Friends ,
one of you wrote this the other day. I forgot who, sorry.
If itīs right, that there is no fracturing gambians along strict tribal
lines, why is it that there is still so many gambians who, when I ask, tells
me that they belong to this or that tribe. Iīm ignorant when it comes to
tribes, so itīs very very seldom I ask. Itīs only if I see a rite or
tradition I have not seen before, or when it comes to very very close
friendships. What will happen to the 10-12 different languages if you are
right, that people are so mixed as they see themselves more as gambians than
as fulani-gambian, mandinka-gambian ? Will there one day be one/two official
gambian language ?
And if itīs true that there are tribal lines, but nobody cares, then you
should be able to make a statistical review of f.in. public jobs. Among the
teachers the different tribes should be represented according to the
dispersion in the total population, or amongst the national army-officers,
or in the parliament ?
Please try and elaborate a bit for me, to enlighten me. Because when I
travel The Gambia itīs my impression that the people themselves stress the
tribal lines.
Regards Asbjørn Nordam
>Every student of Gambian politics understands that any attempt to gain
>political mileage out of fracturing Gambians along tribal lines is a loosing
>proposition in that the people cannot be readily categorized along strict
>tribal lines because relationships have long transcended tribes. My mother is a
>Fula ,my dad is a mandingo and I grew up with wollofs and Mansuwankas. I am the
>typical Gambian in this sense and like most of our people i view myself as
>part of this enduring mosaic. I do not recognise any difference amongst members
>of my community and would be foolish to try rupturing this unique situation for
>any reason because it would not any serve purposes regardless of what they are.
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