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S’etendant entre deux zones subdesertiques: le Sahel mauritanien au Nord et le Ferlo senegalais au Sud, la vallee du Senegal s’est toujours presentee comme un centre d’attrait remarquable pour les peuples de l’Ouest Africain. Zone de contact entre population blanche et population noire, son trace Est-Ouest en a aussi fait une voie naturelle de penetration vers l’interieur qui a attire de bonne heure le commerce europeen.

This thesis focuses on the "associations villageoises pour le developpement" that were founded in the 1980s in Paris by West African migrant workers from the region of the Senegal river valley between Senegal, Mali and Mauritania. The initial point of these associations was to realize developmental projects in the hometowns and to improve the living conditions of the families left behind. Using the Senegal village of Sinthiou Dioye and its transnational community as an example, one can note however that the importance of these "projets de developpement" is today based above all on the establishment of new social reports between "here" and "there". The investigation is essentially based upon a large quantity of acoustic materials, including extensive interviews, that were recorded in the course of detailed research in migrant hostels (foyers) in Paris and a longer stay in a migrant hometown in Senegal. One aim of this research was to produce a "radio feature" (a German radio broadcast genre mixing dialogues, commentaries, quotes, sounds, soundscapes and music) that was first broadcast by the radio station "Deutschlandfunk" in May 2002 under the title "Diama Digui - Unsere Hoffnung. Ein afrikanischer Weg der Entwicklungshilfe" ("Diama Digui - Our Hope. An African method of development aid") and is now - alongside a written ethnography - included as part of this thesis. The potential of this particular broadcast genre to communicate human experience and to construct forms of knowledge (about "others") is discussed in the first section of this thesis, whose central objective is to propose the "radio feature" genre as one possibility of undertaking and representing ethnography in response to the multiple demands for new kinds of ethnography beyond text that have accompanied academic debates within the discipline since the 1980s and are currently discussed under the keyword "sensory turn". The radio feature "Diama Djigui" can be ordered as mp3 audio file via e-mail: AnnaSchrade@web.de or downloaded via http://elib2006.suub.uni-bremen.de/diss/docs/Diama_Djigui.mp3

This paper explores the practice of Islam among a relatively understudied group of Muslim migrants in France, the Halpulaaren, some of whom have been living in France for more than three decades. Drawing on field research in Senegal, Mali and France, the author considers the contexts for Halpulaaren migration to France, including the West African background to such migration and the situation migrants face in France. The author focuses on a Halpulaaren Muslim religious leader from Senegal, Mansour Baro, who has a reputation as a living Muslim saint, and his followers in France. Tierno Mansour is one of a handful of the most esteemed leaders of the Tijaniyya Sufi order in Senegal. The appeal of this saint, who annually visits Europe, for his followers in France is examined in order to try and understand some of the ways of being Muslim in the shadow of the global city with both its promises and constraints. [Journal abstract]

This work is based on a year and a half of field research conducted in the middle valley of Senegal. It attempts to describe how a Haalpulaar conceives the social category to which he belongs, and what notions he uses to distinguish it from others. The first part describes the categories of Rima nobles: Fulani, fishermen, political advisors, warriors and religious. The first part describes the categories of Rieme nobles: Fulani, fishermen, political advisors, warriors and clerics. The Fulani and fishermen work in different parts of the valley and have different knowledge. The accumulation of this knowledge is experienced as anti-social and dangerous. The problem is then that of complementarity. The Fulani leaders have secured the services of two other categories. One is closely related to them (the political advisors); it has scrupulously watched over the safeguarding of its own interests. The other, made up of foreigners, assumes the role of warriors with total dedication. It is here the question of the dependence which is posed. As for the fifth group of nobles, the religious, they come from all the other categories of the society. The second part, devoted to the nyeenybe craftsmen and lauders, examines the traditions of each of these groups. It reveals important differences, particularly in matrimonial practices. The goldsmiths, who belong to a Fulani lineage, see the "red shoemakers", also of Fulani origin, as the only group likely to make them renounce endogamy, whereas the non-Fulani artisans claim equality between the various Nyeenybe and affirm that they take wives from any group of artisans. Finally, a hypothesis is presented concerning the historical evolution of the institution of artisanal castes in Haalpulaar society, based on historical and genealogical data., Ce travail repose sur une recherche de terrain d'un an et demie, menée dans la moyenne vallée du Sénégal. Il s'attache à décrire comment un Haalpulaar conçoit la catégorie sociale à laquelle il appartient, à quelles notions il a recours pour se distinguer des autres. La première partie décrit les catégories de nobles rimbe: peuls, pécheurs, conseillers politiques, guerriers et religieux. Les peuls et les pécheurs exploitent des parties différentes de la vallée et détiennent des connaissances distinctes. Le cumul de ces connaissances est vécu antisocial et dangereux. Le problème posé est alors celui de la complémentarité. Les chefs peuls se sont garantis les services de deux autres catégories. L'une leur est étroitement apparentée (les conseillers politiques); elle a scrupuleusement veille à la sauvegarde de ses intérêts propres. L'autre, constituée d'étrangers, assume le rôle de guerriers dans un total dévouement. C'est ici la question de la dépendance qui est posée. Quant au cinquième groupe de nobles, les religieux, ils sont issus de toutes les autres catégories de la société. La seconde partie, consacrée aux artisans et laudateurs nyee4nybe, examine les traditions propres à chacun de ces groupes. Elle révèle des différences importantes, notamment dans les pratiques matrimoniales. Les orfèvres, qui se rattachent a un lignage peul, voient dans les "cordonniers rouges" eux aussi d'origine peul, le seul groupe susceptible de les faire renoncer à l'endogamie, alors que les artisans non-peuls revendiquent une égalité entre les divers nyeenybe et affirment prendre des épouses dans tout groupe d'artisans. Enfin, une hypothèse est présentée concernant l'évolution historique de l'institution des castes artisanales dans la société haalpulaar, sur la base de données historiques et généalogiques.

Bonnet-Dupeyron F. L'élevage en Afrique Occidentale et Centrale. In: Bulletin de l'Association de géographes français, N°169-170, 22e année, Mars-mai 1945. pp. 40-50.