Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T17:13:46.779Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Anticipatory tribalism: accusatory politics in the ‘New Gambia’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2020

Niklas Hultin  and
Tone Sommerfelt
Niklas Hultin*
Affiliation:
Global Affairs Program, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive, MSN 6B4, Fairfax, VA22030, USA
Tone Sommerfelt*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Anthropology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NO-7491Trondheim, Norway
*
Email: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article examines the upsurge in denunciations of ‘tribalism’ in public debate during The Gambia's transition from the autocracy of Yahya Jammeh to the ‘New Gambia’ under President Adama Barrow. In these public debates, derogatory statements about particular ethnicities articulate fears of present or future alliances to monopolise political power. These fears are disproportionate to attempts of organised political mobilisation on ethnic grounds, which remain marginal. It is argued that accusatory politics are a salient, and neglected, feature of ethnic dynamics in contemporary Gambian – and African – politics. This politics of accusation involves the contestation and negotiation of moral legitimacy in the political sphere, in a manner challenging the separation of the moral and the political undergirding scholarly distinctions between ethnicity and tribalism.

Keywords

Ethnicityaccusationpublic spheremoral politicspolitical discourseThe Gambia
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 257 - 279
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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.)

Footnotes

This paper is based on research funded by the College of Humanities & Social Sciences at George Mason University (Hultin), the Falkenberg Foundation, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Sommerfelt). We are grateful to Byunghwan Son for commenting on an earlier version of this paper. We thank the many individuals who informed this paper or who helped us think through ethnicity in The Gambia. In particular, we thank Hassoum Ceesay of the National Museum, Sait Matty Jaw of the University of The Gambia, and Jarra Dabo and Omar Drammeh of the African Centre for Information & Development in Oslo. Thanks are also due to the anonymous reviewers for their detailed comments. Any errors of fact or analysis remain ours. The article has been written with equal contributions of each author.

