Social Isolation in a Society of Solidarity: The Case of Sereer Siin in Senegal
Keywords:
Social isolation, Informal support, Social networks, Insurance system, Rural areas, SenegalAbstract
Although sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing major social changes, including those in the support role played by families, the phenomenon of social isolation has been little studied. This article sets out to identify a theoretical framework for studying social isolation in the solidarity-based societies of sub-Saharan Africa and to describe how such isolation manifests among the Sereer Siin in Senegal. The analysis is based on 52 interviews conducted as part of a survey on social networks by the Niakhar Social Networks and Health Project. These data suggest that isolation happens through the inability to maintain membership in the informal social insurance system. They further suggest that migration (men migrating for work, women for marriage) is an explanatory factor for social isolation when it occurs in such situations as family conflict and impoverishment.
References
Hortulanus R, Machielse A, 2005, The Issue of Social Isolation. Hortulanus R, Machielse A, Meeuwesen L (eds), Social Isolation in Modern Society. Routledge, London.
Antoine P, 2007, Intergenerational Relations in Africa: A Plural Approach. Les collections du Ceped, Paris, IRD.
Gning SB, 2014, The Times of Old Age in Senegal: The Intergenerational Misunderstanding. Sociologies.
Odimegwu CO, De Wet N, Adedini SA, et al., 2020, Family Demography in Sub-Saharan Africa: Systematic Review of Family Research. Odimegwu CO (ed.), Family Demography and Post-2015 Development Agenda in Africa. Springer, Switzerland.
Massé R, 1995, Contributions of Anthropology to Epidemiology: The Case of the Etiological Role of Social Isolation. Ruptures, Transdisciplinary Journal in Health, 2(1): 102–117.
Kohler HP, Helleringer S, Behrman JR, et al., 2013, The Social and the Sexual: Networks in Contemporary Demographic Research. University of Pennsylvania, PSC Working Paper Series.
Widmer ED, 2016, A Configurational Perspective on Families. Family Configurations: A Structural Approach to Family Diversity. Routledge, London, 2016: 15–26.
Mapoma CC, Masaiti G, 2012, Social Isolation and Aging in Zambia: Examining the Possible Predictors. Journal of Aging Research.
Phaswana-Mafuya N, Peltzer K, 2017, Prevalence of Loneliness and Associated Factors Among Older Adults in South Africa. Global Journal of Health Science, 9(12).
Sajoux M, Golaz V, Lefèvre C, 2015, Africa, A Young and Heterogeneous Continent Destined to Age: Issues Relating to Social Protection for the Elderly. Developing Worlds, 171(3): 11–30.
United Nations, 2019, World Population Prospects 2019, United Nations, New York.
Berthé A, Berthé-Sanou L, Konaté B, et al., 2013, Older People in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Vulnerable Population, Too Often Neglected in Public Policies. Public Health, 25(3): 367–371.
Calvès AE, Dial FB, Marcoux R, 2018, New Family Dynamics in Africa. African Societies in Transition, Presses de l’université du Québec.
Jacquemin M, 2011, Young Female Labor Migrations in Côte d’Ivoire. Journal des Africanistes, 81(1): 61–86.
Lesclingand M, Hertrich V, 2017, When Girls Set the Tone: Adolescent Migration in Mali. Population, 72(1): 63–93.
Delaunay V, Engeli E, Moullet A, et al., 2018, From Seasonal Migration to Temporary Migration. Delaunay V, Desclaux A, Sokhna C (dir.), Niakhar, Memories and Perspectives: Multidisciplinary Research on Change in Africa. L’Harmattan, Paris.
Sawadogo N, Randal S, Bazié F, 2019, Family Mobility in the Face of the Isolation of the Elderly in Burkina Faso. Gerontology and Society, 41(1): 99–112.
Compaore Y, Flahaux ML, Sawadogo N, 2020, Vulnerabilities, Care and Outcomes of Elderly People in Ouagadougou: The Importance of Migration Status and Gender. Aidelf, Paris.
Locoh T, Mouvagha-Sow M, 2005, Towards New Family Models in West Africa. Tours, 25th International Population Congress.
Scott JC, 1976, The Moral Economy of the Peasant. Rebellion and Subsistence in Southeast Asia. Yale University Press, Yale.
Fafchamps M, 1992, Solidarity Networks in Preindustrial Societies: Rational Peasants with a Moral Economy. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 41(1): 147–174.
