[size=18pt]Forced Modernization?? [/size]
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/cameroon/wodaabe

The Niger government's effort to enroll children is school effectively deprives the Wodaabe of their labor in herding and household chores. It also encourages the young to ignore the food taboos.

Drought has reduced Wodaabe herds almost to extinction. Government policies favor farm settlements, allotting land for fields at the expense of open grazing land. As settlements spread northward, the advance of the desert southward squeezes the Wodaabe onto smaller and more marginal land. International development experts pushing for fixed settlement of the Wodaabe are concerned not with finding a way of life acceptable to the Wodaabe, but with preventing them from draining resources.

During famine, the Nigar government adopts a "food-for-work" program. The Wodaabe receive grains in return for planting seeds. However, this plan doesn't provide for restocking cattle, and the Wodaabe generally leave the program as soon as they can. They want to live according to their tradition of "mbodangaku" - the way of their ancestors.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Perhaps the wodaabe should be granted their own country! jk.
But this concerns me.

dafuq

[size=18pt]Random photos.[/size]

Lovin' the do!!

[img]http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRXsgYe5ndL0G_yDYt_n_126GRzHqUqirmIks-G8S4Aw7vhsyDYL4CkOPZ1g[/img]

Lurrv!

Natural Beauty



Why aren't there any female wodaabe models?

This is too cute.



It's a shame we may not see this any more.

I am perplexed at the news of them practically
being tricked into leaving their old ways.

anyway, the poster of the picture and I have the same taste.

From: http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/wodaabe?before=1308082789

Africa has it some good-looking tribes, my two favorites are the Wodaabe from Niger, and the Masaai from Kenya.

Same here. I am thinking of doing a Masaai thread.

Ali stop stalking me.

I want nothing to do with you.

Go troll somewhere else and stop following my username.

nts: a blog it is...

there is a lot of "This post has been hidden" stuff

BelaMorena: Interview With Susan Rich

1) Why did you write “Nomadic Life”?

I began this poem more than seven years after my Peace Corps service in Niger. Aisha was the mother of Sa-a, a young boy who came to visit me almost every day. I don't remember how I knew that Aisha was Sa-a’s mother but I knew. I wanted her to approve of me. Sa-a was probably in his very early teens (although no one in Niger knows their exact birth date) and I thought perhaps it was a worry that he spent so much time with a foreigner.

Aisha and Sa-a were Wodaabe Fulanis, a nomadic people who travel the desert and have very little to do with Europeans or Americans—or even other Nigeriens.The Wodaabe don’t attend school or learn to read or write. This is because any outside influence is seen as being corrosive to their culture and traditions. It was only due to severe drought that the Wodaabe had come into the town where I lived. I knew Sa-a much better than I knew Aisha.

After writing a poem about Sa-a, I had the idea to write about my visit with his mother, Aisha.

“Nomadic Life” doesn’t mention that Aisha was visiting my house because of Sa-a. Or perhaps Aisha wasn't only concerned for her son; perhaps she also came looking for food. Sa-a and his friends had lunch at my house almost every day. There was a bad drought the first year I was in Niger. The drought is what brought nomads like Aisha and Sa-a near the town. During Aisha’s visit, I brought out snacks. When I left the room for a moment, Aisha emptied them into her plastic sack. I didn't consider this to be stealing because I had served the food for her to enjoy.

Of course, it was a cultural difference and one that probably wouldn't have happened between two Wodaabe women.

As the poem developed, I realized that we had both seen the other as a stranger in the most profound sense of that word. While thinking about Aisha I became slightly obsessed with what it would be like if we were able to switch identities and know what the other woman knew. Writing the poem is the closest way I know to have that kind of transformation.

2) How has your Peace Corps service influenced your life? Your writing?

Growing up we all tend to surround ourselves whenever possible with people who think like we do, act like we do, even look a little like we do. Well, when you are the only white woman in the neighborhood there is nowhere to hide!

Living in Niger gave me insight into a world far different from my own. It left me curious about how others live and let me understand how much a person can learn about herself when living among people who uphold different values and have a different way of life.

As a teacher in Niger, I learned that humor was the educator's best defense if she wanted her students to listen to her; from the nomadic children who came to my home everyday looking for food and friendship, I learned that language was not needed in order to love; and from the challenges I faced daily by virtue of living in an African town, I came to see that I was more resilient than I'd ever known myself to be.

