Dawari: tethering and dominion

 

Dawari - rope used to tie the cow's legs when milking.

Same rope used to tether a cow.

Dawiri - weave skilfully in a circular manner.

Kiswahili loanword from Persian ‘davaarii’ also found in Hindi and Arabic दवारी•دوَاری. It means dominion, sovereignty, empire, sway.

Consider the horse-grazing puzzle. A horse is tied to an outside corner of a 20 foot by 10 foot rectangular barn. What is the maximum area the horse can graze outside, if the rope has length L? Solve for L = 5 feet and L = 25 feet, and find the exact answer. If you are up for a challenge, solve for L = 50 feet. You can solve for the answer to 3 decimal places. The horse can only move outside of the barn and not through the barn. The purpose of the illustrations that follow is not to solve mathematical equations but give a conceptual image of how dominion can still be maintained even while lengthening the dawari (tether-rope). The red rectangular barn is the centre of control and deterrence.

If the rope has L = 5 feet, then the horse can graze the area of 3/4 of a circle with radius 5. That is, (3/4)π(52) = 75π/4 ≈ 58.905 square feet, as illustrated in the image below:

If the rope has L = 25 feet, then the horse can graze the area of 3/4 of a circle with radius 25. But along the 10 foot wall, there is also 15 feet of rope left over. The horse can then graze an extra 1/4 circle with a radius of 15 feet. Similarly, along the 20 foot wall, the horse can also graze an extra 1/4 circle with a radius of 5 feet. The horse can graze an area equal to the sum of these shapes. The horse can therefore graze an area (1/4)π[3(252) + (152) + (52)] = 2125π/4 ≈ 1668.971 square feet as shown below.

The case of L = 50 feet is more complicated. The horse can graze 3/4 of a circle with a radius of 50. Along the 10 foot wall, the rope has an extra 40 feet, so the horse can reach an extra 1/4 circle with a radius of 40. And along the 20 foot wall, the rope has an extra 30 feet, so the horse can reach an extra 1/4 circle with a radius of 30. But the extra 1/4 circles overlap which makes the problem much harder to solve.

The overlapping area can be solved by calculus or trigonometry.

Post-1945 Decolonization and the current spectacle of “retreat of France” from Africa

After the end of WW2 and formation of united nations, it was widely known that colonial occupation of Africa would come to an end. The tether-rope was stronger and could be lengthened without threatening control from Europe. Therefore, the occupiers left, and the territories were entrusted to emergent leaders in some areas (mostly assassinated later) and mere puppets and clowns in others depending on the processes and ability of the hitherto subjected Africans towards holding onto their interests. The quality of leadership determines the ability of the tethered towards utilizing the allotted grazing area according to the length of the rope. For example, pax Brittanica was the shorter tether-rope, while commonwealth is a longer tether-rope. Whatever would be the name of what is now emerging would be a longer tether-rope than commonwealth/francophonie because the tether-rope is stronger and thicker. It has been made so by necessity and also advantages of new abilities. For example, necessity by recently exhausting mineral reserves in African colonies (high number of mines have been closed since the year 2000);, and abilities by technologies that make previous forms of logistics redundant e.g., 3d-printing, cryptocurrency, virtual reality, increasingly centralized digitalization of services, variegated energy sources. This is evident in the recently adopted “Critical Raw Materials Act” on June 30, 2023, by the European council, see>> https://www.miningsee.eu/mineral-rich-african-states-to-explore-new-markets-after-eu-changes-its-buying-rules/. This is for the purpose of helping European union to reduce dependency on mineral imports from outside the bloc. They cannot depend on them anymore because much of it is now depleted but they have also organized themselves to utilize their own domestic resources more sustainably. African countries that build their economies on export of raw materials now have to look for new markets, hence the recent interests by Russians and Chinese who will only function as a middleman for Europe. New technologies introduce new value chains, hence new positionings.

The lengthening of the rope is inevitable. The domain of activity of Africans should be ensuring that they hold onto their interests and maintain a leadership that pushes those interests to maximum utilization and avoid being duped into following clowns/puppets being projected by the occupier of the rectangular barn to bamboozle and shortchange them.

References

https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2017/01/15/can-you-solve-the-horse-grazing-area-sunday-puzzle/

https://www.miningsee.eu/mineral-rich-african-states-to-explore-new-markets-after-eu-changes-its-buying-rules/

TUKI (2001), Kamusi Ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza; Swahili-English Dictionary. Published by Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.