Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:09:48.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

JOKING MARKET WOMEN: CRITIQUING AND NEGOTIATING GENDER AND SOCIAL HIERARCHY IN KANKOSSA, MAURITANIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2014

Katherine Ann Wiley
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The streets of Kankossa's busy daily market often ring with laughter as female vegetable vendors joke with each other and passersby. This joking comes at a time when gender roles are shifting in Mauritania since it has become challenging for many men to provide for their families, causing women to take on roles as significant income earners. Likewise, as slavery has diminished over the last century, Ḥarāṭīn, a group consisting of ex-slaves or descendants of slaves, have been negotiating their places in the polity. To gain insight into the shifting social order, this article analyses examples of joking by Ḥarāṭīn market women who in this way engage with issues of gender and the social hierarchy. The social space of the market is a critical setting for such practices since it both facilitates their occurrence and also gives women's words weight because they are spoken in the presence of an audience. While jokes are always ambiguous, women's joking in front of others in this space makes their jokes bite, thus enabling them to give voice to deeply personal anxieties and make sense of changes in the social order.

Résumé

Les rues du marché quotidien très fréquenté de Kankossa vibrent souvent au son des rires des vendeuses de légumes, qui plaisantent entre elles et avec les passants. Ces plaisanteries interviennent à une période où le rôle des sexes change en Mauritanie ; la difficulté, pour beaucoup d'hommes, de subvenir aux besoins de leur famille pousse les femmes à assumer le rôle de soutien de famille. De même, face au déclin de l'esclavage au cours du dernier siècle, les Ḥarāṭīn, qui regroupent des anciens esclaves ou descendants d'esclaves, négocient leur place dans l'organisation étatique. Pour mieux comprendre ce changement d'ordre social, cet article analyse des exemples de plaisanteries échangées au marché par les marchandes harāṭīn, qui traitent de genre et de hiérarchie sociale. L'espace social du marché est un cadre critique pour ces pratiques, car il facilite leur occurrence et donne du poids aux paroles des femmes parce qu'elles sont prononcées en présence d'un public. Les plaisanteries sont toujours ambigües, mais le fait que les femmes plaisantent ouvertement dans cet espace donne du mordant à leurs plaisanteries et leur permet ainsi d'exprimer des anxiétés extrêmement personnelles et de donner un sens aux changements de l'ordre social.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 84 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 101 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abu-Lughod, L. (1986) Veiled Sentiments: honor and poetry in a Bedouin society. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Aliou, S. (2012) ‘Bagarre au marché 5éme: deux lourdaudes se crépent le chignon en plein marché. [A Fight in 5éme: Two Oafs Scratch Each Other's Eyes Out in the Middle of the Market]’ <http://cridem.org/C_Info.php?article=624782>, accessed 16 January 2012., accessed 16 January 2012.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Aliou,+S.+(2012)+‘Bagarre+au+marché+5éme:+deux+lourdaudes+se+crépent+le+chignon+en+plein+marché.+[A+Fight+in+5éme:+Two+Oafs+Scratch+Each+Other's+Eyes+Out+in+the+Middle+of+the+Market]’+,+accessed+16+January+2012.>Google Scholar
ANADELP (Association Nationale pour le Développement Local Participatif) (2004) Programme de développement de la commune de Kankossa. Nouakchott: ANADELP.Google Scholar
Austin, J. L. (1962 [1955]) How to Do Things with Words. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bakhtin, M. M. (1984) Rabelais and His World. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Basso, K. H. (1979) Portraits of ‘The Whiteman’: linguistic play and cultural symbols among the Western Apache. New York NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
BESCAD (Bureau d'Etudes, Conseils et Assistance en Développement) (2011) Etude sur genre et marché de l'emploi en Mauritanie [Study on Gender and the Job Market in Mauritania]. Nouakchott: BESCAD.Google Scholar
Bonte, P. (1990) ‘L’ “ordre” de la tradition. Evolution des hiérarchies statutaires dans la société maure contemporaine’ in Baduel, P. R. (ed.), Mauritanie: entre arabité et africanité, Aix-en-Provence: Editions EDISUD.Google Scholar
Brhane, M. (1997) ‘Narratives of the Past, Politics of the Present: identity, subordination and the Haratines of Mauritania’. PhD thesis, University of Chicago.Google Scholar
Buggenhagen, B. A. (2012) Muslim Families in Global Senegal: money takes care of shame. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Cleaveland, T. (2000) ‘Reproducing culture and society: women and the politics of gender, age, and social rank in Walāta’, Canadian Journal of African Studies 34 (2): 189–217.Google Scholar
Cleaveland, T. (2002) Becoming Walāta: a history of Saharan social formation and transformation. Portsmouth NH: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Crawford, M. (2003) ‘Gender and humor in social context’, Journal of Pragmatics 35 (9): 1413–30.Google Scholar
Curtin, P. D. (1975) Economic Change in Precolonial Africa: Senegambia in the era of the slave trade. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Davidheiser, M. (2006) ‘Joking for peace: social organization, tradition, and change in Gambian conflict management’, Cahiers d'études africaines 46 (184): 835–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Jong, F. (2005) ‘A joking nation: conflict resolution in Senegal’, Canadian Journal of African Studies 39 (2): 389–413.Google Scholar
Deubel, T. F. (2012) ‘Poetics of diaspora: Sahrawi poets and postcolonial transformations of a trans-Saharan genre in Northwest Africa’, The Journal of North African Studies 17 (2): 295–314.Google Scholar
