Thesis Jonna Both
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Navigating the urban landscapes of uncertainty and human anchorage: girl migrants in N’Djamena 30-08-08 Mphil thesis African Studies University of Leiden/ African Studies Centre Jonna Both Student number: 0166251 1st supervisor: Prof Dr. M.E. de Bruijn (African Studies Centre Leiden) 2nd supervisor: Dr. M.L.J.C. Schrover (History department, University of Leiden) 1 Abstract The capital of Chad can be best described as the place where the countries insecurity and possibilities interact in enlarged and specific forms. N’Djamena is a very specific urban landscape to its residents. The capital in the last years has been the stage to a number of coup-attempts. Corruption, seizure, everyday violence and livelihood insecurity shape and are being shaped by its different inhabitants in different ways. N’Djamena is a city that is characterized by what could be seen as a religious divide, a city in which people of different ethnic groups tend to approach each other based on historical and contemporary hurts and competition. It is a city in which the displacement of houses, traders and market women form a daily “governmental” threat, a city in which military forces influence street life. It is also a city in which people create alliances daily and try to make things work. To understand the interaction between such a specific social-political environment and girls and young women –internal migrants and refugees- living in this environment, this thesis explores the room for manoeuvre of the research groups in the urban landscape. The closeness of peers in very specific ways seems to have been of underestimated value in studies of young female migrants so far. The importance of this type of human anchorage goes beyond the economical rationale of access to resources but tries to encapsulate the needs for human affection, closeness, trust and loyalty as essential for the wellbeing of girls in the African urban context. Another very important aspect of navigation is how especially girls deal with the geographies of exclusion and inclusion, the historical divisions in Chad between north and south, Christian and Muslim and how they more often than the generation of their parents cross borders between different spheres in town. In the process they seem to appropriate veils and the Arabic language for their own economic mobility and/or inclusion in village modernity. 2 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Table of Contents 3 Acknowledgments 5 1. Introduction 7 Trajectories 9 /Chapters and Themes 12 2. Navigating girls and young women in N’Djamena_ (Urban) Landscapes, Human Anchorage and Appropriation 14 Introduction 14/ A theoretical concern 15/ A specific focus: girls and young women in Africa 16/ Exploring Navigation 18/ Landscapes 19/ Landscapes of uncertainty 21/ Landscapes of affection and solidarity 22/ Appropriating a city 24/ Historiography 25/ Conclusion 29 3. Methodology 30 Introduction 30/ Working with a research assistant 31/ Street corners as setting 32/ Street ethnography 33/ Research groups 34/ On age and interviewing36/ Those who did not enter the research 37/ Working with groups 38/ Difficulties 39 4. A history to landscapes 42 Introduction 42/ Southern Chad 43/ N'Djamena 49/ Daily life in N'Djamena 51/ Changing perceptions: Being a girl in Chad 53/ Remaji 56 3 5. Navigating through multiple landscapes in the city: girls appropriating the city? 59 Introduction 59/ The scenery 60/ Border-crossings, the geography of social-cultural and religious boundaries 61/ Appropriation of urban the urban fabric 65/ Veiling/appropriating appearance 66/ Appropriating knowledge, learning a new language 67/ Working North or South 69/ Navigating urban opportunities, young prostitutes in N’Djamena 71/ Leisure 76/ Conclusion 77 6. Landscapes of affection and solidarity, Peer-groups and human anchorage in the city 78 Introduction 78/ Groups 80/ A short history of group-formation 80/ Characteristics of small groups 83/ Concentrations of affection 85/ Limits to peer-group protection 86/ Frères de village 88/ Grouping in Kabalaye 90/ Centre-africaines in Kabalaye 91/ Conclusion 92 7. In the absence of adults? “Parents” and their roles in the city towards young female migrants 93 Introduction 93/ Independence versus the need for parent in times of hardship 94/ Who are the chiefs 95/ President in Kabalaye 97/ Community chiefs versus migrant girls 100/ Conclusion 103 8. Conclusion 105 Literature 108 4 Acknowledgments Guendengao (Nicole) Konaye, close friend, research assistant, translator and partner in crime…this thesis owes tremendously to your social and animating skills. The adventures we undertook to explore the field were unforgettable. Likewise was your friendship and the support of your family. Besides Nicole, all informants: girls, young women, brothers, elders, that were willing to share their stories and