DOCSLIB.ORG

Not Even Past NOT EVEN PAST

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Not Even Past NOT EVEN PAST The past is never dead. It's not even past NOT EVEN PAST Search the site ... Wicked Flesh: Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World By Jessica Marie Johnson (2020) Like 46 Tweet By Tiana Wilson Many recent studies on chattel slavery in the Atlantic World have decentered the voices of the colonizers in an effort to creatively reimagine the inner lives of Black people, both enslaved and “free.” However, narrating the complex ways race, gender, and sexuality played out in a colonial setting beyond violence has proven dicult due to the brutal, inhumane conditions of enslavement. At the same time, the drastic imbalance of power raises questions about consent within sexual and intimate relationships. While most scholars of slavery have tended to shy away from such a contentious and messy topic, historian Jessica Marie Johnson presents a compelling analysis of how African women and women of African descent used intimacy and kinship to construct and live out freedom in the eighteenth century. She demonstrates how the legal status of free, manumission from bondage, or escape from slavery did not protect Black women from “colonial masculinities and imperial desires for black esh” that rendered African women as “lecherous, wicked, and monstrous” (14). Slaveowners, traders, and colonial ocials attempted to exploit Black women’s bodies (enslaved or legally free) for labor. In return, Johnson argues, Black women dened freedom on their own terms through the intimate and kinship ties they formed. Privacy - Terms Focusing on Black women in New Orleans, Wicked Flesh takes readers from the coast of Senegal to French Saint-Domingue and from Spanish Cuba to the US Gulf Coast areas in order to tell the varying experiences of Black women across the Atlantic world. Johnson draws on archival material written in multiple languages dispersed across three continents and uses a method that historian Marisa Fuentes describes as “reading along the bias grain” to offer an ethical historical analysis of her texts. Although the majority of sources Johnson utilizes were produced by colonial ocials and slaveholding men, this methodology allows Johnson to carefully and innovatively piece together archival fragments, providing readers insight into the everyday intimate lives of Black women during this era. Intimacy, as Johnson explores, encompassed the “corporeal, carnal, quotidian encounters of esh and uid” and was the very thing that tied Black women to white and Black men. It was through these connections that women of African descent simultaneously endured violence and resisted colonial agendas. Wicked Flesh seriously consider the ways Black women fostered hospitable and pleasurable spaces on both sides of the Atlantic. Johnson begins her narrative in West Africa between the geographical region of the Senegal River (north) and the Gambia River (south), also known as Senegambia. Senegal’s Atlantic coast saw Portuguese-Dutch-French-Wolof trade alliances and their struggle for power, but by 1659, the French drove out the Dutch from the northern area and founded the comptoir (administrative outpost of Saint-Louis. It is in this locale, comptoir, that Johnson introduces readers to free African women like Seignora Catti, Anne Gusban, and Marie Baude, who all actively engaged in networks with European and African men. Throughout chapters one and two, Johnson demonstrates the different ways free African women cultivated freedom in efforts to seek safety and security. This included participating in grand gestures of hospitality for French ocials or marring European men, but rejecting their Catholic practices. These practices impacted three groups, free African women who has intimate ties with European and African men, captifs du case (enslaved people who belonged to comptoir residents), and Africans forced onboard of slaved ships set to travel to the Americas. Chapter three examines the latter, including Black women’s and girl’s horric experiences on the long middle passage and how this forced migration produced a “predatory network of exchanges” that attempted to “dismantle their womanhood, girlhood, and humanity” (123). Chapters four and ve shifts to the Gulf Coast region and encourages readers to reconceptualize the price of manumission for people of African descent that extended beyond the material world. Through the lives of gures like Suzanne, the wife of a New Orleans “negro executioner,” Johnson further illustrates just how bound Black women’s freedom was to their intimate relations and kinship ties with men in power who were acting on behalf of the French colonial regime. When Suzanne’s husband, Louis Congo, initially entered in a contractual obligation with slaveowners or Company ocials, he requested freedom for Suzanne too. However, French colonists rejected his demand and instead, only allowed Suzanne to live with her husband, if Louis agreed to grant the Company full use of his wife when the Company needed her. While one scholar may read this account as an example of a Black woman gaining her freedom through her husband’s occupation, Johnson critically assess Suzanne’s lack of control over her own body and movement. Diving deeper into the intricate ways women of African descent navigated French colonial power in New Orleans, Johnson’s fth chapter follows girls like Charlotte, the daughter of a French colonial ocer, who demanded manumission for herself. It is in this section that Johnson introduces the concept of “black femme freedom” that “points to the deeply feminine, feminized, and femme practices of freedom engaged in by women and girls of African descent” (260). Scholars of Black and other women of color feminists use the term “femme” to describe a queer sexual identity that is gendered in performances of femininity. Johnson nds this term productive in the context of eighteenth-century New Orleans, because strands of resistive femininity and intimacy between women was present during this time. Black femme freedom details a type of liberation that went beyond masculine and imperial desires. It describes the importance of reading Black women’s intimate decisions to privilege themselves and each other in a world that violently privileged the position of slaveowners and husbands. An example of this Black femme freedom lies within Black women’s efforts to create spaces for pleasure, spirit, and celebration against French and later Spanish censorship of their behaviors. This included hosting night markets and wearing headwraps. The last chapter explores the shift in colonial powers and how free women of African descent used this change to claim kinship ties through registration of their wills and testaments. Wicked Flesh is a well-researched, beautifully written text that is an essential read for anyone interested in the intersections between Slavery, Gender, and Sexuality. Following in the tradition of historians like Stephanie Camp, Jennifer Morgan, and Marisa Fuentes, Johnson’s work is a superb addition to these groups of scholars who are shifting the eld of Atlantic History to critically engage with denitions of freedom for enslaved and legally free women of African descent during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Graduate students including myself can (and likely will) use Johnson’s work as a model for problematizing white colonial sources, while ethically utilizing contemporary theoretical frameworks to imagine and retell the lives of those silenced by institutional archives. Image credits Banner image – Ndeté-Yalla, lingeer of Waalo, Gallica, bnf.fr – Réserve DT 549.2 B 67 M Atlas – planche n °5 – Notice n° : FRBNF38495418 – (Illustrations de Esquisses sénégalaises) Image from Wikimedia Commons TIANA WILSON is a Ph.D. Candidate in the History Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Posted September 30, 2020 More 1400s to 1700s, 1800s, Atlantic World, Books, Empire, Gender/sexuality, Race/Ethnicity, Transnational 19th century 20th Century African American History american history Asia Asia & Middle East book review Brazil British Empire China Civil War Cold War Colonialism communism cultural history digital history Early Modern Europe Europe lm gender history History of Science immigration India Islam Latin America Latin American History Mexico Not Even Past Public History race religion Russia slavery Texas Texas History Texas History Day Transnational Twentieth Century History United States US History USSR Womens History world history World War II NOT EVEN PAST is produced by The Department of History THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN We are supported by the College of Liberal Arts And our READERS DONATE CONTACT All content © 2010-present NOT EVEN PAST and the authors, unless otherwise noted Sign up to receive the monthly Not Even Past newsletter Your email address SUBSCRIBE FEATURES BOOKS TEACHING DIGITAL & FILM BLOG IHS & PUBLIC HISTORY TEXAS ABOUT.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Africans: the HISTORY of a CONTINENT, Second Edition
    P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 This page intentionally left blank ii P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 africans, second edition Inavast and all-embracing study of Africa, from the origins of mankind to the AIDS epidemic, John Iliffe refocuses its history on the peopling of an environmentally hostilecontinent.Africanshavebeenpioneersstrugglingagainstdiseaseandnature, and their social, economic, and political institutions have been designed to ensure their survival. In the context of medical progress and other twentieth-century innovations, however, the same institutions have bred the most rapid population growth the world has ever seen. The history of the continent is thus a single story binding living Africans to their earliest human ancestors. John Iliffe was Professor of African History at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of St. John’s College. He is the author of several books on Africa, including Amodern history of Tanganyika and The African poor: A history,which was awarded the Herskovits Prize of the African Studies Association of the United States. Both books were published by Cambridge University Press. i P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 ii P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 african studies The African Studies Series,founded in 1968 in collaboration with the African Studies Centre of the University of Cambridge, is a prestigious series of monographs and general studies on Africa covering history, anthropology, economics, sociology, and political science.
    [Show full text]
  • Cloth, Commerce and History in Western Africa 1700-1850
    The Texture of Change: Cloth, Commerce and History in Western Africa 1700-1850 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Benjamin, Jody A. 2016. The Texture of Change: Cloth, Commerce and History in Western Africa 1700-1850. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33493374 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA The Texture of Change: Cloth Commerce and History in West Africa, 1700-1850 A dissertation presented by Jody A. Benjamin to The Department of African and African American Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of African and African American Studies Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts May 2016 © 2016 Jody A. Benjamin All rights reserved. Dissertation Adviser: Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong Jody A. Benjamin The Texture of Change: Cloth Commerce and History in West Africa, 1700-1850 Abstract This study re-examines historical change in western Africa during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries through the lens of cotton textiles; that is by focusing on the production, exchange and consumption of cotton cloth, including the evolution of clothing practices, through which the region interacted with other parts of the world. It advances a recent scholarly emphasis to re-assert the centrality of African societies to the history of the early modern trade diasporas that shaped developments around the Atlantic Ocean.
    [Show full text]
  • Poverty and the Struggle to Survive in the Fuuta Tooro Region Of
    What Development? Poverty and the Struggle to Survive in the Fuuta Tooro Region of Southern Mauritania Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Christopher Hemmig, M.A. Graduate Program in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Sabra Webber, Advisor Morgan Liu Katey Borland Copyright by Christopher T. Hemmig 2015 Abstract Like much of Subsaharan Africa, development has been an ever-present aspect to postcolonial life for the Halpulaar populations of the Fuuta Tooro region of southern Mauritania. With the collapse of locally historical modes of production by which the population formerly sustained itself, Fuuta communities recognize the need for change and adaptation to the different political, economic, social, and ecological circumstances in which they find themselves. Development has taken on a particular urgency as people look for effective strategies to adjust to new realities while maintaining their sense of cultural identity. Unfortunately, the initiatives, projects, and partnerships that have come to fruition through development have not been enough to bring improvements to the quality of life in the region. Fuuta communities find their capacity to develop hindered by three macro challenges: climate change, their marginalized status within the Mauritanian national community, and the region's unfavorable integration into the global economy by which the local markets act as backwaters that accumulate the detritus of global trade. Any headway that communities can make against any of these challenges tends to be swallowed up by the forces associated with the other challenges.
    [Show full text]
  • Les Royaumes Wolof Dans L'espace Sénégambien
    Jean Boulègue Les royaumes wolof dans l’espace sénégambien (XIII e-XVIII e siècle) dans dans l’espace sénégambien KARTHALA LES ROYAUMES WOLOF DANS LESPACE SÉNÉGAMBIEN XIII e-XVIII e siècle Publié avec le concours du Centre national du Livre Visitez notre site KARTHALA sur Internet : http://www.karthala.com Paiement sécurisé Illustration de la couverture : Extrait de la carte de la partie occidentale de lAfrique... par le SrdAnville (1727), figurant dans lAtlas national du Sénégal, Régine VAN -C HI -B ONNARDEL (éd.), Paris, IGN, planche 20, p. 55. (Droits réservés) Éditions KARTHALA , 2013 ISBN : 978-2-8111-0880-9 Jean Boul ègue Les royaumes wolof dans lespace sénégambien (XIII e-XVIIIe si ècle) Éditions KARTHALA 22-24, bd Arago 75013 Paris Cet ouvrage est publié avec le concours du Centre détudes des mondes africains (CEMAF). Introduction La région comprise entre les vallées du Sénégal et de la Gambie constitue lextr ême-ouest de la zone soudano-sahélienne. Au-del à de la rive nord du Sénégal, elle borde le Sahara et avoisine, au sud de la Gambie, les premi ères for êts ombrophiles de la Casamance1. Elle sindividualise aussi par rapport aux régions plus orientales du Soudan par une région de plateaux, où abondent les concrétions latéritiques, qui sépare la cuvette du Sénégal de celle du Niger. Cest cette région que jai choisi de nommer Sénégambie, indé- pendamment dautres usages qui étendent cette dénomination à un territoire plus vaste, englobant lensemble des deux bassins du Sénégal et de la Gambie depuis les sources de ces fleuves. Les trois peuples qui se partagent la majeure partie du territoire compris entre les deux vallées, « Toucouleurs » de la vallée du Sénégal (ou Takr ūr), Wolof, Sérer, sont apparentés par la langue et la culture 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Overview Print Page Close Window
