Paying Attention Among Rural Malian Muslims in Mande
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The Powers of Observation: Ideologies and Practices of Paying Attention among Rural Malian Muslims in Mande by Jolande Henrike Florusbosch A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology) in The University of Michigan 2011 Doctoral Committee: Professor Judith T. Irvine, Co-Chair Associate Professor Kelly M. Askew, Co-Chair Professor Gillian Feeley-Harnik Professor Edward Webb Keane, Jr. Professor Raymond A. Silverman Copyright J. Henrike J. Florusbosch 2011 DEDICATION To Nyagale and Kunandi, Allah k’aw balo, k’i ke Nyagale di, k’i ke Kunandi di! ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dinye den folon ye numu di (“The world’s first child is the blacksmith”) Aw Fakoli—Demenjan Koli, Koli Barama, Koli Barantan—aw ni ce, aw Sinaba, aw n ice, aw Sumaoro, aw Kante, aw ni ce, aw Coulibaly numuw, aw ni ce: Mfa Lamini, ba Sitan, Adama, Ami, ba Mamina, Simbon, Batoma, Dambala bee, N’toma, Modibo, N’toma fitini, Sitan, Minata, lumogow bee, Yay, Bintu, Madu, M’fa, Bouba, Jenebu, Kouroutumi, Dramane, Nassu, Dra, Aminata, Mariba, Kanteba, Britté, Kiatou, numunado bee, Malobali, ba Sitan, ba Saran, Kumafin, Tamba, Adama, Wali, Mamadu, Ami, Salimata, Ntene, Mam, numumusow bee; Safi, Nan, Sitan, Karamogo, Saran, Sitan. Aw Keita—Sogosogo Sinbon, ani Sinbon Salaba, Jakumawarala Sinbon—, aw ni ce; aw Camara, aw ni ce; aw Traore—aw Tiramakan, Danmasa Wulani ani Wu- lantanba—, aw ni ce; aw Diawara—Tununfo ni Samuya, Nogoro ni Kanaba—aw ni ce; aw Dabo, aw n ice; aw moriw si duuru, aw ni ce; aw fulaw si naani, aw ni ce: aw jeliw, aw ni ce: Madou, Masaman, Saran, Bou, Kanteran, Broulei, Daouda, Abi, El Haji Tamba, Sokomori, Amidu, Maganjamba, Drissa, Jakani, Salimata, Rokia, Maiama, Mbali, Jeneba, Nassou, Fanta, Mariama, Minata, Maimouna, Bakari, Siriman, El Haji Lansine, Bakari, Bulu, Vieux, Houa, Karamogo, Mam, El Haji Lassina, Vieux, Ji sumale, Karim, Faraban, Kamba, Jeneba, Oumou, Farima, Aminata, Houa, Shaka, Amadu, Balla, Daouda, Sanugwe, Boubacar, Bwa, Sedu, Daouda, Mam, Issa. iii For their inspiring example, I thank my co-chairs Kelly Askew and Judith Irvine, as well as my other committee members: Gillian Feeley-Harnik, Webb Keane, and Raymond Silverman. Many thanks are due to Arthur Verhoogt, Netta Berlin, and my cross- cousin Karen Smid for reading the entire dissertation and providing wonderful and supportive feedback. For extensive comments on individual chapters, I also thank Ellen Poteet, Nienke Muurling, Laura Brown, and Claire Insel. Thanks to Esther Kühn and Nienke Muurling for allowing me to use some of their photo- graphs, and again to Nienke and to Boubacar Diabate for the transcription of the sermons, parts of which are discussed in Chapter 6. I thank Paul Baron and Louis Cicciarelli, the organizers of the Sweetland Dissertation Writing Institute, for honing my writing skills during the months of the Writing Institute and beyond. For support during the writing process, I thank my all-time favorite writing partner, Xochitl Ruiz; the members of my writing groups: Claire Insel, Alice Gates, Monica Huerta, Xochitl Ruiz, Simon Jo- Keeling, Elana Buch, Britt Halvorson, Sonia Das, Vanessa Will, Erika Hoffman- Dilloway, Karen Smid; and other fellow students at U-M: Purvi Metah, Kelly Kirby, Kelly Fayard, Saar Hillewaert, Susanne Unger, Cecilia Tomori, Tam Perry, Anneeth Kaur Hundle, Anna Genina, Bridget Guarasci. At U-M, I also am grateful to the participants in the African History and Anthropology Workshop, the Interdisciplinary Studies in Islamic Studies group, the Museum Studies Workshop, and the organizers and participants of the “Think- ing About Things” (TAT) conference, who provided helpful feedback on (parts of) Chapters 3, 5, 6, and 8. For an insightful conversation about my project, I thank Ivan Karp and Aly Drame. For first guiding me towards West Africa and for their constant interest and support over the years, I thank Jan Jansen and Sabine Luning at Leiden Uni- versity, the Netherlands. In Bamako, I thank Sedou Camara at the Institut des Sciences Humaines, Daouda Keita at the University of Bamako, Samuel Sidibe at the National Mu- iv seum of Mali, as well as Mah Kone, Balla Bomere, Vieux Kone, Batoma Diabate, Saskia Brand and Moussa Fofana, Safi Sangare, Demba, Senou, and Djoncounda. For financial support, I am grateful to the Fulbright-Hays program and the following units and departments at the University of Michigan: the International Institute, the Center for African-American and African Studies, the Rackham Graduate School, the Department of Anthropology, the Museum Studies Program, the African Studies Center. I gratefully acknowledge the support from family and friends in the Neth- erlands: Huig, Marjan, Tiny, Marije, Patrick, Frederike, Camèl, Gerben, Sandra, Sebastian, Jurrian, Marcella, Marijke, Ingrid, Myrthe; and those dearest to me, who accompagnied me to Mali and everywhere else: Arthur, Lidewij, Odelia. Het duurt altijd langer dan je denkt, ook als je denkt het zal wel langer duren dan ik denk dan duurt het toch nog langer dan je denkt. (Judith Herzberg, Liedje: Zoals) v TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ..............................................................................................................................ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ......................................................................................................xi GLOSSARY................................................................................................................................ xii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................xxiii CHAPTER ONE “PAYING ATTENTION” IN ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY AND COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS....................................................................................................1 PAYING ATTENTION THE MANDE WAY: KOLOSI ....................................................................................6 Kolosi and paying attention: a preliminary sketch...............................................................7 ATTENTION, PERCEPTION, INTERPELLATION: THEORETICAL APPROACHES IN ANTHROPOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................................10 Anthropological approaches to perception, and ethnographies of the senses.......14 Phenomenological approaches in anthropology.................................................................18 MATERIALITY, SEMIOTICS, MORALITY.................................................................................................22 COMPARATIVE CONTEXTS FOR KOLOSI: PAYING ATTENTION IN EUROPE AND THE IMPORTANCE OF DISCERNMENT IN ISLAM...................................................................................................................31 (Art)historical accounts of 18th and 19th century Europe................................................31 Ilm and the anthropology of Islam............................................................................................34 vi SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT..............................................................................................................37 CHAPTER TWO GETTING AN EDUCATION IN ATTENTION: KOLOSI AS LOCAL EPISTEMOLOGY AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................... 45 AN EDUCATION OF ATTENTION.............................................................................................................46 THE OBSERVER OBSERVED ....................................................................................................................51 THE FLEXIBILITY OF KOLOSI AS FIELDWORK METHODOLOGY .........................................................54 “Having a conversation is better than asking questions”................................................55 “If you did not get anything, at least you saw something”..............................................59 STRANGERS, GUESTS, AND HOSTS: FIELDWORK AND HOSPITALITY ...............................................65 “A guest is like a hot meal; her (or his) host should cool it off”.....................................66 “I would like to give an account of what I have come here to do” ...............................67 The importance of small things...................................................................................................70 CONCLUSIONS...........................................................................................................................................73 CHAPTER THREE ASPECTS OF MANDE TIMESPACE: HISTORICAL IMAGINATION, LANDSCAPE, AND ISLAM...................................................................... 79 SEEING WITH TWO EYES: PAYING ATTENTION TO “HISTORY IN LANDSCAPE” IN MANDE..........81 “History in landscape” in the context of an anthropology of landscape....................84 “History in landscape” as an object of kolosi ........................................................................86 Visibility and invisibility, haunted landscapes, and other observations....................89 MANDE AS TIME‐SPACE AND GENEALOGY...........................................................................................92 Situating Mande “history through words” in the literature on griots........................99 The role of kolosi in listening to and producing griots’ speech: