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The bush is sweet: Identity and desire among the WoDaaBe in Niger Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Loftsdóttir, Kristín, 1968- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 10/10/2021 07:21:50 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/298750 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, vvhile others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 THE BUSH IS SWEET: IDENTITY AND DESIRE AMONG THE WODAABE IN NIGER by Kristin Loftsdottir A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2000 UMI Number 9983871 UMI UMI Microform9983871 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. 60x1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As aembers of the Final Examination Coomitteei we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared bv Kristin Loftsdottir entitled The Bush Is Sweet: Identity ami Dpgirg ATnnng The UTfiDaaRg in Vigof and recosmend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of of Philosnphv i-'tDr Thomasi.iiwiucis> rciLts.Park . Date c/tyi . I ov\/^ 6^ g/^/'crQ Dr Ana Alonso Date — Dr H Date Dr Richard Henderso Dr Herman Bleibtfrau Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Dissertation Director Or Thomas Park Date 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department or the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author. SIGNED: 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was made possible with funding from the Nordic Africa Institute and Rotary International. I am grateful to these organizations for their generous support. I want to thank all the WoDaaBe who helped and cared for me during my research, put up with my limitations and failures, and not only gave me insight into the lives of the WoDaaBc but also taught me some things about myself. I especially want to thank the scction of the Godjanko'en lineage group I stayed most with. To Gaa'i, Ganjado, Girgi, Ibanou, Dro, Mawde, Ganay'i, Tumbido, Budjo, Baya, Madika, Dembe and many others who generously gave me their time and more importantly, a part of themselves, I want to say: "Mi yetti, mi yetti gore gore gore, wana dum seda. Mi yetti amina on'on. Allah wadan barki." In Niger, I met kindness and assistance from various other individuals. I want especially to mention Idrissa Yausambou, directeur des Archives National Niamey; Moussa Abdou Akoda at Prefecture Tahoua, M. Bagoudou Maidaji at the Ministry of Herding and Agriculture, Maikorema Zakari, directeur de TIRSH; Gambo Boukary, Maidaji Maiguida, Madame Idrissa nee Salmou Salifouse at IRSH, as well as other individuals coimected to these above mentioned institutions. My gratitude also to others crucial to this project in a more indirect way, my fiiend and better half. Mar Wolfgang Mixa, who helped me through this long journey with paticnce and love, always being there for me; my parents, Lofhir Magnusson and Erla G. Sigur6ard6ttir for their support and enthusiasm, never losing faith in any of my projects, as well as my siblings, Asta, Jonina Dogg and Magnus, and other family members who wrote me and kept me as a part of their lives during my long absence. I also want to thank my fnend. Ami Vikingur, who always has been there helping and encouraging mc. He assisted with bringing this work to life from its beginning until its last step of completion. My mentors, Thomas K. Park, Richard Henderson, Helen Henderson, Ana Maria Alonso and Hermann K. Bleibtreu, I want to thank for not only generously providing assistance in relation to this dissertation project but also for various personal support during and after my study years in Tucson, making this time pleasurable and engaging. My gratitude also to Jon Haukur Ingimundarson, Gisli Palsson, Sigridur Duna Kristmundsdottir and Unnur Dis Skaptadottir who all in one way or another helped me in accomplishing this final product. Finally, I want to thank my friends and colleges Scrhirou Boubacar, Bill Phelan, Boubacar Hassane, Raquel Christine de Sousa, Mamadou Baro, Keith E. Syler, Basonka, Paul Ojeda, Bob Winterbottom, Mette Bovine, David Killick, Thomas Painter, Diana Vidal and Colleen Edmundson and everyone at the ICEIDA Office for their support, assistance and encouragement. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES 7 ABSTRACT 8 INTRODUCTION 10 PART ONE: BUSH 42 1. Having a Home in the Bush 43 2. Animals in WoDaaBe Economic and Social Life 79 3. The Cold and the Hot Season: Learning Movement within Space 108 4. Dimensions of Identity: Moral Community in the Bush 131 5. Gender Inequalities within WoDaaBe Society 163 6. The Rain Starts to Fall 181 BORDERS 203 7. Leaving the Bush for the City 204 NIAMEY 236 8. Migration work among the WoDaaBe in Niamey... 237 9. From Bush to Niamey 256 10. Jumare's Accident 285 11. Pieces from Women's Lives 295 12. Dances as Expression of Sameness and Otherness... 322 13. Desire and Identity in a Multi-Ethnic Context 343 14. Love and Other Emotions 356 PART n: INTRODUCTION 374 HISTORY 378 15. Imagining the Other 379 16. The WoDaaBe and History 396 17. The Place of Birth 434 POLITICAL ECONOMY 464 18. The Rational System of Production 465 19. Pastoral Projects in Niger 493 20. WoDaaBe in a World of Power 519 21. WoDaaBe Access to and Conceptions of Land 546 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued GLOBALIT\' 563 1. Desire and Identity in a Global World 564 2. Anasara and WoDaaBe 599 3. Subjectivity amd the WoDaaBe 626 CONCLUSION 648 APPENDIX A; HU*MAN/ANIMAL SUBJECTS APPROVAL... 658 APPENDIX B: LIST OF CONCEPTS FREQUENTLY OCCURRING IN THE TEXT 659 APPENDIX C: MAPS 661 APPENDIX D: PICTURES 665 REFERENCES 671 ARCHIVE SOURCES 713 ORAL REFERENCES 720 7 LIST OF TABLES TABLE LI. Average Maximum and Minimum Heat in the Department of Tahoua (1980-1981) 66 TABLE 2.1. Some Economic Difference Between the Bororo and the Azawak Breed 95 TABLE 4.1. The fVuro and Ladde as Binary Oppositions 144 TABLE 4.2. WoDaaBe in Different Spaces 145 TABLE 4.3. Logic of Moral Conduct 158 TABLE 4.4. Logic of Moral Conduct (2) 159 TABLE 8.1. Estimated Number of WoDaaBe in Niamey 248 TABLE 8.2. The Different Occupations 249 TABLE 9.1. People engaged in the Artisana Work 270 TABLE 12.1. Classification of Dances 333 TABLE 12.2. Division of Dance Gatherings 335 TABLE 16.1. Terms used over the WoDaaBe and the Fulani... 403 TABLE 17.1. Genealogical Map of Dodomi 458 TABLE 21.1. Classification of Migration Movements 553 TABLE 24.1. The Lineage's Fractioning 633 s -ABSTR.A.CT The dissertation fociises on the WoDaaBe FuJani in Niger, seeking to understand identitv' in a global context, analyzing streams of power and desire that have characterized the life of the WoDaaBe. The first part of the dissertation discusses expressions of WoDaaBe identities and desires in the contemporarv' world, as well as identifying the present situation of the WoDaaBe as one of great marginality. The WoDaaBe ethnic identity is created through processes of exclusion and inclusion within social and natural environments.

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