    World Directory of Minorities Africa MRG Directory –> Senegal –> Senegal Overview Print Page Close Window Senegal Overview Environment Peoples History Governance Current state of minorities and indigenous peoples Environment Senegal, continental Africa's western-most country, has a 600-kilometre long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. It borders Guinea-Bissau and Guinea in the south, Mali in the east, and Mauritania in the north. The thin sliver of The Gambia follows the river of the same name, nearly dividing Senegal the northern two-thirds of Senegal from its southern third. Tropical forests and mangroves in southern Senegal transition to savanna grasslands and then arid Sahel in the north. Senegal is an exporter of peanuts and other agricultural products, and has some mineral resources, notably phosphates. Peoples Main languages: French (official), Wolof, Serer, Pulaar, Diola (Jola), Mandinka, Soninké. Main religions: Islam (94%), Christianity, mostly Roman Catholicism (4%), traditional beliefs (2%). Main minority groups: Peulh and Toucouleur 3 million (23.8%), Serer 1.8 million (14.7%), Diola (Jola) 463,000 (3.7%), Mandinka 375,000 (3%), Soninke 137,500 (1.1%), European and Lebanese 125,000 (1%), other 1.2 million (9.4%). [Note: Data on religious demography comes from US CIRF, 2007. Data on ethnicity comes from the CIA World Factbook, 2007, with exception of that for Bassari, which comes from Ethnologue, 2002. Percentages are converted to numbers using the CIA's 2007 estimate for total population: 12.5 million.] The majority ethnic group is the Wolof, comprising nearly 44 per cent of the total population. Although French is the official language, it is generally only spoken by the educated elite.
    [Show full text]
  • Boubacar Barry Is One of the Leading Figures in West African Historiogra- Phy
    Boubacar Barry is one of the leading figures in West African historiogra- phy. His authoritative study of 400 years of Senegambian history is unri- valled in its detailed grasp of published and unpublished materials. Taking as its subject the vast area covering the Senegal and Gambia river basins, this book explores the changing dynamics of regional and Atlantic trade, clashes between traditional African and emergent Muslim authorities, the slave trade and the colonial system, and current obstacles to the integra- tion of the region's modern states. Professor Barry argues cogently for the integrity of the Senegambian region as a historical subject, and he forges a coherent narrative from the dismemberment and unification which char- acterized Senegambia's development from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. This newly translated study is a vital tool in our understanding of West African history. Senegambia and the Atlantic slave trade African Studies Series 92 Editorial Board Professor Naomi Chazan, The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Christopher Clapham, Department of Politics and International Relations, Lancaster University Professor Peter Ekeh, Department of African American Studies, State University of New York, Buffalo Dr John Lonsdale, Trinity College, Cambridge Professor Patrick Manning, Department of History, Northeastern University, Boston Published in collaboration with THE AFRICAN STUDIES CENTRE, CAMBRIDGE A list of books in this series will
    [Show full text]
  • Terànga and the Art of Hospitality: Engendering the Nation, Politics, and Religion in Dakar, Senegal
    TERÀNGA AND THE ART OF HOSPITALITY: ENGENDERING THE NATION, POLITICS, AND RELIGION IN DAKAR, SENEGAL By Emily Jenan Riley A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Anthropology - Doctor of Philosophy 2016 ABSTRACT TERÀNGA AND THE ART OF HOSPITALITY: ENGENDERING THE NATION, POLITICS AND RELIGION IN DAKAR, SENEGAL By Emily Jenan Riley Senegal, a Muslim majority and democratic country, has long coined itself as "le pays de la terànga" (Land of Hospitality). This dissertation explores the central importance of terànga– the Wolof word which encapsulates the generous and civic-minded qualities of individuals – to events such as weddings and baptisms, women’s political process, as well as everyday calculated and improvisational social encounters. Terànga is both the core symbol, for many, of Senegalese nationalism and collective identity, and the source of contentious and polarizing debates surrounding its qualities and meanings. The investigation of terànga throughout this dissertation exposes the complexities of social and gender ideologies and practices in Senegal. In addition, this dissertation aspires to investigate the subjectivities, and conditions of Senegalese women as well as their contributions to the social, religious, and political realities of contemporary Senegal, and Dakar more specifically. This dissertation focuses on how terànga is debated, talked about, and performed by several groups. First, it investigates the public discourses of terànga as a gendered symbol of national culture and its central importance to the construction of female subjects in their navigation of courtship, marriage, and family relations. Second, an exposé of family ceremonies and the women who conduct them, demonstrates generational shifts in the interpretation and value given to the process of terànga in a contemporary moment where daughters are redefining its meaning from that of their mother's generation.