du Puigaudeau, O. (2010 [1930]) Barefoot through Mauretania. Kilkerran (Scotland): Hardinge Simpole Publishing.Google Scholar
Diawara, M. L. (1990) La Graine de la Parole: dimension sociale et politique des traditions orales du royaume de Jaara (Mali) du XVème au milieu du XIXème siècle. Stuttgart: F. Steiner Franz.Google Scholar
Fall, M. C. (2008) Rapport: etude de base pour l'area development program (ADP) de Kankossa. Nouakchott: World Vision ADP Kankossa.Google Scholar
Fortier, C. (2011) ‘Women and men put Islamic law to their own use: monogamy versus secret marriage in Mauritania’ in Badran, M. (ed.), Gender and Islam in Africa: rights, sexuality, and law. Washington DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press.Google Scholar
Grosz-Ngaté, M. (1989) ‘Hidden meanings: explorations into a Bamanan construction of gender’, Ethnology 28 (2): 167–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hale, T. A. (1998) Griots and Griottes: masters of words and music. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Heath, D. (1994) ‘The politics of appropriateness and appropriation: recontextualizing women's dance in urban Senegal’, American Ethnologist 21 (1): 88–103.Google Scholar
Irvine, J. T. (1989) ‘When talk isn't cheap: language and political economy’, American Ethnologist 16 (2): 248–67.Google Scholar
Irvine, J. T. (1990) ‘Registering affect: heteroglossia in the linguistic expression of emotion’ in Lutz, C. A. and Abu-Lughod, L. (eds), Language and the Politics of Emotion. New York NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Irvine, J. T. (1992) ‘Insult and responsibility: verbal abuse in a Wolof village’ in Hill, J. H. and Irvine, J. T. (eds), Responsibility and Evidence in Oral Discourse. New York NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kapchan, D. A. (1996) Gender on the Market: Moroccan women and the revoicing of tradition. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.Google Scholar
Kassis, R. A. (1999) The Book of Proverbs and Arabic Proverbial Works. Boston MA: Brill.Google Scholar
Kotthoff, H. (2006) ‘Gender and humor: the state of the art’, Journal of Pragmatics 38 (1): 4–25.Google Scholar
Masquelier, A. (1993) ‘Narratives of power, images of wealth: the ritual economy of bori in the market’ in Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. (eds), Modernity and its Malcontents. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
McDougall, E. A. (2010) ‘The politics of slavery in Mauritania: rhetoric, reality and democratic discourse’, The Maghreb Review 35 (3): 260–86.Google Scholar
Mitchell, J. C. (1956) The Kalela Dance: aspects of social relationships among urban Africans in Northern Rhodesia. Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Myers, F. R. (1979) ‘Emotions and the self: a theory of personhood and political order among Pintupi aborigines’, Ethos 7 (4): 343–70.Google Scholar
Nikiprowetzky, T. (1962) ‘The music of Mauritania’, Journal of the International Folk Music Council 14: 53–5.Google Scholar
ONS (Office National de la Statistique) (2008) Assaba en chiffres: 1995–2007. Kiffa: ONS.Google Scholar
Ould Ahmed Salem, Z. (2009) ‘Barefoot activists: transformations in the Haratine movement in Mauritania’ in Ellis, S. and van Kessel, I. (eds), Movers and Shakers: social movements in Africa. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Ould Cheikh, A.W. (1994) ‘L'evolution de l'esclavage dans la societe maure’ in Bernus, E. and Boilley, P. (eds), Nomades et Commandants: administration et societes nomades dans l'ancienne AOF. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Ould Jiddou, B. (2004) ‘La communauté haratine’, L'ouest Saharien 4: 159–82.Google Scholar
Ould-Mey, M. (1996) Global Restructuring and Peripheral States: the carrot and the stick in Mauritania. Lanham MD: Littlefield Adams Books.Google Scholar
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1952) Structure and Function in Primitive Society: essays and addresses. New York NY: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, S. J. (1993) ‘Joking in researcher–resident dialogue: the ethnography of hierarchy among the Tuareg’, Anthropological Quarterly 66 (4): 211–20.Google Scholar
Rasmussen, S. J. (2003) ‘Gendered discourses and mediated modernities: urban and rural performances of Tuareg smith women’, Journal of Anthropological Research 59 (4): 487–509.Google Scholar
Robinson, D. T. and Smith-Lovin, L. (2001) ‘Getting a laugh: gender, status, and humor in task discussions’, Social Forces 80 (1): 123–58.Google Scholar
Ruf, U. P. (1999) Ending Slavery: hierarchy, dependency and gender. New Brunswick NJ: Transaction Publishers.Google Scholar
Searle, J. R. (1972) ‘What is a speech act?’ in Giglioli, P. P. (ed.), Language and Social Context. Baltimore MD: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Shoup, J. (2007) ‘The griot tradition in Ḥassāniyya music: the “Īggāwen”’, Quaderni di Studi Arabi 2: 95–102.Google Scholar
Tauzin, A. (1986) ‘La femme partagé: contrôle et déplacement de la sexualité féminine en Mauritanie’ in Champault, D. and Jamin, J. (eds), Côté femmes. Paris: Harmattan.Google Scholar
Tauzin, A. (1989) ‘A haute voix: poésie féminine contemporaine en Mauritanie’, Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée 54: 178–87.Google Scholar
Tauzin, A. (2001) Figures du Féminin dans la Société Maure (Mauritanie). Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
van Til, K. (2006) ‘Neighbourhood (re)construction and changing identities in Mauritania from a small town perspective’ in Konings, P. and Foeken, D. (eds), Crisis and Creativity: exploring the wealth of the African neighbourhood. Boston MA and Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Villasante-de Beauvais, M. (1991) ‘Hiérarchies statutaires et conflits fonciers dans l'Assaba contemporain (Mauritanie): rupture ou continuité?’, Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée 59–60: 181–210.Google Scholar
Wehr, H. (1994) A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Urbana IL: Spoken Language Services, Inc.Google Scholar