Platteau JP, 2004, Solidarity Norms and Institutions in Village Societies: Static and Dynamic Considerations. Kolm SC, Ythier JM (eds.), Handbook of the Economic of Gift-Giving, Reciprocity and Altruism. Issy-les-Moulineaux, Elsevier.
Hammel EA, 1990, A Theory of Culture for Demography. Population and Development Review, 16(3): 455–485.
Komter AE, 1996, Reciprocity as a Principle of Exclusion: Gift Giving in the Netherlands. Sociology, 30(2): 299–316.
Komter AE, 2005, Social Solidarity and the Gift. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Coate S, Ravallion M, 1993, Reciprocity Without Commitment: Characterization of Informal Insurance Arrangements. Journal of Development Economics, 40(1): 1–24.
Willer R, 2009, Groups Reward Individual Sacrifice: The status solution to the Collective Action Problem. American Sociological Review, 74(1): 23–43.
Goldstein M, De Janvry A, Sadoulet E, 2002, Is a Friend in Need a Friend Indeed? Inclusion and Exclusion in Mutual Insurance Networks in Southern Ghana. World Institute for Development Economics Research, United Nations University.
De Weerdt J, Dercon S, 2006, Risk-Sharing Networks and Insurance Against Illness. Journal of Development Economics, 81(2): 337–356.
Maclean LM, 2010, Informal Institutions and Citizenship in Rural Africa. Risk and Reciprocity in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Maclean LM, 2011, Exhaustion and Exclusion in the African village: The Non-State Social Welfare of Informal Reciprocity in Rural Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Studies in Comparative International Development, 46(1): 118–136.
Lévi-Strauss C, 1967, The Elementary Structures of Kinship. Presses universitaires de France, Paris.
Delaunay V, 2017, The Demographic Situation in the Niakhar Observatory: 1963–2014. IRD, Paris.
Delaunay V, Douillot L, Rytina S, et al., 2019, The Niakhar Social Networks and Health Project. Methods X, 6: 1360–1369.
Eloire F, Penalva-Icher E, Lazega E, 2011, Complete Networks in Question: Contributions and Limits of the Analysis of Social Networks in an Interorganizational Environment. Sciences Po, HAL, Archives Ouvertes, Paris.
Freeman LC, 1979, Centrality in Social Networks: Conceptual Clarification. Social Networks, 1: 215–39.
Sandberg J, Rytina S, Lalou R, et al., 2008, Social Networks Across the Lifecourse and the Development of the Niakhar Networks Pilot Survey Instrument. St. Pete Beach, Florida.
Braun V, Clarke V, 2019, Reflecting on Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, 11(4): 589–597.
Roth C, 2010, Intergenerational Relations Under Pressure in Burkina Faso. Autrepart, 53(1): 95–110.
Moya I, 2015, The Aesthetics of the Norm: Discourse and Power in Matrimonial and Maraboutic Relations in Dakar. Autrepart, 73(1): 181–197.
Ouattara F, 2018, The Moral Economy of Shame Among the Senufo of Burkina Faso. Baroin C, Cooper BT (eds.), Shame in the Sahel: Modesty, Respect, Daily Morality,. L’harmattan, Paris.
Santos P, Barrett CB, 2006, Informal Insurance in the Presence of Poverty Traps:
Evidence from Southern Ethiopia. SSRN 998541.
Mondain N, Delaunay V, 2014, Changes in Marital Behavior and Pregnancies Outside Marriage in the Sereer Environment (Senegal): The Role of Seasonal Migrations. Marcoux R, Antoine P (dir.), Marriage in Africa: Plurality of Matrimonial Forms and Models. Presses de l’Université de Québec, Quebec.
Mondain N, Randall S, Diagne A, et al., 2012, The Effects of Male Emigration on Women and Their Autonomy: Between Maintenance and Transformation of Traditional Gender Relations in Senegal. Autrepart, 61(2): 81–97.
Buggenhagen B, 2011, Are Births just “Women’s Business?” Gift Exchange, Value, and Global Volatility in Muslim Senegal. American Ethnologist, 38(4): 714–732.
Mauss M, 1923, Essay on the Gift: Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. L’année sociologique, 1: 30–186.
Pilon M, Vignikin K, 2006, Households and Families in Sub-Saharan Africa. Contemporary Archives, Paris.
Bolzman C, Gakuba TO, Amalaman M, 2017, Shame and Migration: A Complex Relationship to Grasp. Pensee plurielle, 44(1): 129–138.
Hertrich V, 2014, Adolescent Migration and Female Autonomy in Matters of Divorce in Africa: Reflections Based on Population Monitoring in Mali. Cahiers québécois de démographie, 43(2): 279–313.
