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Ethnicity, Democratization, and Political Dramas: Insights into Ethnic Politics in Mauritania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2016

Cédric Jourde
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Extract

Since the establishment of party politics in colonial Mauritania, and especially since independence in 1960, the Mauritanian political arena has been marked by ethnic tensions. The best example is certainly the ethnic violence that occurred at the end of the 1980s between the Arab-Berbers (Bidhan) and the “Black Africans.” But in Mauritania, as in other countries marked by ethnic tensions and conflicts, it would be an analytical mistake to overlook other forms of group solidarity and other forms of conflict. Often, tensions based on ethnic differences unfold in conjunction with political struggles within ethnic communities, with accommodation across ethnic boundaries, and with debates about the type of political regime. These dynamics must be taken into account if we are to understand the significance of ethnicity as a political variable.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Issues , Volume 29 , Issue 1-2 , 2001 , pp. 26 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2001 

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References

Notes

1. I do not have the space to discuss the related case of the Arabic-speaking freed slaves, or Haratin. See Brhane’s, Meskerem superb dissertation, “Narratives of the Past, Politics of the Present: Identity, Subordination and the Haratines of Mauritania” (Ph.D. diss., University of Chicago, December 1997)Google Scholar.

2. In the fall of 2001 the government disbanded the two most popular opposition parties, Union des Forces Démocratiques-ere nouvelle and Action pour le Changement.

3. Bayart, Jean-François, “Fin de Partie au Sud du Sahara? La Politique Africaine de la France,” in La France et l’Afrique: Vade-Mecum Pour un Nouveau Voyage , ed. Michaïlof, Serge (Paris: Karthala, 1993), p. 116 Google Scholar.

4. Schatzberg, Michael, “Highjacking Change: Zaire’s ‘Transition’ in Comparative Perspective,” in Democracy in Africa: The Hard Road Ahead, ed. Ottaway, Marina (Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 1998), pp. 113–134 Google Scholar.

5. Interview in Boghe and Nouakchott.

6. In the four ethnic communities, there were many changes within the circle of ruling families and clans, but these changes affected mainly those who already occupied high positions in the sociopolitical hierarchy, rather than the structure regulating relations between ruling elites and commoners.

7. For the Senegalese shore of the river, see Beck, Linda, “‘Patrimonial Democrats’ in a Culturally Plural Society: Democratization and Political Accommodation in the Patronage Politics of Senegal” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, 1996)Google Scholar and for the Mauritanian shore of the river, see Jah, Aamadu Umaar, “Paysannerie et Évolution Foncière Dans la Province Halaybe (Région de ‘Bog-gee’)” (master’s thesis, École Normale Supérieure de Nouakchott, 1986)Google Scholar, 138; and Marchesin, Philippe, Tribus, Ethnies et Pouvoir en Mauritanie (Paris: Karthala, 1992), pp. 290–292 Google Scholar.

8. See Schmitz, “‘L’élection Divise’: la Politique au Village Dans la Vallée du Sénégal,” p. 40; and Beck, “‘Patrimonial Democrats’ in a Culturally Plural Society,” p. 207.

9. Schmitz, “‘L’élection Divise’: la Politique au Village Dans la Vallée du Sénégal,” p. 40.

10. Wane, Yaya, Les Toucouleurs du Fouta Tooro (Sénégal) (Dakar: Université de Dakar-IFAN, 1969), p. 82 Google Scholar.

11. In fact, the same happened to many Bidhan elites who had joined opposition parties in the first years of the democratization era. After some years in the opposition, they returned to the “presidential coalition.”

12. Cohen, Abner, The Politics of Elite Culture: Explorations in the Dramaturgy of Power in a Modern African Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13. Geertz, Clifford, “Centers, Kings, and Charisma: Reflections on the Symbolic of Power,” in Culture and its Creator: Essays in Honor of Edward Shils, Ben-David, and Clark, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1977), p. 162 Google Scholar.

14. Mauritanie-Nouvelles no. 124, June 25–July 2, 1995, p. 11.

15. Mauritanie-Nouvelles no. 124, June 25–July 2, 1995, p. 11. The government dismantled this party in fall 2001.

16. Interview, Nouakchott, September 1999.

17. Nicolas, Guy, Don Rituel et Echange Marchand Dans une Société Sahélienne (Paris: Museum national d’histoire naturelle Google Scholar. Mémoire de l’Institut d’Ethnologie XXV, 1986.

18. Interview Nouakchott, October 1999.

19. Interview, Nouakchott, September 1999.

20. The Mauritanian currency.

21. As Cohen, Abner explains, commensality is the “act of eating and drinking together,” that is, “a dramatic technique for achieving communion.” The Politics of Elite Culture: Exploration in the Dramaturgy of Power in a Modern African Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1981), p. 211 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

22. Bierschenk, Thomas, “Rituels Politiques et Construction de l’Identité Eethnique des Peuls au Bénin,” Cahiers des Sciences Humaines 31, no. 2 (1995): 481 Google Scholar; Benford, Robert D. and Hunt, Scott A., “Dramaturgy and Social Movements: The Social Construction and Communication of Power,” Sociological Inquiry 62, no. 1 (1992): 36–55 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23. Bernhardt, John W., Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c 936–1075 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 46 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

24. Geertz, “Centers, Kings and Charisma,” p. 162.