RESEARCH PROPORSAL FOR THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON THE ETHNO-LINGUISTIC
TRANSFORMATION OF SOME GAMBIAN FAMILIES
Introduction
Ethnicity is a sense of ethnic
uniqueness which entails the subjective or symbolic use by a group of people of
any aspect of culture in order to differentiate themselves from other groups. [1]
Ethnic groups are, therefore identified on the basis of cultural differences
such as language, attitude toward marriage and parenting, food habits, and so
forth. Ethnic groups are recognized based on their distinctive traits which
usually originate from the “homeland”; the prominent in the Gambian societies
being language. The other important symbol of ethnic identity in the Gambian
societies is the family name which is due to the fact that surname is usually
used as an indicator of ethnic background.[2]
Surnames are used in the Gambian societies for ethnic identification because
they are indicators of parentage and place of origin.
As migration is not merely a
relocation of people but is a process which modifies the area of origin, the
area of destination and the way of life of the migrant[3],
many families in the Gambia experienced transformation of their
ethno-linguistic identity due to migration. Ethnic identity is assumed to
change depending on social context and is strongly activated by migration
across culture. Migration of peoples into the present day Gambia has been going
on for centuries, the detail of which is beyond the scope of this study, but
the ethno-linguistic transformation of the Gambian families is related to this
process of migration. This is due to the liberal outlook of the Gambian
societies and their capacity to take within their fold people of varying
cultural and linguistic hues. The most significant manifestation of this is the
spread of the surname across different ethno-linguistic groups.
The Research Objective and
methodology
Scholarship on the ethno-linguistic
transformation of families in the Gambia is largely absent due to lack of
research concerning the ethno-linguistic transformation of families in the
Gambia. This constitutes a gap in our understanding of the Gambian society.
Through case studies on the transformation of different families, this research
aims at improving our understanding of the fact that the Gambia is a “melting
pot” of ethno-linguistic groups and thus encourages the appreciation of our
diversity in unity. Through the case studies of different families, this
research will demonstrate that ethnic differences in the Gambia should not be a
source of discord as the same families are spread among different
ethno-linguistic groups.
In order to
establish the relationship between people of the same surname found in
different ethno-linguistic groups, case studies will be conducted concurrently
on the Njies of Kolli Kunda in Kiang West, Jobes of Karantaba in Jarra west,
and Jammehs of Bakau. Field work will be carried out at the places of study
through key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and in-depth
interviews about families’ history and place of origin. Some of the research
questions will include among others, what are reasons for the migration of
their forebears? How did changes in the ethno-linguistic identities occurred?
What are the effects of these changes? To what extent did the transformed
families maintained links with their siblings at their place of origin? How are
they perceived by their siblings at their place of origin? Etc
[1] De-Vos G, Romanucci-Rose L(1975): Ethnic Identity:
Cultural Continuities and Chance, May Field Population Company, Palo Alto
California
[2] Waters MC, (1989): The everyday use of surname to
determine ethnic ancestry, Qualitative Sociology, volume 12, issue 3, pp.
303-324
[3] Beaujeu-Garnier, J. (1966) cited in Chandna (2008):
Geography of Population Concept Determinants and Patterns, Kalyani Publishers,
New Delhi
No comments:
Post a Comment