Traditional structures: challenge to modernity? the case of Djenne

Abstract

The paper discusses the rise of African towns as exchange centers at ecological and economic frontiers. Djenne in particular rose at the frontiers of the Niger with the Macina and the Dogon plateau, and achieved autonomous status as a trade center connecting the Sahel with the trans-Sahara trade routes. Its population was heterogeneous and multi-cultural, and its government consisted of local (Bozo) and immigrant (Soninke) populations; under Songhay and Moroccan governors, the city councils of chefs de quartier and Islamic lawyers retained a certain autonomy. Its government resisted two religious revolutions by the Imams Chekou Amadou and el-Hadj Omar, before being subject to French administration. The 1st and 2nd Republic were basically an extension of centralism, and only the 3rd Republic passed decentralization laws which gave communities the right to elected councils and mayors. In Djenne traditional families and religious leaders still are involved in city government.