Many of the poems in my book The Cartographer's Tongue: Poems of the World are based on my Peace Corps experience, including the opening piece, “Lost by Way of Tchin-Tabarden.” Peace Corps gave me a world outside of myself to explore and try to understand. I have continued to write about Africa even though it is now [many] years since I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

**Very interesting interview. This slays and debunks any claims that outsiders ALL study Africans as "lab rats" with the intent to "taint" and "destroy" African values. There is a lot to learn and gain from meeting and interacting with others.

And as I have always stated, 'ENLIGHTENMENT is the key'.

Quite the opposite so I'm bolding it for you (is is because any outside influence is seen as being corrosive to their culture and traditions.) Fulani and Mbororo Fulani (Wodaabe and other Mbororo groups in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, etc.) view Western culture as abrasive and intrusive. We Mbororo Fulani often feel that Westerners want to invade and make our cultures more Westernized (that's why I have so many threads that say we must preserve our culture on here). Westerners don't understand this.

MsDarkSkin: [size=18pt]Forced Modernization?? [/size]
http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/cameroon/wodaabe

The Niger government's effort to enroll children is school effectively deprives the Wodaabe of their labor in herding and household chores. It also encourages the young to ignore the food taboos.

Drought has reduced Wodaabe herds almost to extinction. Government policies favor farm settlements, allotting land for fields at the expense of open grazing land. As settlements spread northward, the advance of the desert southward squeezes the Wodaabe onto smaller and more marginal land. International development experts pushing for fixed settlement of the Wodaabe are concerned not with finding a way of life acceptable to the Wodaabe, but with preventing them from draining resources.

During famine, the Nigar government adopts a "food-for-work" program. The Wodaabe receive grains in return for planting seeds. However, this plan doesn't provide for restocking cattle, and the Wodaabe generally leave the program as soon as they can. They want to live according to their tradition of "mbodangaku" - the way of their ancestors.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Perhaps the wodaabe should be granted their own country! jk.
But this concerns me.

It is because Westerners like yourself have caused things like that to happen

Modernization is just a fancy term coined it really means Westernization

TerryCarr: you can hear the language here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo_CzKOy2dk&feature=related

full video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlnO1QDqpaQ&feature=related

It's the same dialect we speak, but it was translated wrong

Because like us the Wodaabe are Mbororo they do the same Gerewol, (except dress is different), they grow their hair longer, etc.)

Here is how the translation was wrong,

the Elder (pullo mawdo) said "kosam wala" which means no milk when he was talking about how there was no place for the cattle to graze, therefore the cattle were dry and could not produce milk.

The thing is that Western Influence and Africans who want to be Western are trying to ruin our culture so I really despise it when Americans think it is ok.

Fulaman take your xenophobia and attention seeking elsewhere. I am not talking about YOUR CLAN, this thread is about the Wodaabe.

Fulaman198:

It is because Westerners like yourself have caused things like that to happen

Modernization is just a fancy term coined it really means Westernization

Westeners like me?? Lol

I have never been to Niger. I have never met a wodaabe clan member. I dont own a gun and ever held one to their heads and demanded them to do a gdamn thing. So clearly you are confused. Get your facts right asap.

Again this thread is about the wodaabe. Not fulaman and his clan.

I dont know why mofos cant stay away from me. If i dot talk to you keep away from my screen name. I created this thread for educational purposes and instead got clowns attempting destroying it.

(Its cool though i will blog it so nobody can interrupt.)

if yall want attention that bad, go find a friend offline.

mrsdarskin. is that post intended for me.

i would appreciate it if you would back off and stay away from me.
absolutely.

@ thread,

I just found out there was a play in Minneapolis about a wodaabe woman and a moor
that took place earlier this year.

will try to scoop up some details!
Hopefully I will find some footage.

MsDarkSkin: i would appreciate it if you would back off and stay away from me.
absolutely.

maybe ur following me around.

Hey Jallow.

I see you lurking.

MsDarkSkin: Hey Jallow.

I see you lurking.

Lurking and liking. Lol.

Have to keep myself updated, but I aint answering to nonsense