European Journal of Social Sciences Studies
ISSN: 2501-8590
ISSN-L: 2501-8590
Available on-line at: http://www.oapub.org/soc
10.5281/zenodo.59784
Volume 1│Issue 1│2016
SENUFO AND THE SPECTER OF TRANSFIGURATION
Sidiky Diarassouba
Ph. D, Université Félix Houphouët ”oigny
“bidjan, Côte d Ivoire, West “frica
email: sidiara@yahoo.fr
Abstract:
The Senufo peoples in West “frica and in Côte d Ivoire, in particular, have suffered a
double colonization, including that of the Mandingo who have had the most
penetrating and pervasive cultural and linguistic impact on them. Mandingo loan
surnames within the Senufo communities are quite an edifying example. Although
many members of these communities are complaisant about these loan names, over the
years, increasing numbers of Senufo have expressed the desire to recover their ancient
surname. Amidst this movement, a line on the sly, both insidious and alarming, has
been firmly taking place. Indeed, some Senufo, more often than not, senior executives
and icons of the Senufo communities, have abandoned the ancestral surname to adopt a
new surname – the first or middle name of their father or a revered ancestor. Given the
dimensions of Senufo names and surnames, what justifies this adoption? In what ways
does this endangers the survival of the Senufo identity? It turns out that this practice is
in line with a pseudo capricious desire for a search of originality which, unfortunately,
takes on the appearance of a fad. This very situation surreptitiously presages another
chaos regarding the cultural identity within the confines of the Senufo linguistic and
cultural group.
Keywords: Senufo, Mandingo, patronymics, denaturation, transfiguration, culture and
identity
Introduction
Côte d Ivoire, a former French colony, is a medium - sized country located in West
Africa as indicated on the map below (Figure 1). Despite its size, it encloses sixty or so
ethnic groups that speak different languages and which are grouped into four larger
linguistic families: the Gur, the Kwa, the Mande and Kru (Greenberg, 1955; Silue 1998;
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved
Published by Open Access Publishing Group ©2015.
116
Sidiky Diarassouba –
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Welmers, 1955) (cf. Table 1 & Figure 2). Each family has a set of cultural and linguistic
groups sharing the same language with dialectal variants within each. Côte d Ivoire,
like most African countries underwent Western colonization.
Table 1: The ethnic groups of Côte d Ivoire by language family
Gur
Mande
Kwa
kru
Senufo
Mandingo (Jula)
Baulé
Wee/Weh
Kulango
Yacuba
Agni
Bété
Lobi
Guro
Abbey
Ahizi
Gourounsi
Abron
Dida
Oti-Volta
Attyé
Godié
Kirma-Tyurama
Algoon
komono
The table clearly shows that every major language group includes several language
families within which further subdivisions are often identified.
Figure 1: Côte d Ivoire in “frica
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Figure 2: Ethnic and Linguistic map of Côte d Ivoire
The Senufo cultural and linguistic group, by the number of its members, is cited
among the most representative ethnic groups of the country. It is useful to note that
native Senufo peoples are also found in neighbouring countries, such as Mali, Burkina
Faso and Ghana (Ouattara, 1988).
In Côte d Ivoire, Senufo originate from the north where their natural habitat
includes the regions of Bagoué, Poro, Tyologo and Hambol whose main cities are
Boundiali, Korhogo, Ferkessedougou and Katiola, respectively. The Senufo languages
spoken in these regions have among them rates of mutual intelligibility that vary from
55 to 95% (Silué, 2000). Within each language family, there are also various dialects.
Table 2 shows the languages of the Senufo group per regions.
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Table 2: The main Senufo languages in Côte d Ivoire in the main regions
Regions
Languages
Poro
Hambol
Tyologo
(Korhogo)
(Katiola)
(Ferkéssédougou)
Senari
x
Jimini
Bagoué (Boundiali)
x
x
Nyarafolo
x
Palaka
x
Shempire
Tagbana
x
x
As indicated in the above table, the Senufo cultural and linguistic group includes six
major languages. It is also noteworthy that there are dialectal variants for each
language.
The presence and contact of diverse cultural entities in the same physical space
often creates a cultural belligerence, open or on the sly, a natural law which is generally
crowned by various and sundry forms of colonization. Thus, the Senufo people in Côte
d'Ivoire, in particular, underwent a double colonization – the French and the Mandingo
(Tuho, 1984 Holas, 1966; Coulibaly, 1978 Crowder, 1993). However, it is undeniable that
the one by the Mandingo has remained the most penetrating and pervasive, culturally
and linguistically speaking.
