Abstract

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.