Climate Change Adaptation in The Gambia: The Role of Kanyeleng Communication and Performance

Abstract

Traditional communicators known as kanyeleng have increasingly taken on roles in climate change adaptation in The Gambia. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted from 2018 to 2019, McConnell and Jallow show that kanyeleng performers contribute to disseminating information about climate change adaptation while also creating the social conditions necessary for citizens to hear and respond effectively to that information. Understandings of climate change in The Gambia intersect with broader concerns about loss of traditional and religious values. Through their performances, kanyeleng work as mediators to resolve tensions associated with climate change adaptation and integrate Indigenous environmental knowledge and climate science.