perceptions with us deserve a big thank you here. A special thanks needs to go to Girimaji, Boricet, Merci, Félicité, Rosine, King, Dono, Sidonie, Victorie and friends and in particular Chef Jacques Ngarasta Ngargoto. If it were not for all of your experiences and stories and your openness to me as a stranger, this research could never have been done. I hope you recognize and feel comfortable with the end-product. For the fieldwork period I am very thankful for the help and support of Professor Khalil Aliou (Université de N'Djamena), Mrs. Angèle Beguy (CEFOD), Mr. Ngargos Nadjiara Beguy (ATPFED: Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion des Femmes et des Enfants Déshérité), Félix Naham and Sidonie (Amasot), Neloumta (Amastot, Mongo), Salma Khalil Aliou, Mrs Lawrence and Pastor Abe Raymond (Justice et Paix). The staff of the Cooperation Suisse in Bedigrui, Pastor Bolngar Domtinet 5 and his wife Madeleine Domtinet (FAFED: Fondation d'Amour pour la formation d'Enfants en Détresse), Mrs Celestine, Mr. Djí and Mrs Hawa at ASTBEF, Mrs Dangar (sociologist at CELIAF), the community chiefs of the Mingaame, Bilala, Kouka, Nderguigui, Dono Manga and Péni peoples in N’Djamena. In Mongo: Geeske Zijp, Abdoulaye Baine, and Abdel Djelil, Fatouma and her sister. Abakar, Djibrine, Christian, Chantal, Tahir and Eric, thank you for making living in N'djamena pleasant. I am indebted to Mirjam de Bruijn who supported this research from the first brainstorm on and gave me the academic, but more importantly the personal confidence to undertake it. Thank you for bringing me into contact with Nicole so that I had the best start of research ever. Thank you for being an inspiration and being patient. Marlou Schrover thank you for investing time and energy in this project and for the critical remarks that helped me sharpen my work. Thank you for sharing your expertise on the topics this research touches upon. Han van Dijk, Robert Ross, Rijk van Dijk, Daniela Merolla and Nakar Ndjindil, thank you for the academic dialogue during the research or writing process. This research could not have been possible without the financial support of LUF, Outbound Study Grant and Dr. Hendrik Muller Vaderlandsch Fonds. A final big thank you needs to go to my parents, Piet and Margriet Both, for introducing us all to Africa. (Bawku, Ghana) To Marieke, Rosalijn, Pieter and Emmelie for all their support and understanding. To Rosalijn for advising me on the text-level. To my grandmothers and close friends who had to do without me for quite sometime, first while I was in Chad, secondly when I was stuck to the computer the rest of the year. I hope to make it up to all of you soon. A special thanks needs to go to Hilde Kroes for all the discussions over coffee during the Mphil and especially during the thesis-writing process. You were a great support. At times a colleague, a coach, an editor but most of all good friend who stuck by my side when I lost it and who laughed with me when we both lost it........... Leiden 28 th of August 2008 6 1. Introduction “You should see the Rue de Quarante metre at seven in the morning….the roads are full of them. It is a social problem that occupies us a lot, but we don’t arrive at solving it…………” 1 (general comment) In the morning the large city axes of N’Djamena are crowded with young Chadians as they leave the peripheral quarters of town they live in moving en masse towards the central and northern (predominantly Muslim) parts of town to work 2. In the evening this movement goes in opposite direction. The youth come from villages in Southern Chad and for the larger part their jobs fall within the domestic sphere. The youngest among them are around ten years old. Although more than fifty percent are boys, the presence of girls in this movement generates a lot of attention, especially since some of them are “ still very young girls but walk with babies on their back” 3. When I introduced myself and the topic of my research in N'Djamena to different kinds of informants and NGO's, people often immediately referred to the visible movement of these girls and stated their urban presence as problematic: as a social problem that demanded a solution. I had come to study the mobility of girls in Chad towards N’Djamena, the capital, and had decided on this research for two reasons. Firstly Chad became known to me 4 as a country in which mobility has an explanatory function in capturing the way people cope with prevailing uncertainties. 1 A comment I encountered when introducing the topic of research to Chadian friends , informants and people working for NGO’s. I have translated their comment from French, as consecutively most quotes will be translated from French to English completely. Sometimes I have chosen to use certain words in French: when they are very common expressions or have a specific meaning that is difficult to translate to English without loosing some of its content.