The Gambia-Senegal Border

Issues in Regional Integration

Mariama Khan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9780367728731
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429759697
• Topic: Politique et relations internationales
• Subtopic: Politique africaine

This book interrogates the validity of longstanding claims that Gambians and Senegalese are 'one' people in two countries and explores how that claim intersects with the politics and development needs of the two countries. Half a century after independence, proponents of Senegambian unification continue to campaign on the basis of the longstanding social, cultural and religious ties between Africa's smallest country, The Gambia, and Senegal, the much larger country which almost entirely encircles it. The border between the two former British and French colonies remains one of the starkest examples of colonial geographical bartering, and it continues to serve a dual function as a bridge and a barrier in the social, political and economic relations of the two countries.

The book investigates how the two states are constantly pulled between impulses of cooperation and de-escalation, and a competitive intimacy that disregards kinship ties and re-activates tensions. In particular, the book shows how these interstate dynamics play out across the border itself, where indigenous ideas of relatedness are reflected in the cross-border transport and trade sectors, and in the religious networks that straddle the two countries.

This book's skilful exploration of intersecting macro-level and micro-level relations in the Senegambia region will be of interest to scholars of African politics, regional studies, international development and border studies.

1 The politics of Senegambian
kinship discourses

All things fit with peace.

(Wollof proverb)

Senegambian kinship practices

In February 2013, Barbie Toure, President of the Senegalese Transport Association, Keur Ayib Branch, told me: ‘Senegal and The Gambia are to each other dome-ndeye (children from the same mother). We live together. We share a sociality. We marry each other. We worship together.’ Toure added: ‘Mam Abdul Aziz Sy fondly asked communities of worshippers: “Have you ever seen the front of a fabric existing without its back?” ’ Sy was a grand marabout, a well-loved and charismatic Tijanniyya Sufi leader. He hailed from Tivaouane, the heartland of the Tijanniyya brotherhood in Senegal. For Sy, religious gatherings such as gamoo¹ ceremonies bringing together Senegalese and Gambian Muslim worshippers were apt moments to remind people of how ‘Senegal and Gambie constitute the same piece of fabric.’² In another interview, Dembo Mane, the aged Imam of Karang, repeatedly told me in Mandinka that ‘Gambie nin Senegal mu dingkiling le teh, badinkhungl lem’, which means ‘Gambians and Sengalese are siblings from the same parents’.³

Toure’s words and Mane’s statements are, like Sy’s fabric metaphor, relevant anecdotes and are part of Senegambian popular discourses of one-ness. The metaphor ‘a fabric with two sides’ communicates indivisibility of Senegambia, a historical community where kinship ties are beyond the reach of the state. The fabric metaphor is a powerful framework for Senegambian kinship bonds, and has cultural salience.

Traditional cloth remains a highly valued material in life course rituals like naming ceremonies, funerals and marriages. Historically, too, cloth was also a medium of exchange (currency) in Senegambia (see Guyer, 2004). Senegambian culture views cloth or textile as a symbol of sutura (protection or a shelter), adornment, beauty and social morality. It protects the individual from the elements. The fabric metaphor represents the different values Senegambian kinship connections have and signifies social meanings and values attached to kinship ties.

Cloth has symbolic and rhetorical power and different shades of social meaning. It expresses or conceals certain principles and emotions. ‘Through their capacity to symbolise a social order, what is or what should be, clothes are related to social action and communication in a dynamic way’ (Schwarz, 2011, 29). As an aesthetic act, dressing communicates mood, personal philosophy and/or ethical stance. It has meaning like language and is acquired from other individuals. ‘Aesthetic acts do not grow out of a vacuum, but from what is learned from others’ (Roach and Eicher, 2011, 7). As a metaphor, the fabric is a political and social symbol, proof of affiliation and location for the individual in the house of power (Roach and Eicher, 2011, 15). The multiple threads that tightly hold the fabric together are metaphors for multiple cross-border and intergenerational connections between Gambians and Senegalese, apt references for Senegambian social relations.

The fabric as a symbol of cross-border social cohesiveness sheds new light on the anthropological value of cloth. Anthropological studies on African societies have not given textile, cloth or dress the same attention as other aspects of material culture in Africa. Therefore, there is a need for further research on the important roles dress, fabric or textiles play in African social processes.

The physical attributes of the fabric problematises the metaphor. As a material item, the fabric can be subject to wear, tear and disuse. It connotes transitory and fragile relations embodied in the vicissitudes of the political economy of the border. The fabric metaphor is also symbolic of human life, in which dying, an inevitable life course, brings separation between relatives, lovers, friends and foes. It can also contradict the implied solidity of cross-border bonds.