The Senufo communities are generally docile, law-abiding and particularly often
inclined to usher others, because of their high sense of hospitality (Ouattara, 1999). This
is seen through the extent of intermarriage within Senufo communities. However, it is
generally admitted that the most glaring characteristic of the Senufo is their natural
tendency to embrace patterns from other cultures, whatever the nature, sometimes
quite lightly. As a proof, the Senufo in Côte d'Ivoire, got to the point where they have
adopted sections of other cultures as you select an object on a store shelf (Diarassouba,
2015). The clearest example to date remains the barter of their ancestral Senufo
surnames for Mandingo ones (Diarassouba, 2007, 2015; Tuho 1984).
Mandingo people, known under the generic and popular name 'Jula', have had
an undeniable cultural and linguistic impact on Senufo, the consequences of which will
still be visible for long, given the current circumstances. This Mandingo influence came
largely through wars of expansion of Mandingo Muslim conquerors. First, Tieba Traoré
and then the dreaded Al Mami Samory Touré, both from the territories which coincide
with areas that cover the current states of Mali and Guinea, respectively. These
campaigns that took place from the 17th to 19th century launched at the same time the
foundations of the indoctrination of Senufo people. Then marabouts wrapped up the
campaign of colonization through the penetration of Islam in Senufo communities that
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they orchestrated (Holas, 1966; Ouattara, 1977; Person, 1975; Diarassouba, 2007). In fact,
the conversion of Senufo to Islam, in a subtle way, went through a transaction in which
they were encouraged to reject their names in order for them to adopt Mandingo
surnames, based on hypothetically alleged equivalences between the eponyms of
Senufo surnames and Mandingo s Diarassouba,
Tuho
Person,
. “
further reason for taking Mandingo patronymics, in marabouts view, was that Senufo
ancestral surnames pagan and animistic. For a better understanding of this
phenomenon, see Diarassouba (2007; 2015) and Tuho (1984). Table 3 below serves as a
recall.
Table 3: Equivalence between Mandingo and Senufo surnames
Senufo surnames
Eponyms
Mandingo surnames
Sékongo
squirrel
Kamara
Traoré
Sanogo
Silué
Brown monkey; python
Koné
Konaté
Soro
panther; leopard
Coulibaly
Keita
Tuho / Tuo
lion; le phacochère
Diarassouba
Dagnogo
Yéo
Dwarf antelope
Ouattara
The table shows a straight symbolic connection through the eponyms, something that
strengthens and consolidates an alleged validity of equivalences. Unfortunately, to date,
this is done only in one direction (Tuho 1984; Diarassouba, 2015), as a Camara
(Mandingo) never becomes a Skéongo. Despite this fact, Mandingo surnames have been
massively harbored in Senufo communities. Furthermore, the table shows that many
family names can be associated with the same symbolic animal and vice versa. For
example, Kamara or Camara, Traoré and Sanogo are all set to the eponymous squirrel
alone. Moreover, it is noteworthy that Diarassouba and Dagnogo refer back to two
different eponyms, lion and warthog.
In previous studies (Diarassouba 2015 Tuho, 1984), this phenomenon of surname
borrowing was underscored, because of the magnitude of this sociological fact quite
striking by the extremely wide and diversified range of foreign surnames; something
that commands the attention of the Senufo themselves as well as their fellow citizens.
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Why do you reject your so sweet and melodious family names? Do they burn the
skin?
The above vignette, a joke of a Daffii with a Senufo, is very telling if anything as to how
others feel about Mandingo loan surnames used by Senufo communities. Beyond the
friendly banter, sociologically established through the alliance between the Senufo and
the Daffi, this could be a perfect example of the voice of all those silent masses who
chuckle. In another study, Diarassouba (2015, p.174) notes that a true Koné, that is a
member of the Mandingo community, was quick to tell another Koné, this time a false
one, that he was not "Senufo" but a "Jula from ”oundiali. Yet nothing, absolutely
nothing, could justify the desire of the true Koné to act so, if not a veiled annoyance; the
irritation of seeing an intruder wearing an artifact of his existential essence. For it must
be remembered, the surname is the first social identity pageantry (Diarassouba, 2015).
