From law to custom: The shifting legal status of muslim originaires in kayes and medine, 1903–13

The Journal of African History

Volumn 42, Issue 2, 2001, Pages 261-283

  Shereikis, Rebecca ^a  

^a NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

assimilation; colonial courts; French Islamic policy; French Soudan; legal status; Senegal

Indexed keywords

EID: 85008564361     PISSN: 00218537     EISSN: 14695138     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0021853701007903     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. See, for example, Johnson, Emergence; H. Oludare Idowu, ‘Assimilation in nineteenth century Senegal’, Cahiers d'E Utudes Africaines, 9 (1969), 194-218; Michael
2. Crowder, Senegal: A Study of French Assimilation Policy (London, 1967). For an overview of assimilation in French colonial theory, see Raymond F. Betts, Assimilation
3. and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890-1914 (New York, 1961). On the mission
4. civilisatrice, see Alice Conklin, A Mission to Civilize : The Republican Idea of Empire in
5. France and West Africa, 1895-1930 (Stanford, 1997).
6. See Mahmood Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (Princeton, 1996).
7. In the 1860s, the inhabitants of the newer towns of Rufisque and Dakar were accorded similar rights as the inhabitants of St Louis and Gorée. Idowu, ‘Assimilation’, 195.
8. The Conseil-général was a representative body similar to the councils found in each French department. It had considerable control over the colony's budget and taxes. (The right to elect a Deputy had initially been granted in 1848, then revoked in 1852 under the Second Empire. It was reinstated under the Third Republic in 1870. On the history and significance of these elective institution, see H. Oludare Idowu, ‘The establishment of elective institutions in Senegal, 1869-1880’, Journal of African History, 9 (1968), 261-77.
9. Crowder, Senegal, 53-54. Crowder suggests that the development of the négritude literary movement in the 1930s can be connected back to an assimilationist policy that wiped out African traditions. Négritude, in his view, was an attempt to recreate a lost African heritage.
10. Johnson, Emergence, 124-5. Johnson argues that Islam filled the power vacuum created by the disruptions of French occupation, providing ‘an effective defense for the African way of life ‘. Similarly, Idowu argues that Islam was ‘one of the impediments to any large scale absorption by the Senegalese of French culture’. Idowu, ‘Assimilation’, 210.
11. Johnson, for example, describes the originaires’ growing involvement in politics as their ’ political awakening’. Johnson, Emergence.
12. Both Johnson and Crowder conclude that inability to resolve this dilemma resulted in confusion and a dualistic outlook for Senegalese. See Crowder, Senegal, 116, 130-1; Johnson, Emergence, 124-5.
13. Mamadou Diouf, ‘Assimilation colonial et identités religiéses de la civilité des originaires des Quatre Communes du Sénégal ‘, in Charles Becker, Saliou Mbaye and Ibrahima Thioub (eds.), Afrique occidentale francnaise : réalités et héritages, sociétés ouestafricaines et ordre colonial, 1895-1960 (2 vols.) (Dakar, 1997), ii, 836-50. Diouf cites Crowder and Johnson's work as examples of such studies. In my reading, Crowder insists upon the loss of African identity to a greater degree than does Johnson, who, as noted above, does not argue that originaires assimilated culturally.
14. David Robinson, ‘An emerging pattern of cooperation between colonial authorities and Muslim societies in Senegal and Mauritania’, in Robinson and Triaud (eds.), Temps des marabouts, 167-8.
15. David Robinson, ‘French “Islamic” policy and practice in late nineteenth-century Senegal’, Journal of African History, 29 (1988), 415-35.
