority, and political legitimacy. The fact that all of these
power automatically leads to legitimacy. Acts of palace con- states were underwritten by the political economic processes
struction and resettlement of the vanquished no doubt re- that focused on the Atlantic exchange, and that they were all
structured the political landscape, the mindscape, and even drawing from very similar symbolic reservoirs would make
the visualscape of Dahomeans and the subject communities. this comparative approach revealing of the unique and cross-
Yet, palaces as built places do not speak for themselves; oth- cultural political behaviors that characterized state formation
erwise, they would convey different meanings to different in Atlantic Africa.
audiences. This would be against the interest of the monarchy
seeking to forge singular consciousness out of diverse peoples
and communities with multiple identities. The question is to
what extent did these naturalize the political order represented
François G. Richard
by the monarchy/state—as a basis for contemplating and con-
Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago, 1126
ceptualizing issues of grand existence beyond the center or
East 59th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637, U.S.A. (fgrichard@
the kingdom itself (e.g, Cahokia, Ile-Ife, etc.) and cutting
uchicago.edu). 1 VIII 11
across religion, ideology, symbolic, social, and political con-
ditions? What mythologies, grand narratives, and philosoph- This article is a timely, thought-provoking account of the
ical reflections did these palaces invoke so that alternative conjoint work of space and politics in precolonial Africa. I
interpretations were narrowed and even subdued? The cen- found great relevance in its dissection of Dahomey’s “tectonic
tury of protracted political unrest—the eighteenth century— politics,” which duly stresses the implication of space and
was also one of an increased pace of political conquest and power, the historical contingency of sovereignty, and need to
the frenzied construction of palaces. Considering that Da- grasp its modalities in terms of local practices/imaginations
homey itself was a tributary state under the Oyo Empire for of governance (Kus and Raharijaona 2006; Norman and Kelly
most of the period covered in this essay (1748–1818) raises 2004).
questions on what impacts this might have had on the extent Rather than reprising Monroe’s well-argued theses, I would
to which Dahomey was able to write “orthodox history” and like to gesture to their underside. I am moved by recent
the extent to which this was internalized by the subject com- literature that recognizes that material settings are important
munities. tools and terrains of rule but also interrogates the limits of
Oral traditions are suffused with metaphors and culture- space, and the constraints it places on power (Richard 2009,
specific idioms that only contextual interpretation can make 2012). This scholarship has drawn attention to the incom-
meaningful. And, time collapsing is a well-known character- pleteness and ambivalence of space and architecture, the im-
istic of oral historical oratures (Vansina 1985). Hence, the possibility of their closure, their capacity to elude the best-
very literal interpretation of the building of Dakodonu’s pal- laid-out plans of state regulation and articulate with other
ace “in the belly of Dan” does little to account for the more social projects to become the platforms for different histories,
robust Fon cognitive, textual, metaphoric, and symbolic rep- strategies, futures . . . (Gregory 1994; Grosz 2001; Holston
resentations of history. The Fon state builders did not simply 2008; Moore 2005). Combining these threads, I am curious
penetrate “inside” (xo) the stomach of Dan but more im- about what Massey (2005) terms the “chance” of space,
portant the “inside” (xo) of the Guedevi territory as a whole. namely the unpredictability accruing from its materiality,
Likewise, the idea that the Ayinon lineages in Dahomey mi- which can never be fully absorbed into dominant modes of
grated from Ibadan (a polity established in the second quarter power. In other words, I wonder how, in the process of in-
of the nineteenth century in present-day Nigeria) during the stituting new spatial orders, Dahomeyan leaders also inad-
early eighteenth century is an anachronism. vertently opened spaces for other political projects and how
Monroe has contributed to the vast literature on how the that may complicate our understanding of political landscapes
recrafting of memory and identity was crucial to the project in the region. My concern here is that much of African pre-
of state building, especially in Atlantic West Africa. Parallel colonial history emphasizes states and elites while overlooking
situations also occurred from Asante to the Benin Kingdom the role of nonelites in shaping the continent’s political land-
and to the Oyo Empire, among others, especially in the Kwa- scapes.
speaking region (Ben-Amos Girshick 1999; McCaskie 2003; At the moment, Monroe’s account provides a “cartography
Ogundiran 2011). The unique ways in which Dahomey ac- of political authority” (Smith 2003:280) centered on state pro-
complished this task is an important contribution to the an- grams and rationalities. There is surely much to learn from
thropology of political behavior. But it is also important to examining practices of statecraft, which constitute a valuable
relate the Dahomean experience to the broad political and entrée into precolonial geographies of power. I would suggest,
regional milieu in which the kingdom developed and lived however, that elite strategies make up just one of many tra-