References

REFERENCES

Apter, A. 2008. The Pan-African Nation: oil and the spectacle of culture in Nigeria. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Arthur, P. 2009. ‘Ethnicity and electoral politics in Ghana's Fourth Republic’, Africa Today 56, 2: 44–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banks, M. 1996. Ethnicity: anthropological constructions. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Basedau, M., Erdmann, G., Lay, J. & Stroh, A.. 2011. ‘Ethnicity and party preference in sub-Saharan Africa’, Democratization 18, 2: 462–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berman, B.J. 1998. ‘Ethnicity, patronage and the African state: the politics of uncivil nationalism’, African Affairs 97, 388: 305–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, R. & Knight, D.M.. 2019. The Anthropology of the Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carney, J. & Watts, M.. 1991. ‘Disciplining women? Rice, mechanization, and the evolution of Mandinka gender relations in Senegambia’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 16, 4: 651–81.Google Scholar
Carrier, N. & Kochore, H.H.. 2014. ‘Navigating ethnicity and electoral politics in northern Kenya: the case of the 2013 election’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 8, 1: 135–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ceesay, E.J. 2006. The Military and ‘Democratisation’ in The Gambia: 1994–2003. Oxford: Trafford Publishing.Google Scholar
Chabal, P. 2013. Africa: the politics of suffering and smiling. London: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Chandra, K. 2006. ‘What is ethnic identity and does it matter?’, Annual Review of Political Science 9, 1: 397–424.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheeseman, N. & Ford, R.. 2007. Ethnicity as a Political Cleavage. Cape Town: Afrobarometer.Google Scholar
Daley, P. 2006. ‘Ethnicity and political violence in Africa: the challenge to the Burundi state’, Political Geography 25, 6: 657–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Darboe, M. 2004. ‘Gambia’, African Studies Review 47, 2: 73–82.CrossRefGoogle 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
Dwyer, M. 2017. ‘Fragmented forces: the development of the Gambian military’, African Security Review 26, 4: 362–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eifert, B., Miguel, E. & Posner, D.N.. 2010. ‘Political competition and ethnic identification in Africa’, American Journal of Political Science 54, 2: 495–510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekeh, P. 1975. ‘Colonialism and the two publics in Africa: a theoretical statement’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 17, 1: 91–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Englund, H. 1996. ‘Witchcraft, modernity and the person: the morality of accumulation in Central Malawi’, Critique of Anthropology 16, 3: 257–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Union Election Observation Mission. 2017. Final report: The Gambia: National Assembly elections, 6 April 2018. Brussels: European Union.Google Scholar
Gaibazzi, P. 2015. Bush Bound: young men and rural permanents in migrant West Africa. New York, NY: Berghahn.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gambia Bureau of Statistics. n.d. 2013 Population and Housing Census: Spatial Distribution. Banjul, The Gambia: Gambia Bureau of Statistics.Google Scholar
Gilbert, J. 2013. ‘Constitutionalism, ethnicity and minority rights in Africa: a legal appraisal from the Great Lakes region’, International Journal of Constitutional Law 11, 2: 414–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Handelman, D. 1977. ‘The organization of ethnicity’, Ethnic Groups 1: 187–200.Google Scholar
Hartmann, C. 2017. ‘ECOWAS and the restoration of democracy in The Gambia’, Africa Spectrum 52, 1: 85–99.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. 1975. ‘From green uprising to national reconciliation: the Peoples’ Progressive Party in the Gambia 1959–1973’, Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines 9, 1: 61–74.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. 1982. ‘The limits of ‘consociational democracy’ in The Gambia’, Civilisations 32/33, 65–96: 65.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. 2000. ‘‘Democratisation’ under the military in The Gambia: 1994–2000’, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics 38, 3: 35–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, A. & Perfect, D.. 2006. A Political History of The Gambia, 1816–1994. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Hultin, N. 2008. ‘Voter registration cards, political subjectivity, and trust in paper in the Gambia’, Journal of Legal Anthropology 1, 1: 70–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hultin, N. 2020. ‘Waiting and political transitions: anticipating the new Gambia’, Critical African Studies 12, 1: 93–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hultin, N., Jallow, B., Lawrance, B.N. & Sarr, A.. 2017. ‘Autocracy, migration, and the Gambia's ‘unprecedented’ 2016 election’, African Affairs 116, 463: 321–40.Google Scholar
