Marabout Women in Dakar: Creating Trust in a Rural Urban Space PROEFSCHRIFT

Transcription

1 Marabout Women in Dakar: Creating Trust in a Rural Urban Space PROEFSCHRIFT TER VERKRIJGING VAN DE GRAAD VAN DOCTOR AAN DE UNIVER- SITEIT LEIDEN, OP GEZAG VAN DE RECTOR MAGNIFICUS DR. MR. P.F. VAN DER HEIJDEN, HOOGLERAAR INTERNATIONAAL AR- BEIDSRECHT IN DE FACULTEIT DER RECHTSGELEERDHEID VOL- GENS BESLUIT VAN HET COLLEGE VOOR PROMOTIES TE VERDEDI- GEN OP DONDERDAG 22 MEI 2008 KLOKKE 16:15 door AMBER BABKE GEMMEKE geboren te Zaandam in 1977 JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout WoSec2:249 Sec2: :01:51

2 MARABOUT WOMEN IN DAKAR: CREATING TRUST IN A RURAL URBAN SPACE Amber B. Gemmeke Lit Verlag Münster Hamburg JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout Woi i :01:25

3 For Ine In the series Mande Worlds have appeared: Vol. 1 Stephen Wooten (ed.) Wari Matters: Ethnographic Explorations of Money in the Mande World (2005) Vol. 2. Amber B. Gemmeke (2008) Vol. 3. Molly D. Roth Ma parole s achète: Money, Identity and Meaning in Malian Jeliya (2008) Vol. 4. Stephen Belcher, Jan Jansen & Mohamed N Daou (eds.) Mande Mansa - Essays in Honor of David C. Conrad JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout Woii ii :01:26

4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 5 1. Introduction 7 Defining marabout and maraboutage 10 Finding the real marabout 12 Marabout women in Senegal 15 Political-religious and economic developments 19 Enchantment of urbanisation 22 - From the countryside to the city and back 23 - Development of an occult economy 25 Living and working in Dakar 31 - Filming 36 Outline of the book Parcelles Assainies 39 Dakar 40 Parcelles Assainies 43 From the village to Dakar 47 Goorgoorlou and the art of dressing well 50 Insecurity and distrust 53 Media 55 - Newspapers 57 - Television, cinema, song writing and literature 61 Government policies 63 Under construction Women and Maraboutage 71 Problèmes de ménage 72 Being a co-wife 74 Mothers-in-law 84 Infertility 87 In search of a husband 93 The absent husband 101 In the waiting room 103 JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout WoSec2:1 Sec2: :01:26

5 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 4. Islam, Magic, and Femininity 107 A male marabout majority Without family network 114 Marabout women Meissa Ndeye Fanta 121 Gaining trust Purity Authority Dreams of the future 132 The paradox of success The Rural Urban Space 139 Four women Mariama Thérèse Marie Fatou Four women and a husband compared 159 Not jinn-proof 160 Foreign and familiar Rural power Urban need 172 Filling the gap Charlatans 181 A head not empty 183 Trust 185 Expectations of treatment 187 The fear factor Causing harm Manipulation Abuse 199 City of rumour and ruse 201 How to find a real marabout in Dakar Conclusion 207 Creating trust 209 In a rural urban space 210 Beyond Senegal s borders 212 Women on a map of magic 216 JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout WoSec2:2 Sec2: :01:26

6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 References 218 Appendices 228 A. Newspaper articles on arrested charlatans in Dakar 228 B. Map of Dakar 231 C. Marabouts interviewed 232 D. Demographic data on Dakar and Parcelles Assainies 233 E. Senegalese health care centres and NGO s promoting traditional medicine 239 F. Advertisement of a marabout 240 Authors index 241 Figures and Photographs Figures 1. Map of Dakar Goorgoorlou by T.T. Fons Cheikh Amadou Bamba Average age of marriage according to sex and age Cartoon on marriage Map of Senegal Advertisement from The Netherlands 214 Photographs 1. Aminata and Meissa Parcelles Assainies, Unité Parcelles Assainies, Unité Ndeye in her office Meissa s villa, Cambérène Ndeye in front of her apartment in Guediawaye Ndeye in front of her new built villa, Parcelles Assainies Aminata (in white) and Fanta in Fanta s living room Thérèse in her office Fatou performing a treatment 170 JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout WoSec2:3 Sec2: :01:26

