Landscape Perception and Other Miscellenea

Africamap: Map showing Saint-Louis (indicated by red triangle) and Rao

Africamap: Map showing French colonies; 1930

The source I chose for my region was an article by J. Joire, entitled Archeological Discoveries in Senegal, published in the 1943 issue of Man.  This short document essentially outlines the archeological discoveries from an excavation conducted on various sand mounds in and around Rao and Saint-Louis Senegal.  After the excavations, it was concluded that these were actually funeral barrows of the Serer people.  While the term funeral is often overlooked as a colloquial term, funerals are actually ceremonies laden with ritual.  Most people are only intimately familiar with their own funeral traditions, and there is, as with most things, a temptation to project one’s own traditions on those of others.  Conversely, there exists the opposite problem, where one expects that other’s traditions will differ so vastly from theirs so as not to be comparable in any productive way.  This excavation revealed that while there are many ritualistic differences between Serer practices and other funeral practices around the world, there are also many similarities that indicate that Senegal was constantly evolving and was subject to the same kind of foreign influences that societies are now.

Africamap: Map showing Trans Atlantic slave trade routes

Like all rituals, funerals leave their mark on the landscape in a myriad of ways.  In this instance, archeologists discovered various precious objects ranging from silver rings to iron swords.  The one particular object that caught my attention was the sword with the cross-shaped hilt.  This description made me think about the Denbow article that we read this week.  Denbow, among other things, addressed the issue of Christian and foreign influences in the Congo and the significance of "whiteness." Using Africamap to explore some of these issues, I discovered that Saint-Louis is located on the western coast of Senegal, making it an excellent entry port for the trans-Atlantic slave trade.  In addition, it was subject to the influence of French colonizers as well as Catholic missions in the area.  Seeing that Saint-Louis was a city so exposed to foreign influences makes discovering objects such as a sword with a cross-shaped hilt much more interesting.  A symbol like a cross that has so many Christian connotations but that can also have unknown connotations in the Serer culture can tell us a lot about the landscape and how people shaped the environment in which they lived.

Africamap: Map showing Catholic missions in Saint-Louis from 1889

One recurring idea from Professor Fennell’s lecture last Monday, is the idea that cultures don’t exist separately from humans.  This is to say that cultures, much like landscapes, are fluid entities that are shaped by the humans that create them, and are, therefore, as unpredictable and varied as people themselves.  Additionally, Professor Fennell asserts that because of this, each individual has the capacity to change their culture.  I found this idea particularly compelling, not only because I happen to agree with it (albeit with some minor reservations), but also because it relates well to what we’ve been reading in class.  As I’ve discovered, landscapes function in a very similar way; they are fluid structures that evade definition and shift incessantly under our feet.  The relationship between a landscape and the people that inhabit it is a symbiotic one; each depends on the other for survival, and there is a constant back and forth that defines the relationship and each part of the whole as individuals.  Culture, Professor Fennell ascertains, is structured in the same way; it as dependent on the people that help create it as they are to it.