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SERER 669
the most vigorously. Both Serer kings kept marabouts at court to handle correspondence,
make amulets and pray for their royal masters. In Saalum, two
marabout families received enough land as a reward for these services that they
formed major provincial commands. In each case the provincial chiefs were
clerics and the population was solidly Muslim. By the nineteenth century, much
of the Wolof population of Saalum was Muslim. From 1861 to the French
conquest in 1887, Siin and Saalum found their existence threatened by a jihad
led by Ma Ba Jaxoo, a Muslim from the neighboring Manding state of Badibu.
Ma Ba was killed when he tried to invade Siin in 1867, but Saalum was almost
destroyed by the jihad.
One result of the jihad and the way in which colonization and the extension
of cash crop cultivation took place was that the traditional order broke down
more quickly in Saalum. By the beginning of World War I the Wolof areas were
heavily Muslim and the Serer about 40 percent. In Siin the traditional order
proved more resilient. The French felt it wise to operate through the chiefs.
Catholic missions were kept out, in part because the Serer blamed an early
mission (founded in 1848) for the French invasions of 1859 and 1861.
Traditional religion remained dominant in Siin until after World War II. At
this point, there were important Christian and Muslim communities among the
Serer. Young Serer men were working in the cities in increasing numbers; many
were also going to school. Modern transportation and communications were
breaking down the isolation of the village. The result was a rapid process of
conversion, which in the 1950s and 1960s moved heavily in favor of Islam.
Today, most Serer have converted, although many still continue their earlier
religious practices. Over four-fifths of the converts have chosen Islam. A major
factor in Muslim success has been the assimilation of Serer in the city to the
dominant culture. The Serer have a reputation for being more lax in their practice
of Islam than the Wolof or Tukulor.
The Serer live in exogamous matrilineages. A son lives with his father until
circumcision (which used to occur in his twenties), but land is inherited in the
matrilineal line, and his mother's brother is responsible for arranging his marriage.
A woman joins her husband's community.
The social structure is very hierarchical and consists of four status groups.
The first is the Gelowar matrilineage. The second, and probably the largest, is
the jaambuur, or free men. The third is a series of endogamous artisan castes—
smiths, leatherworkers, bards and woodworkers. The fourth and lowest status
group, from pre-colonial times, is composed of former slaves.
Martin A. Klein
Population figures updated by Richard V. Weekes
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Gamble, David P. The Wolof of Senegambia, Together with Notes on the Lebu and the
Serer. London: International African Institute, 1957.