Paths of Accommodation: Muslim Societies and French Colonial Authorities in Senegal and Mauritania, 1880-1920

378 Pages·2001·2.08 MB·English

by  David Robinson

WESTERN
AFRICAN
STUDIES
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Muslim
Societies and
French
Colonial
Authorities in
Senegal and
Mauritania,
1880–1920
DAVID
ROBINSON
Paths of Accommodation
Western African Studies
Willing Migrants
Soninke Labor Diasporas, 1848–1960
franÁois manchuelle
El Dorado in West Africa
The Gold-Mining Frontier, African Labor, and
Colonial Capitalism in the Gold Coast, 1875–1900
raymond e. dumett
Nkrumah & the Chiefs
The Politics of Chieftaincy in Ghana, 1951–60
richard rathbone
Ghanaian Popular Fiction
‘Thrilling Discoveries of Conjugal Life’
& Other Tales
stephanie newell
Paths of Accommodation
Muslim Societies and French Colonial Authorities in
Senegal and Mauritania, 1880–1920
david robinson
From Slavery to Free Labour in Rural Ghana*
Labour, Land & Capital in Asante, 1807–1956
gareth m. austin
Between the Sea & the Lagoon*
An Eco-social History of the Anlo of Southeastern Ghana,
c.1850 to Recent Times
emmanuel akyeampong
‘Civil Disorder is the Disease of Ibadan’*
Chieftaincy and Civil Culture in a Colonial City
ruth watson
*forthcoming
Paths of
Accommodation
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Muslim Societies and French Colonial Authorities in
Senegal and Mauritania, 1880–1920
David Robinson
Ohio University Press
ATHENS
James Currey
OXFORD
Ohio University Press
Scott Quadrangle
Athens, Ohio 45701
James Currey
73 Botley Road
Oxford OX2 0BS
© 2000 by David Robinson
First published 2000
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Ohio University Press books are printed on acid-free paper TM
09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 5 4 3 2 1
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available
ISBN 0-85255-457-5 (James Currey, paper)
ISBN 0-85255-458-3 (James Currey, cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Robinson, David, 1938–
Paths of accommodation : Muslim societies and French colonial authorities in
Senegal and Mauritania, 1880–1920 / David Robinson.
p. cm. — (Western African studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8214-1353-8 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8214-1354-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Africa, French-speaking West—History—To 1884. 2. Africa, French-
speaking West—History—1884–1960. 3. Muslims—Africa, French-speaking
West—History. 4. France—Colonies—Africa—History. I. Title. II. Series.
DT541.65 .R63 2000
966.1'01—dc21 00-044614
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Orthography xiii
List of Abbreviations xv
Introduction 1
Part 1. The Framework
1. Space, Time, and Structure 11
Part 2. Bases of Accommodation
2. Sources, Discourses, and Mediators of Knowledge 37
3. Conquest and Colonial Rule 58
4. France as a “Muslim Power” 75
5. Civil Society: Saint-Louis in the French
Imperial Sphere 97
6. The Sons of Ndar: The Muslim Merchants
of Saint-Louis 117
Part 3. Patterns of Accommodation
7. The Obstacles to Accommodation for the Umarians 143
8. Saad Buh and the Fadiliyya Way 161
9. Sidiyya Baba: Co-architect of Colonial Mauritania 178
10. Malik Sy: Teacher in the New Colonial Order 194
11. Amadu Bamba: A Complex Path to Accommodation 208
Conclusion 229
Notes 241
Sources 331
Index 351

Illustrations
Figures
4.1. The Anne and Seck Families 84
6.1. The Gueye Family 123
6.2. The Mbengue Family 125
6.3. The Lô Family 126
6.4. The Diop Family 128
Maps
1.1. Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone, ca. 1880–1920 12
1.2. Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone: Gum and Peanut Production 29
1.3. Saint-Louis at the End of the Nineteenth Century 32
7.1. The Umarian State and the French Conquest 144
7.2. The Umarians and the Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone, ca. 1880–1920 157
8.1. Saad Buh, the Fadiliyya Network, and the Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone,
ca. 1880–1920 167
9.1. The Sidiyya Network and the Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone,
ca. 1880–1920 190
10.1. Malik Sy and the Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone, ca. 1880–1920 201
11.1. The Murids and the Senegalo-Mauritanian Zone, ca. 1880–1920 219

Preface
It is difficult to construct an appropriate preface for something so long in
the making. This project began in 1984–85, with a Fulbright research fellow-
ship to Senegal. At that time I began to collect information at archives in Dakar
and Saint-Louis, and from informants in a number of locations, on the pro-
cesses of accommodation of Muslim societies and French colonial authorities. I
have continued the collecting, sifting, and writing process over the years since
then, thanks in great part to grants from the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, the American Council of
Learned Societies, and Michigan State University. At Michigan State I particu-
larly appreciated the encouragement of Gordon Stewart, the department chair,
and John Eadie, the college dean, and the opportunity to work with an able and
collegial group of graduate students. The process of composition has involved
numerous trips to Senegal, Mauritania, and France, and a long and fruitful col-
laboration with Jean-Louis Triaud, professor of history at the University of
Provence. I have particularly bene¤ted from working in various parts of the co-
lonial archives at the Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer in Aix-en-Provence.
The richest archival source for this work remains, however, the Archives Na-
tionales of Senegal in Dakar.
I would like to express my appreciation to the directors of those archival
sources, and particularly to Saliou Mbaye, conservateur-en-chef of the Archives
Nationales in Dakar, Jean-François Maurel, formerly conservateur-en-chef at
the archives in Aix, and Abdoul Aïdara, director of the Centre de Recherche et
Documentation du Sénégal in Saint-Louis, for their generous assistance on
many occasions.
I have been fortunate to have numerous attentive readers of this manuscript,
or portions of it. I would like to thank, for discussions and written feedback,
Hilary Jones, Mohamed Mbodj, Abdel Wedoud Ould Cheikh, Ibrahima Abou
Sall, Ibrahima Thioub, and my dear departed friend Mohammed Moustapha