Revisiting "Mandingization" in Coastal Gambia and Casamance (Senegal)

Four Approaches to Ethnic Change

Bibliographic Data

ID2431808
AuthorsSteven Thomson (0000-0002-9314-5609, Pacific Lutheran University, corresponding author)
Year2011
Volume54
Issue2
Pages95-121
Publication date2011-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrican Studies Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-0206 • E-ISSN: 1555-2462
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1353/arw.2011.0033
OpenAlexW2111106786
LanguageEN
Citations received12
References cited41

Mandingization," the gradual process of cultural change whereby Jola peoples of the Casamance region of southern Senegal are becoming more like their Mandinka neighbors, is analyzed in this article as comprising four distinguishable processes: ethnogenesis, ethnocultural drift, ethnic osmosis, and ethnic strategizing. By distinguishing among these four processes and analyzing their interaction, we can understand the dynamics of Mandingization more clearly and also derive insights for understanding ethnic change generally. The current moment of ethnic change in The Gambia includes a resurgence in Karon Jola ethnic identity, but we need to view this process as contingent, not yet accomplished, and a challenge to the pattern of Mandinka dominance in a time of broader social change

Biology · Dominance (genetics · Ethnic group · Ethnogenesis · Geography · Political science · Social change · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Studies and Ethnography · Anthropology · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture