Epidemics and intra-communal contestations: Ekeh, ‘les Guinéens’and Ebola in West Africa

Abstract

As the Ebola epidemic ravaged the Mano River Basin in 2014, there was concern in Senegal that the resident Peul community of Guinean origins will cause the spread of the disease to Senegal. These fears went unrealized as the Peul migrants embraced many of the epidemic control and prevention measures, which often distanced them from primordial publics in Guinea. While partly motivated by concern over the dangers of Ebola, Peul migrants embraced these measures also because the epidemic and measures advocated to curb it allowed them to assert greater autonomy in their often-fractious relations with primordial publics in their places of origin in Guinea. Their embrace of these measures suggests a rethink of the emphasis on intercommunal strife, intra-communal conviviality and trenchant state-society chasms, which pervades much work on the political economy of postcolonial Africa and which draws significant inspiration from the work of Peter Ekeh.

Xenophobia’s Contours During an Ebola Epidemic: Proximity and the Targeting of Peul Migrants in Senegal

“…In this sense, one can assert that Ebola was not a defining event in inter-communal relations and historically rooted processes of identity formation in Senegal. This assertion corroborates the voices of many others (Benton 2015;Faye 2015;Abdullah & Rashid 2017;Niang 2014;M'Bokolo 1982;Farmer 2005;Obadare 2005;Turshen 1984;Benton & Dionne 2015;Lawrance 2018;Onoma 2018;Obeng-Odoom & Bockarie 2018) who have asserted the importance of broader and longer historical processes in understanding the occurrence, persistence, evolution, and effects of epidemics.…”

“…It is a moniker that challenges the belonging of these migrants to Senegal by tying them to the Fouta-Djallon highlands in Guinea, whence they are said to originate. The interchanged use of "Peul-Fouta" and "les Guinéens" by many Senegalese leaves no doubt about the exclusionary connotations of the term "Peul-Fouta" (Onoma 2017). Here I use the designation "Peul" to refer exclusively to members of this migrant community and indicate otherwise when I speak of other Peul populations.…”

“…Many Peul fled from Guinea to Senegal during the troubled reign of Sekou Touré, the first president of Guinea, and others continue to follow for economic, political, and other reasons (Lefebvre 2003;Groelsema 1998;Diallo 2009:54). The Peul community of Guinean origins in Senegal is a very diverse one, with members having arrived in Senegal at different periods, occupying varying socio-economic strata in Senegalese society, and having ties of different strength to Guinea and Senegal (Onoma 2018). Many are now citizens of Senegal, working in various Senegalese state structures.…”

“…She carefully plotted how she was going to negotiate her way through the market to avoid the Peul migrants from Guinea who worked there. These migrants were being widely scapegoated then as spreaders of EVD in Senegal on account of their connections to Guinea (Onoma 2017). But when Ngone alighted from the taxi at the market, a young Peul boy rushed toward her hawking plastic bags.…”

The Grave Preferences of Mourides in Senegal: Migration, Belonging, and Rootedness

“…It is all of these considerations that have motivated some to adopt where one desires to be buried as a foolproof method of determining where one belongs (Jindra 2011;Geschiere and Nyamnjoh 2000). Migrants, it is said, will always want to be buried "back home," just as it is assumed that they always will seek to acquire property there and contribute to the development of these areas (Fall 1998;Geschiere and Gugler 1998;Muccazato, Kabki, and Smith 2006;Onoma 2018b).…”