There are also many situations in which after introducing a Diarassouba or
Coulibaly," the introducer, often from Mandingo stock, immediately adds that the
person introduced is Senufo, by way of avoiding an embarrassing ethnosociological
amalgam; embarrassing for the other, but not necessarily for the Senufo in general, as
we stated in earlier work (e.g., Diarassouba, 2015). In an insert, as noted, Sir Moussa
Coulibaly is outraged that he was called Soro Pélifor, his authentic Senufo name.
Similarly, it is common to see many Senufo converted to Islam prefer Mandingo
patronymics Dagnogo, Ouattara, etc. even though their official papers bear Sékongo
and Yeo , respectively.
A study conducted in 2014 on a sample of 1500 Senufo aged 25 to 87 years
(Diarassouba, 2015) showed that, beyond the professions of good faith regarding the
resumption of Senufo surnames, in reality, the moves and behaviors of the would-be
candidates often tend to clearly suggest that the idea has not yet really taken shape let
alone to realize it. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to observe members of Senufo
communities strongly resist the burgeoning movement towards the rehabilitation of
this quite representative feature of any culture – the patronymic.
The reasons why Senufo are often reluctant to recover the ancestral surnames are
varied and numerous. Some people pointed to age, alleging that they were too old to
go back to ancestral names, and others raised a number of issues to justify that the
move was not worth the trouble. For instance, a prelate said that was not at issue, as far
as he was concerned, because he has no kids. Some other people just questioned the
ability of name changing to translate into better social conditions, as that is what
The Daffi originating in Burkina Faso and Mali, are in a covenant relationship (joking relationship) with
Senufo.
i
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counted most; and still some others simply thought the loan name was a legacy from
biological fathers. Therefore, it should be something to reckon with (Diarassouba, 2015).
All these arguments seem, to a large extent, to reinforce the idea that many Senufo were
complaisant about willfully plastering the false identity, jettisoning thus, by the same
token, the substance – their ancestral names – that is both, base and source of their
existential vibrations. This attitude according to Manonni (1950) encodes the prototype
of the mindset of most colonized people around the world. Further, according to Fanon
(1952), in the same order of thing, colonized people often tend to sublimate the effects of
colonization by devoting unreasoning attachment to its artifices and devices. It is not,
therefore, surprising that Senufo communities vouch an inordinate taste for the
things
of the colon which they often believe underpin their true and authentic
identity.
However, the 1980s saw the budding of a cultural consciousness rising, largely
thanks to the publication of a book entitled, J ai changé de nom. . . . Pourquoi?
I have
changed my name . . . Why? [My translation]) by Professor Charles Valy Tuho in 1984.
After the jolt and commotion that resulted from the publication of this book had been
blunted, there followed a motion geared towards recovering tribal patronymics.
However, it proved slow, chopped and unsteady because of the indecision of some and
the cultural imbroglio of others among icons of Senufo communities. It is a pressing
feeling to believe that most of these iconic figures were actually cultural waivers,
therefore reluctant to make a return to roots, as it seems more desirable for them to
wear the mask to which they strove to grant certain permanence, pretending to be
oblivious of its ephemeral nature. It should be acknowledged, all the same, that this
movement, despite all its flaws, did, nevertheless, leave some undeniable traces to date.
The entire nation was witness to events that caught the national psyche, when some
outstanding
people
from
the Senufo
community
resumed
ancestral
nameii.
Consequently, some community members followed suit: outstanding personalities,
such as professors, journalists and also less glamorous members, some men of the
people, carried by the icons, did likewise.
Much as it is pleasurable to note that the process is still running, though at its
own pace, a number of decisive cultural acts carried out here and there by some Senufo
people appear to be as haphazard and alienating as those posed by Senufo under the
influence of Mandingo culture and civilization. The thing is that some members of
Senufo communities have started coining patronymics. One is empirically justified to
assume that as some Senufo hanker for an identity, a search that is often unsteady and
whimsical, they seem to drive further the nail that seals the coffin of cultural chaos.
ii
Emeritus Professor of Economics, the first black President of the National University of Côte d Ivoire
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How can this move be accounted for? In what ways does it endanger Senufo cultural
identity? This project of study aims at elucidating these questionings.
Methodology
It should be noted at the outset that this study was based on the focal points of an
earlier investigation that involved a sample of 1,500 participants, throughout the
territory (Diarassouba, 2014).
Procedure
Informants: focal points, usually opinion leaders in their respective regions or places of
residence and who are important resources in this project, were brought back on board
in a number of cities and towns, such as Korhogo, Ferkéssédougou, Boundiali,
Dabakala, Katiola, Bouake and Abidjan. Bouake and Abidjan are the two largest cities
of Côte d Ivoire where thousands of members of Senufo communities reside. The other
cities, as pointed out earlier, are located in the native habitat of Senufo people.
