Traditional structures: challenge to modernity? the case of Djenne

Abstract

The paper discusses the rise of African towns as exchange centers at ecological and
 economic frontiers. Djenne in particular rose at the frontiers of the Niger with the Macina and
 the Dogon plateau, and achieved autonomous status as a trade center connecting the Sahel
 with the trans-Sahara trade routes. Its population was heterogeneous and multi-cultural, and
 its government consisted of local (Bozo) and immigrant (Soninke) populations; under
 Songhay and Moroccan governors, the city councils of chefs de quartier and Islamic lawyers
 retained a certain autonomy. Its government resisted two religious revolutions by the Imams
 Chekou Amadou and el-Hadj Omar, before being subject to French administration. The 1st
 and 2nd Republic were basically an extension of centralism, and only the 3rd Republic passed
 decentralization laws which gave communities the right to elected councils and mayors. In
 Djenne traditional families and religious leaders still are involved in city government.