I went to my friend Youssouf's on Friday afternoon to eat some rice and fish and watch Prisonbreak. During the middle of the third episode he turned to me and said something about Friday and Saturday being the new weekend. We were hanging out, watching TV, getting ready to eat with our hand, so yeah, it was just like the weekend.
Heading home in a taxi the driver said something similar, than I heard it again at a boutique. I figured this must be some Mauritanian proverb I'd either never heard or never been able to understand before.
That evening, I met my friend Angela told me she might have to start teaching on Sundays. Yes, the weekend was now Friday and Saturday. There was talk about this in the Parliament last week, the passed the resolution this week, and announced the news on Friday morning.
Turns out this is the third time they've done this in the last few years. Friday is the Muslim holy day and everything shuts down after the afternoon prayer anyway. What remains to be seen is if anyone actually starts working on Sunday again.
mercredi 2 janvier 2008
Why I'm So Popular
In America no one was ever impressed that I lived in America but everyday here in Mauritania I impress everyone I meet by the large Made in America tag sewn somewhere on my body. Maybe I'd pull the thing off if I could find it, maybe not. The fact is, the attention is kind of nice and usually good for a free meal.
For awhile I thought all this attention had more to do with the color of my skin, but that's not it. On regular basis, I'll walk into a room full of strangers and be pretty much ignored, until someone realizes I'm not French or Spanish, but American.[1] Then I become the life of the party for as long as my French holds out.
In the first day of a language class I was taking here in Nouakchott, everyone in the room had to introduce themselves. There were about ten Mauritanian's, two lily white Spaniards, and myself. By the end of class, and every class thereafter, I was the most popular kid in school; everyone wanted my number, wanted to speak English, ask questions, learn all about me, have me over for lunch, for dinner, play with their kids, and visit them at work. The poor Spaniards were totally forgotten and after two weeks they quit coming, probably because they were jealous of me.
Yes, American's are rare in Mauritania, the French are French, and the Spanish dress funny but the real reason I'm so popular is much simpler: Prisonbreak, 24, and Desperate Housewives. Hollywood makes some damn good entertainment, even dubbed over in French, and this has done more than all our military might, industrial superiority, and technological marvels to insure our place in the hearts and minds of the world.
[1]This never takes long. I know my French accent is terrible because all I have to say is Bonjour and everyone immediately asks if I'm American.
For awhile I thought all this attention had more to do with the color of my skin, but that's not it. On regular basis, I'll walk into a room full of strangers and be pretty much ignored, until someone realizes I'm not French or Spanish, but American.[1] Then I become the life of the party for as long as my French holds out.
In the first day of a language class I was taking here in Nouakchott, everyone in the room had to introduce themselves. There were about ten Mauritanian's, two lily white Spaniards, and myself. By the end of class, and every class thereafter, I was the most popular kid in school; everyone wanted my number, wanted to speak English, ask questions, learn all about me, have me over for lunch, for dinner, play with their kids, and visit them at work. The poor Spaniards were totally forgotten and after two weeks they quit coming, probably because they were jealous of me.
Yes, American's are rare in Mauritania, the French are French, and the Spanish dress funny but the real reason I'm so popular is much simpler: Prisonbreak, 24, and Desperate Housewives. Hollywood makes some damn good entertainment, even dubbed over in French, and this has done more than all our military might, industrial superiority, and technological marvels to insure our place in the hearts and minds of the world.
[1]This never takes long. I know my French accent is terrible because all I have to say is Bonjour and everyone immediately asks if I'm American.
White Guy in the Right Place
My friends Cissé, Angela, and I went to a fake traditional Pulaar wedding the other day which was followed by a real traditional march to the quartier's final soccer match. There was a huge crowd, which an armed guard immediately escorted us through, past the crowd control fence and directly to the VIP tent. I shook hands with all the grand boubou wearing officials, took a bottle of water, a seat, watched the game, and continued to shake hands with whomever approached. Shaking hands has been my job for the last six months and I do it well.
After the winning team lifted the trophy in the air and the crowd ran onto the field, the officials pulled me aside and said Something something Ambassade something something something and shook my hand some more.
Moments later, the winning team's captain came up to me with the trophy, shook my hand, hugged me, and asked for a photo. I had my camera out and was happy to oblige, but he pulled me under his arm and a newspaper photographer took the photo instead. More hugs, more shaking hands.
With the help of more armed men, we finally extricated ourselves from the field. Cissé was grinning from ear to ear so I asked him what the hell that was all about. Turns out the German Embassy had paid for the trophy, the tent, the shirts, the water, everything to make the final game special. The officials were even happier that a German Ambassador had decided to come and see the game. I think I look pretty young for an Ambassador, but maybe not. I'm not sure if any of the pictures made it into the paper, but I'm positive some are hanging up on Mauritanian walls.