16. This distinction, according to Robinson, emerged in the early twentieth century. Some originaires did claim affiliation with Umar Tall. Robinson notes the emergence of Tijaniyya cells in St Louis in the late 1860s (during the regime of Umar's son Amadu). Alarmed because some traitants had joined these communities, the governor banned Tijaniyya rituals in St Louis and made some arrests. Robinson, ‘French “Islamic” policy’, 424-5, 434. On the influence of Malik Sy in the communes, see Johnson, Emergence, 128-31; Paul Marty, Etudes sur l ‘Islam au Sénégal, (2 vols.) (Paris, 1917), I, 180-1, 203; and David Robinson, ‘Malik Sy: un intellectuel dans l'ordre coloniale au Sénégal ‘, Islam et sociétés au sud du Sahara, 7 (1993), 183-92. Robinson notes that Sy had his roots in the Umarian Tijani tradition, but that rather than adopting an Umarian model (holy war and creation of an Islamic state), he instead became an ’ interpreter of the new colonial and Muslim order’.
17. On the importance of the gum trade, see James Webb, ‘The trade in gum arabic: prelude to French conquest in Senegal’, Journal of African History, 26 (1985), 149-168; and Desert Frontier (Wisconsin, 1995).
18. Robinson, ‘Emerging pattern’, 179.
19. According to a population survey conducted in 1904, Wolofs comprised 17 percent of the population of Kayes-928 out of a population of 5,167-and outnumbered Khassonkes, the people indigenous to the region. Renseignements historiques, géographiques, et économiques sur le cercle de Kayes par l'administratér du cercle, 1903-4, Archives Nationales du Sénégal (hereafter ANS)1G 310: 1903-4.
20. Keita, Ville de Kayes, 17
21. See Dominique Sarr and Richard Roberts, ‘The jurisdiction of Muslim tribunals in colonial Senegal, 1857-1932’, in Richard Roberts and Kristin Mann (eds.), Law in Colonial Africa (Portsmouth, 1991), 131-143; Bernard Schnapper, ‘Les tribunaux musulmans et la politique coloniale au Sénégal, 1830-1914’, Revue historique de droit francnais et étranger, 39 (1961), 90-128; and Alain Quellien, La politique musulmane dans l'Afrique occidentale francnaise (Paris, 1910), 225.
22. Sarr and Roberts, ‘Jurisdiction’, 135.
23. Kristin Mann and Richard Roberts, ‘Introduction: Law in colonial Africa’, in
24. Roberts and Mann, Law, 12.
25. For a discussion of the 1902 commission, see Conklin, Mission, 89-90.
26. Décret du 10 novembre 1903 portant réorganisation du service de la justice dans les colonies relevant du gouvernement général de l'Afrique occidentale franc:aise ‘, in Bulletin officiel du ministe[re des colonies, 17, no. 11 (Paris, 1904).
27. Sarr and Roberts, ‘Jurisdiction’, 135.
28. Ct. Roux: Rapport politique, Kayes, Mar. 1905, Archives Nationales du Mali (hereafter ANM) Fonds Ancien (hereafter FA) 1E 44.
29. While the complaint letters analyzed in this section are valuable sources for understanding the argumentative strategies employed by originaires (and the response they got from the administration), they must be approached cautiously. It is important to take into account the narrative conventions that shape the content of complaint letters, particularly in situations where professional letter-writers were involved, as they may have been in some of the letters examined here. See Richard Roberts, ‘Text and testimony in the Tribunal de Première Instance, Dakar, during the early twentieth century’, Journal of African History, 31 (1990), 447-63.
30. Between 1902 and 1904, Kayes and Medine were part of the colony of Sénégambie-Niger, administered by the Governor-general of French West Africa. The Governor was represented in Kayes by a ‘Délégué permanent’-William Ponty. In 1904 Kayes and Medine became part of the colony of Haut-Sénégal-Niger and Ponty became Liétenantgovernor of the colony.
31. Letter from Muslim traitants to the Delegate, Kayes, 28 Dec. 1903, ANM FA 2M 16.
32. Ct. Roux to the Lt.-gov., Kayes, 21 Mar. 1905, ANM FA 2M 16. Although Roux does not specify that the complaint came from originaires, the fact that he used the term ’ notables ’ strongly suggests that the complainants were originaires. In administrative documents from this period, lists of ’ notables ’ usually consist primarily of Senegalese names. See, for example: Notes et fiches de renseignements sur les chefs, notables, et personnages influents, Cercle de Kayes, 1897-1908, ANM FA 2E-55.
33. Letter from Koly Guiro to the Lt.-gov., Kayes, 20 Mar. 1905, ANM FA 2M 16.
34. Letter from Aly So# to the Administrator, Kayes, 21 Mar. 1905, ANM FA 2M 16.
35. Justice of the Peace Cressent to the Lt.-gov., Kayes, 25 Mar. 1905, ANM FA 2M 16.
36. Ct. Roux to the Lt.-gov., Kayes, 29 Mar. 1905, ANM FA 2M 16.
37. Quellien, Politique, 231-4.
