University of Bamako

Transcription

Located on the Niger River in West Africa, Bamako is the largest city and also the capital of Mali, with a population of around 2 million. The name Bamako comes from the most popular local language, Bambara, a term for crocodile river. However, it has been many generations since the city has seen any crocodiles on its river banks because of the city's fast growth. Although Mali is considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world, Bamako is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world. Mali gained full independence from France in 1960 and has since then been known as the Republic of Mali. The flourishing city is filled with life, crowded outdoor markets, overflowing streets, and lively music. Jordan and I were selected by anthropology Professor Bruce Whitehouse to assist him during our winter breaks with ethnographic research on modern marriage and polygamy in Bamako. However, before arriving in Mali, we had a 16-hour layover in Casa Blanca, so we took full advantage to explore the city. Although Jordan and I had the opportunity to learn about one unique aspect of Malian life, during my stay in Bamako, I also had the chance to experience another aspect peculiar to Mali, music. I lived with a quite unique family, the Gajagas, where the father Khalifa worked for the US embassy, and the mother Ami imports furniture from across the world. Having come from a polygamous family himself, Khalifa shared his compound with his father and his fourth wife, as well as with his brothers, who are all from different mothers. Khalifa's eldest son, Malvie was one of Mali's top music producer and beatmaker, famous for his signature jazz influences. I found myself immersed in pure talent and witnessed the completion of several soon-to-be Mali's greatest hits. I even lent my voice, saying "Gajaga Production," in an American accent so he could include it at the beginning of each song as a shout-out to his production company. We also went to a La Fouine concert, a popular French rapper. It was interesting because nightlife in Bamako isn't very different than nightlife here in America. Malians traded their traditional, more conservative boubous for some low-rise pants and big sneakers for guys or miniskirts and heels for girls. Additionally, my host brother Malvie is part of a rap group called Generation Rap and Respect. [SINGING] [ANNOUNCING IN FRENCH] As a group, the have toured many parts of Africa and have even sold out the Modibo Keita Stadium this past Ramadan, which can hold up to 25,000 people. [SINGING] After staying with the Gajagas for nearly a month, I not only experienced the remnants of a polygamous union, but also had a taste of the lively music scene in Mali. It was truly a one-of-a-kind experience that I will never forget. During our stay in Bamako, I observed the technology available to cosmopolitan Malians is not that far off from the gadgets we play with in the Occident. For the most part, Malians have access to older and beat-up versions of our technology. The host family I stayed with, the Diakite, have cable television and a computer with internet access, albeit, the connection was 1 to 2 kilobytes per second. Cell phones are ubiquitous and everyone I spoke with seemed to have at least one in their household. Sotramas are the city's organized and regulated bus service. They might not come at regular intervals, but they traverse predetermined routes and have a set limit of around 20 people, which would still be twice the amount we would tolerate if buses of this size ran in the West. Interestingly enough, I found Bamako to have street light technology better than anything I had seen in the States. Streetlights may not be found all over the city, but the ones that do exist are solar-powered and have a timer at the bottom telling drivers when the light will change color. When I stayed with my host family, we spent most of our downtime talking or watching television while drinking gunpowder tea, a green tea served in a shot glass which contains more sugar than I would care to know. Lunch and dinner consisted primarily of rice and a slight quantity of meat and vegetable topping. The proportions were so large that I can only recall one time when I was able to finish my plate in full. Being a predominantly Muslim country, I managed to go to mosque on Friday afternoons on a few occasions with my host family, and what I found quite intriguing is how short the religious services are compared to Christian ones. It seems to last no more than 10 minutes. Concerning polygamy in Mali I found that Malians thought not that much about it really. They just assumed it was normal. Do we ever think that our monogamous system is bizarre? Not really. We're just inculcated that it's normal. And most Malians feel the same way about their traditions and ways of doing things. Some choose monogamous relationships, while others choose polygamous ones, although it seems that monogamy's in the favor of the wife, while polygamy is in favor of the husband. Polygamy was touted by some as some sort of solution to problems that might occur in a monogamous union. For one, Malians are convinced that their society has much women than men. And even women support this hypothesis. Thus, polygamy is needed to permit all the women in society to get married. It is important to note that marriage is of the highest importance in Mali, and staying single is not a desired outcome. During my stay, I was asked how old I was and if I was married. When I responded that I was 21 and do not have a wife, I was jokingly offered a Malian wife. From what I can remember, I was propositioned for marriage at least two more times during my stay, and I would like to believe that these were also in a joking fashion. Other reasons for polygamy include sterility. If you are incapable of having children with your first wife, just get another one. Try again. Of course, men can in no way be responsible for this problem. Only women can. Arranged marriages. Men are sometimes married to a woman because the man's parents like her. After acquiring this first wife and appeasing his parents, a man can then get another one more to his personal liking. In conclusion, our excursion to Mali was a quite edifying experience. Lucy and I would like to thank Lehigh University for making this opportunity possible and Professor Whitehouse for selecting us as his research assistants as well tolerating our barrage of stupid questions during our stay in Bamako. We'd also like to thank my host brother Malvie and his friends Talbi and Sadiqi for providing us with some awesome footage of them performing.