This chapter looks at a high-profile Fulbe Muslim religious leader from Mali and explores his relations with the people of the Mande. This Muslim religious leader, El-Hadj Cheikh Sidy Modibo Kane... Show moreThis chapter looks at a high-profile Fulbe Muslim religious leader from Mali and explores his relations with the people of the Mande. This Muslim religious leader, El-Hadj Cheikh Sidy Modibo Kane Diallo of Dilly, in the circle of Nara, is perhaps one of the most influential religious leaders in present-day Mali. The author examines the development of Diallo's "career" as a 'shaykh' and a 'wali' (friend of God). He shows how this career has been constructed in large part through ideological oppositions between Fulbe and Mande/Bambara, as well as through the 'shaykh's interactions with actual Bambara people, particularly his efforts to spread Islam among the country's non-Muslim ("pagan") rural Bambara population and to eradicate the widespread practice of spirit possession. As he suggests, it is in such conversion campaigns that one can see most clearly how individuals - both Fulbe and Bambara - deploy such ideological oppositions. Ultimately, however, the results of such campaigns to spread Islam remain rather ambiguous. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
In pastoral Fulbe society in central Mali women had, and to some degree still have, an important social and economic role, concentrated on a 'milk economy' organized through a female-headed, women... Show moreIn pastoral Fulbe society in central Mali women had, and to some degree still have, an important social and economic role, concentrated on a 'milk economy' organized through a female-headed, women-centred unit, called 'fayannde' or 'hearthhold'. In a society of seminomadic pastoralists who live most of the year in small social units, social relations and networks are crucial to the success of their main survival strategy: transhumant cattle keeping. This article, which is based on field research carried out from March 1990 to March 1992 among the Jallube, one of the four main Fulbe lineages in central Mali, explores Fulbe social organization from a female perspective. It reveals the importance of the hearthhold in the social and material security of its members and of Fulbe society as a whole. An analysis of marriage gifts shows how important the 'fayannde' is not only to the social organization of the Jallube, but also to their economic viability. The article also demonstrates that the droughts of the 1970s and 1980s have had an enormous impact on the Jallube and on the way they perceive their social organization. The existence of the 'fayannde' is endangered by the decline in milk production and by the collapse of social care relations as a result of impoverishment. The erosion of the 'fayannde' may lead to a transformation of gender relations, marriage ceremonies, and the social security of women. Show less
Risk and uncertainty dominate life in the semiarid tropics where most of the world's pastoralists live. Scientific approaches to risk in semiarid zones have been dominated by agroecology and... Show moreRisk and uncertainty dominate life in the semiarid tropics where most of the world's pastoralists live. Scientific approaches to risk in semiarid zones have been dominated by agroecology and agroeconomics. Within these paradigms risk is treated as a stochastic occurrence, and decisionmaking strategies are analysed with the help of simulation models, which are based on assumptions from rational choice decisionmaking theory, and presume that people are either geared towards profit maximization or towards risk minimization. The author shows that this approach is too narrow, because people operate not only in an ecological and economic environment, but also in social and cultural environments. He argues that an understanding of individual behaviour and cultural dynamics in high risk environments may be furthered by treating risk and uncertainty as total events, i.e. that more can be learned by tracing the consequences of single events across space and time, as well as the tracks people follow to deal with calamities. The argument is illustrated by a case study of Riimaybe cultivators and Fulbe herdsmen in an agropastoral community in the centre of the Niger Bend, central Mali. Fieldwork was carried out in the area in 1990-1992. Bibliogr., notes, sum. in French and Spanish Show less
