Joking relationships in West Africa (Senegal): from scientific canonisation to political instrumentalisations

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• Etienne Smith, Sciences Po, Paris
• Monday 11 February 2013, 17:00-18:00
• Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Judith Weik.

Drawing on field research on joking relationships in Senegal, Etienne Smith will explore debates on the historical emergence of joking relationships in West Africa, the canonization of the concept by social anthropology and its consequences. Blending intellectual history and political anthropology, the discussion will examine the political instrumentalisation of the concept and the practice by political and cultural entrepreneurs in contemporary Senegal and what it tells us about the vernacular languages of politics, the imagination of nationhood and the fabrics of inter-community relations. Finally, the case study of the conflict in Casamance will illustrate the attempts by segments of the Senegalese state apparatus to harness joking relationships in conflict resolution, and the ambiguities of these neo-traditionalist endeavours.

This talk is part of the Centre of African Studies Lent Seminar Series series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Centre of African Studies Lent Seminar Series
• Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DT

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