Work, Social Status, and Gender in Post-Slavery Mauritania by Katherine Ann Wiley

Author:Katherine Ann Wiley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2018-09-26T00:00:00+00:00

Limbars (of the older wood variety) with sand dune in background. Photo by author.

Fatimetou’s business thrived. A few years ago, on the cusp of old age, she gave up it up at the urging of her children since making couscous is physically demanding and many women complain that inhaling the flour makes them sick. Now Fatimetou focuses on her ṭābla.

Like many other suwāqāt, Fatimetou has dense social networks that she cultivates inside and outside of the market. Beyond her clients, she has an active social life; she attends the naming ceremonies and weddings that occur almost weekly. Her economic success is displayed at these events as she tucks monetary contributions into the hands of brides’ mothers or presents them with matériels (household goods, Fr.)—including plates, cups, and bowls—which their daughters will take with them when they move to their husbands’ compounds. Fatimetou also provides credit in the market, allowing some customers to take vegetables and other items from her table without paying. She records the cost of these items in a notebook so she can collect what they owe days or even months later. Through such exchanges, Fatimetou creates relations of credit and debt that help ensure her economic security. She also rents a boutique with two other women and one man where they store their ṭāblas and produce overnight. This allows them to protect their goods and their physical positions in the market since they control the stoop in front of their shop. Women who do not rent their own boutiques depend on the generosity of shopkeepers who may allow them to use their stoops, sometimes for a small fee. This situation is precarious, however, as the arrangements can be changed without warning. Fatimetou is quite close to the women who share the shop with her, and she often manages their ṭāblas if they step away.

Fatima’s story illustrates the range of social ties she cultivates in the market and beyond. Along with the important connections with customers, she is part of a group savings association, works closely with her daughter, invests in family ceremonies, and provides credit to shoppers. These social networks are almost exclusively composed of women. In Kankossa, suwāqāt do benefit from men’s assistance: some receive money from husbands, brothers, or grown sons to help them start and maintain their businesses; literate men help illiterate suwāqāt keep track of credit given and debts owed; and, in at least one case, a woman sold vegetables wholesale for a man and turned the profits over to him. This help, however, is often limited.

Suwāqāt told me their husbands generally support their working and that they appreciate women’s contributions to household expenses, but as Fatimetou’s example suggests, it is suwāqāt’s associations with other women that are essential to their success at a time when men often cannot fully provide for their families and state social services are limited.2 While Fatimetou and her son are close and help each other financially, she has no other notable male supporters; like her, many other suwāqāt also rely on social networks of women.

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