Recent information on how the Toucouleur people view marriages between men of the Jawandoo caste and women of the Toroodo caste could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, in Les Toucouleur de Fouta Tooro : stratification sociale et structure familiale, a book published in Dakar in 1969, the author wrote that the caste of the tooroBBe (plural of tooroodo) was at [translation] "the top of the Toucouleur social hierarchy," and that it [translation] "was, in fact, part of the political and religious aristocracy of society in general" (Yaya Wane 1969). As for the jaawamBe (plural of jaawanDo), the same author noted that this caste was [translation] "forced to submit to the tooroBBe if only to obtain their means of subsistence from them" (ibid.).

In describing marital relationships among the Toucouleur, Yaya Wane explained that [translation] "the tooroBBe often take FulBe (Peul), seBBe and jaawamBe as wives, while it is more difficult for the men from these three castes to marry tooroBBe, due to the latter's great reluctance to give their women to non-tooroBBe" (ibid.).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

Yaya Wane. 1969. Les Toucouleurs de Fouta Tooro : stratification sociale et structure familiale. Collection Initiations et Études africaines. No. XXV. Dakar: University of Dakar, Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire. http://www.pulaaku.net/defte/yWane/toucouleurFT/ch01.html [Accessed 16 May 2003]

IRB Databases

LEXIS/NEXIS

Resource Centre country file. Senegal

West Africa

Internet sites, including:

Allafrica

Afro Web: Senegal

French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS)

Heritageaccess: Senegal

Minorities at Risk Project

Senegal: A Country Study

Le Soleil [Dakar]

Walfadjiri

Wikipedia: Indigenous cultures, kingdoms and ethnic groups of Senegal