Research Assistants: the same participants who took part in the previous project
of investigation (Diarassouba, 2015), were reassigned to the same sites as before, in the
cities mentioned above.
Data collection tools: face to face and by telephone interviews, focus group and
desultory discussions, on one hand, and survey questionnaires, on the other, were the
main instruments used in this study. The themes were as follows: the abandonment of
loan surnames and the creation from scratch of Senufo patronymic names.
Data analysis: themes were split into sections for ease of operation. For example,
a) proven cases of abandonment of foreign surnames; b) proven cases of creation of
surnames: deeper motivations; c) real and potential difficulties; and d) consequences.
Results
Exploring the world of Mandingo loan surnames within Senufo communities could be
likened to a kind of endless enigma. Indeed, each new incursion reveals novel pieces to
bring to solving the puzzle, which compounded difficulties. One may be well justified
to think that issues relating to borrowed names is like digging in a grab-bag, which is
why the mode of allocation of surnames seems obscured and haphazard. This, as one
would expect, raises another problem, especially regarding the equivalencies
established between Mandingo and Senufo surnames, in terms of mutual intelligibility
that feeds on a would-be symbolism of the eponyms. But in order to stick to the
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objectives of this study, I will be concerned specifically with aspects of the results that
substantiate elements regarding efforts towards the rehabilitation or inclinations thereof
of Senufo cultural patterns.
Attempts to resume ancestral names
A faction of the Senufo communities members, though still negligible compared to the
very high number of Senufo who carry a Mandingo family name (40 to 90%, depending
on the area, urban or rural regions, Diarassouba, 2015), has begun to show some form of
irritation related to loan names, for various and diverse reasons. This segment includes
both those who actually carry Mandingo names and those who do not. Among those
who have taken a decisive step, the main reasons are, among others, the administrative
difficulties tied in name borrowing as shown below (Table 4). For this faction, the return
to ancestral sources was just like a straightjacket. In sum, they were made to do so.
Next, some members of Senufo communities no longer perceived the wisdom of
keeping a surname they now regard as an historical blunder, worse yet as an insult of
maraboutsiii to the whole Senufo cultural group. Needless to recall that in the mind
Mandingo marabouts, Senufo surnames rhymed with fetishism (Diarassouba, 2015;
Tuho, 1984).
The recovery of ancestral names itself includes several case scenarios. There are
those for whom there were no major difficulties. This is for example, the case of the
people for whom there was perfect harmony between loan names carried by the father
and those of his offspring, be it in the situation of generic or particular Senufo surnames
(Cf. Generic vs. Gbatôh names, Diarassouba, 2015). In this case, those that borrowed
Diarassouba or Fofana just recovered Tuho / Tuo or Fooh, respectively, at the registry
office. However, things got a bit complicated in cases where there were blatant
unsolved irregularities concerning the father and offspring or among children of the
same family regarding Mandingo loan surnames (Cf. Table 4, p. 7). For example, when
the foreign surnames carried by the father and children did not match, enormous
administrative difficulties, varied and complex in many respects, stood in the way
when it came to recovering ancestral names. This is the situation of members of two
families in different regions that we met and whose cases for name change had been
pending in court for their floor for ages then. Table 4 below offers a perfect illustration
of a baffling and quite intriguing situation, for the discrepancies and disparities
regarding loan surnames constitute a genuine skein to disentangle and a real obstacle
A marabout in Islam is supposed to be a religious leader. In this respect, he is equivalent of the Imam.
However, this word has negative connotations, as it implies some form of evil practices.
iii
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Sidiky Diarassouba –
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course
for administrators at the registry office, when members of such families
decided to go back to roots.