Independent Electoral Commission. 2016. ‘Presidential Election. Final results by constituencies,’ updated 16.4.2018. <http://iec.gm/download/presidential-election-results-1st-december-2016/>, accessed 28.5.2019.,+accessed+28.5.2019.>Google Scholar
Jackson, S. 2006. ‘Sons of which soil? The language and politics of autochthony in Eastern D.R. Congo’, African Studies Review 49, 2: 95–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janson, M. 2014. Islam, Youth and Modernity in the Gambia: the Tablighi Jama'at. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Johansen, M.-L., Sandrup, T. & Weiss, N.. 2018. ‘Introduction: the generative power of political emotions’, Conflict and Society 4, 1: 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kea, P. 2010. Land, Labour and Entrustment: West African female farmers and the politics of difference. Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendhammer, B. 2014. ‘Citizenship, federalism and powersharing: Nigeria's federal character and the challenges of institutional design’, Ethnopolitics 13, 4: 396–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kora, S. & Darboe, M.N.. 2017. ‘The Gambia's electoral earthquake’, Journal of Democracy 28, 2: 147–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, M.C. 1998. ‘Violence and the war of words: ethnicity v. nationalism in the Casamance’, Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 68, 4: 585–602.Google Scholar
Lau, J.D. & Scales, I.R.. 2016. ‘Identity, subjectivity and natural resource use: how ethnicity, gender and class intersect to influence mangrove oyster harvesting in The Gambia’, Geoforum 69: 136–46.Google Scholar
Lieberman, E.S. & McClendon, G.H.. 2012. ‘The ethnicity–policy preference link in sub-Saharan Africa’, Comparative Political Studies 46, 5: 574–602.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, J. 1994. ‘Moral ethnicity and political tribalism’, in Kaarsholm, P. & Hultin, J., eds. Inventions and Boundaries: historical and anthropological approaches to the study of ethnicity and nationalism. Roskilde: International Development Institute.Google Scholar
Mhlanga, B. 2013. ‘Ethnicity or tribalism? The discursive construction of Zimbabwean national identity’, African Identities 11, 1: 47–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, J.-W. 2009. Constitutional Patriotism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nugent, P. 2008. ‘Putting the history back into ethnicity: enslavement, religion, and cultural brokerage in the construction of Mandinka/Jola and Ewe/Agotime identities in West Africa, c. 1650–1930’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 50, 4: 920–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Onoma, A.K. 2017. ‘The making of dangerous communties: the “Peul-Fouta” in Ebola-weary Senegal’, Africa Spectrum 52, 2: 29–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paul, J. 2018. ‘‘Not black and white, but black and red’: anti-identity identity politics and #AllLivesMatter’, Ethnicities 19, 1: 3–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfect, D. 2016. Historical Dictionary of The Gambia. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Perfect, D. 2017. ‘The Gambian 2016 Presidential Election and its Aftermath’, The Round Table 106, 3: 323–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perfect, D. & Hughes, A.. 2013. ‘Gambian electoral politics: 1960–2012’, in Saine, A., Ceesay, E. & Sall, E., eds. State and Society in The Gambia Since Independence: 1965–2012. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 79–112.Google Scholar