    [Show full text]
  • Africans: the HISTORY of a CONTINENT, Second Edition
    P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 This page intentionally left blank ii P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 africans, second edition Inavast and all-embracing study of Africa, from the origins of mankind to the AIDS epidemic, John Iliffe refocuses its history on the peopling of an environmentally hostilecontinent.Africanshavebeenpioneersstrugglingagainstdiseaseandnature, and their social, economic, and political institutions have been designed to ensure their survival. In the context of medical progress and other twentieth-century innovations, however, the same institutions have bred the most rapid population growth the world has ever seen. The history of the continent is thus a single story binding living Africans to their earliest human ancestors. John Iliffe was Professor of African History at the University of Cambridge and is a Fellow of St. John’s College. He is the author of several books on Africa, including Amodern history of Tanganyika and The African poor: A history,which was awarded the Herskovits Prize of the African Studies Association of the United States. Both books were published by Cambridge University Press. i P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 ii P1: RNK 0521864381pre CUNY780B-African 978 0 521 68297 8 May 15, 2007 19:34 african studies The African Studies Series,founded in 1968 in collaboration with the African Studies Centre of the University of Cambridge, is a prestigious series of monographs and general studies on Africa covering history, anthropology, economics, sociology, and political science.
    [Show full text]
  • GEOPOLITICAL ECOLOGIES of ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, LAND GRABBING and MIGRATION: Comparative Perspectives from Senegal and Cambodia
    GEOPOLITICAL ECOLOGIES OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE, LAND GRABBING AND MIGRATION: comparative perspectives from Senegal and Cambodia by Sara Vigil Díaz-Telenti This research was funded by the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS). © Sara Vigil Díaz-Telenti 2019 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission by the author. The cover image is an original painting by Filipino activist and artist Boy Dominguez. It was the cover of a special issue of The Journal of Peasant Studies, volume 39, issue 2, 2012. ISBN 978-90-6490-109-6 University of Liège and International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam Geopolitical Ecologies of Environmental Change, Land Grabbing and Migration: comparative perspectives from Senegal and Cambodia Geopolitieke ecologie van milieuveranderingen, landroof en migratie: een vergelijkende studie in Senegal en Cambodja Thesis to obtain the degree of Doctor from the University of Liège and the degree of Doctor from the Erasmus University Rotterdam by command of the Rector Magnificus Prof. R.C.M.E. Engels and in accordance with the decision of the Doctorate Board The public defence shall be held on Thursday 7 November 2019 at 10.00 hrs by Sara Vigil Díaz-Telenti born in Gijón, Spain Doctoral Committee Doctoral dissertation supervisors Prof. S.M. Borras, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam Dr. F. Gemenne, University of Liège Other members Prof. J. Ribot, American University Washington, DC Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • New Wolof Book
    ! AAY NAA CI WOLOF!! TRAINEE WOLOF MANUAL! ! ! ! ! PEACE CORPS SENEGAL Revised edition August 2012 1 ! About this edition This is edition of this book. The first edition was written by me, Bamba Diop, after a great work of the whole language team and a group of volunteers to determine the content and the design. After a year of use of the first edition, our Country Director, Chris Hedrick who learned Pullo Fuuta from Mido Waawi Pulaar, reflected on the book and compare both. We discussed and came up with improving the book. This second edition is produced by Bamba Diop, language coordinator with editing by David Lothamar and Jackie Allen, volunteers. This edition is an adaptation of the second edition to the healt, AG & AGFO. The second edition was reinforced by ideas from Mido Waawi Pulaar by Herb Caudill (PCV Guinea 1997-99) and Ousmane Besseko Diallo (TM Guinea), Ndank-Ndank, An Introduction to Wolof Culture by Molly Melching. We suggest that this approach – collaboration between a Peace Corps volunteer who has learned the language and a trainer who speaks the language is the best way to come up with a manual that is relevant, useful, and user-friendly while remaining accurate. This is a work in progress, and we welcome advice and criticism from all sides: trainers, trainees, volunteers PC staff and others. This manual will be downloaded at www.pcsenegal.org. We thank all the people who have brought their inputs for the fulfillment of this manual and its improvement particularly trainees and LCFs who have been using it through their criticism.