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jectories that collectively fashioned the history of power and history, Monroe should be thanked for a pointed article and
landscape in Bénin. There is no doubt that Dahomey was for raising the bar of expectations for those, in Africa and
uniquely capable of executing its designs by force of place beyond, interested in elucidating local political forms in their
making; this much is clear in the comprehensive project of own terms, mechanisms, and plural workings.
bureaucratization and population management implemented
by its nineteenth-century rulers. Yet I wonder if the cool
hegemonic façade of royal architectonics does not hide a more
ebullient field of spatial politics and possibilities, bubbling in
Ibrahima Thiaw
the wake of the state’s attempts to reorder the landscape in
Laboratoire d’Archéologie, IFAN-UCAD (L’Institut Fonda-
its image. This needs not refer to adversarial images of resis-
mental d’Afrique Noire–Université Cheikh Anta Diop), BP
tance or contestation. Rather, following Moore (2005), we
206 Dakar, Senegal ([email protected]). 11 VII
can think of intersecting fields of spatial practice that variably
11
coexist, assist, or confront each other, with unanticipated ef-
fects of power (Foucault 1994). Monroe has written a very insightful piece on the kingdom
As Monroe anticipates, these kinds of juxtaposition are of Dahomey at the height of the Atlantic slave trade, trian-
probably scribbled over rural areas, in the lives of commoners gulating between archaeology, oral traditions and, textual
standing distant from the seat of sovereignty. Yet, they can sources on the one hand and between space, power, and his-
perhaps also be gleaned in urban settings, beyond the stately tory on the other. He builds on previous studies including
gaze, in the stories nonelites spun around royal palaces, in his own work emphasizing the martial ethos and the sophis-
the “empty spaces” of the town (Crossland 2003; Smith 2008), ticated administration that were key to Dahomean success in
in residential quarters, and in the privacy of artifact assem- the operations of the Atlantic slave trade (Monroe 2003). But
blages (Norman 2009). Underscoring the multiplicities en- this article is instead an exercise to disentangle the complex
folded in space might open new questions about the “truth strategies deployed by the new Fon Dynasty (Alladaxonou) to
effects” and apparent efficiency of state narratives. For in- legitimate its power and authority over lands historically as-
stance, without rehearsing well-trodden debates about oral sociated to Guedewi ethnic identity. Monroe tries to elucidate
traditions, one wonders whether contemporary reminiscences the historical imagination and history making of Fon elites
reflect not merely the acceptance of new orthodox histories as they imposed their rule over the Abomey Plateau, Allada,
at the time but also the longer temporality of their appro- Hueda, and beyond, from the eighteenth through the nine-
priation in the construction of political identities in the pres- teenth centuries and faced the critical task of nation building.
ent. By extension, one also wonders whether elite statements To do that, he capitalizes on royal architecture as an element
of authority can be taken at face value. Monroe recognizes of the political landscape in the Abomey Plateau and Cana
the need to move beyond “proclamations of power” to ex- but one that was tightly interlinked with competing sources
amine the naturalization of authority in subjects. I am not of power and authority in a context of territorial expansion,
sure, however, that his materials permit to account fully for urban growth, the arrival of new identities, albeit uprooted,
that process. Part of the empirical trouble of palace architec- and, emerging new ones as a result of intergroup interactions
ture is that it seems to speak more readily to royal ideology (intermarriage for instance).
and representations of space (Lefebvre 1991) than to their In multicultural contexts like these, history making is in-
translation in practice, to instances of cultural production tensely negotiated and fought for, each identity trying to claim
rather than to their reception. Perhaps it was elites themselves parcels of it. The Alladaxonou Dynasty invested in architecture
that new performances of political community targeted as to broadcast its worldview and shape Dahomean popular
their chief audience? In other words, while the analysis begins memory but also appropriated symbolically Allada’s political
to suture the “fragile gap” between power and authority, it aura (e.g., Annual Customs ceremonies or Xwetanu in Fon;
does not fully close the circle of the internalization of spatial enstoolment of new kings in Allada) to reiterate its historical
orders, partly because contexts in which these processes took ascendency and the continuity of its rule and authority over
place have not yet been investigated. Dahomey. In doing so, it masked the tensions and factions
My intent here is not to critique Monroe for archaeology’s within Dahomean’s society silencing the multiple others. Oral
twinned debt: to our evidence’s limitations and the exacting traditions and documentary sources indicate that there were
demands of archaeological reconstructions often calibrated in political and social tensions particularly within the elites but
decades of data gathering. More simply, it is to acknowledge also potentially, the commoners.
the ambition of his challenge—that understanding power out- Even though Monroe argues that the other communities
side of the asymmetries of state/subject or consent/coercion drawn from various identities both within and outside Da-
is no easy task. To do so requires the linkage of state programs homey were successfully integrated over time, in contexts such
to a broader configuration of contexts, projects, and practices, as these there are too often opened or “hidden transcripts of
something that future research will certainly investigate. Until resistance” (Scott 1990). Although the royal palace in Abomey
expanded evidence reveals further sides of Dahomey’s political became the central node of the political landscape around