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8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis came into existence trough the practical and mental support of more people than I can mention here. I am deeply grateful to them all. The research is funded by the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Leiden and facilitated by the Research School CNWS. A travel grant to visit Senegal was provided by NWO s WOTRO. I am grateful to all institutes for giving me the possibility to write this book. Many thanks in particular to the staff of the CNWS, the African Studies Centre (ASC) and the ASC library for easing my PhD years: Ilona Beumer, Barend ter Haar, Sjaan van Marrewijk, Jarich Oosten, Wilma Trommelen, Ella Verkaik, Willem Vogelsang, Marieke van Winden, and Guita Winkel. I am much indebted to the people who made my stay in Dakar so pleasurable and my research so fulfilling; Aminata Diop and her family Ibrahima, Coumba, Balla, and Sankoung Diop. Many thanks for having faith in me, for taking amazingly good care of me, my friends, and my family, and for much, much more. Mille fois merci. I equally thank Thérèse Diouf and her family for heartwarming support, as well as Inge Clarijs and her family. Thanks also to Alexander Schier for his company in Dakar. I thank Karim Sane and his family in Koussanar. I am blessed with the help of all the participants in this research in Dakar and elsewhere in Senegal. They helped me in my quest for marabouts and in thinking with me about my many questions. I thank them all. Specifically, I thank marabouts Thérèse and Paul, Ndeye, and Fatou, for their faith and support. At the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) in Dakar, I was always most hospitably received by Ndeye Sokhna Gueye, Francis Nyamnjoh, and Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo. I thank them all for the lively conversations and the enriching comments on my research. In Paris, I thank Perrine Drapier for her hospitality and company during conferences. In the Netherlands, I thank foremost Hans van den Breemer for the many occasions in which he helped me finding contacts in Dakar and in arranging paperwork. I also would like to express my gratitude to Bart Barendrecht, Anneke Breedveld, Martin van Bruinessen, Rijk van Dijk, Gerti Hesseling, Sabine Luning, Erik de Maaker, Trevor Marchand, Steef Meyknecht, Geert Mommersteeg, Dirk Nijland, Peter Pels, Metje Postma, José van Santen, Benjamin Soares, Rachel Spronk, and Karin Willemse for their interest, the inspiring discussions, and the enlightening comments on my research. I equally thank the many people I met at conferences, workshops, and seminars in the Netherlands, France, the USA, Germany, and the United Kingdom who showed JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout WoSec2:5 Sec2: :01:26

9 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS great interest in this thesis and helped me with its progress. My colleagues at the CNWS, the University of Amsterdam, The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and at the ASC also gave me food for thought during the years of writing this thesis. I thank Roos Gerritsen, Joost Hagen, Wendelmoet Hamelink, Victor Igreja, Renaud Kuty, Nienke Muurling, Maarten Onneweer, Lotte Pelckmans, Juniator Tulius, Caco Verhees, Menno Welling, and Martijn Wienia for articles, book references, and many witty lunches and drinks. My special thanks to Clara ten Hacken and Ismail Hakk Kad for hapjes and grapjes, and for years of unconditional support. Special thanks also to Marloes Janson and Baz Lecoq for their help and reassurance. I thank Miriam Lang for her dedicated editing of the English text of this thesis. I thank my family: Emil, Jort, Mireille, and Martijn, Annelies and Eric, for their love and support. Many thanks also to Bregje and Elly. I am grateful for the friendship of Annemieke, Lenneke, Liesbeth, and Moniek. I thank them for traveling with me in person and in spirit, for reflecting upon my thoughts, for making me laugh, and for endless care. I thank Tryfon for all his gifts of beauty, comfort, and joy. I dedicate this thesis to my late mother, Ine van der Wal, whose curiosity and humor showed me how to see, how to listen, and how to comb the beach. JAJ 021 boek Gemmeke Marabout WoSec2:6 Sec2: :01:26