Mande Studies

This master thesis (in German) provides a polylectal phonological analysis of the Bisa language (Eastern Mande, Burkina Faso). Dialectological analysis reveals a high degree of internal phonological variation. As a consequence, the phonological system is established on the basis of "local" variable rules allowing to integrate dialectological variation into a coherent phonological system.

Based on the biographical narrative of Mamadou, a young Mandingo man living in the Liberian/Guinean border region, I discuss the negotiation of a national and local belonging in the aftermath of the Liberian civil war (1989–2003). Following the end of the war, identity and citizenship claims have become contested and politicized to the extent that they might lead to renewed violence. Both in local representations and in socio-political analyses, the Mandingo in the north of Liberia are denied citizenship based on questions of autochthony. Mamadou's narrative counters these collective representations and highlights his local integration, through his ability to invoke kinship idioms and joking relations, his understanding of interpersonal skills related to landlord-stranger reciprocity relations and his understanding of government documents as indices of national citizenship.

... Record Details. Record ID, 382879. Record Type, journalArticle. Author, Baz Lecocq [802000217678] - Ghent University Baz.Lecocq@UGent.be; G MANN. Title, Writing Histories of an African post-colony: Modibo Keita's Mali, 1960-68. Publication Status, published. ...

T he island-dwelling population that became "Caho Verdean" drew in part from a combination of continental Africans from, especially, the Atlan­ tic rim of West Africa-regions now part of Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, and the Gambia, as well as further inland (into Guinea, for example). The early peo­ ples who were (largely) kidnapped from the mainland and brought by Euro­ pean slave traders to the Cape Verdean archipelago included many Mandinga, as well as Mande-infl.uenced peoples such as Biafada, Cassanga, and Cocoli (a.k.a. Landuma), along with members of other groups. These Africans were largely brought as enslaved populations by Europeans most of whom, in tum, came from Portugal (which colonized nine of the previously uninhabited Caho Verde islands in the mid-15th century), though some were from Spain, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. The children of this phenotypically, lin­ guistically, and spiritually mixed group in effect became the first "Creolized" popula...

This article examines what campaigning means in Bamako and what it revealed about the political game in the crisis context of 2013-2014 elections. An observation of electoral mobilization highlights the ordinary conceptions and mundane practices that shape politics in Mali today and that haven’t changed much before and after the 2012 security and political crises. The paper shows how personal ties and the monetarization of social relations, which had been so much criticized by the 2012 coup’s leaders and (inter)national supports, did not stop feeding into electoral politics. However, they cannot be reduced to mere vote-buying or gift-giving. Indeed, the main argument is that these personalized political ties go far beyond electoral politics and spread throughout society as a whole and deeply into the social fabric. They have a prevailing role in political interactions in and out of electoral times that should not be overlooked. In order to grasp what is at stake, the paper draws an ethnographic attention on party members’ words and deeds, and their interactions with voters.