Senegal: Historical and Comtemporary Perspectives
James H. Smith, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Spelman College
I am writing this letter to convey my appreciation, and to communicate the extent to which I have benefited from the Exxon Mobil Fellowship that I received to participate in a CIEE Faculty Development Seminar in Dakar, Senegal in 2005. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Spelman College. My research focus is East Africa, and I conducted dissertation research on local understandings of development, and the relationship between witchcraft and development in the Kenyan imagination, from 1997-1999, and again in 2003. I have also conducted ethnographic research in Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, and Zanzibar (Kiswahili language training).
This course was extremely helpful to me, in that it provided me with an opportunity to learn about a part of Africa with which I was quite unfamiliar. The lecture on AIDS in Africa, and Senegal’s response to the epidemic, was particularly helpful, as it focused on the economic underpinnings of the disease. Similarly, the lecture on Mourid trade networks—their history, and the extent to which they facilitate globalization in a context of state decline—was quite helpful to me, as it built on my overall interest in how Africans are adapting to globalization and neo-liberalism. The site visits to Goree Island, and Toubab Dialow were also fascinating, although I would have liked to visit the Mourid city of Touba, primarily because of my interest in global Mourid trade networks. The lecture at Goree Island, on the African origins of certain American English terms, concepts, and styles, was also quite informative.
I am incorporating much of this material into my classes, particularly the anthropology class that I teach, entitled Contemporary African Issues. I have also used some of this material for my class, The Anthropology of Globalization, and in Introduction to Anthropology. I have also been engaged in discussions with faculty concerning the seminar, and will be able to use this experience in advising my students who wish to study abroad in Senegal.
Overall, my participation in the Senegal program has broadened my perspective on African culture and history, and the issues currently affecting Africa, for Senegal differs radically, in many concrete ways, from the East African countries with which I had been familiar: it is Francophone; it is not known for divisive ethnic conflict, and is generally stable and economically strong; it is predominantly Muslim; and it is West African, and so is part of a different historically entrenched network of transnational connections and relationships, including the African diaspora. Many of my students at Spelman have an interest in West Africa, and Islam, as well as the history of the slave trade, and participation in this program has helped me to expand my Africa related courses to respond to their interests.
I greatly appreciate having had the opportunity to participate in this program with the help of Exxon-Mobil