Table Of ContentP E R F O R M I N G A F R I C A
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P A U L L A A . E B R O N
Performing Africa
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright©2002byPrincetonUniversityPress
PublishedbyPrincetonUniversityPress,41WIlliamStreet,Princeton,NewJersey08540
IntheUnitedKingdom:PrincetonUniversityPress,3MarketPlace,Woodstock,
OxfordshireOX201SY
AllRightsReserved
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Ebron,PaullaA.,1953–
PerformingAfrica/PaullaA.Ebron.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-691-07488-7(alk.paper)—ISBN0-691-07489-5(pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Griots—Gambia—Music—Historyandcriticism.2.Mandingo(Africanpeople)—
Gambia—Music—Historyandcriticism.3.Music—Gambia—Historyandcriticism.
4.Gambia—Sociallifeandcustoms.5.Folklore—Gambia—Performance.I.Title.
ML3760.E272002
781.62'96345—dc21 2001055408
BritishLibraryCataloging-in-PublicationDataisavailable
ThisbookhasbeencomposedinSabon
Printedonacid-freepaper∞
www.pup.princeton.edu
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C O N T E N T S
O V E R T U R E
Where and When I Enter vii
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Performing Africa 1
P A R T O N E
Representations/Performances 29
C H A P T E R O N E
Music: Europe and Africa 33
C H A P T E R T W O
Performances 53
P A R T T W O
Professional Dreams 73
C H A P T E R T H R E E
Curators of Tradition 81
C H A P T E R F O U R
Personalistic Economy 114
C H A P T E R F I VE
Interview Encounters: The Performance of Profession 134
P A R T T H R E E
Culture as Commodity 163
C H A P T E R S I X
Travel Stories 167
C H A P T E R S E V E N
Tourists as Pilgrims 189
C O D A 213
N O T E S 217
B I B L I O G R A P H Y 225
I N D E X 237
v
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O V E R T U R E
Where and When I Enter
A convention has marked the opening of ethnographic accounts of the
field: the arrival story. More often than not, these stories have posited
stable identities for both a Western ethnographer and the “natives” he
finds;thisdifferencebetweentheWestanditsOtherprovidesthewindow
ofinsightforarrival.Yetmyarrivalstoryfocusesonamutualfiguringof
thefieldandtheidentitiesofthosewhomakethemomentsofencounter.1
Here a degree of negotiation over culture and difference takes place.
Moreover,thiswasnotmyarrival.
Inthesummerof1989IhadbeeninTheGambiaforseveralmonths,
absorbed in the everyday lives of the people in the compound where I
lived.Ihadgonetheretolearnmoreaboutahereditarygroupofartisans
knowninalocallanguage,Mandinka,asjali.Jalifillanumberofprofes-
sional roles, including orator, praisesinger, arbiter, political negotiator,
matchmaker, genealogist, historian, ceremonial officiator, and entrepre-
neur.Jaliperformancesofmusic,however,oftenassumeprimacyincur-
rent transnational encounters. I had come to The Gambia to study the
trainingjaliwereexpectedtoundergotopracticetheirprofession,jaliya.
(GriotisaFrenchtermforpraiseingers,includingjali.)
Ashortvisitin1984helpedmeestablishtheconnectionsthatwould
set the context of the collaborative aspects of my work. Now, five years
hence, I had embarked upon a much lengthier stay. Already in the first
fewmonthsofmyresearch,Ihadbeguntounderstandsocialinteractions
ina societycomplicated byage, gender,class, ethnicity,and castediffer-
ences.Thesecrosscutting,complexsociallocationswerewelldocumented
intheliteratureontheSenegambianregion.Yetlivingtherechangedmy
appreciation of the significance of the ways these social categories in-
formed everyday interactions; these categories were no longer mere ab-
stractions that I had encountered in social science accounts, but experi-
ences informing the lives of the people I knew. A few months into my
fieldwork I was acutely aware of the difference between the social com-
plexitythereandwhatIwasfamiliarwithintheUnitedStates.
IntheUnitedStates,racemoreoftenthannottakesprecedenceover
other categories in social interactions. Age, gender, class, and national
background follow in the wake of the major divide between black and
white.2 This everyday prominence of racial status in the United States
vii
viii Overture
contrastedsharplywiththemultiplicityofsocialstatuses,identities,and
languagesIfoundinTheGambia.Furthermore,intheUnitedStatesIhad
becomeusedtobeingperceivedasaracialembodimentofsubalternsta-
tus; strikingly, in Africa, I carried the privilege of status and mobility of
my U.S. nationality. To many Gambians, I was an American; to others,
my otherness appeared as a complicated mystery. Some people assumed
I was from southern Africa. This association was commonly made be-
causeofthepresenceofrefugeesfromNamibia,otherOtherswithwhom
I could easily be categorized. Strikingly, at this time, African Americans
were not asfamiliar to many of thepeople I met aswould later become
thecase.3
Amongthemanythingsthatfieldworkaccomplishesisitsproviding
anoccasiontoreadjustoursenseofwhoweareaswelearntounderstand
differentcontextsandotherwaysofconstructingpersonhood.YetIonly
appreciatedhowmuchmyperspectivehadbeguntochangewhenIcame
face-to-facewithAfricanAmericanvisitorswhoremindedmeoftheideas
andassumptionsheldbymanyAfricanAmericansaboutAfricaandour
relationshiptoit.Theirarrivalstoryprovidedmymomentofinsight.
