Peut-on considérer que les Fulbe forment un peuple unique, malgré leur dispersion, dans la mesure où ils partagent la même langue? En comparant le discours des anthropologues et des linguistes à... Show morePeut-on considérer que les Fulbe forment un peuple unique, malgré leur dispersion, dans la mesure où ils partagent la même langue? En comparant le discours des anthropologues et des linguistes à propos du concept de 'pulaaku', les auteurs soulèvent la question de la complexité qu'il y a à définir l'ethnicité peule. Alors que certains y voient une sorte d'invariant du monde peul lorsque 'pulaaku' signifie 'code moral' ou 'comportement', dans le delta intérieur du Niger, ou au Massina (Mali), le même mot désigne l'ensemble de la communauté des Fulbe par rapport aux sociétés voisines. En guise d'exemple, les auteurs présentent les mots avec lesquels les Fulbe du clan Jallube du Hayre, dans le Mali central, expriment effectivement 'le code moral'. Elles montrent que les divers groupes sociaux d'une communauté (en l'occurrence les pasteurs et les anciens esclaves) peuvent désigner de façons différentes le contenu des éléments du code moral. Or, dans tous les cas, le discours sur l'identité est une simplification de la réalité, et cela risque de faire d'un peuple une entité artificielle et d''oublier' tout ce qui fait sa diversité et ses différences. L'utilisation du terme 'pulaaku' est le reflet de ce processus. Show less
This thesis deals with the ways in which the agropastoral Fulbe in the Sahel deal with ecological, social and political insecurities. It is based on field research carried out in the Hayre dryland... Show moreThis thesis deals with the ways in which the agropastoral Fulbe in the Sahel deal with ecological, social and political insecurities. It is based on field research carried out in the Hayre dryland region of central Mali, notably in the villages of Dalla and Serma, from March 1990 until February 1992. The first part of the study examines the history of natural resource management and ideologies in the Hayre (1400-1985). The second part is about the role of the past in the present. It analyses the spatial organization, ecological environment, economic organization, and division of labour in the area, as well as the normative complexes typical of Fulbe society. Part three focuses on the use and management of natural resources, paying attention to farming and herding practices, agricultural and pastoral production, the circulation of property, and land tenure. Part four is concerned with the way in which people who have been pushed out of agricultural production survive. It focuses in particular on how people manage social and cultural resources. Part five deals with the interactions of the Fulbe pastoralists with the State and the outside world in a situation of drought Show less
This paper focuses on the interaction of the cultivation of cereals and the keeping of livestock among the Fulbe in a dryland region in central Mali in the district of Douentza. This interaction is... Show moreThis paper focuses on the interaction of the cultivation of cereals and the keeping of livestock among the Fulbe in a dryland region in central Mali in the district of Douentza. This interaction is shown to be crucial for understanding the impact of variable ecological conditions, notably the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s, on the land use strategies of the Fulbe and their former slaves, nowadays labelled Riimaybe. There are not only physical interactions between livestock keeping and cereal cultivation in the form of flows of manure and crop residues, but also institutional and social interactions. The institutional interactions take the form of land tenure arrangements which allow people to make efficient use of soil fertility and agricultural production and appropriate the manure produced by their own livestock, and which also permit the careful spacing and timing of herding and cultivation. In times of crisis the cultivation of cereals becomes the most important means of survival. In principle, temporary cultivation would allow people to rebuild their herds, and reenter the pastoral economy after some time. However, the combined effects of droughts and changes in resource tenure have had a disastrous effect on the productivity of the land use system. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French and Spanish. Show less
This paper examines how poor members of Fulbe society, a group of agropastoralists in the Sahel, central Mali, are surviving after two decades of environmental disaster. The focus is on the... Show moreThis paper examines how poor members of Fulbe society, a group of agropastoralists in the Sahel, central Mali, are surviving after two decades of environmental disaster. The focus is on the Jalloube of the Hayre in central Mali. Social security relations and institutions based on Islam seem to be becoming more important for these people, who are not sufficiently supported anymore by 'traditional' social security mechanisms. Islam has a long history in the Hayre, as have its institutions such as 'zakat' (the basis of the Islamic principle of charity), Koranic schools and networks of Moodibaabe (Islamic scholars). The harsh circumstances in which the Jalloube live have given new values and importance to these institutions and to social relations based on Islam: new networks based on Islam are being explored; 'zakat' has become much more an institution directed at alleviating poverty and is replacing other obligatory kinship-based gift relations; Islamic knowledge and the status related to it open up new possibilities of survival. Fieldwork for this study was carried out in 1990-1992 in the 'cercle' Douentza. Show less