Table 4: Disparities among Mandingo loan surnames held by members of the same nuclear
family
The offspring
Gbatôh
Senufo Gbatôh
Equivalences between
Mandingo
of Sinan
(Senufo)
totemic animal
Senufo and Mandingo
loan
(father)
patronymic
eponyms suggested by
patronymic
marabouts
Elder son
Ziao
Buffalo/giant
_
Fofana
_
Diabaté
antelope
Junior sister
Ziao
||
Junior
Ziao
||
Brown monkey; python
Koné
Ziao
||
Land squirrel
Traore
brother
The youngest
child
This table raises some comments, among which the mismatch that introduces a factual
anachronism between Gbatôh eponymous and those suggested by Mandingo
marabouts. It is obvious that the 'large antelope or' buffalo ', are very different from the '
brown monkey 'and the 'python', on the one hand, and quite distinct from the land
squirrel', on the other. Therefore, the equivalences between 'Ziao' and 'Kone', Diabate or
'Traore' do not represent any sensible sociological reality neither from the Mandingo
perspective, nor from that of the Gbatôh cosmogony. Further, in an earlier study
((Diarassouba, 2015, p.168), the Gbatôh totemic animals assigned to Fofana and Diabaté
were
Fooh
python and
Ganon
protective bird , respectively. We have been
presented with quite a weird picture which begs for some clarification. Based on
informants reports, an attempt has been made to shed light on this obscure issue.
"Ziao," a generic and typical surname that is found in Gbatôh communities
(located in the areas including Boundiali and vicinities), was the family name of the
father until his death. But now not only did his children aged then 50 to 90 carry Ziao,
but they each had a separate Mandingo surname than other siblings. It appears that
these siblings were often not in permanent contact due to the fact they lived in areas
distant from each other. Next, given the fact that the Gbatôh surnames are different
from the well-known generic category (Soro, Silue, Yeo Tuho / Tuo and Sekongo) for
which certain norms had been already established, there was no reference on which
marabouts could lean. From then on, marabouts, operating in a vacuum and certainly
influenced by their personal philosophies, proceeded then to the conversion to Islam of
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these brothers and sisters, assigning by the same token Mandingo surname in a very
carefree manner. It was reported that some went ahead and assigned their own
surname to the convert. Since name assignment was far from being a scientific truth,
everything resulted in this nonsensical table. Thus, this composite and variegated
picture of Mandingo surnames in the same biological family is a 'masterpiece' marabouts
cleverly realized when converting children from the Ziao family to Islam.
The converts ignorance of Islamic culture and the zeal of marabouts are the cause
of this confused picture that confuses more than one observer. Dirassouba (2015) raised
the case in which the same Senufo surname Tuho / Tuo was conferred two distinct
Mandingo eponyms, henceforth two different Mandingo surnames in Senufo two sub
prefectures distant by twelve kilometers only. In one, Napié, the Tuho/Tuo was
assigned Diarassouba whose totemic animals according to marabouts are lion and
'warthog', and in the other, Karakoro, "Ouattara, which has for Mandingo eponym
'dwarf antelope' (For more on the issue please see Diarassouba, 2015).
The many hurdles linked to loan names which the Ziao children had to go
through, prompted them to wanting to recover ancestral surnames. They told us that
they would be unable to say how often they had to use a certificate of individuality to
prove that their father was actually their father, whenever they made a request for
official documents that included parental information, without mentioning numerous
setbacks they suffered due to the very situation. And thousands of members of the
cultural group that found themselves locked up in this typical case are found in the
rural as well as urban areas, all over the country.
Amidst Senufo willing to come back to cultural ancestry, by recovering their
authentic name, a faction opted for the creation of new surnames. In lieu of a generic or
totemic surname, these people adopted the first name or middle names of their father or
a revered an ancestor, instead. Before proceeding any further, and to allow for a better
understanding of this issue, it was deemed useful to recall the societal dimension,
semantics and sociological value of the first names in the Senufo culture, in general.
Senufo names usually have this specific feature of espousing a cause, a fact, an
event that holds deep meaning for the biological parents or members of the extended
family or even the clan. Therefore, the name is expected not only to be the incarnation
of what it has come to symbolize, human and spiritual values wise, by osmosis, but also
to keep alive that symbolic guardian or fact in the minds of social partners sharing the
same cultural patterns. Then, carrying a name could help ward off the evil congenial to
the original object or event it symbolizes. From this angle, there is no limit to Senufo
names but the one imposed by events and social facts that mark the memory of men in
society, and which concern both the visible and invisible world. By way of illustration, a
few examples are given below.
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-
Denan: (the man whose guardian is a genie): This name is given in honor of a
genie that marked in a particular way a given family,
-
Klotioloma: (I leave it to god). This name is given in memory of the tribulations
suffered by a family. By the same token, it is hoped that god will conjure all future ills
or evils,
-
Kapinnêtiôh: (female child who was born during a war). This recall the event,
but it is also hoped that bearing this name will help avert war and its horrors,
-
Mikanidjo: (I will not speak any more). Speaking at a certain moment in the life
of a parent has been detrimental to the speaker. This name in memory of the event or
circumstances is also a warning against speaking lightly.