Moreover, the fabric has a right and wrong side. This implies uniqueness, differentiation and borders within a cohesive or unified piece. But the borders of the fabric collapse into a whole to become a complete piece of cloth that could be designed or cut into patterns. Reading from history, this image of the fabric represents the colonial history. The British and the French cut Senegambia into two states – The Gambia and Senegal. The fabric creased, setting the stage for different forms of interstate rivalries in Senegambia.

Politically, creases require ironing for a better look and smooth feel. There are two approaches to ironing: first, political relations can be negotiated through formal official diplomatic channels. Second, social and religious actors like Mam Abdul Aziz Sy, ordinary people, civil society groups such as the Senegalese-Gambia Association for Integration and Socio-Economic Development (SGAISD) and the media can also help peacefully negotiate interstate relations.⁴ Their acts constitute the selvedge holding together the fabric. As a sewing project, the fabric needs to be cut into a desirable pattern, sewn to a complete piece again.⁵

The fabric metaphor can be further teased out based on the monetary value of a particular fabric. A particular segment of society can monopolise the access and use of a rare, expensive fabric, which attracts social admiration as a marker for economic or social status in society. But if not affordable to everyone, it can symbolise social divisions. In contrast, an affordable fabric serves as a symbol of unity and inclusion. The fabric metaphor highlights the complex nature of The Gambia–Senegal relations as it both supports and contradicts kinship discourses.

Other less nuanced views of kinship ties also feature in some academic discourses and in the media. In September 2013, Ibrahim Thioub, Senegalese historian and a professor at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, stated that Gambians and Senegalese are one people and they need to ‘remove the artificial feeling of being in different countrie’s’ He was speaking in Mbour, a Senegalese seaside resort town, where SGAISD was being launched (Cham, The Point, 30 September 2013). Thioub’s statements re-echoed the views of some Senegambian media outlets, self-styled champions of Senegambia unity.

Jollofnews.com, a popular local news source, stated on its website: ‘Arguably, no two people are more so [sic] closely related than those in the Senegambia region’ (Jollofnews.com, 13 June 2013). Its declared ideals are Pan-Africanist. Its slogan is ‘A Greater Senegambia – Towards Regional Integration’. Its mission promotes the ‘integration of the cultural identities that hold a promising bounty for the two peoples of The Gambia and Senegal’. Jollofnews.com calls itself the ‘first and exclusive website to provide news in English on Senegal’, and covers news on The Gambia (Jollofnews.com, 13 June 2013). Askanisenegambia, another Gambian-owned online newspaper wrote: ‘Askani Senegambia believes that we are the generation that must respond to the call of one Senegambia and one people. This is our vision and the principle guiding our aspirations’ (Askanisenegambia.com, 13 June 2013).

Both Askan and Jollof are Wollof words. The former means a nation of people, a lineage or a huge embodiment of closely interconnected people. The latter derives from the name of the Jollof kingdom, a historic dominion of the Wollof ethnic group in modern-day Gambia and Senegal. However, in Gambian youth slang, Jollof means Banjul or the country itself. ‘Askani Senegambia: United, Inseparable and Indivisible’ is the stated slogan of the newspaper, which further states:

Askani Senegambia believes that with the emergence of social media, there is a good opportunity to help pave this way (to unity). This is why Askani Senegambia would endeavour to serve as a forum for the interests of one Senegambia, one people and one nation.… Too often the call to unity falls on deaf ears, ignored by the same people who are in charge for whatever reasons.

(Askanisenegambia.com, 13 June 2013)

Pro-Senegambia integration advocacy feed on cross-border social and ethnic attachments to minimise the barrier effects of the colonial partition. It reconceptualises the border as a bridge that creates continuities across the discontinuities of territory. Senegambian collective identities and shared culture endure to challenge views in social anthropology that,

The identification of another person as a fellow member of an ethnic group implies a sharing of criteria for evaluation and judgement. It thus entails the assumption that the two are fundamentally ‘playing the same game’, and this means that there is between them a potential for diversification and expansion of their social relation to cover eventually all different sectors and domains of activity. On the other hand, a dichotomization of others as strangers, as members of another ethnic group, implies recognition of limitations on shared understandings, differences in criteria for judgement of value and performance.…

(Barth, 1970, 5)

While Gambians and Senegalese can interact and exchange in a variety of platforms, the border between the two countries limit their interactions and exchanges. Powerful cultural ideas integrate notions of one-ness and stretch the border as a bridge. But Senegambian kinship theories can serve as tools for both inclusions and exclusions based on the multiple ways kinship theories can be put to use.

