>On 8 Jan 2002, at 18:31, Habib Ghanim wrote: >To all well-wishers >Brothers and sisters on the L >I visited Dr Nyang on Sunday and he wants me to extend his thanks and >appreciation to all of you on the L who sent messages to him directly and >indirectly especially to Dr Katim who was able to talk to him Brother Habib, May Allah (SWT) grant him a quick recovery. Here is one of the contributions by Dr. Nyang that I dug from the old archives of Gambia-l. We have a lot to learn from him and I look forward in his contributions to the L again. Momodou Camara ------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 19:51:05 -0500 (EST) Send reply to: [log in to unmask] From: Sulayman Nyang <[log in to unmask]> To: GAMBIA-L: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia- [log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Tribalism & Politics Originally to: The Gambia and Related Issues Mailing List <gambia- [log in to unmask]> From: Sulayman S. Nyang ([log in to unmask]) I have followed with interest the on-going discussion on the circumcision issue and the ethnic/tribal question.I gave an historical analysis of this issue and thought that we the members of this list would move forward and address ourselves to more immediate issues of bread and butter for the greater masses of Gambians. Let me deal with some of the points raised by individual members of this list. The first issue is the number of seats given to Foni region of the country. The only justification for increasing the number of seats should be number of people living in the area.If the population of Foni is greater than Banjul, Kiang West or any other constituency in the country, then Foni deserves its number. If however there is no statistical evidence to warrant such allocation, then it is simply a case of political gerrymandering. Truth be told,Jammeh is not the first politician to do this in the country. The first act of gerrymandering was done soon after the PPP defeated the United Party (UP) of Pierre Sarr Njie.Banjul had five constituencies in 1962.Because the PPP won by a narrow margin of five seats,certain strategists of the PPPand its small Banjul-based political ally,the Democratic Congress Alliance(DCA) of the late Rev. J.C. Faye and the late I>M> Garba Jahumpa ,decided that it was politically prudent to cut down the number of seats in Banjul.Hence Banjul North, Banjul South and Banjil Central. Prior to this act of gerrymandering,Banjul had the following constituencies: (1) Half-Die Ward; (2) Jollof & Portuguese Town Ward; (3) Soldier Town War; (4) New Town East; (5) New Town West. The Up won all but Jolof & Portuguese Town Ward. With respect to the use of the term "Jola" to identify the maids of the urban areas,let us get the historical record straight. From 1816-1860s the persons who were serving in the capacity of maids were mainly drawn from poor Wolof and Serer families working for Gambian mulatos who were the concubines of European men in early colonial times. They wre either "mbindans", a word of Serer/Wolof origins.In Serere it points to the responsibility involved in the household. In Wolof it refers to the contract written and signed by both employer and employee.There was another related notion which is part of this appropiation of labor from the poorer sections of the society.In the days when the Mulatoos were known as "Senoras", portuguese for ladies or madams in French,those poorer members of the Wolof and Serer groups who followed the white men to Banjul from Goree and St Louis in the early nineteenth century were sometimes voluntarily sent over to the Senoras as "Yarluwans". Many Wolof and Serer Banjulian families came to Banjul in this capacity.A Gambian historian, Florence Mahoney, in her dissertation on the Creoles in Banjul social history also narrated how some of the Creoles from Sierra Leone who were brought to the Gambia by Lt. Governor Rendall found themselves in the households of these Senoras.The recruitment of the Jolas as maids goes back to the interwar period when Jolas from various sub-regions of the Senegambia began to come to the growing urban area of Banjul to search for employment.A thorough social history of the Gambia would show that whereas Jola men found employment as cooks and garden boys of Europeans, their sisters found access to the labor market through maid service.Lest we forget, the pattern of recruiting Wolof and Serer from the poorer sections of these communities has continued in urban Senegal. This cannot be missed by those who folowed Senegalese TV theater. A good example would be the show called " Sagane," a TV show that makes it categorically clear to middle class urban married women that their maids could steal their husbands.The use of the term "Jola" to classify all maids is the result of the greater dominationof this section of the job market by this particular ethnic group. A review of the literature on maids in African societies would reveal ethnic specialisation.Again, lest we forget, in the Gambia there is the common popular belief that Serahulis are very successful businessmen.There is a long historical connection between this group and the long distance trade of West Africa. Those who now identify Serahulis with succesful businesses are simply generalising about a whole group based on a historical pattern of behavior among a sizable number of this particular group.Instead of stereotyping Gambian ethnic groups,we should be learning to replicate the most positive characteristics of all Senegambian groups.The Jolas have proven beyond reasonable doubt that they are among the most hardworking Gambians.This does not mean that they must be relegated to the lowest levels of the pecking order in the society.Another quality of the Jolas long before Yaya Jammeh entered he Gambian political scene.Those of us who are not familiar with the social history of the region should read some of the works written by scholars writing on these Sengambian groups. One can profit from the writings of D.P. Gambia (Wolof of Senegambia) and the works of L.V. Thomas on the Jolas(written in French).There are many others written by Senegalese like Pathe Diagne.I hope some of the younger Gambians who are inclined towards scholarly research would begin to examine these fields of knowledge. Had there been a rich body of knowledge about the social history of the Senegambian region , especially the Gambia, most of the arguments made here would have been irrelevant and unnecessary. To conclude this contribution to the discussion on the Gambian ethnic groups and their relations with each other, let me leave you with five points to remember about the history of the Gambian peoples and their inter-mixing over the last three hundred years:- 1.In the Gambian ethnic purity is a myth that can only be perpetuated by tribalist or persons who are ignorant of the social history of the area. 2.Any social marker that differentiates peoples of the Senegambia region can be based only on language and certain cultural differences.As I stated several months ago,despite these lingusitic and cutlural differences,the peoples of the Gambia and Senegal have more things to unite them.Islam,Christianity and Western secularism have created new moral,intellectual and emotional bridges between the islands of ethnicity. 3.Any Gambian who tries to be tribalist, check him closely and you would find that his brother or uncle is married to a member of another Gambian group.This is to say, no Gambian I have ever known lives in an ethnic island all by himself or with all members of his clan.None of the Gambian politicians so far can claim ethnic purity.The Gambia,and Senegambia for that matter , is a multiethnic enclave and the struggle for power must not be allowed to poison the waters of inter-ethnic living and cooperation. <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>> To view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] <<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>//\\<<//\\>>