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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Tanbus and Dangassa: changing relationships between migrants and their descendants among the Dogon in Ghana
| Panel |
28. Generations of Migrants in West Africa
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| Paper ID | 255 |
| Author(s) |
Dougnon, Isaie
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | This paper focuses on the territorial and cultural implications of power relationships between different generations of migrants and their ability to adapt to the conditions of the host country. The paper is based on a study of Dogon migrants living in western Ghana. The data, composed essentially of migrants live stories, was collected during several months of field work that I carried out in 2001 and 2002 for my PhD thesis.
From the colonial period until today, Dogon migrants have adopted two Hausa words to distinguish the first generation of migrants from their descendants. Tanbus means ‘a man who came’, i.e., the migrant, while dangassa means ‘a person who is born at the migration destination’. These two terms have territorial and cultural implications. By exploring these two notions, the paper aims to draw attention to the way in which economic success influences inter-generational relationships and especially, the dichotomy between the permanent control that elders try to exert over youth and the claims on freedom made by youth to avoid this control.
The analysis focuses on four themes: the principle of solidarity, marriage, labour and the system of relationships with relatives in the migrant’s village of origin in Mali. It is argued that the relationships between generations cannot be treated theoretically and practically in isolation from the socio-cultural life of the host country and that of other migrant communities. Territorially isolated the migrant’s community is also isolated from the traditional set of rules, values and sentiments of its country of origin. As I will demonstrate, this isolation is favoured and helped by the young people. Due to contact with a complex and fluid colonial and post colonial Ghana that has changed significantly over time, the social evolution of Dogon migrants becomes more rapid, and the crisis between generations more frequent and varied. A community of experience of young people born in Ghana creates among them the feeling that they belong to Ghana in contrast to older generations coming from Mali who still long to go back to their home villages.
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