How have the locals reacte to your groups prersence?......What is your sense on their culture; inclusive or exclusive? I realize they are controlled thoroughly by their government. Does their interactions within their communities somehow limit government interaction/control? David Shepherd
I haven't felt like the government has been to forceful. My experience has been that people opperate on their own, kind of like small family businesses here and there. The people seem to be accepting but I wobder how much of it is because we are with Amara. He seems to have alot of pull here. The children often walk past and completely stop in their tracks to stare when we are all together. (Brittney)
ReplyDeleteFrom Alan Barton
ReplyDeleteDavid, we have not had extensive exposure to the world outside our house and neighborhood, but I have found locals notice us but many don't pay too much attention. I think the neighborhood where we are staying is rather diverse, but there are many upper middle class houses, many nice vehicles, and probably the residents have more exposure to the diverse outside world. (The streets in our neighborhood are still dirt, and very rough, but the houses are very nice). Many people are very friendly, however, smiling and greeting us. This is especially true of the kids, who will come up just to say hi, then go on their way.
We do have some people stopping by our house, such as a couple of artisans, who bring their goods every day to see if the Americans will buy them. They have very nice wood carvings, masks, jewelry (necklaces with beads, e.g.), and weavings, and their prices are very reasonable by American standards but seem somewhat high by Guinean standards. One of them, in particular, is not very willing to bargain, and it seems he is aware that we probably don't know local pricing very well and he wants us to pay "American" prices. On our trip to Kindia, we found many items similar to what he is selling at prices far below what he is asking, plus the vendors were very willing to barter so the prices went down even further.
From Alan Barton (continuing previous post)
ReplyDeleteOn our trips downtown, most of our contact with people has been with those on the street who want to sell you something -- maps of Guinea, Conakry or Africa, phone cards, t-shirts, or other things they think the rare foreigners they run into might need. People do tend to notice us, and may smile and wave, but after that they go on their way.
The locals have a word, "fote," which means white man, and sometimes you hear people shout that out when we walk by. Often it is a kid, but sometimes it is an adult. I don't get the feeling it is meant as derogatory in any way, it is simply a way of getting your attention or of noting your race. Anyway, we do hear that some when we're out, and if you turn and smile at the person who said it, you will always get a big smile and maybe a thumbs up in return.
From Alan Barton (continuing previous post)
ReplyDeleteAs for inclusiveness, I think the culture here teaches people to be kind and hospitable to strangers, and people want everyone to be involved and have their say. We saw this at the dundunba we went to, where everyone (even the foreigners) was encouraged to get out and dance -- and this was not a big dance floor where everyone was dancing together, rather, individuals went out and danced one at a time. But they made a concerted effort to make sure everyone present got out there at least once. It was all in the spirit of inclusiveness -- what we've read says people here believe music and dance are very much a communitarian thing, and it is natural that they would want everyone to share it in as that increases everyone's joy.
I would suspect, though, that this inclusiveness has its limits. Of course, we will not experience this in just a month, but I imagine for all outsiders, at some point you would reach a limit and could not go beyond that in terms of integration to the culture -- people just know you are an outsider and while they may be friendly, and even good friends with you, to the larger community you always will be different and will never be a true "insider."
The whole issue of government control that you raise is a complicated one. I think the local media are closely controlled by government. I have not seen a newspaper here, and you do see magazines around (they sell a few at the convenience store at our local gas station, for example), but there aren't any kiosks selling papers and magazines like you often see in large capital cities. We don't watch much local television, but I think it is closely controlled, and I know the president frequently appears on the TV to make speeches. Other than that, government control is in some ways lighter than in industrial countries. As Brittney said in her previous post, a lot of social control is exercised through normative controls by family, religion and neighbors. There is a government presence -- we saw police checkpoints on the road to Kindia, for example (although it wasn't clear the police were doing much checking), but people handle a lot of things themselves. For example, I've been in two fender-bender accidents, and in both cases, the drivers just discussed things and went on their way. I doubt if it occurred to either to call the police and get a report, or anything of the sort. The police don't really fulfill that function here. (In more serious accidents, such as those with injuries, the police and courts would likely get involved, but I wouldn't expect the goal would be justice). So, I guess you could say community limits government control, or perhaps that community supplies the control that government does not (in comparison to industrial societies). Although the government leaders here have been "strongmen," their governments have been "weak" (in the political science sense), because they are limited in their capacity to assert control over the citizenry, and the citizens tend to live their lives through other institutions.