Concealing Authority: Diola priests and other leaders in the French search for a suitable chefferie in colonial Senegal

This article aims to explain the complexity of the relationship between Diola (or Joola) chiefs and the French colonial administration. After presenting the general Diola context, the author focalizes in Diola-Esulaalu and Diola-Huluf populations, both south of the Casamance River. In this area, the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cadernos de estudos africanos 2008-01 (16-17), p.35
Main Author: Baum, Robert M
Format: Article
Language:eng ; fre ; por ; spa
Subjects:
Colonialism
Tribal leaders
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This article aims to explain the complexity of the relationship between Diola (or Joola) chiefs and the French colonial administration. After presenting the general Diola context, the author focalizes in Diola-Esulaalu and Diola-Huluf populations, both south of the Casamance River. In this area, the traditional authorities were the leaders of the anticolonial resistance. For this reason, French officials turned to early Diola converts to Christianity to try to control the population. According both to oral information and to colonial archives, the French administration never controlled the leaders of Diola traditional religion (awaseena) or, consequently, the Diola population.
ISSN:1645-3794
2182-7400