Posen, B.R. 1993. ‘The security dilemma and ethnic conflict’, Survival 35, 1: 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rice, B. 1967. Enter Gambia: the birth of an improbable nation. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Rose, W. 2000. ‘The security dilemma and ethnic conflict: some new hypotheses’, Security Studies 9, 4: 1–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saine, A. 1996. ‘The coup d’état in the Gambia, 1994: the end of the First Republic.’ Armed Forces & Society 23, 1: 97–111.Google Scholar
Saine, A. 2002. ‘Post-coup politics in the Gambia’, Journal of Democracy 13, 4: 167–72.Google Scholar
Saine, A. 2008. ‘The Gambia's 2006 presidential election: change or continuity?’, African Studies Review 51, 1: 59–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saine, A.S. 2009. The Paradox of Third-Wave Democratization in Africa: the Gambia under AFPRC–APRC rule, 1994–2008. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Saine, A., Ceesay, E. & Sall, E. (eds) 2013. State and Society in The Gambia Since Independence: 1965–2012. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.Google Scholar
Sarr, A. 2016. Islam, Power, and Dependency in the Gambia River Basin: the politics of land control, 1790–1940. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press.Google Scholar
Sommerfelt, T. 2013 a. ‘Choreographies of proximity and distance: marriage among rural Wolof-speakers in contemporary Gambia’. PhD, University of Oslo.Google Scholar
Sommerfelt, T. 2013 b. ‘From cutting to fading: a relational perspective on marriage exchange and sociality in rural Gambia’, Social Analysis 57, 3: 58–75.Google Scholar
Sommerfelt, T. 2016. ‘Yahya Jammeh's tribalism’, Africa Is a Country, 26.12.2016. <https://africasacountry.com/2016/12/yahya-jammehs-tribalism>, accessed 18.8.2019., accessed 18.8.2019.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Sommerfelt,+T.2016.+‘Yahya+Jammeh's+tribalism’,+Africa+Is+a+Country,+26.12.2016.+,+accessed+18.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Thomson, S. 2011. ‘Revisting “Mandigization” in coastal Gambia and Casamance (Senegal): four approaches to ethnic change’, African Studies Review 54, 2: 95–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Secretary-General. 2016. ‘Note to correspondents – Statement by Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide’, 10.6.2016. <https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/note-correspondents/2016-06-10/note-correspondents-statement-special-adviser-prevention>, accessed 12.8.2019.,+accessed+12.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Vigh, H. 2015. ‘Social invisibility and political opacity: on perceptiveness and apprehension in Bissau’, in Cooper, E. & Pratten, D., eds. Ethnographies of Uncertainty in Africa. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 111–28.Google Scholar
Werbner, R. 2004. Reasonable Radicals and Citizenship in Botswana: the public anthropology of Kalanga elites. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Wikileaks. 2006. ‘Gambian presidential election – candidate profiles’, 5.9.2006. <https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06BANJUL548_a.html>, accessed 19.9.2019.,+accessed+19.9.2019.>Google Scholar
Wiseman, J.A. 1985. ‘The social and economic bases of party political support in Serekunda, The Gambia’, Journal of Comonwealth and Comparative Politics 23, 1: 3–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiseman, J.A. 1991. ‘The role of the house of representatives in The Gambian political system’, in Hughes, A., ed. The Gambia: studies in society and politics. Birmingham: Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, 80–91.Google Scholar
Wiseman, J.A. 1996. ‘Military rule in The Gambia: an interim assessment’, Third World Quarterly 17, 5: 917–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiseman, J.A. & Vidler, E.. 1995. ‘The July 1994 coup d’état in the Gambia: the end of an era’, Round Table 84, 333: 53–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, D.R. 1999. ‘“What do you mean there were no tribes in Africa”? Thoughts on boundaries – and related matters – in Africa’, History in Africa 26: 409–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, D.R. 2018. The World and a Very Small Place in Africa: a history of globalization in Niumi, The Gambia. Fourth edition. New York, NY: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yeros, P. 1999. ‘Toward a normative theory of ethnicity: reflections on constructivism’, in Yeros, P., ed. Ethnicity and Nationalism in Africa: constructivist reflections and contemporary politics. New York, NY: Palgrave, 101–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Online newspapers and news outlets