38. Sarr and Roberts, ‘Jurisdiction’, 137.
39. Ct. Roux to the Lt.-gov., Kayes, 29 Mar. 1905, ANM FA 2M 16.
40. Souleyman Diop, ‘Mémoire’, 13 Sept. 1905, ANS M 245.
41. The history of Waly Ba# ‘s term as qadi has been reconstructed from the following series : Tribunal musulman: Personnel-Révocations, 1905-15, ANS M 245; Correspondance: Cercle Kayes, 1882-1920, ANM FA 2M 16.
42. Administrator, Kayes, to Lt. gov., 23 Nov. 1910, ANM FA 2M 47.
43. These reports are found in ANM FA 2M 47: Administrator to the Lt. gov., 23 Nov. 1910; Justice of the Peace de Coston to the Procurér-général, 26 Nov. 1912; and Report from Justice of the Peace de Chelle to the Procurér-général, 9 Feb. 1913.
44. On William Ponty, see Conklin, Mission, 107-9.
45. Conklin, Mission, 119-20.
46. On the French reaction to the originaires ’ growing political assertiveness, see Crowder, Senegal, 21-34; Johnson, Emergence, 80-4; and Idowu, ‘Assimilation’.
47. Johnson, Emergence, 84, 123-5
48. Comments from Governor Ponty, 5 Nov. 1912, ANM FA 2M 236.
49. What the administration perceived as an increase in Islamic activity and millenarianism throughout French West Africa during these years also fueled their unease about Muslims. For examples of administrative anxiety over Islam, see Harrison's case study of the Futa Jallon between 1909-11 in France and Islam, ch. 5; and Triaud, ‘Question musulmane’, 555.
50. Harrison, France and Islam, 29-56; Triaud, ‘Question musulmane’, 558-562.
51. Harrison, France and Islam, 94-117.
52. See Johnson, Emergence, 83-4; Crowder, Senegal, 26.
53. Guèye, Situation, 30.
54. Petition to the Lt.-gov., Koulouba, 12 Mar. 1913, ANM FA 2M 236.
55. Originaires in Senegal petitioned the administration in Aug. 1913. See Sarr and Roberts, ‘Jurisdiction’, 138.
56. Petition of originaires in Ivory Coast, 18 Mar. 1913, FMI/AFFPOL/1851, Dossier 10, Archives Nationales, Section Outre-Mer (henceforth ANSOM).
57. Human sacrifice, for example, had long been ‘an index of African barbarity’ in éropean minds. See Robin Law, ‘Human sacrifice in pre-colonial West Africa’, African Affairs, 84 (1985), 53. But Muslims also condemned the practice, and it was not a uniquely éropean trope of barbarism. Law, ‘Human sacrifice’, 61.
58. Petition of originaires in Ivory Coast, 18 March 1913, FMI/AFFPOL/1851, Dossier 10, ANSOM.
59. The idea of the originaires ’ ‘autonomous spacèis central to Diouf's analysis of Muslim efforts to establish a Muslim tribunal in St Louis. ‘The claims to institute a Muslim tribunal’, he writes, ‘must not be read as the struggle for a judicial regime inscribed in a religious tradition, but the circumscription of a space of production for an indigenous identity, shielded from the violence of the domination and the cultural arrogance of colonialism’, Diouf, ‘Assimilation’, 847. In his work on originaire traitants he also argues for the existence of an autonomous commercial space. See ‘Traitants’, 144-7.
60. Triaud notes the tendency after 1905 of administrators in the Ivory Coast to critique Muslims on moral grounds, characterizing Islam as ‘decadent’ or in decline. Triaud, ‘Question musulmane’, 552-5.
61. Gov. Ponty to Lt.-gov. Clozel, 13 June 1913, ANM FA 2M 236.
62. Unsigned note, 1913, FA 2M 236.
63. Sarr and Roberts, ‘Jurisdiction’, 137-8.
64. Johnson, Emergence, 159, 162. Diagne made good on his campaign promises, and with passage of the ‘Blaise Diagne Laws’ of 1915 and 1916, he finally obtained legislative clarification of the originaires status : they were French citizens
65. Guèye, Situation, 30. Sarr and Roberts note, however, that even for originaires in the communes it was a ‘Pyrrhic victory’ because whenever they were outside of the jurisdiction of the French tribunals the burden of proof of their birth in the communes was incumbent upon them, and this was not always easy to establish. See Sarr and Roberts, ‘Jurisdiction’, 138.
66. As Conklin points out, the concept of association was not new in the 1920s-it had been alive in colonial circles since the late nineteenth century. However, it only began to be implemented as an official colonial policy in French West Africa after the First World War: Conklin, Mission, 187-8.
67. Mamdani, Citizen, 77.
68. Citizen. 77, 286.