Social organization among the Badyaranké of Tonghia, Sénégal. - article ; n°1 ; vol.2, pg 59-95

W. Simmons

Description

Cahiers du Centre de recherches anthropologiques - Année 1967 - Volume 2 - Numéro 1 - Pages 59-95
Résumé. Les Badyaranké sont une petite population d'environ 5000 âmes, dont les villages sont situés aux frontières du Sénégal, de la Guinée et de la Guinée Portugaise. Agriculteurs sédentaires, ils possèdent des troupeaux confiés à leurs voisins peul. Quoiqu'ils soient depuis longtemps en contact avec des Peul et des Mandingues islamisés, les Badyaranké sont resté animistes jusqu'à une date récente. Au village de Tonghia (Sénégal) environ la moitié de la population a embrassé l'islam. La société badyaranké comprend environ 26 lignées exogames matrilinéaires dont quelques-unes sont totémiques. Le problème du lieu de résidence est cependant moins simple. Les hommes mariés préfèrent résider avec leur père mais beaucoup résident chez les frères de leurs mères ou chez d'autres parents plus éloignés. Les femmes habitent chez leur mari après le mariage et l'épouse préférentielle est la fille de la sœur du père. Ainsi la concession groupe-t-elle souvent des individus diversement apparentés. Les femmes d'une concession résident ensemble dans une grande maison commune où elles dorment, mangent et travaillent. Les maisons individuelles des hommes bordent en un arc de cercle l'est de la concession et la maison des femmes est idéalement située à son extrémité ouest. Le nom de famille (kopanyi) est patrilinéaire, aussi peut-on dire qu'il existe un début de lignées patrilinéaires. Mais ces groupes n'ont pas d'activités communes et n'impliquent pas de sentiments de solidarité. La succession à la chefferie d'une concession est en grande partie fonction de l'âge et des capacités individuelles. Le chef de village est cependant élu par le conseil des anciens du village tout entier. Il n'y a jamais eu chez les Badyaranké d'unité politique dépassant le niveau du village. Chaque village est politiquement indépendant de chaque autre. Il y a quelques preuves de l'existence de classes d'âges, en tant que groupes de travail, mais ces groupes n'entretiennent pas de relation avec ceux des autres villages. Les hommes d'une concession donnée cultivent idéalement en commun un seul champ. Cependant, à Tonghia, cette norme était souvent transgressée. Nous avons comparé Tonghia à Patin Kouta, village badyaranké voisin, plus influencé par les coutumes mandingues et par l'islam. A Patin Kouta un biais patrilinéaire plus important qu'à Tonghia marque la structure
Summary. The Badyaranké are a small population, numbering around 5000 souls, whose villages lie in Senegal, Guinea and Portuguese Guinea, at the point where the three countries converge. Their economy is based on sedentary agriculture. Cattle are owned, but are confided to neighboring Peul. Despite their long exposure to the Islamized Peul and Manding, the Badyaranké have remained pagan until only recently. At the village of Tonghia in Senegal, about half of the population has embraced Islam. Badyaranké society is made up of approximately 26 exogamous matrilineal descent groups, some of which are totemic. Residence however is much less clear cut. Married men prefer to reside with their fathers, but many reside with their mother's brothers and with more distantly related kin. Women live in the compound of their husbands after marriage, and the preferred spouse is the father's sister's daughter. Thus the compounds are often made up of miscellaneous assortments of kin. The women of a compound reside together in a large collective house where they sleep, eat and work. The individual houses of the men fo^m an arc around the eastern perimeter of the compound, and the solitary women's house ideally lies at the western pole. The family name (kopanyi) is inherited patrilineally, and thus incipient patrilineal descent groups may be said to exist. These groups engage in no corporate activities and involve no sentiments of solidarity. Succession to headmanship in the compound is largely a function of age and ability. The village chief, however, is elected by the council of elders for the entire village. Among the Badyaranké no political unity has ever existed above the village level. Each village is politically independent of every other. Some evidence exists for age-grade societies, referred to as work groups, but these are not coordinated from one village to another. The men of a given compound ideally cultivate a single field in common. At Tonghia, however, this norm was often not fulfilled. A comparison was made to Patin Kouta, a nearly Badyaranké village more influenced by Manding customs and Islam. Thus, at Patin Kouta, a stronger patrilineal bias was found in their social structure, than was found at Tonghia. At Patin Kouta the compounds were found to be better integrated than at Tonghia, because there, all people who reside together, work together. This was interpreted to mean that Patin Kouta had more successfully balanced its indigenous matrilineal system with borrowed patrilineal elements.
