From Cutting to Fading: A Relational Perspective on Marriage Exchange and Sociality in Rural Gambia

Abstract

Based on 21 months of field research on the northern bank of the Gambia River, this study deals with ceremonial exchange and sociality among rural Wolof speakers. In exploring the procurement and distribution of bridal trousseaus, I examine the process of exchange that shapes and limits these potentially endless affinal networks and analyze the social forms that arise from these complex sets of transfers. It is argued that redistributions of objects and money do not establish definite boundaries around units based on categorical exclusion and inclusion, but rather gradual distinctions of social proximity. In effect, I question the appropriateness of the concept of the 'cutting' of networks in this West African setting, proposing instead that 'fading' paints a clearer picture of the particular ways in which affinal networks are limited and relationships are rendered recognizable.

Anticipatory tribalism: accusatory politics in the ‘New Gambia’

“…Where contemporary livelihoods are concerned, to mention a few examples, rice cultivation along the River Gambia remains particularly associated with female Mandinka cultivators, while in the upper river areas it is also associated with Soninke (or Serahuli) identity, and in southern Gambia with Jola ethnicity (Carney & Watts 1991: 654). In contrast, Wolof rice cultivation is held up as an oddity known only in a handful of settlements, as in the town of Kaur (Sommerfelt 2013 a : 74). Wolof subsistence agriculture is to a greater extent associated with men's and women's millet cultivation, whereas ethnic stereotyping connects Fula to cattle herding.…”

“…Wolof subsistence agriculture is to a greater extent associated with men's and women's millet cultivation, whereas ethnic stereotyping connects Fula to cattle herding. As cattle are a source of wealth across several of what are now known as ethnic groups or ‘tribes’, many majority Mandinka and Wolof villages in the rural areas have Fula households on their outskirts, with cross-generational relationships between particular Fula families and other members of the community being based on the exchange of services and produce relating to herding (Sommerfelt 2013 b : 62). This is visible in built-up areas too, where Fula women predominate in sales of dairy products.…”

“…We further emphasise that ethnic banter of this sort is part of inter-personal dynamics as much as inter-group relationships, conveying ethnic differentiation but not necessarily ethnic incorporation at a group level 3 . Marriage across ethnic lines is also very common, a reality that distinguishes ethnicity from boundaries between groups of professional hereditary specialisation (‘caste’), across which marriage remains contentious (Sommerfelt 2013 a ). In this sense, ethnicities are partly overlapping and permeable (cf.…”

To make one's name famous:

“…By inscribing varieties with markers of specific people, varietal namesakes foregrounded some of that work at the same time that they built a certain degree of inalienability into seed, a material entity that would almost certainly be shared with others. As the contribution of some was brought forth, that of others might fade (Sommerfelt ) and eventually disappear altogether as the variety is renamed or the name is forgotten. Nonetheless, traces of others’ work were never wiped away entirely.…”

Post-Slavery Refractions: Subjectivity and Slave Descent in a Gambian Life Story

“…As noted, not only had he remained loyal to his family and village when he was abroad, but he also married a woman of slave descent from his social milieu chosen with the help of his siblings. Marital indications of senior relatives, in particular the parents, are often binding, at least for the first bride; these usually recruit spouses from among relatives and familiar circles (Sommerfelt 2013). Like some of his fellow travellers, he could have made a different choice and married a stranger.…”