The Creole port city: cosmopolitanism, intimate encounters and republican ideals in twentieth-century Saint-Louis-du-Sénégal

Abstract

This article attempts to interpret cosmopolitan aspects of Creole port societies through one literary work, Abdoulaye Sadji's Nini mulâtresse du Sénégal. Republican ideals have been found in cosmopolitan Creole port societies for a very long time, and may be connected to both ancient pre-colonial and colonial Creole practices, especially intimate relationships. The text explores accordingly both the pre-colonial roots of these relationships as well as their colonial development. It also indicates that such relationships are central to the work analyzed, as young women of Creole origin are its main characters. Furthermore, the portrayal of those women is closely linked in the novel to issues of political freedom and anti-colonialism. The article moreover attempts to read the novel in the light of what is known of the history of Saint-Louis, stressing both the related presence of cosmopolitan Creole societies, conceptions of hybridity and Republican ideals.

Cet article propose une interprétation des aspects cosmopolites des sociétés portuaires créoles dans une œuvre littéraire, le roman d'Abdoulaye Sadji, Nini mulâtresse du Sénégal. Il y a eu des idéaux républicains dans les sociétés portuaires créoles depuis très long temps, où ils sont connectés à des anciennes pratiques créoles précoloniales et coloniales, en particulier des relations intimes. L'article explore en conséquence à la fois les racines précoloniales de ces dernières ainsi que leur développement colonial. Il indique également que ces relations sont au cœur de l'œuvre analysée, où les jeunes femmes d'origine créole sont des personnages centraux. En outre, la représentation de ces femmes est étroitement liée à des questions de liberté politique et d'anticolonialisme. L'article essai d'ailleurs de lire le roman à la lumière de ce qui est connu de l'histoire de Saint-Louis, soulignant à la fois la présence concomitante des sociétés créoles cosmopolites, des conceptions de «mixité», et des idéaux républicains.

Mots-clés: créole; Sénégal; cosmopolitisme; ville portuaire; Abdoulaye Sadji; Nini

Keywords:

• Creole
• Senegal
• cosmopolitanism;
• port city
• Abdoulaye Sadji
• Nini

Notes

The preceding paragraphs are based on my draft paper written for a conference on ‘Lived Cosmopolitanisms’, to be held at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, March 5–7, 2012.

My translation.

I must say that equating ‘Creole’ with ‘mixed’ is actually limiting, as a reviewer of this article has pointed out. Therefore, ‘Creoles’ do not necessarily have to be ethnically mixed people, though these are the kind of people the works discussed here highlight. Sadji published two other books on his own, Tounka (1965b; part of a collection of three novellas) and Maïmouna (1953). Though hardly unknown, neither seems to be as famous as Nini. Tounka is a fable-like narrative; and Maïmouna is about a traditional woman who goes to town and is lost. Dehon (1996, 118) reads Sadji's work, as a whole, as fundamentally conservative and condemnatory of his female characters.

Sadji and Senghor published together (Sadji & Senghor 1953).

This literature however is overwhelmingly of an economic and social nature. According to Michael Pearson, a cultural approach has not usually been attempted in such studies (email communication with the author, April 2011).

For a generic Luso-African identity in Senegambia, see Mark 2002; Brooks 2003; Diouf 2000.

A marabout is in fact not only a Muslim sage but also, importantly, an animist. He is therefore someone who mixes together various Muslim and non-Muslim religious notions and practices into a blend which is thought to be spiritually powerful.

The main source on Sadji seems to be that by his own son, Sadji 1997.

We can also say that the French state ultimately failed to extend its Republican project successfully beyond the DOM's and even inside them, and that such a failure is in part responsible for the unravelling of France's colonial empire.