37 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: CAHIERS_DU_CENTRE_DE_RECHERCHES_ANTHROPOLOGIQUES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1967
• Nombre de lectures: 78
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

W. Simmons
Social organization among the Badyaranké of Tonghia, Sénégal.
In: Cahiers du Centre de recherches anthropologiques, XII° Série, tome 2 fascicule 1-2, 1967. pp. 59-95.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Simmons W. Social organization among the Badyaranké of Tonghia, Sénégal. In: Cahiers du Centre de recherches
anthropologiques, XII° Série, tome 2 fascicule 1-2, 1967. pp. 59-95.
doi : 10.3406/bmsap.1967.1505
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bmsap_1297-7810_1967_sup_2_1_1505Résumé
Résumé. Les Badyaranké sont une petite population d'environ 5000 âmes, dont les villages sont situés
aux frontières du Sénégal, de la Guinée et de la Guinée Portugaise. Agriculteurs sédentaires, ils
possèdent des troupeaux confiés à leurs voisins peul. Quoiqu'ils soient depuis longtemps en contact
avec des Peul et des Mandingues islamisés, les Badyaranké sont resté animistes jusqu'à une date
récente. Au village de Tonghia (Sénégal) environ la moitié de la population a embrassé l'islam. La
société badyaranké comprend environ 26 lignées exogames matrilinéaires dont quelques-unes sont
totémiques. Le problème du lieu de résidence est cependant moins simple. Les hommes mariés
préfèrent résider avec leur père mais beaucoup résident chez les frères de leurs mères ou chez
d'autres parents plus éloignés. Les femmes habitent chez leur mari après le mariage et l'épouse
préférentielle est la fille de la sœur du père. Ainsi la concession groupe-t-elle souvent des individus
diversement apparentés. Les femmes d'une concession résident ensemble dans une grande maison
commune où elles dorment, mangent et travaillent. Les maisons individuelles des hommes bordent en
un arc de cercle l'est de la concession et la maison des femmes est idéalement située à son extrémité
ouest. Le nom de famille (kopanyi) est patrilinéaire, aussi peut-on dire qu'il existe un début de lignées
patrilinéaires. Mais ces groupes n'ont pas d'activités communes et n'impliquent pas de sentiments de
solidarité. La succession à la chefferie d'une concession est en grande partie fonction de l'âge et des
capacités individuelles. Le chef de village est cependant élu par le conseil des anciens du village tout
entier. Il n'y a jamais eu chez les Badyaranké d'unité politique dépassant le niveau du village. Chaque
village est politiquement indépendant de chaque autre. Il y a quelques preuves de l'existence de
classes d'âges, en tant que groupes de travail, mais ces groupes n'entretiennent pas de relation avec
ceux des autres villages. Les hommes d'une concession donnée cultivent idéalement en commun un
seul champ. Cependant, à Tonghia, cette norme était souvent transgressée. Nous avons comparé
Tonghia à Patin Kouta, village badyaranké voisin, plus influencé par les coutumes mandingues et par
l'islam. A Patin Kouta un biais patrilinéaire plus important qu'à Tonghia marque la structure
Abstract
Summary. The Badyaranké are a small population, numbering around 5000 souls, whose villages lie in
Senegal, Guinea and Portuguese Guinea, at the point where the three countries converge. Their
economy is based on sedentary agriculture. Cattle are owned, but are confided to neighboring Peul.