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which urban settlement was organized and structured, we Once upon a time a certain ambitious monkey aspired to
would expect alternatives architectures, features, and settle- the Simiad throne. A meeting of aged monkeys was, there-
ment strategies either by competing elites or commoners or, fore, convened, and the process of election determined
more likely, both. Parts of the problem is that Monroe focuses upon. Every monkey of the same tribe as the aspirant pro-
quasi-exclusively on palace sites, and in doing so, he does not vided himself with one of the hard fruits of this tree. On
lend a voice, at least from the perspective of the archaeological the day of election the candidate was tied to a tree trunk,
record, to the marginalized and disenfranchised identities that and the subjects over whom he aspired to rule passed by
composed Dahomean society. Lineage histories indicate spa- one at a time, each giving the king-presumptive a smart
tial proximity and fluid social identities, as well as distances knock on the head with the fruit. The first monkey suc-
between nobles, commoners, and slaves. Yet, the built envi- cumbed to such severe head-work; and, although several
ronment and the use of space have archaeological visibilities other monkeys have from time to time become candidates
and are amenable to archaeological testing. Therefore, their for office, they have invariably paid for their presumption
characteristics cannot be assumed exclusively from oral and with their lives, as none had sufficient brain to withstand
documentary sources. Although we agree with the author on the long series of blows inflicted by each individual of his
the role played by palace sites from the seventeenth through tribe. (Skertchly 1874:125)
the nineteenth centuries, we do wonder whether there were
other sites, perhaps with ordinary architecture, that were The tale of the monkey king provides a useful entrée into
nonetheless important for a better understanding of the his- my response for a number of reasons. First, although I make
torical and political landscapes of the region at this time. no pretension to royalty (simian or otherwise), the afore-
Other historical and archaeological studies in this region mentioned commenters have generously offered of a number
have emphasized the centrality of space and the built envi- of “hard fruits” that I will attempt to digest below. Second,
ronment in the era of the Atlantic slave trade. This involved and more importantly, however, the tale foregrounds in bril-
the confinement of European and their settlements to ensure liant fashion the essential political tension that characterized
free trade and contain potential conflicts between European Dahomean kingship, the resolution of which is the funda-
nations (Kelly and Norman 2007; Kelly 1997a). Monroe in- mental question of the essay presented above.
sists that palace construction in the Abomey Plateau is clearly The dialectics of political power in Dahomey set the in-
an Atlantic phenomenon that is directly linked to the rise of terests of kings in opposition to those of nobles, bureaucrats,
the Dohomean state as these are absent in nonpalace settle- ritual leaders, and wealthy merchants. The tension engendered
ments predating the Atlantic era. From the fifteenth century by this dialectic intensified over the course of the eighteenth
onward, European established fortified trading posts all across and nineteenth centuries as political and economic expansion
coastal West Africa from which they expanded their com- accelerated. The essential question driving my work on Da-
mercial and political influences in the region. While archi- homey and the paper presented above is precisely how did
tecture is central in Monroe’s perspective, he does not elab- the Dahomean royal dynasty manage to create a semblance
orate much, either on the raw materials, technology or style, of order in the face of constant and destabilizing “head-work”
and we have no clue whether this architecture was indepen- originating from within the noble, merchant, and bureaucratic
dently conceived locally or influenced by European fortifi- classes themselves? As Kelly notes, Atlantic-era kingdoms
cations established all along the coast of West Africa. Un- across the ‘Slave Coast’ struggled to maintain tight control
derstanding the long-term cultural and historical foundations over the movement of people themselves—those poor souls
of this practice is essential to elucidate questions of African marched to coastal ports, European merchants seeking to gain
agency in the production of political landscapes in the era of a foothold over coastal trade, or various political factions who
the Atlantic slave trade. Despite these few limitations, this tore at the fabric of society—and archaeological research
remains a very insightful article. across the region has, to a large degree, privileged the study
of space and landscape as a primary window into elite political
strategies to do so (Aguigah 1986; Kelly 1997a; Kelly and
Norman 2007; Monroe 2011; Norman and Kelly 2004; Pos-
nansky 1981; Quarcoopome 1993).
Elsewhere I have proposed a suite of spatial strategies de-
Reply ployed in Dahomey that were designed with this goal in mind.
These strategies, which I have referred to as the spatial prac-
I would like extend my thanks to the seven commenters for tices of power (Monroe 2010), range from the extension of
their insights on the paper presented above, as well as to the political and economic control down to the local level (Mon-
editors of Current Anthropology for the opportunity to re- roe 2007a, 2007b, 2012) to the production of monumental
spond. I will begin my response with a Dahomean parable spaces designed to accentuate status distinctions between ruler
documented in 1874 by J. A. Skertchly, British entomologist and ruled (Monroe 2010). The paper presented here articu-
and emissary to the royal court of Dahomey. Skertchly wrote, lates an additional strategy, the production of orthodox his-

