Key Practice That Facilitates Mali's Internal Non-violence
in a Population with a Large Number of Distinct Ethnic Groups - Estimated to be 22

"You Eat Beans!": Kin-based Joking Relationships, Obligations, and Identity in Urban Mali

Author: Rachel A. Jones, Macalester College

Advisor: Sonia Patten

For people in urban environments, practices and beliefs allowing creation of supportive social relationships are important for dealing with economic and other insecurities. This paper examines roles of sinankuya, a kin-based joking relationship, in Bamako, Mali. I argue that people in Bamako use and negotiate practices and beliefs associated with sinankuya for practical purposes. Participant observation, ethnographic interviewing, and historical research were used to examine ways that Malians use this joking relationship to promote social cohesion, circumvent the power of the state, provide opportunities for economic gain, and preserve cultural histories and identities in a rapidly changing urban environment.

Jones, Rachel A. , "You Eat Beans!": Kin-based Joking Relationships, Obligations, and Identity in Urban Mali" (2007). Honors Projects. Paper 2.

Click on the following link to download the complete article as a Portable Document Format file (.pdf)

http://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/anth_honors/2

Copyright is owned by author of this document: Contact Author

Last updated 6 February 2014