Toubab!

Ethnicity is very important in Mali. It is important for an American as well, but for us our heritage and ethnicity is just a portion of our identity. In Mali it is everything. It determines who you marry, who you do business with, where you live, who your friends are and what you do for a living. Greetings here are quickly followed by i jamu? (Bamanan) or a ciga? (Tomokan): “‘what’s your last name?”, “who are your ancestors?”. The answer to this question sets the tone of the interaction that follows.
I have a Malian name but the color of skin trumps it. Toubab! When I first arrived in Mali I was quickly irritated by the name everyone had for me: toubab. Everywhere I went excited children and cocky young men would scream it at me (and they still do). Toubab is the word that the Bamanan gave to the French colonists. This is one reason why it annoys me. I’m not French. I’m not even of French decent. Malians use it now as a blanket term for a white person. Sometimes someone will just mention it in passing, as if I was not aware that I was white. Other times it is followed by “give me 500 francs”. I found myself muttering things under my breath when people would call me toubab: “n ye Americain ye, toubabu te”: I’m American not French, “in namba wo, a toubab holo”: I live here, don’t call me toubab, and “mun be? i te folike?”: What? You don’t greet?
I get frustrated sometimes but I know it is far from malicious. The children are definitely not to blame, but I believe I have identified the source. I have witnessed mothers teaching their children to call me and other white foreigners toubab. They think it is hilarious. I quickly (and regrettably) jump to a cultural comparison: can you imagine if white mothers taught their children to scream “African” at black people in America? But, this is definitely not America.
I may have found the reason why Malians use race and ethnicity as identification so prominently. When my language skills improved I realized that Malians are, 1: very proud of their ethnicity and 2: think that all others are inferior. Much of this attitude is in jest, something they refer to as “cousinage” or “joking cousins”, but sometimes tempers flare and you see that the Dogon really don’t think much of the Peulh (a nomadic herding people), neither do the Bamanan (in fact, I don’t think anyone likes the Peulh). Again, this is all kind of a joke- after all, I am an adopted Dogon man, so naturally all Peulh men are out to swindle and turn their cows to pasture on Dogon land.
When you greet someone in Mali and they ask your last name (all foreigners get Malian names), most of the time they’ll say you and your people suck, followed by a hearty laugh, a slap on the back and a handshake. Other jokes are used as well including the very popular “you eat beans” joke among the Bamanans…it’s fascinating, it never gets old. This is all a way to avoid conflict I’m told. If you tease each other than no violence or bloodshed will ensue. I don’t quite understand but it seems to work. Mali is one of the most peaceful countries in Africa despite the fact that it is the third poorest and numerous ethnic groups live side by side (seven in my area alone). Even when things get out of control there is a kind of subtle, mutual affability that trumps the anger.
In November some cattle wandered into millet fields outside of Bandiagara. The Dogons in the area rounded up the usual Peulh suspects and brought them to the police where they were locked up for the day. The Dogon then proceeded to make tea and food for those they brought to jail. They joked back and forth through the fence and the next day the Peulh men were released.
I am beginning to understand that offense in not taken when someone is called by his or her ethnicity. It may seem like racism or intolerance at first, cruel and demeaning. Many times people will just shout out the ethnicity of the person as a way to greet them or get their attention, fula gorko! (hey, Peulh man!) is a common one (another cultural contrast: hey Mexican man! would not fly in the states, especially coming from someone that’s not Latino). However, it seems to me that beneath the teasing and predictable banter there lies respect and a sense of pride.
But toubab? Come on…that’s just annoying.