-
Midjembiéri: (I will keep quiet and follow what god has meant to happen).
Parents who have suffered many setbacks (Death, humiliation, etc.) of all kinds rely on
God for fair justice.
-
Minhfounh: ([Literally unnamed] a person who is not often given credit for their
good actions. Parents, who feel this way, will give their offspring this name, hoping it
will help conjure what it embodies.
Gnima: derived from Tiérignima [Iron Health] . “ parent who has experienced
-
enormous difficulties, health wise, will give this name to their child. It is supposed to
shower
on
the
bearer
the
value
and
qualities
it
embodies.
The Senufo names listed above are often phrases or expressions. Alongside this
difficult category quite hard to grasp and round up, many others are also in use. For
instance, there is a category related to the day of the week. Although there are some
dialectical variations, one can easily say that these names are transversely set in the
Senufo cultural group. Then we also distinguish those related to birth order in the
nuclear family, and finally the category that refers to particular births, such as twins or
triplets.
Table 5: First names derived from weekdays
Days
Tenni
Tennizenhon
Yarba
Yalmassa
Yatchima
Sibiri
Yalèri
(lundi)
(mardi)
(mercredi)
(jeudi)
(vendredi)
(samedi)
(Sunday)
Tennina
Tennizenhon
-
Yalmassa
Tchima
Sibiri
-
Tennidioh
Tennizenhon
-
Yalmassa
Tchima
Sibiri
-
Name
Male
names
Female
names
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Note that there are no names derivatives of Yarba (Wednesday) and Yalrèri (Sunday).
No plausible explanation has been given about it. While the same name for the
masculine and feminine is set for Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, that is tennizenhon,
yalmassa, and sibiri, respectively.
Table 6: Names relative of birth order in a family
Birth
order
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Name
Masculin
Zie
Zana
N golo
Beh
Doh
M baha
Féminin
Yele
Gnon
Gnere
Bara/Bere
zele
Gnaman
In this category the table shows only six names. We have not, as yet, been able to collect
some clear information as to why that is so.
It is also noteworthy Senufo devote a specific category of name to twins, triplets
and also the child that follows immediately because these are regarded as particular or
extraordinary births (Cf. Table 7, below).
Table 7: Singular births and specific names attached thereto
Extraordinary
births
Twins/triplets
Names
1st birth after
twins/tripletiv
Male
Gnonnan
Kolo
Female
Gnondioh
Kolo
Although Gnonnan and Gnondioh are the most common, many forms and types of
combination may be made, but always with the prefix "gnon" (prefix for twin), for
instance, Gnongnigué, Gnonbégé, Gnondianwa, Gnongboho, Gnonblé, set irrespective
of the gender.
Senufo names, as shown above, are always well motivated. Then the symbolism
and semantics embodies in the names give a special touch and aura that encapsulate the
bearer. That being said, how does surname coining on the basis of names fit in the
panorama of Senufo cosmogony?
Name coining
Genesis: In the first place, names that became surnames, later on, did often play a very
positive role in the community, such as when they allowed for differentiating among
iv
A birth that is not twins nor triplets or any other number beyond one. The name “Kolo” is given to the child.
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several members of the community who carried precisely the same name. Thus, the
name of the father or ancestor came into play to part two or more people who bore "Tuo
Seydou,
“li Koné,
Gonan Coulibaly, or again
Sidiky Diarassoubav, for example.
In another scenario, a son, because of his singular and exemplary commitment to
his father or a grandparent or ancestor, would decide to pay them a tribute by adding
their name as a middle name to his given name. In a sense, this move was a simple
attempt to perpetuate the memory of the one we bear the name.
It turned out that creating a unique piece became a fond whim which makes one
stand out in the community. This seemed a great stratagem for those from the
community willing to get rid of the Mandingo loan surname. Henceforth, in the
process, the loan surname was dropped for the benefit of the ancestor s name that now
filled in for the surname. And because the new surname was an original Senufo name,
two birds were killed with the sole and only one stone: dropping the Mandingo name
and creating one from scratch (Cf. the vignette below)
No more fight, we are no more in the numbers nor in the alienated stock.
Just launch a new line of design and style and let us wait and see
In a humorous way, one of the advocates of surname coining found time to entertain us
during our investigation, as shown in the vignette above.