Despite their long exposure to the Islamized Peul and Manding, the Badyaranké have remained pagan
until only recently. At the village of Tonghia in Senegal, about half of the population has embraced
Islam. Badyaranké society is made up of approximately 26 exogamous matrilineal descent groups,
some of which are totemic. Residence however is much less clear cut. Married men prefer to reside with
their fathers, but many reside with their mother's brothers and with more distantly related kin. Women
live in the compound of their husbands after marriage, and the preferred spouse is the father's sister's
daughter. Thus the compounds are often made up of miscellaneous assortments of kin. The women of
a compound reside together in a large collective house where they sleep, eat and work. The individual
houses of the men fo^m an arc around the eastern perimeter of the compound, and the solitary
women's house ideally lies at the western pole. The family name (kopanyi) is inherited patrilineally, and
thus incipient patrilineal descent groups may be said to exist. These groups engage in no corporate
activities and involve no sentiments of solidarity. Succession to headmanship in the compound is largely
a function of age and ability. The village chief, however, is elected by the council of elders for the entire
village. Among the Badyaranké no political unity has ever existed above the village level. Each village is
politically independent of every other. Some evidence exists for age-grade societies, referred to as work
groups, but these are not coordinated from one village to another. The men of a given compound ideally
cultivate a single field in common. At Tonghia, however, this norm was often not fulfilled. A comparison
was made to Patin Kouta, a nearly Badyaranké village more influenced by Manding customs and Islam.
Thus, at Patin Kouta, a stronger patrilineal bias was found in their social structure, than was found at
Tonghia. At Patin Kouta the compounds were found to be better integrated than at Tonghia, because
there, all people who reside together, work together. This was interpreted to mean that Patin Kouta had
more successfully balanced its indigenous matrilineal system with borrowed patrilineal elements.des Cahiers du Centre de Recherches Anthropologiques, n° 7. Extrait
In : Bull, et Mém. de la Soc. ďAnthr. de Paris,
t. 2, XIIe série, 1967, pp. 59 à 95.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AMONG THE
BADYARANKÉ OF TONGHIA, SÉNÉGAL (i)
BY
W. SIMMONS
Introduction.
The Badyaranké (2) live in the flat savanna at the southern edge of the
western sudan, in a small region that overlaps into the Republic of Sénégal,
the Republic of Guinea and Portuguese Guinea (3). Their language belongs
to the Tenda sub group of the West Atlantic family, and thus is related to the
neighboring Coniagui and Bassari (4). Although the Badyaranké share their
territory, and often their villages, with the Manding and various Fulbé, they
are considered to be the most ancient inhabitants of their area. In all, some
5000 Badyaranké live today in approximately 40 villages. In less than half
of these 40 villages are the inhabitants all or mostly Badyaranké.
The country inhabited by the Badyaranké is greener and more lush at
its southern limit in Guinea, and slightly drier with more dispersed vege
tation at its northern extremity in Sénégal. This is the country of the
towering kapok tree, the stubby baobab, mahoganies, a species of the gum
tree known as Daniella oliveri, the oil palm and the néré. The wild forest ani
mals include buffalo, elan, antelope, monkeys, elephants, lions, panthers, wild
boar, hippopotami, crocodiles and hyena. Life is made uncomfortable by the
malaria mosquito, tse tse fly and snail fever. The soil is usually hard, dry
(1) Le texte anglais original de ce travail a été imprimé ici à titre exceptionnel.
(2) My field work among the Badyaranké from November, 1964, to January, 1966, was made pos
sible through a Sheldon Travelling Fellowship from Harvard University. My choice of the Badya
ranké was due to the counsel and advice of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Gessain of the Centre de Recherches
Anthropologiques of the Musée de l'Homme in Paris.
(3) For an introduction to the Badyaranké and the ethnohistoric sources of the region, see
M. Gessain, 1958.
(4) The linguistic status of the is by no means clear. For recent discussions based
on field research, see G. E. Ducos, 1965, and W. A. A. Wilson, 1959, 1961 and 1965. SOCIETE D ANTHROPOLOGIE "DE PARIS 60
and red from iron deposits. The landscape is characterized by numerous large
red anthills and frequent marshes which follow the meandering streams.
The year is divided into wet and dry seasons, with rain beginning toward the
end of May, becoming most intense by August, and subsiding in November.
During this time the streams swell and flood, travel is difficult and mosquitoes
torture the night. During the months of December and January the rain
stops, but the countryside is still green, the nights are chilly, and the earth is
fanned by strong easterly winds. The following months however become increa
singly torrid with the hot, dry, dusty harmattan blowing out of the Sahara
until the eve of the rains, when the wind momentarily reverses, the skies
darken, the nights grumble with thunder, and the rains fall again.
SÉNÉGAL
Щ ,♦♦♦♦♦♦♦+'*,, .TAMBACOUNOA
c ^jî/^ í^vDEPÍ DE KED0UG0U^ pr?^
PORT s_e /" GUI NÉ
Map. 1. — The approximate location of the village of T