The first social anthropologist who studied the Kanuri of Borno was Ronald Cohen. He conducted his fieldwork mainly in the late 1950s and in the 1960s. Most of the time he and his wife lived in Magumeri, about 52 km northwest of Maiduguri. Cohen published his first results in his PhD thesis ”The Social Structure of Kanuri Society” (1960), better known as the ”The Kanuri of Bornu” (1967b). Furthermore, we acknowledge a number of articles about power structures in Borno, which he discussed in a wider theoretical context (1962a and b, 1970a and b, 1971a, 1974). His articles about female office holders have to be seen in the same vein (1977a, 1985). About the same time, he developed another interest - marriage structures and their dissolution - apart from his concern with political structures. This became apparent in his publications of 1961, 1967a, and 1969. Special mention should be made of his ”Dominance and Defiance. A Study on Marital Instability in an African Society” (1971b) where he presents comprehensive statistical data. As a professor of Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), he supervised among others three students who, end of the 1960s, worked on topics of culture and identity change in various African countries. In this context was published a lengthy chapter ”The Kanuri in Nigeria” (1973), edited by Tessler, O'Barr, and Spain.

About the same time (1956/57) as the Cohens’, the couple Rosman conducted research in Borno, he published one article (1958) and his PhD thesis on ”Social Structure and Acculturation among the Kanuri of Northern Nigeria” (1962). His article, though, was the first social anthropological publication about the area. Abraham Rosman had established himself for his research in Geidam, a settlement that was, like Magumeri, district headquarters and had then already a school and a weekly market.

Studies by Danish Mette Bovin constitute the second focal point of anthropological research about the Kanuri and Manga respectively. She settled, with husband and son, in Damaturu, then district headquarters, Borno. Her region of study was since 1968 the border area (Mane-Soroa) of Nigeria and Niger Republic. Bovin's work is of particular interest, since her work is one of the few existing anthropological studies about women in the Muslim society of Borno.

If we wish to discuss anthropological Kanuri research we have also to mention the German anthropologist Peter Fuchs. His region of study lies outside Borno in the Kawar oasis Fachi in Niger Republic. He conducted his research, together with his wife, over several stays since 1972. His most important publications are ”Das Brot der Wüste. Sozio-Ökonomie der Sahara-Kanuri von Fachi” (1983) and ”Fachi. Sahara-Stadt der Kanuri” (1989). In these studies, he describes economy and life under the difficult ecological conditions of the desert.

Intensive interdisciplinary research in Borno started with the Joint Research Project ”Westafrican Savannah” of the Universities of Frankfurt a. M., Germany and Maiduguri, Nigeria. Here, the anthropologists started their fieldwork in 1991, all in the Local Government of Marte, in the black cotton soil region of eastern Borno. Ulrich Braukämper worked with the Shuwa-Arabs on their migration and settlement history, Holger Kirscht conducted his fieldwork in Old Marte, working with Kanuri-farmers and Editha Platte staying at the same time in Musune, working on female title-holders and the history of a ”little kingdom”. During the second term of the project the anthropological subproject was headed by Karl-Heinz Kohl and concentrated on the newly founded settlements in the south-western, part time overflowed area of the Lake Chad. Here Baerbel Freyer worked with Igbo and Matthias Krings with Hausa immigrants, and myself with migrant ”free/unmarried” women. Whereas the German anthropologists could concentrate on their research soley, the Nigerian counterparts Mohamed Adam, Waziri Gazali, Florence Kwache Igun and Abba Isa Tijani had to fulfil their university teaching duties at the same time.

Unpublished BA, MSc, or PhD theses are found in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology, History, and Creative Arts of University of Maiduguri, where the work of Kyari Tijani (1980) and Nur Muhammad Alkali (1983) on the dynasties of the Saefuwa and the Kanemi are especially important. However, these are not anthropological studies in the sense of a ”science of the culturally Other”. Also the, mostly unpublished, NCE essays of Kashim Ibrahim College of Education allow an insight into different aspects of the cultural life. Of particular importance for this study are the writings of Bosom Sheriff (1992, 1995, 1997, 2003). Although anthropological Kanuri studies are in many aspects still unsatisfactory, yet, glimpses of relevant topics about the female world can be gleaned from studies of other disciplines. Of particular significance are here historical and linguistic studies, e.g. the writings of Eva Rothmaler on the Maira (Queen mother) of Borno.

Data on the history of the area can be found in reports of European travellers who give information about life in Borno since the beginning of the nineteenth century. I shall only mention D. Denham, H. Clapperton, W. Oudney (1826), Heinrich Barth (1857/58), and Gustav Nachtigal (1879, 1881, 1889, and 1987 in English translation by Fisher and Fisher).
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