Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-15T00:41:15.158Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Music as Socially Reproductive Labor: Murid Creative Practice in Dakar’s Médina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2022

Brendan Kibbee Open the ORCID record for Brendan Kibbee [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Médina, a crowded, working-class neighborhood in Dakar, disciples’ associations (dahiras) from the Murid Islamic Brotherhood turn city streets into spaces of participatory musical performance on a nightly basis. While the Brotherhood is frequently cited for its industriousness, scholars have generally focused on the agricultural and commercial aspects of Murid labor, rather than the creative aspect. This article examines how the Brotherhood’s valuing of creative activities as labor mitigates against the stigma that many young men in Médina face when they are expected to be productive members of society while largely being excluded from the prevailing global economic order.

Résumé

Résumé

Dans la Médina, un quartier populaire de Dakar, des associations de disciples de la confrérie islamique Mouride (dahiras) convertissent chaque soir des rues urbaines en espaces musicales participatives. La confrérie est réputée pour l’ardeur au travail de ses disciples. Les chercheurs tendent à privilégier les aspects agricole et commerçant du travail Mouride, plutôt que son aspect créateur. Nous examinons comment la valorisation de la création artistique comme travail atténue les stigmates du chômage pour les jeunes de la Médina qui intériorisent des discours de la logique productiviste pendant qu’ils sont exclus de l’ordre économique global contemporain.

Resumo

Resumo

Em Médina, um bairro apinhado da classe trabalhadora em Dakar, as associações de discípulos (dahiras) da Irmandade Islâmica Mouride transformam à noite as ruas da cidade em espaços de atuação musical participativa. Embora a Irmandade seja frequentemente citada pela sua diligência, os estudiosos têm-se geralmente concentrado nos aspetos agrícolas e comerciais do trabalho mouride, em vez de se debruçarem sobre a dimensão criativa. Este artigo examina como a valorização das atividades criativas da Irmandade enquanto trabalho atenua o estigma que muitos jovens em Médina enfrentam quando se espera que sejam membros produtivos da sociedade, ao mesmo tempo que são em grande medida excluídos da ordem económica global dominante.

Keywords

SenegalmusiclaborIslampostcolonial citiesMuridiyya
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 189 - 210
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Babou, Cheikh Anta. 2005. “Contesting Space, Shaping Places: Making Room for the Muridiyya in Colonial Senegal, 1912–45.” The Journal of African History 46 (3): 405–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Babou, Cheikh Anta. 2007. Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853–1913. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barchiesi, Franco. 2012. “Liberation Of, Through, or From Work? Postcolonial Africa and the Problem with ‘Job Creation’ in the Global Crisis.” Interface 4 (2): 230–53.Google Scholar
Cooper, Frederick. 2005. Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Copans, Jean. 1980. Les Marabouts de l’Arachide: La Confrérie Mouride et Les Paysans Du Sénégal. Les Hommes et Leurs Signes. Paris: Le Sycomore.Google Scholar
Couty, Phillipe. 1969. Doctrine et Pratique Du Travail Chez Les Mourides. Dakar: ORSTOM.Google Scholar
Diop, Momar Coumba. 1981. “Les Affaires Mourides à Dakar.” Politique Africaine 1 (4): 90–100.Google Scholar
Diouf, Mamadou. 2000. “The Senegalese Murid Trade Diaspora and the Making of a Vernacular Cosmopolitanism.” Public Culture 12 (3): 679–702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
al Faruqi, Lois Ibsen, et al. 1985. “Music, Musicians and Muslim Law.” Asian Music 17 (1): 3–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, James. 2015. Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on the New Politics of Distribution. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Fredericks, Rosalind. 2018. Garbage Citizenship: Vital Infrastructures of Labor in Dakar, Senegal. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardt, Michael, and Negri, Antonio. 2009. Commonwealth. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harney, Elizabeth. 2004. In Senghor’s Shadow: Art, Politics, and the Avant-Garde in Senegal, 1960-1995. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Mbacké, Abdoul Aziz. 2010. Khidma, La Vision Politique de Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba: Essai Sur Les Relations Entre Les Mourides et Le Pouvoir Politique Au Sénégal. Dakar: Projet Majalis.Google Scholar
Meintjes, Louise. 2003. Sound of Africa! Making Music Zulu in a South African Studio. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Ngom, Fallou. 2016. Muslims Beyond the Arab World: The Odyssey of ʻAjamī and the Murīdiyya. Religion, Culture, and History. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakakeeny, Matt, and Birch, Willie. 2013. Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Shipley, Jesse Weaver. 2013. Living the Hiplife: Celebrity and Entrepreneurship in Ghanaian Popular Music. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Sholette, Gregory. 2016. “Swampwalls: Dark Matter and the Lumpen Army of Art.” Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory 26 (2–3): 172–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, Ryan Thomas. 2012. “Cultural Politics in the Post-Colony: Music, Nationalism and Statism in Mali, 1964-75.” Africa 82 (4): 511–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sugarman, Jane. 1997. Engendering Song: Singing and Subjectivity at Prespa Albanian Weddings. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Sylla, Khadim, Wadoud, Cheikhouna Mbacke Abdoul, and Diattara, Serigne Mountakha. 2013. “Work and Khidma in Mouridism.” In Studies on Mouridism, 129–42. Senegal: Ministry of Culture of Senegal.Google Scholar
Tronto, Joan, and Fisher, Berenice. 1990. “Toward a Feminist Theory of Caring.” In Circles of Care: Work and Identity in Women’s Lives, edited by Abel, Emily and Nelson, Margaret, 36–54. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Turino, Thomas. 2008. Music as Social Life: The Politics of Participation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Weeks, Kathi. 1996. “Subject for a Feminist Standpoint.” In Marxism Beyond Marx, edited by Saree, Makdisi, Cesare, Casarino, and Rebecca, Karl, 89–118. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
White, Bob. 2008. Rumba Rules: The Politics of Dance Music in Mobutu’s Zaire. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Zips, Werner, and Zips-Mairitsch, Manuela. 2013. Soldaten Der Liebe: Senegals Mystischer Islam. (TV Film, first aired on 3sat).Google Scholar