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Gleaming Like The Sun: Aesthetic Values in Wodaabe Material Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 May 2011

Elisabeth Boesen
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Abstract

The Fulbe Wodaabe from Central Niger – like other nomadic pastoralists – seem to be highly resistant to the influence of global consumer goods, the consumption of modern products being more or less confined to satisfying practical needs. The article presents a notable exception to this attitude of abstinence, the domain of female household goods which are procured on seasonal travels to places as distant as Dakar or Freetown.

The Wodaabe case is distinctive in that the gift/commodity model does not adequately describe the forms of acquisition in question. The author suggests a third term: ‘booty’, implying that, for the Wodaabe, consumer goods are not part of a genuine transaction. In a further step she analyses the cultural appropriation of newly acquired goods by exploring the parallels between the ceremonial exposition of female household items and male dances, showing that the modern elements incorporated into the expositions exhibit a certain aesthetic quality, namely brightness and radiance, which the Wodaabe regard as a characteristic trait of themselves. Thus, the adoption of new things leads here to an intensification of the original cultural expression.

Les Foulbé-Wodaabe du centre du Niger, comme d'autres pasteurs nomades, semblent très résistants à l'influence des biens de consommation mondiaux, la consommation de produits modernes se limitant plus ou moins à satisfaire des besoins pratiques. L'article présente une exception remarquable à cette attitude d'abstinence, à savoir le domaine des articles ménagers féminins acquis à l'occasion de déplacements qui peuvent aller jusqu’à Dakar ou Freetown.

Le cas des Wodaabe se distingue par le fait que le modèle don/marchandise ne décrit pas de manière satisfaisante les formes d'acquisition en question. L'auteur suggère un troisième terme: «booty» (signifiant littéralement butin), suggérant que pour les Wodaabe, les biens de consommation ne s'inscrivent pas dans une véritable transaction. Dans un second temps, l'article analyse l'appropriation culturelle de biens récemment acquis en explorant les parallèles entre l'exposition cérémoniale des articles ménagers féminins et les danses masculines, en montrant que les éléments modernes intégrés dans les expositions présentent une certaine qualité esthétique, à savoir de luminosité et d'éclat, que les Wodaabe considèrent comme un trait caractéristique d'eux-mêmes. Par conséquent, l'adoption de choses nouvelles conduit ici à une intensification de l'expression culturelle d'origine.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 78 , Issue 4 , November 2008 , pp. 582 - 602
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2008

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