I had gone along with a friend to the airport in Dakar to meet a
visitor.Thewaittookseveralhours.Wesatinthearrivalareawhere,even
in the earliest hours of the morning, people milled about. The sun cast
raysofdustylightthroughthewindowshighabovefloorlevel.Thisgave
thewaitingareatheappearanceofanairporthangar:anexpansivecave
ofdimlightsandsmokyshadows.Duringthisextendedperiodofwaiting
mymindwanderedasIstaredoutatthepassersby;amongthethingsthat
movedthroughmyconsciousnesswasthequestionofhomeandcultural
differences.
Sittingdownatanairportcafe´,Isoonfoundmyselfinconversation
withthreeAfricanAmericanmenwhohadcometoSenegalastouristsa
few weeks earlier, but Africa was not simply a vacation destination for
them. The men introduced themselves as “businessmen,” not affiliated
withaparticularcompanybutindependentscoutshopingtodevelopan
as-yet-undeterminedfinancialventurewithSenegaleseentrepreneurs.Ini-
tially, I was thrilled to see people from “home.” Our conversation was
warm and engaging. Slowly, however, I became acutely aware that we
weretalkingpasteachother,sharingfamiliarfeelingsabout“home,”but
not common assumptionsabout Africa. I realized thatmy thoughts and
theirthoughtsaboutAfricadifferedenormously.
They spoke of Africa and the people they had met with a distant
awe,areverence.Africawasthelandofthenoblestpeople.TheSenega-
lesetheyhadonlyrecentlymetwerejustamazing,abovemortalstatus.
TheteachingsofU.S.Afrocentricphilosophersprovidedarefraininmy
mind that echoed the chorus of praises set off against an Other: “Afri-
WhereandWhenIEnter ix
cans are a spiritual people; Europeans are a materialistic people.” In-
deed, the travelers expressed their worry that Africa unfortunately
laggedbehindinmaterialways.Luckily,theyhadasolutiontotheconti-
nent’s“problems.”Asbusinessmen,withaconsciousnessofcourse,they
woulddevelopAfrica.
Ilistenedhalfheartedly,franklydubiousoftheirclaims.Intheprevi-
ousfewmonthsIhadsomehowmutedmyawarenessofwhatcomingto
Africa meant for many African Americans: that juxtaposition between
the humble need to learn and connect, a personal quest, and the self-
assureddesiretobeofsomeassistance,howevervague,thoughseemingly
altruistic,thatpurposefulnessmightbe.Ontheonehand,AfricanAmeri-
cansknowAfricathroughtheimageryofunderdevelopment.Likeother
Americans,we grewup withvariousaid campaignsdirected towardAf-
rica. The advertisements of international donor agencies such as CARE
andSavetheChildrenframedoursenseofAfrica.
On the other hand, the continent represented more for Africans in
diaspora. This “homeland,” largely an imagined Africa, created a seem-
ingly timeless sense of connection for many of its long displaced kin.
WhenconfrontedwithcontemporaryAfrica,acompressionoftimeand
space occurs where the lives of present-day Africans are blocked out by
the overwhelming desire to search for lost kinship ties and belonging.
ConnectionwithAfrica,itishoped,willhealthephysicalandpsychologi-
calriftcreatedbyourdeparturecenturiesago.4FormanyAfricanAmeri-
cans, Africa was imagined as a potently mythic space of meaning that
couldembodyafullnessabsentinthepresent.Butthislongingoftenhad
littlespaceinwhichtotakeintheexpanseofpresentdayAfricainallits
complexities.
Mysenseofthis“Africa”hadbeenreworkedbymyinteractionswith
Gambianinterlocutors.SomeoftheGambiansImetweresympatheticto
diasporicyearnings,whileothers,asIsuggestedearlier,hadnonotionof
the transatlantic slave trade or even of the existence of “African Ameri-
cans.”5Stillothersexpressedhostilesentiments:“AfricanAmericanswere
nothingbuttheslavesofAfricans,”quippedoneGambian.Inthissetting,
I could not naturalize African American dreams; they suddenly seemed
quiteexotic.
In our brief conversation, the tourists/entrepreneurs were impressed
bymyrelativelylongstayinTheGambia,whichseemedtothemtoindi-
cate deepcommitment onmy part, particularlywhen comparedto their
visit of a few weeks. Yet when they asked me about my work, I sat ner-
vously preparing my defenses. Given my own immersion in the debates
about anthropology’s history, I thought they would be horrified to hear
thatIwasananthropologist.Fromwithinthediscipline,everythingabout
anthropologyseemedwrappedupinanintenseidentitycrisis.Mytrain-
Description:The jali --a member of a hereditary group of Mandinka professional performers--is a charismatic but contradictory figure. He is at once the repository of his people's history, the voice of contemporary political authority, the inspiration for African American dreams of an African homeland, and the c