Senegambian kinship theories

Researching The Gambia–Senegal relations unavoidably leads to a variety of anecdotal conversations. During my fieldwork, border community elders who witnessed colonial rule talk of si anglais bi when they make references to territories in The Gambia. In Wollof, si anglais bi means ‘at the English-speaking side’. The unconscious use of this loaded phrase orally re-enacts and reframes memories of the colonial history, histories of blood relations, ethnic ties, migrations and social dispersions in Senegambian. It also makes muted reference to a divided identity, a colonial partitioning of indigenous society. However, it also reaffirms enduring kinship and social connections, an inclusive reference across the discontinuities of territory.

‘Si anglai bi’ embodies a part of the organic, favourite Wollof kinship terminology mbokh (kinsman), an ancient common reference and an endearment term both Gambians and Senegalese use for each other. Other language groups in Senegambia like the Mandinka also use similar kinship terms for cross-border relations. The twin Wollof kinship terminologies dome-ndeye and dome-baaye are the backbone and the broad motif for decoding cross-border relations in Senegambia (see the Introduction to this book). Dome-ndeye means ‘children from the same mother’. Used narrowly, it means relations from the female line which contrasts with relations from the male line, dome-baaye (children from the same father). Metaphorically, it signifies deep kinship bonds and derives from the womb as a nest of reproduction – an intimate and unbreakable accommodation that carries all children born to one woman, irrespective of whether they have different fathers or not. Culturally, sharing a womb means a firm willingness to take a bullet for the dome-ndeye, a relationship of unending love, sacrifice and protection. When used broadly, dome-ndeye signifies all intimate social relations. This is why metaphors and idioms of cross-border relations invoke the close ties of relations through the female. However, often, there are many acts in social and political life that illustrate more the competitive struggle associated with relations from the male line, dome-baaye.

Dome-baaye, the opposite terminology of dome-ndeye, defines relations from a paternal line. It is characterised by loaded, over-amplified, interpersonal competition that is believed to exist between half-brothers and half-sisters. However, dome-baaye ties also involve mutual help and interdependence. But social perceptions reduce dome-baaye-based assistance as generally self-serving and lacking the sincerity of a dome-ndeye one. It flaunts benevolence, while dome-ndeye-based help is considered discrete and shuns flaunted interpersonal assistance. The outcome the helper seeks to achieve also determines the nature of the assistance. For example, dome-baaye social help is flaunted to show unequal status and blessing. A Wollof proverb conceptualises that ‘the dome-ndeye will fix shame within the house. But the dome-baaye only settles it when it gets to the edge of the street.’ The statement’s logic implies ties from the female line protect ugly matters in the family to preserve family secrets, honour and social reputation. In contrast, the dome-baaye brings public attention to scandals and matters that cast the other individual in a negative light.

Generally, a mother or a parent’s conduct is thought to be a source of blessing for his or her children. If a woman has good conduct, her children will have a good future. Such social ideas structure the conduct of individuals, especially women in matrimonial life and polygamous contexts. A married woman who keeps her marital vows solemn, fulfills her expected social roles, sacrifices for her marriage and observes social norms in her relations will have children endowed with baarki, or blessing. In contrast, the less-dutiful housewife will have children who would either be failures, or would at least be less successful in life, when compared to the children of dutiful wives.

In polygamous contexts, the children of less-dutiful mothers are thought to depend on the children of the dutiful co-wife or co-wives. The child of the former faces a ‘social curse’ that makes him/her dependent on her dome-baaye. These moral judgements prescribe ‘acceptable’ or ‘unacceptable’ behaviour and play didactic social functions to regulate marital relations and polygamous family-life in society and sanction access to and sharing of resources. Dome-ndeye and dome-baaye concepts are used to ‘prescribe’ the meanings, dos and don’ts in social relations. For example, a Wollof proverb says that ‘a mother’s work feeds the child’. This means a woman’s deeds shape her child’s future.

Dome-baaye ties can be both relations of intimacy and competitiv...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Author’s note
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Introduction
• 1 The politics of Senegambian kinship discourses
• 2 The political and economic context of The Gambia–Senegal border
• 3 Transport, cross-border practices and interstate political relations
• 4 Politics and the disintegration of the common transport network, 2000–2015
• 5 Tactics for survival: Jakarta, civil society and the media
• 6 Cross-border trade and The Gambia–Senegal relations
• 7 Senegambia’s talibee networks, the state and cross-border exchange
• 8 Conclusion
• Glossary
• Index