Predicaments Can Be Traced Back”
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“All Predicaments Can Be Traced Back” An ethnographic study of how the past is present in contemporary Gambia Philip Rynning Coker Master`s thesis Department of Social Anthropology University of Oslo May 2016 ii “All Predicaments Can Be Traced Back” An ethnographic study of how the past is present in contemporary Gambia Philip Rynning Coker iii iv © Philip Rynning Coker 2016 “All predicaments can be traced back”: An ethnographic study of how the past is present in contemporary Gambia Philip Rynning Coker http://www.duo.uio.no/ Print: Reprosentralen, University of Oslo v vi Abstract The transatlantic slave trade and the later colonial era have impacted the world in different ways. This thesis is based on 6 months ethnographical fieldwork in the Gambia, in the villages of Albreda/Juffureh, and later among urban youth in the Banjul Greater area. My focus has been on how the past is present in people`s knowledge and everyday life, by using a broad understanding of memory. Past impacts on the physical environment; ruins of old buildings and memorials, are visible remains of the past in the villages. Alex Haley`s “Roots” story is merged with the physical environment and used as a narrative when presenting the villages as historical sites in the Gambian heritage tourism, which is the focus of chapter 2. Chapter 3 shift to the urban area of Greater Banjul, where the youth seem to display an interest and longing for a future in “the West”, which also seems to convey a lack of knowledge and lack of interest regarding the past. In chapter 4, I focus on the President who is actively presenting a historical narrative that stresses European exploitation, creating a clear moral boundary between the Gambia and “the West”. Several intellectuals I interviewed agree upon the notion that the biggest impact from the past is mental colonization, a complex of interiority that is manifested today in the phenomena of “the backway syndrome” and the locally shaped concept of “Babylon”, which is laid out in chapter 5. I suggest that the past becomes present directly through sayings and thoughts that were shared with me, and indirectly through these phenomena which appear as manifestations of the mentioned inferiority complex. Throughout the theses I will shed light on the experienced situations and observations showing how they can be connected to the past, often containing paradoxical elements, through a wide understanding of memory, and hence understate how “all predicaments can be traced back”. Key words: the Gambia, the West, Babylon, Roots, Neo- colonialism, Past, Memory, Dependence. vii Acknowledgements I want to thank my family, special thanks to my Gambian family who provided me with shelter, care, and inspiration during my fieldwork. Thanks to friends and fellow students for support, and to Philippa and Magnus for help in the writing process. To my supervisor professor Paul Wenzel Geissler; I am deeply grateful for the guiding and motivation you have given me. I hope this thesis do justice to the hours you have spent reading my material. Thanks to Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo, NTNU, and the National Center for Arts and Culture in the Gambia, and the University of the Gambia, for making it possible to do anthropological research for my master thesis. To my brothers and my informants; words is not enough, this thesis is a reality because of you. You have laid the foundation for my writing process and I will always remember the time we spent together. Philip Rynning Coker Oslo, May 2016 viii Content “All Predicaments Can Be Traced Back” ................................................................................. iii Abstract .................................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 2 Context ................................................................................................................................... 2 Background and previous research ........................................................................................ 3 Research question and overview of the chapters ................................................................... 4 Chapter 1- Method ..................................................................................................................... 8 Appearance as a factor ........................................................................................................... 8 Sites ........................................................................................................................................ 8 Gathering data, participant observation................................................................................ 10 Interviews ............................................................................................................................. 11 TV and newspapers .............................................................................................................. 11 Informants ............................................................................................................................ 12 A typical day ........................................................................................................................ 12 Staying with my family ........................................................................................................ 13 Ethics .................................................................................................................................... 15 Being biased ......................................................................................................................... 16 Chapter 2- Entering Albreda/Juffureh ...................................................................................... 20 Gendered knowledge ............................................................................................................ 21 The “Roots” .......................................................................................................................... 23 The guided “Roots” tour ...................................................................................................... 24 “Roots” heritage trail ............................................................................................................ 26 Present day situations as continuation of the past ................................................................ 28 “Leave the white people alone” ........................................................................................... 31 Would Kunta Kinte like the image of Juffureh today? ........................................................ 33 ix Chapter 3- “We are not mentally independent yet…” ............................................................. 38 My urban fieldwork .............................................................................................................. 38 The fruit outlet ...................................................................................................................... 40 Rapture for the future ........................................................................................................... 41 European means, European goals ......................................................................................... 43 “You come steal us!” ............................................................................................................ 45 Interviews at the university .................................................................................................. 47 Historical sites as symbols of forgetting .............................................................................. 49 Fort Bullen ............................................................................................................................ 51 Chapter 4- Past, president, and politics .................................................................................... 56 His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh .................................... 56 Jammeh and the UN ............................................................................................................. 57 Jammeh through the TV ....................................................................................................... 60 “Grow what you eat and eat what you grow” ...................................................................... 61 AIDS and herbs .................................................................................................................... 66 “We need an academic revolution!” ..................................................................................... 68 History is repeating itself ..................................................................................................... 71 Chapter 5- From progress to egress .......................................................................................... 76 “This fucking country man, I want to go to Babylon!” ........................................................ 77 The emergence of the concept of Babylon ........................................................................... 78 Ras Tafari ............................................................................................................................