A couple of things must be underscored here. First, the names from which the
new surnames were derived were self-assigned. Then, creating a new surname was
tantamount to initiating a cultural thread to be continued by offspring or a sociological
fact which other social partners would build on. The vignettes below (1-5) clearly
illustrate further instances of the take of some informants (both bearers and non-bearers
of new surnames) during our investigation, the main questionings of which were
concerned with the merit of coining surnames and how this may endanger some
essential cultural artifacts, i.e., authentic family names.
1. These novel contributions, in my view, enrich the area of these cultural
patterns.
2. Is there a crime in calling oneself Zébré?
3. You are waging the wrong war. The culture may be enriched otherwise. Let
us first properly promote what already exists.
In native community of the researcher, there are 4 people who carry the same name and surname ( Sidiky
Diarassouba ) . Therefore, one resorts to the father's name to distinguish among them during our social gathering,
i.e., Sidiky Nongotiala , Sidiky Tando , Sidiky Nagnon and Sidiky Kpoh (Nongotiala, Tando, Nagnon, and Kpoh are
v
fathers names .
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4. The loss will not occur through me. Frankly, I’ll properly do my part
5. Who is closer to our culture, a "Diarassouba" or my name which is hundred
percent Senufo, with no mix nor preservatives?
The texts of some of these vignettes do have some flavor of irony and sarcasm
(see 2, 4, & 5). Five, in particular, makes a blunt hint to the researcher who still goes by
this loan patronymic. We must also note that despite the quite bold statements as
shown above, the advocates of new surnames that we had access to show some blatant
uneasiness. Not only were most them tense and reserved, but also they often tried to
turn our investigation into derision. Some even waved a red flag suggesting thus that
we had an incursion into their privacy. Finally, some of these thumbnails are quite
indicative of the spirit that prevailed during some interviews.
Followers of this new line of surnames are usually senior executives of the
nation, who held high positions of authority. Nationwide, some of these well-known
coined surnames read as follows: Dona-Fologo Yédiéti, Yadé, etc. Other new surnames,
less known nationally, but still in use in the respective communities and job sites of
bearers. These include, Yardjouma, Djandaga, Yaroyouma, Founzéye, katiéni, Foohna,
Katana, Tiembogo, etc.
This section of the study has made it possible to explore the thorny issue of loan
surnames, which viewed from different perspectives, stands as an uncontrolled and
wild sociological phenomenon. We have observed that the way back to cultural
ancestry is strewn with numerous and various difficulties. Further, initiatives geared to
coining surnames may become sources for serious concerns in many respects. One of
these is that because Senufo names and surnames have very little in common, because
they are culturally, semantically and etymologically incommensurable, turning a name
into a surname may become culturally damaging in more than one respect.
Discussion
The issue of Mandingo loan surnames within Senufo communities could be likened
with a bouillabaisse, because of the bewildering and confusing disorder that
characterizes it. This chaotic fashion for borrowing Mandingo surnames denotes the
lightness with which Senufo themselves jumped into the process of cultural alienation,
indiscriminately and without reserve, feet and hands bound.
The consequences of the above has proven to be disastrous in many regards, as
demonstrated above, at the administrative as well as the personal and cultural levels.
Worse yet, the irony is that a great number of Senufo people, as if under the spell of an
exacerbated stoicism and masochism, continue to resist the return to ancestral sources.
Marivaux
warned that freedom is dependent on the slave s awareness of his
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enslavement condition, as this awareness is the sole and only fact that can lead to revolt.
It is high time that the click took place in the minds of thousands of Senufo still
reluctant to change. Returning to cultural names transcends both the act of changing
and the doer of the action; it involves something that is both existential and preexistential to these: it is about culture, the collective soul of a people.
The phenomenon linked to the creation of surnames from scratch and which
began timidly in the 80s seems to be gaining some ground today. From one or two
examples of surnames manufactured in those days, today there are nearly two dozen.
Thus, the new surname is used instead of Coulibaly, Koné and Sanogo, challenged on
the basis of cultural dissonance. Getting rid of the Mandingo family name for a Senufo
name is more than commendable. But does replacing Mandingo loan surnames with
coined surnames sound like a viable solution, culturally speaking?
In their quality and capacity as respectable and respected personalities in the
country, these name designers are also opinion leaders and role models. View the
position, the sociological role and the socio-economic power of these members of the
Senufo communities, we must fear that their actions spill out, should not that yet occur.
