Annals of the Association of American Geographers, March 1978, volume 68 n°1 Book Reviews P 123 - 125

Pasteurs et paysans du Gourma : la condition sahélienne. Jean Gallais. Mémoire du Centre d’Études de Géographie Tropicale, Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, 1975. iv + 239 pp., bibliog., figs., photos, tables. 120 F. Reviewed by Jeffrey Altman Gritzner JEAN GALLAIS’ Pasteurs et paysans du

devoted to the seasonal dynamics of the

Gourma is a timely and authoritative study of

regional flora, particularly to forage species

a somewhat neglected region of the West

and to those which otherwise influence

African Sahel. This region, composed of the

human activity. For example, it would appear

Gourma proper, the Plateau of Bandiagara,

to be the seasonal presence of borgu grass

and the Séno-Gondo, occupies approximately

(Echinochloa stagnina) in the periodically

130,000 km2 enclosed by the upper bend of

inundated lowlands of the interior delta which

the Niger River, extending from Mopti to

precipitates

Tillabéri, and by the Voltaic frontier. The

pastoralists into that area. Considerations of

region and its diverse inhabitants have

soil, either in relation to vegetation or to

absorbed Professor Gallais’ interest for two

human activity, have also been neglected. Just

decades and have been the subject of several

as the Fulani are drawn to the lowlands by the

scholarly publications, including his well-

luxuriant borgu grass, they are driven to

received monograph, Le Delta intérieur du

higher ground early in the rainy season when

Niger.

the heavy soils of the delta are transformed

Part One of Pasteurs et paysans du

the

movement

of

Fulani

into an impassable quagmire.

Gourma is devoted to highly competent

Some mention might also have been made

discussions of climate and landform, and to a

of the wildlife of the Gourma. While the

somewhat less satisfactory discussion of

widespread disturbance of habitat and the

vegetation. Because the monograph is largely

direct

concerned with the organization of social

livestock

space, more attention might have been

populations,

competition has

with

greatly

hunting

domesticated

reduced

was

wildlife

apparently

of

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, March 1978, volume 68 n°1 Book Reviews P 123 - 125

significance in the traditional economy of the

the iklan at the expense of their masters,

region. Further, and with reference to

Professor Gallais refers to the iklanisation of

Professor Gallais’ expressed concern for the

Tamacheq

future,

because

implications of this process, together with the

wild species occupy distinct and usually

social reorganization and expansion of the

complementary

the

neighboring Dogon, suggest a need to

species

reevaluate the concept of tribe within regions

characteristically exceeds that of domesticated

of social instability and intense social

livestock subject to the same conditions. In

interaction.

standing

it

is

noteworthy ecological

biomass

of

that

niches, wild

society

(Chapter

VII).

The

addition to the greater carrying capacity for

This would be an apt topic for future

wildlife, wild ungulates are more efficient in

investigation. Professor Gallais further notes

their use of water, are more tolerant of heat

that the overall demographic trends of the

stress and disease, and would therefore

Gourma, given the region’s limited resource

represent a form of “drought proofing” in a

base, are resulting in a necessary shift toward

region highly susceptible to drought.

livelihood forms incompatible with pastoral

Part Two of the study is devoted to the

traditions.

pastoral realm of the Kel Tamacheq. (The

Elsewhere in the literature of the Malian

author happily avoided using the alien,

Sahel, the more random movement of the

pejorative term Tuareg to describe Tamacheq-

dominant Kel Tamacheq has been contrasted

speaking pastoralists.) The Kel Tamacheq are

with the highly regulated migratory patterns

described as a dominant, expanding social

of the less numerous Fulani. This has resulted

force. Ironically, perhaps, these very traits

in Tamacheq ingress into traditionally Fulani

have apparently resulted in chronic tribal

areas during periods of scarcity, as well as a

instability. This instability grows variously

more general intrusion of pastoralists into the

from the imposition of arbitrary, exclusive

fields of sedentary agriculturalists such as the

colonial boundaries; from restrictions of

Bambara. It is apparent that competition for

movement imposed by national governments

scarce resources is a chronic source of

unsympathetic to pastoralism; and from the

conflict in the Gourma. Hence, the impact of

dependence of the Kel Tamacheq upon their

Kel Tamacheq ascendancy upon the cultural

attached servants, the Tamacheq iklan (sing.

ecology of the region warrants more attention.

akli), and upon alien artisans. Largely because

Similarly, more consideration might have

of a population growth differential favoring

been given to the interaction of the Kel

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, March 1978, volume 68 n°1 Book Reviews P 123 - 125

Tamacheq with resident Arab pastoralists and

be inseminated by the immortal herd of

their attached hartani.

Tyanaba when the latter arises from the lake

Gallais likewise might have discussed more

animal

migration, stripped of its pagan implications,

husbandry and the social values assigned to

was institutionalized by the ordinance of

livestock,

an

Shaykh Ahmadu ibn Hammadi early in the

understanding of pastoral economies. With

nineteenth century. It is this ordinance which

regard to the relation of husbandry to social

defined

space, the crisp cartographic representations

patterns of the Islamic Fulani.

of

fully as

pastoral

the

techniques

both

are

movement

of

at night. This ancient pattern of annual

basic

are

to

somewhat

The

the

highly

social

regulated

complexities,

migratory livelihood

misleading. The movement of livestock over

emphases, and territorial expansion of the

migratory routes can be extremely complex-

Dogon are presented with an authority

often varying seasonally as well as with the

reflecting

sex, age, and species of the animals involved,

familiarity with this enigmatic people. The

and with the social status of the herders

monograph also deals with a medley of

associated with them. Efficient utilization of

sedentary, agricultural tribes of diverse

available forage, for example, results in cattle

provenance, including an excellent analysis of

being

main

the Hombori district by Jocelyne Marie and

migratory routes in a series of circular

descriptions of three Fulani groups : the

patterns extending outward as far as perhaps

Dialloubé,

twenty kilometers from the main routes. The

Foulankriabé. Jérôme Marie’s treatment of

Fulani, unlike the Kel Tamacheq, share a

the Foulankriabé of Hombori is particularly

special

thorough and provides important insights into

frequently

driven

relationship

with

off

the

their

cattle.

Traditionally, Fulani cattle are regarded less

the

the

author’s

well-documented

Djelgobé,

and

the

processes of social change in the Gourma.

as wealth than as relatives and totems. Fulani

Although Professor Gallais’s view of the

animists still believe that their cattle are

tribal societies who occupy the Gourma is

protected by a supernatural personality known

sympathetic, one might wish for the presence

as Tyanaba, an agent of the omnipotent

of more indigenous opinion and perception in

Gueno. Tyanaba is believed to live with an

the study. Similarly, the monograph would

immortal herd of cattle in the depths of Lake

have profited from a more systematic

Débo in the interior delta. Hence, cattle are

introduction to the history of the region and

driven to the lake so that the Fulani herds will

from a more generous use of non-French

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, March 1978, volume 68 n°1 Book Reviews P 123 - 125

sources. The Gourma was, after all, appended

Mas’udi, al-Bakri, az-Zouhri, al-Idrisi, Ibn

to a succession of remarkable empires and

Battutah, Ibn Khaldun, the Venetian Alvise

states, among them Ghana, Mali, Songhai,

Ca’da Mosto, Leo Africanus, Ahmad Baba,

and Segu. It was also the terminus of

Mahmud Kati, ‘Abd ar-Rahman as-Sadi,

important

routes

Olfert Dapper, the Scottish surgeon Mungo

established in Carthaginian times, influenced

Park, and others. The details of settlement,

by east-west movement along the Sahelian

social organization, and livelihood described

route of Islamic pilgrimage, and was greatly

by many of these authors would have lent

influenced by diverse Muslim brotherhoods

context

and by such nearby centers of commerce and

contemporary discussion.

scholarship

Berber

as

trans-Saharan

Djenné

and

Timbuktu.

Despite

to

Professor its

various

Gallais’ omissions

more and

Remnants of the region’s past variously reside

somewhat uneven synthesis, Professor Gallais

in ancient hydraulic works similar to those of

and his principal collaborators, Jocelyne and

western Arabia and the desert realm of the

Jérôme Marie, have compiled an extremely

Garamantes, and in the brick architecture

useful monograph. The study is well-written,

introduced from Granada via Makkah by Abu

unusually well-illustrated, and contains a

Ishaq as-Sahili following the memorable

wealth of specific information. It is, perhaps,

fourteenth-century

the most valuable regional study dealing with

hajj

of

the

Malian

emperor, Mansa Kankan Musa. As is so often

the Sahel to appear in recent years.

the case with western considerations of the Sahel,

one

is

left

with

the

incorrect

impression that the written history of the Gourma dates from the passage of Heinrich Barth in the mid1800s. Neglected are many valuable earlier sources dealing with the region : Wahb ibn Munabbih, al-Fazari, al-

Mr. Griztner is an instructor at Trinidad State Junior College in Trinidad, CO 81082.