    [Show full text]
  • TRADITION and Cultural IDENTITY in SENEGAL
    TRADITION AND CuLTURAL IDENTITY IN SENEGAL Diana Baird N)Diaye INTRODUCTION history of kingdoms, empires, long-distance trade, and continuous cultural contact. The influence of these In Senegal these are the words to a well-known institutions is still to be found in the multilayered and lullaby in the Wolof language: multifaceted cultures that exist in Senegal today. Visitors to the Senegal program at the Festival of Father Malamine, religious teacher (marabout), American Folklife have an opportunity to experience Write me a talisman. some aspects of the traditional folk cultures of Senegal Talismans are not easy to find in Saloum and to learn the way they shape and express cultural For Saloum has just two rooms. identities in this complex African society. Cultural identities embodied in personal presentation and other The third room is only a kitchen, forms of expressive culture will be explored through And that kitchen belongs to the king. crafts, music, narrative, dance, and foodways traditions That king is the King of Saloum. performed in domestic, occupational and festive con­ Ayo Ayo, texts. Senegal's contribution to Ayo Baby, the culture of the Americas will Little Baby. ATLANTIC OCEAN also be featured. Visitors to the program may find that presenta­ Like many English nursery tions by Senegalese Festival par­ rhymes, the song is a coded way ticipants challenge their precon­ of talking about events and issues Dakar ceived notions about African cul­ that could not be openly discussed. tures, societies and forms of tradi­ The words of the song refer to the tional artistic expression. The 14th century, when the kingdom social complexity of Senegalese of Saloum in Senegal was divided society, the importance of history into two warring factions (the two in everyday life, the legacy of nine rooms) - converts to the newly centuries of empire, the impact of introduced religion of Islam and Islam, and the relationship of aes­ adherents of the traditional Wolof thetics and morality are all visible religion.
    [Show full text]
  • Spatial-Temporal Boundaries of African Civilizations Reconsidered: Part 2
    Comparative Civilizations Review Volume 31 Number 31 Fall 1994 Article 4 10-1-1994 Spatial-Temporal Boundaries of African Civilizations Reconsidered: Part 2 David Wilkinson University of California, Los Angeles Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr Recommended Citation Wilkinson, David (1994) "Spatial-Temporal Boundaries of African Civilizations Reconsidered: Part 2," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 31 : No. 31 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol31/iss31/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Wilkinson: Spatial-Temporal Boundaries of African Civilizations Reconsidered 46 COMPARATIVE CIVILIZATIONS REVIEW SPATIO-TEMPORAL BOUNDARIES OF AFRICAN CIVILIZATIONS RECONSIDERED: PART II* David Wilkinson 6. WEST AFRICA (WESTERN SUDAN) West African/Western Sudanic cities. None appear on Chandler's list through AD 622. Thereafter the picture (with sporadic supportive or alter- native readings from other workers) is: Size Lower limit AD 800 Gao 72,000 Ghana 30,000 Awdaghost no estimate none Sijilmessa (Morocco) at 24,000 may also be mentioned as the nearest trans-Saharan city to West African civilization on Chandler's city lists. Sijilmessa became an important political and economic center around AD 780. (Lewicki, 1988:280) It would be reasonable to suppose that this was due to a trans-Saharan trade, and therefore that at least one similar prosper- ous sub-Saharan urban terminus must have arisen no later than this time.Songhay began trans-Saharan trade with Tahert, Algeria in the mid-8th century, and developed the trade town of Gao north of the old capital Kukiya.
    [Show full text]