In this line of thinking, one of our informants, in a veiled manner, alluded to them
making a comment according to which it is the iconic figures everyone watches or
follows, therefore we had better be concerned with them, in the first place. This would
seem to justify our apprehension that lay people may walk in the wake of these stray
icons.
The generic or specific surname (totemic one, i.e., Gbatôh s is a rallying point
between all members of Senufo communities claiming the same patronymic. Not only
does strengthen the sense of belonging, but also it is often the case that one hears the
holder of a given surname brag about values and prestige attached to it. The family
name, originally, is descriptive. Primarily, it refers to the qualities or the first central
primary occupation of the original communities of the Senufo Cultural group
(Diarassouba, 2015).
First names, as presented above, refer to another kind with different semantic
and symbolic features. Compared with the ancestral surnames, individuality and the
idiosyncratic trait are the most characteristic elements of the name. For example, the
name "Gnonnan" can only be carried by a male twin or triplet. Similarly, Kapinnêtiôh
can only be given to a female child born during a time of war. However, in the
dynamics and logics of name coining, a "Gnonnan" (Twin male) could become the
family name that the offspring of a surname manufacturer’ would endorse. What
cultural value could that line with? Conversely, the ancestral family name is the soul of
entire communities, and above all, a people as a whole.
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Coining names therefore seem to pose some problems at several levels. Firstly,
by replacing the ancestral surnames with names, one removes an essential part of
culture, which necessarily entails the stifling of a set of vibrations, the symbolic and
semantic foundations by which Senufo people celebrates the sociocultural life. Hence,
there arises a problem of existential order. The rehabilitation of the Senufo soul, its
culture, can only be achieved through the regeneration of its roots, an immutable
etiological law recalled by Soro (2012). Then using names in lieu of authentic surnames
would seem to further blur the cultural patterns and precipitate, by the same token, the
annihilation of important benchmarks by which the Senufo guide and ensure their
existence as an entity in the societal context. Therefore, the creation of surnames is
comparable to the destruction of the yardstick by means of which the culture could be
measured and thus ensure effective traceability. Precisely, this was the very thing that
was decried, when members of Senufo communities adopted Mandingo surnames in a
haphazard manner (Diarassouba, 2015). High caution is required here, let s we end up
in a situation where one flees a dead snake to come face to face with another alive and
more venomous (Senufo proverb).
Conclusion
It is undeniable that a great number of Senufo people have sinned on several levels
during and after Mandingo colonization, which is why their culture has been so
profoundly distorted, especially regarding languages and surnames. The bitter and
painful awareness gained from this by some members of the Senufo communities has
prompted these to wanting to become themselves again. This has been diversely
appreciated as a glimmer of hope, even if this move concerns only a small faction of
Senufo communities. A promotion with respect to the rehabilitation of Senufo culture
seems a must in order to have more people on board and help forward thus a much
more global movement involving much greater numbers Senufo towards courts of
justice for name change. This movement will fall short of its aim without the sincere
and full engagement of the iconic figures and the waking actions of intellectuals from
Senufo communities. Beyond restoring the legal value of the family, recovering the
ancestral name is a way of redeeming the dignity of a people.
Much as it highly desirable to work towards the remaking of a cultural soul, it is
also necessary and imperative that this is properly done. Indeed, coining surnames
seems as harmful and damaging as the irrational and wild adoption of surnames form
another culture, because in either case this implies the dissolution and annihilation of
symbolic and semantic values associated with ancestral names. Further, replacing
ancestral surnames with simple names may be assimilated with treasuring a container
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devoid of contents and substance, which recalls the sandwich man of Tuho (1984).
Considering the deep impoverishment and distortion of Senufo culture for the benefit
others, in this case the Mandingo s, what will be the contribution of the Senufo during
the sharing time in the concert of cultures. The space of this study seems the right place
to launch an urgent and pressing appeal to leading figures and opinion leaders of the
Senufo communities to invest more in and for the cause of their cultural identity. In so
doing, they will substantially contribute to safeguard an important part of the Senufo
culture, ancestral family names. As they set out to do this, they should also be watchful
about moves, however insignificant they may appear to be, geared towards fanning the
destructive flames of their culture. While it is true that there are no forests without
trees, it is also true that a single tree cannot hide the forest. However, it is undeniable
that a single untreated diseased tree can decimate an entire forest. The Senufo should
not be his own gravedigger, making himself unrecognizable through selftransfiguration by his irrational acts, his poor and inappropriate sense of judgment, his
selfishness and short-sightedness.
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