After the winning team lifted the trophy in the air and the crowd ran onto the field, the officials pulled me aside and said Something something Ambassade something something something and shook my hand some more.
Moments later, the winning team's captain came up to me with the trophy, shook my hand, hugged me, and asked for a photo. I had my camera out and was happy to oblige, but he pulled me under his arm and a newspaper photographer took the photo instead. More hugs, more shaking hands.
With the help of more armed men, we finally extricated ourselves from the field. Cissé was grinning from ear to ear so I asked him what the hell that was all about. Turns out the German Embassy had paid for the trophy, the tent, the shirts, the water, everything to make the final game special. The officials were even happier that a German Ambassador had decided to come and see the game. I think I look pretty young for an Ambassador, but maybe not. I'm not sure if any of the pictures made it into the paper, but I'm positive some are hanging up on Mauritanian walls.
Languages
906 million Africans speak over 1000 languages
730 million Europeans speak 35 languages
279 different languages are spoken in Cameroon; in Zaire - 221, Tanzania - 131, Sudan - 132, Tchad - 127
There are three monolingual African nations – Burundi, Rwanda, and Somalia
There are five multilingual African nations with one or more dominant languages – Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Zaire
In all the other countries, there is no single dominant language.
Continent, % World Population, % World Languages
Africa, 14%, 33%
Europe, 11.3%, 3%
Asia, 60.5%, 30% [1]
Most of these languages are spoken by culturally and, perhaps to a lesser extent, ethnically diverse people. All these numerous tribes and ethnic groups have had complicated relationships, often involving war, subjugation, and slavery. This is illustrated in Mauritania by the Haratins, or Black Moors, the second largest minority after the Hal-Pulaars. They are the descendants of West Africans enslaved by the North African Berbers. Over time, they came to largely share the Moor culture and language while still being seeing as a distinct group.
The borders of Mauritania, as is the case with much of Africa, were drawn from the logic of outsiders—a river here, a mountain range there, longitude, latitude, and treaties with other foreign governments. This ignored the racial and cultural diversity that exists within that arbitrary landmass. Rivers, for example, are rarely borders in traditional societies. Through trade and transportation they connect people together. Although differences may exist along the entire length of a river, the odds are that two villages on directly opposite banks will share the same language and culture. In Mauritania, the south-western border was drawn along the Senegal River, separating the Hal-Pulaar peoples from their cousins in Senegal and giving the country something of a split-personality between the Moorish north and Black African south.
By favoring certain ethnic groups, colonial governments in Africa could take advantage of these relationships to further their own power. This has left a legacy of governments that tend to represent the interests of whomever the colonists worked with. This, combined with numerous languages, uncomfortable borders, and a long history ethnic clashes makes nationalism an especially difficult concept through much of Africa and leads in part to the seemingly endless civil wars in African nations.
[1] I started making all these numbers up, then found them in a recent issue of Aujourd'hui l'Afrique
730 million Europeans speak 35 languages
279 different languages are spoken in Cameroon; in Zaire - 221, Tanzania - 131, Sudan - 132, Tchad - 127
There are three monolingual African nations – Burundi, Rwanda, and Somalia
There are five multilingual African nations with one or more dominant languages – Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Zaire
In all the other countries, there is no single dominant language.
Continent, % World Population, % World Languages
Africa, 14%, 33%
Europe, 11.3%, 3%
Asia, 60.5%, 30% [1]
Most of these languages are spoken by culturally and, perhaps to a lesser extent, ethnically diverse people. All these numerous tribes and ethnic groups have had complicated relationships, often involving war, subjugation, and slavery. This is illustrated in Mauritania by the Haratins, or Black Moors, the second largest minority after the Hal-Pulaars. They are the descendants of West Africans enslaved by the North African Berbers. Over time, they came to largely share the Moor culture and language while still being seeing as a distinct group.
The borders of Mauritania, as is the case with much of Africa, were drawn from the logic of outsiders—a river here, a mountain range there, longitude, latitude, and treaties with other foreign governments. This ignored the racial and cultural diversity that exists within that arbitrary landmass. Rivers, for example, are rarely borders in traditional societies. Through trade and transportation they connect people together. Although differences may exist along the entire length of a river, the odds are that two villages on directly opposite banks will share the same language and culture. In Mauritania, the south-western border was drawn along the Senegal River, separating the Hal-Pulaar peoples from their cousins in Senegal and giving the country something of a split-personality between the Moorish north and Black African south.
By favoring certain ethnic groups, colonial governments in Africa could take advantage of these relationships to further their own power. This has left a legacy of governments that tend to represent the interests of whomever the colonists worked with. This, combined with numerous languages, uncomfortable borders, and a long history ethnic clashes makes nationalism an especially difficult concept through much of Africa and leads in part to the seemingly endless civil wars in African nations.
[1] I started making all these numbers up, then found them in a recent issue of Aujourd'hui l'Afrique
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