19. Jänner 2015
 

Regionale Verteilung ethnischer Gruppen

Das linguistische Sammelwerk Ethnologue enthält eine Karte zur geografischen Verbreitung der in Gambia und im Senegal gesprochenen Sprachen:

·      Ethnologue: Senegal and the Gambia, 2014

http://www.ethnologue.com/map/SNGM

 

Eine Übersicht zu den in Gambia gesprochenen Sprachen und deren SprecherInnen findet sich in einem von den Soziolinguisten K. Juffermans und C. McGlynn verfassten wissenschaftlichen Artikel von 2009. In der Übersicht finden sich Informationen zu den Sprachen Mandinka, Fula, Wolof, Jola, Serahule, Serer, Manjago, Bambara, Aku, Jahanka, Karoninka, Bainunka und Balanta:

„In The Gambia, ten indigenous, ‘local‘ languages are spoken. None are exclusive to The Gambia as each can also be found in Senegal and in other geographically close countries such as Guinea-Bissau, Guinea and Mali. […]

Mandinka […]

As the language of the largest ethnic group, Mandinka is the most widely spoken language in The Gambia, both as a first and second language, and carries some prestige because of its numerical majority and historical royal connections. In the majority of rural areas, as well as most of the towns located outside the Banjul and Kanuifing LGAs, Mandinka functions as a lingua franca. […]

Fula […]

Many Gambian Fula are first or second generation migrants from Guinea, where Fula is a national language […]. Originally nomadic cattle herders, rural Fulas are now cattle farmers and often rear the livestock of people from other ethnic groups for agreed benefits. […] As rural tenants and urban traders in multi-ethnic environments, many Gambian Fula have gained fluency in the languages of their neighbours (Mandinka, Wolof, Jola, Serahule), thus removing the necessity for members of other ethnic groups to acquire high level second language proficiency in Fula. There are areas, however, especially in Fulladu, where Fulas form the majority and where Fula functions as a language of wider communication.

Wolof

Known as Surwa in Mandinka and Jolfeh in Fula, Wolof is the language of the third largest ethnic group in The Gambia, but is much more widely spoken as a second or additional language than Fula. […]

Wolof became the lingua franca of most of present-day Senegal and is becoming increasingly important in urban Gambia. In Banjul and the Kanifing Municipality, children of multiethnic parents increasingly grow up speaking Wolof as a first language and is often also the preferred language of communication in ethnically mixed gatherings, for example school playgrounds and market places. This process of Wolofisation as described for Senegal (Mc Laughlin 1995; Ngom 2004) takes a similar shape in The Gambia. The Wolofisation of ethnic identities (Ngom 2004), however, may not be as pervasive in The Gambia as in Senegal, as it appears it is taking the form not of ethnic assimilation but of increased multilingualism, with Wolof becoming a more evident second or subsequent language. […]

Jola

Jola is classified as an Atlantic Niger-Congo language and is, according to Ethnologue (2005) rather a family of languages than a single uniform language. Little is known about the pre-colonial history of the Jola, but their origins are believed to be in the lower region of Casamance and parts of what is now Guinea-Bissau (Sonko-Godwin 2003:68). In The Gambia, Jolas are most populous in the Foni districts, the rural area east of Kombi. […] Large numbers of recent refugees and settlers from troubled Casamance have ensured this ethnic group has grown slightly in the past decade […]. Jola is the ethnic group of President Yahya Jammeh, who has been head of state since 1994. […]

Serahule

The Serahule, also known by the French name Soninké, are descendents of the Ghana Empire (ninth-thirteenth centuries) in what is now Central Mali, where they are still more populous than in Senegambia (Sonko-Godwin 2003; Faal 1997:18f). In The Gambia, they are concentrated in the eastern parts of the country, particularly around Basse, but also live in Kombo. […]

Serer

The Serer, known as Kassinko in Mandinka, are a minority in The Gambia, but have a more significant population in Senegal. In The Gambia they are mostly found on the north bank and in Greater Serrekunda. […]

Manjago

They typically live on the south bank on the outskirts of villages that are ‘owned’ by Mandinkas and Jolas, or in urban Kombo. […]

Bambara […]

Bambara is the branch of Manding people that are still living in the area on southern Mali bordering Guinea from where all Manding peoples originate. […] There is a small group of native Gambian Bambara, who are sometimes referred to in Mandinka as Tilibonkas, literally meaning ‘those from the East’. Gambian Bambara migrated from the Manding area to what is now known as The Gambia long after Mandinkas inhabited the shores of the river Gambia, but long enough ago to become detached from the Bambara in Mali. […]

Aku

Members of the Aku ethnic group are most populous in the capital Banjul where they often own large colonial houses, witnessing the privileged position they had in the Bathurst-Freetown colonial administration. […]

Jahanka

The Jahanka originate from Guinea and Mali and are traditionally Muslim. Like the Bambara, the Jahanka are an ethnic group that is closely connected to the Mandinkas; so much so that many Gambians will refute that the Lahanka are a separate ethnic group. […]

Karoninka

The Karoninka originate from Casamance and have a similar ethnic origin to that of the Jola. […] Due to their small numbers, marriage to members of other ethnic groups is common among the Karoninka and has been identified by the elders as one of the reasons for assimilation into both Islam and other language groups.

Bainunka

The Bainunka originate from Casamance in Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. Due to their low numbers verifiable information about this group is lacking.

Balanta

The Balanta are perhaps the smallest ethnic group in The Gambia and are concentrated in the Central River Region.” (Juffermans/McGlynn, 2009, S. 332-339)

Ein vom Sozialpädagogen Holger Lüttich verfasstes Buch mit dem Titel „The Gambia and its President“ (2010) bietet folgenden Überblick über die ethnischen Gruppen in Gambia:

„The Jolas (‚Diola‘ in french literation) are one of the oldest existing tribes in the Gambia. They make up 10% of the Gambian population and are heavily concentrated in the Foni area of south west Gambia and Casamance in Senegal as well as parts of the north of Guinea-Bissau. […]

The Wolof make up 16% of the population in the country. […] While The Gambia is made up of a majority of people hailing from the Mandinka tribe, the Wolof tribe is still a large part of the country’s ethnic make up. […] In Banjul, The Gambia’s capital, 50 percent of the population use the Wolof language as a first language. In Serekunda, The Gambia’s largest town, although only a tiny minority are ethnic Wolofs, approximately 90 percent of the population speaks and/or understands Wolof. Wolof is increasingly the mother tongue of young people of mixed ethnicity […]

The Fula people (also called Peul, or Fulbe) are The Gambia’s second largest ethnic group (18%). […]

The Mandinka are The Gambia’s largest ethnic group. They make up 42 percent of the population and are by far the most populous tribe in the up-country rural areas.” (Lüttich, 2010, S. 20-24)

Der Afrikanist G. Mwakikagile geht in seinem Buch „The Gambia and Its People“ (2010) wie folgt auf die Siedlungsräume der in der Anfrage genannten Gruppen Wolof und Jola ein:

„The largest number of Wolofs live in Senegal but a significant number of them also live in The Gambia. In fact, in terms of percentage and raw numbers, The Gambia has the second-largest population of Wolofs in the entire West Africa. In The Gambia, they’re dominant in the Greater Banjul area where the Wolof language is also used as the lingua franca. Apart from the Banjul area, the Wolof are also dominant north of the Gambia River in the upper and lower Saloum districts and the northern parts of Niani, Sami, Niumi and Jokadu.” (Mwakikagile, 2010, S. 89-90)

“The Jola are the fourth-largest ethnic group in The Gambia after the Mandinka, the Fula, and the Wolof. They also live in the Casamance Province in neighbouring Senegal and in the northern part of Guinea-Bissau where they’re known as Diola. In The Gambia, they live mostly in the Foni areas south of Bintang Bolon in the Western Division in the southwestern part of the country.” (Mwakikagile, 2010, S. 107)

Auf Access Gambia, einer Informationswebsite zu Gambia, finden sich unter anderem folgende Angaben zu den Wolof in Gambia:

„The Wolof ethnic group (or Jollof, Jolof as they are sometimes known) in Gambia make up 16% of the population and are the third largest ethnic group. They are to be found in fairly large numbers in the areas of Jokadu, Baddibu, Saloum and Niumi but the vast majority are to be found in Senegal.” (Access Gambia, ohne Datum a)

Zu den Jola finden sich auf Access Gambia unter anderem folgende Informationen:

„The ethnic group known as the Jola, Jolla or Diola tribe as they are known in Senegal make up 10% of the Gambian population and are heavily concentrated in the Foni area of south west Gambia and Casamance in Senegal as well as parts of the north of Guinea-Bissau.“ (Access Gambia, ohne Datum b)

Regionale und ethnische Verteilung von OppositionsanhängerInnen

In einem im Vorfeld der Präsidentschaftswahlen vom November 2011 verfassten Artikel bezeichnet die gambische Tageszeitung The Point den Wahlbezirk Sami in der Central River Region als „Hochburg“ der Opposition. Die dortigen WählerInnen hätten erneut ihre Loyalität gegenüber der oppositionellen United Democratic Party (UDP) erklärt. In der Vergangenheit sei der Wahlbezirk jedoch eine Hochburg der Regierungspartei Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC) gewesen:

„The electorate in Sami constituency, an opposition stronghold in the Central River Region, have renewed their loyalty to the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), promising its leadership of a landslide victory in the presidential election due this Thursday 24th November.

At one time a ruling APRC party stronghold, Sami constituency in the 2007 parliamentary election voted in Hon. Lamin Ceesay of the United Democratic Party, as their National Assembly.” (The Point, 21. November 2011)

In den ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehenden Quellen konnten im Rahmen der zeitlich begrenzten Recherche keine Informationen zu dieser Teilfrage zur gefunden werden, die über die hier sowie in der Anfragebeantwortung a-9018-1 angeführten Informationen hinausgehen.

 

 

 

Quellen: (Zugriff auf alle Quellen am 19. Jänner 2015)

·      Access Gambia: (Wollof) Wolof Tribe in Gambia, ohne Datum a

http://www.accessgambia.com/information/wolof.html

·      Access Gambia: (Diola) Jola Tribe in Gambia, ohne Datum b

http://www.accessgambia.com/information/jola.html

·      Ethnologue: Senegal and the Gambia, 2014

http://www.ethnologue.com/map/SNGM

·      Juffermans, K./McGlynn, C.: A sociolinguistic profile of The Gambia, 2009. In. Sociolonguistic Studies Vol. 3.3 2009, S. 329-355

http://www.academia.edu/1453316/A_sociolinguistic_profile_of_The_Gambia

·      Lüttich, Holger: The Gambia and its President – On the Road to a prospering future, 2010 (verfügbar auf Google Books)

https://books.google.at/books?isbn=8191097796

·      Mwakikagile, G.: The Gambia and Its People: Ethnic Identities and Cultural Integration in Africa, 2010 (verfügbar auf Google Books)

https://books.google.at/books?isbn=9987160239

·      The Point: Opposition stronghold renews loyalty to UDP, 21. November 2011

http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/opposition-stronghold-renews-loyalty-to-udp