Africanews, 3.1.2020. ‘Gambia president launches own party after rift with ruling coalition’, by Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban. <https://www.africanews.com/2020/01/03/gambia-president-launches-own-party-after-rift-with-ruling-coalition/>, accessed 11.2.2020.,+accessed+11.2.2020.>Google Scholar
BBC News, 12.12.2015. ‘Gambia declared Islamic republic by President Yahya Jammeh’. <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35082343>, accessed 19.8.2019.,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Foroyaa, 10.9.2018. ‘APRC opposed to tribal sentiments, but … Tombong Jatta’, by Kebba AF Touray. <http://foroyaa.gm/aprc-opposed-to-tribal-sentiments-but-tombong-jatta/>, accessed 19.8.2019.,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Freedom Newspaper, 4.6.2016. ‘‘The Gambia is not a Mandinka country’’, by Pa Nderry M'Bai. <https://www.freedomnewspaper.com/2016/06/04/gambia-gambia-the-gambia-is-not-a-mandinka-country-jammeh-as-jammeh-brands-gambian-mandinkas-as-foreigners-says-he-is-going-to-kill-mandinka-protesters-like-a/>, accessed 19.8.2019., accessed 19.8.2019.' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Freedom+Newspaper,+4.6.2016.+‘‘The+Gambia+is+not+a+Mandinka+country’’,+by+Pa+Nderry+M'Bai.+,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Freedom Newspaper, 20.4.2017. ‘Disgruntled solider accuses CDS Kinteh of running a tribal army’. <https://www.freedomnewspaper.com/2017/04/20/gambia-disgruntled-soldier-accuses-cds-kinteh-of-running-a-tribal-army-allegations-of-corruption-rife-senegal-placed-on-notice-over-kintehs-alleged-discrimination-at-jollas-fullas-and-wollof-so/>, accessed 19.8.2019.,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Freedom Newspaper, 5.5.2017. ‘Sukuta man, accuses immigration agents of ‘ethnicity and citizenship’ profiling’. <https://www.freedomnewspaper.com/2017/05/05/gambia-sukuta-man-accuses-immigration-agents-of-ethnic-and-citizenship-profiling/>, accessed 19.8.2019.,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Freedom Newspaper, 3.4.2017. ‘Three APRC Jolla girls detained by police after been (sic!) accused of assaulting UDP supporters’. <https://www.freedomnewspaper.com/2017/04/03/gambia-three-aprc-jolla-girls-detained-by-police-after-been-accused-of-assaulting-udp-supporters/>, accessed 22.8.2019.,+accessed+22.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Freedom Newspaper, 7.12.2018. ‘Vice President Darboe declares a war against ‘President Barrow and his camp bent on dividing the UDP’’. <https://www.freedomnewspaper.com/2018/12/07/gambia-breaking-news-vice-president-darboe-declares-a-war-against-president-barrow-and-his-camp-bent-on-dividing-the-udp-into-two-camps-at-fridays-udp-congress/>, accessed 22.8.2019.,+accessed+22.8.2019.>Google Scholar
Jollof News, 15.3.2019. ‘Vice President Darboe, two UDP ministers sacked’. <https://theworldnews.net/gm-news/gambia-vice-president-darboe-two-udp-ministers-sacked>, last accessed 13.1.2020.,+last+accessed+13.1.2020.>Google Scholar
Rabwah Times, 3.11.2015. ‘Gambian President impounds passport of anti-Ahmadiyya Imam’. <https://www.rabwah.net/gambian-president-impounds-passport-of-anti-ahmadiyya-imam/>, accessed 20.8.2018.,+accessed+20.8.2018.>Google Scholar
The Daily Observer, 5.6.2017. ‘Ecomig forces allegedly shoot protesters, kill one and injure nine at Kanilai’, by Momodou Jawo. <https://allafrica.com/stories/201706050882.html>, accessed 22.8.2019.,+accessed+22.8.2019.>Google Scholar
The Fatu Network, 15.10.2018. ‘Statement by Justice Minister Tambadou on the launching of the TRRC’. <http://fatunetwork.net/statement-by-justice-minister-tambadou-on-the-launching-of-the-trrc>, accessed 19.8.2018.,+accessed+19.8.2018.>Google Scholar
The Point, 10.4.2017. ‘APRC, UDP supporters clash in Sibanor’. <http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/aprc-udp-supporters-clash-in-sibanor>, accessed 18.8.2019.,+accessed+18.8.2019.>Google Scholar
The Point, 11.9.2018. ‘Court warns Lie Saines family’. <http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/court-warns-lie-saines-family>, accessed 19.8.2019.,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar
The Point, 16.5.2018. ‘Darboe blamed for UDP-APRC clash in Tallinding’, <http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/darboe-blamed-for-udp-aprc-clash-in-tallinding>, accessed 20.8.2019.,+accessed+20.8.2019.>Google Scholar
The Standard, 13.4.2017. ‘Teacher calls for end to tribal politics’, by Alagie Manneh. <https://standard.gm/teacher-calls-end-tribal-politics/>, accessed 13.1.2020.,+accessed+13.1.2020.>Google Scholar
Unifying Radio, 3.9.2018. ‘The arrest of Hon. Abdoulie Saine is unconstitutional and tantamount to ‘kidnapping’ by the supposed democratic government of the so-called New-Gambia’, by Sulayman Shyngle Nyassi. <http://unifyingradio.com/spotlight-column-the-arrest-of-hon-abdoulie-saine-is-unconstitutional-and-tantamount-to-kidnapping-by-the-supposed-democratic-government-of-the-so-called-new-gambia/>, accessed 19.8.2019.,+accessed+19.8.2019.>Google Scholar

Statutes

Gambia Armed Forces Act 1985Google Scholar
Elections Decree 1996Google Scholar
Local Government Act 2002Google Scholar
Constitutional Review Commission Act 2017Google Scholar
National Human Rights Commission Act 2017Google Scholar
Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission Act 2017Google Scholar

Interviews

Bella Jeng. Farafenni, 30.1.1996 and 1.7.1996.Google Scholar
Residents. Serrekunda, The Gambia. 13.1.2019.Google Scholar
Residents and construction workers. Kotu, The Gambia. 17.1.2019Google Scholar
Residents. Niumi, The Gambia. 20.1.2019.Google Scholar
Former Senior Civil Servant. Bakau, The Gambia. 8.2.2019.Google Scholar
Anonymous Political Activist. Serrekunda, The Gambia. 6.5.2019.Google Scholar
Sait Matty Jaw, Kotu, The Gambia, 8.6.2019.Google Scholar