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tory, deployed by the Dahomean royal dynasty to naturalize state building. Thus, as Joyce notes, “the thorny questions of
a sense of historical inevitability of the Dahomean state agency that this formulation raises are not elided but are
amongst competing factions. Here I adopt an approach to central to the argument.” However, equally central to the
architectural practice that centers on how the production of Dahomean example introduced here, although perhaps pre-
monumental royal palaces, a Dahomean elite material practice sented less explicitly, is the importance of commoner agency
par excellence, coupled with state-driven resettlement cam- in this process. The concept of “commoner” is, of course, a
paigns, was a critical component of this strategy. I argue that problematic one. I hope to avoid using the term, which ho-
the production of monumental space across urban commu- mogenizes heterogeneous populations composed of different
nities was designed to silence political counter narratives and ethnic, gender, professional, and age-derived identities into a
refashion public memory vis-à-vis the state. Architecture single category framed in opposition to “elite.” A variety of
thereby served as a primary tool for creating affective ties competing agents and interest groups, royal and nonroyal
between leaders and followers, a necessary foundation for alike, were clearly involved in the process of state-making in
naturalizing state power. the past (e.g., Lohse 2007; Yaeger 2003). Approaching “com-
As a number of commenters note, the intimate connection moners” in this way opens the door for a host of potential
between architectural practice and political power is one that responses to political encroachment—open resistance or quiet
has been made in innumerable recent treatments of the ar- accommodation but also buying into and indeed valorizing
chaeology of social complexity and the state (Smith 2003). state projects. Joyce’s comment regarding how commoners
Although these connections are increasingly proclaimed by may come to identify with material appropriations of their
archaeologists, the mechanics of how they where constructed labor is quite helpful in clarifying one aspect of such diversity
in practice are often elided entirely. What I hope to have in responses. As history has demonstrated, however, the het-
contributed to this discussion is a sense of the mechanics of erogeneity of “commoner” populations has also provided op-
this process within the particular cultural context of Daho- portunities for some to advance their own agendas in pow-
mey. That is, what was it about architectural practice in Da- erful ways. As important agents the process of state building,
homey that proved it to be a powerful technology for state the primary work of the Dahomean political project was,
building in the region? How did refashioning urban land- therefore, to construct spaces that simultaneously coerced and
scapes in Dahomey contribute to the subordination of diverse enticed subjects into the fold.
sets of subjects in the Atlantic era? In this regard, I hope this Second, strategies to achieve this end rarely require uni-
essay moves beyond uncritical declarations that space mate- versal acceptance. Indeed, in neither the past nor the present
rializes power to an appreciation of how additional lines of has it been necessary to convince an entire body politic of
historical evidence can flesh out the mechanics of this process, the legitimacy of any political agenda to gain ground. To
advancing the archaeology of politics in productive ways (e.g., “naturalize” power, therefore, it is not necessary to win the
Smith 2011). hearts of all subjects but merely to limit or eliminate the ability
Down to brass tacks. The commenters have raised a num- of key constituencies to envision pathways to viable political
ber of important and insightful points, some theoretical, some alternatives, that is, to make inequality appear inevitable and
methodological, which I will attempt to address here. A num- unchallengeable. Rather than the production of universalizing
ber of commenters (Fleisher, Joyce, Ogundiran, Richard) hegemonic schemes, a strategy targeting select political fac-
agree on the importance of considering further the role of tions has proven its value for leaders, past and present, time
elite agency in cultural production in Dahomey and question and time again in the constitution of political authority. Above
the degree to which elites can ever penetrate the “hearts and I provide a sense of the cognitive and material components
minds” of subjects. This issue is, of course, the primary ques- of how leaders created affective ties with targeted constitu-
tion of this paper. Ogundiran notes, for example, that encies. Whereas I, following Truillot (1995), adopt “silencing”
“Throughout, Monroe seems to suggest that authority and as a discursive metaphor for describing this process, perhaps
consolidation of power automatically leads to legitimacy.” “drowning out” would be one better suited to the sentiment
Joyce remains “dubious that ‘elites’ are ever totally effective expressed here, allowing as it does for the survival of com-
in ‘silencing alternative narratives of political order among peting political narratives in interstitial spaces, though limi-
subjects’.” In general, commenters remain cautious about the ting their expression to a less audible register.
assertion that elites have the power to transform the historical A number of commenters (Joyce, Richard, Ogundiran)
memory of subjects in the ways described above. I would like question the total power of buildings to affect social memory
to elaborate upon a number of points relating to the nature in the ways described above, a point with which I agree fun-
of agency and political authority, which, I hope, will clarify damentally. However, I do not argue above that the produc-
my position on this issue. tion of space alone had the power to rewrite social memory
First, a core argument of this paper focuses on the im- in the Dahomean context. Rather, as Joyce notes, it was pre-
portance of agency in the processes outlined above. On the cisely by stitching together the processes of spatial “destruc-
one hand, this essay tracks royal elite agency in designing tion” (through dislocation from ancestral settlements) and
spatial strategies to subdue rival factions in the process of spatial “production” (through palace construction and reset-

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tlement schemes) and by providing both opportunities for roregion in and around Cana, and targeted excavation is
social advancement and threats of punitive force that Da- planned for nonroyal urban and rural communities in the
homey was able to fashion new baselines for cultural memory. near future. Notwithstanding taphonomic problems associ-
I refer to this process as “gerrymandering” in the contem- ated with low resolution nonelite sites across West Africa, I
porary political sense of the term, that is, a political practice am doubtful that in the absence of a prefatory grounding in
that attempts to “manipulate the boundaries of an electoral corresponding oral evidence, archaeological evidence from
constituency so as to favour one party or class” (Oxford dic- such spaces could contribute much to our understanding of
tionaries). Gerrymandering in the Dahomean context in- the long-term effects of Dahomean attempts to promote po-
volved binding nonroyal, and usually foreign lineages, to par- litical legitimacy. Material practices shaped either in accord
ticular royal dynastic lines centered in specific urban with or in opposition to royal political programs may be
neighborhoods. These lineages were granted opportunities for observed, and these will undoubtedly help both to qualify and
social advancement that made them increasingly invested in anchor in time aspects of the complex narratives provided by
the state apparatus itself. Royal palaces served as important informants, teasing out the degree to which “contemporary
binding agents in this process, fastening together a complex reminiscences reflect not merely the acceptance of new or-
set of material and symbolic associations. Space and the pro- thodox histories at the time but also the longer temporality
duction of history were thus mutually implicated in a “carrot- of their appropriation in the construction of political iden-
and-stick” strategy to inculcate loyalty, division, and status tities in the present” (Richard). Gauging the contours of Da-
distinction among subjects, key to creating the kind of po- homean political authority across these urban landscapes,
litical buy-in that, I argue, was successful in mitigating fac- however, depends fundamentally on a level of historical rich-
tional conflict in Dahomey. In this sense, the focus of the ness that only oral data, with all its pitfalls, can provide. It is
paper is not on all populations brought under the yoke of a taste of that richness that I present above.
Dahomean aggression but rather is about those who were Finally, a number of commenters point to the lack of at-
offered a stake in the political process itself. tention to particular issues they feel would have made the
Additionally, commenters raise the thorny methodological argument stronger. In some cases, I have written extensively
problem of studying how political authority was generated on the subject, and I welcome the opportunity to draw at-
among such groups in the past. Fleisher articulates this issue tention to these recently published works. Fleisher’s call for
well, commenting that “it is a tricky business to know what a clearer treatment of the use and experience of royal spaces
goes on in the hearts and minds of subjects, especially in an by nobles and non-nobles alike, for example, has been an-
eighteenth-century landscape where we know so little about swered in detail elsewhere (Monroe 2010). Likewise, Ku-
the commoner populations.” Indeed a number of the com- simba’s call for greater discussion of the broader political and
menters (Fleisher, Kusimba, Richard, Thiaw) rightly call for economic context that framed Dahomean regional expansion
greater attention to the archaeological record of nonelite in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, has been the focus
spaces across Dahomean urban centers and their rural hin- of a series of studies (Monroe 2007a, 2007b, 2011, 2012). In
terlands to redress this shortcoming. Richard points to “empty other cases, however, commenters recommend a broader
spaces” in such urban settings that may become reservoirs of comparative focus that, I believe, would have detracted from
alternative narratives of social and political order, and Kelly the argument substantially. Kusimba and Ogundiran, for ex-
echoes my suggestion that similar processes might be traced ample, call for a comparative approach including broader
in the countryside. Refreshingly, Richard notes that such an inclusion of East African and West African examples. Yet the
archaeology need not depend upon “adversarial images of objective of this study was to illuminate the specific Daho-
resistance or contestation” but might instead reveal “inter- mean cultural logic embedded within state building practices
secting fields of spatial practice that variably coexist, assist, rather than provide a sweeping treatment of power and le-
or confront each other.” In this respect, I believe Richard and gitimacy across Africa. Such a comparative study would be
Joyce are pointing toward the kind of recent work done by extremely rewarding, and maybe I will attempt one in the
Kent Lightfoot and Barbara Voss in colonial California, future. However, I am uncomfortable with Kusimba’s sug-
wherein a variety of ethnic identities are rendered visible ar- gestion that we appropriate mefecane, which refers to a very
chaeologically by adopting an approach attuned to identifying specific historical moment in southern Africa in the early
overlapping and coexisting patterns in everyday practice nineteenth century, to describe complex continent-wide pro-
(Lightfoot, Martinez, and Schiff 1998) and acknowledging the cesses that unfolded over a nearly 500-year period. Rather
fluid nature of identity in colonial contact settings (Voss than gesturing toward a universal history of precolonial Af-
2008). rica, I prefer to continue to attend to the unarguably diverse
I fundamentally agree with this call to action. Since 2007 and decidedly local ways that African societies responded to
my own research in Bénin has been laying the groundwork the opportunities and constraints provided by global com-
for collecting precisely this kind of data. Systematic landscape mercial entanglement.
survey and test excavations have been initiated in the mic- —J. Cameron Monroe

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Precolonial Dahomey: Space & Power

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Precolonial Dahomey: Space & Power

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Current Anthropology Volume 52, Number 6, December 2011 769

In the Belly of Dan

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Figure 1. Regional map of seventeenth-century polities in southern

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Figure 2. Representation of the Xwetanu, or Annual Customs (Dalzel

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Figure 3. Dahomean palaces of the seventeenth through nineteenth cen-

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Figure 4. Aerial photograph (courtesy of l’Institut Géographique Na-

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Figure 5. Agrigonmey (bottom left) and Dahomey (top) palaces at

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argues, “political power in Dahomey depended, at a funda-

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References Cited Connah, G. 2001. African civilizations: an archaeological perspective.

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