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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Mande and Fulbe Interaction and Identity in Northwestern Sierra Leone, Late 18th through Early 20th Centuries |
Author: | Howard, Allen M. |
Year: | 1999 |
Periodical: | Mande Studies |
Volume: | 1 |
Pages: | 13-39 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Sierra Leone |
Subjects: | ethnic relations Manding Fulani Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Literature, Mass Media and the Press |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/44078776 |
Abstract: | Historically, Mande and Pular-speaking immigrants have been closely interconnected in northwestern Sierra Leone and adjoining areas. This article concentrates upon those who have been given such 'ethnic' labels as Mandingo, Sarakuli, Bunduka, and Fula, many of whom were traders, Koranic teachers, or specialists in other occupations. It argues that from the later 1700s through the 1800s the lines between them often were blurred, although they did form distinctive communities. Their interaction was marked both by cooperation and competition, depending on the milieu. The basis of interaction, however, was not necessarily 'ethnic' but involved various alliances, institutions, cultural affinities and identities. The article describes the complex reality of ethnic construction and reconstruction, ethnic distinctiveness, and ethnic interaction as they can be seen in the relationship among individual immigrants and communities that formed in Freetown in the late 1800s. It also pays attention to changes in the 20th century, which saw a gradual increase in symbolic and institutional distinctions among ethnic communities and a rigidification of ethnic lines. The article demonstrates that an examination of Mande and Fulbe interaction and identity formation in northwestern Sierra Leone - and in other areas where they have been a minority - should focus on local and regional dynamics within a macroregional context. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |