Jakarlo with BackWay: youth, old traditions, new trends, and clandestine migration within The Gambia

AbstractCommitted to rendering the realities of some of The Gambia's youth's lived experience, the paper explores how an art critique during the Visual Voices workshop served as a platform that enabled young people to draw upon visual methodologies to reflect upon and share some of the major concerns and challenges that The Gambia's youth population are forced to confront in one way or another. Drawing on the artworks of participants from the ArtFarm (AF), an artists’ and farmers’ collective, photographs taken during a ‘Jakarlo’, [Jakarlo is the Wolof word for face-to-face or confrontation] a youth wrestling event in Kerr Sering, a Gambian village, and discussions about migration as a new phenomenon with young people from the Abuko Youth Association [See https://www.facebook.com/abukoyouthassociation/] (AYA), the paper explores the ways in which young people are engaging in traditions of visual and performing arts, wrestling, and migration in new ways. The discussions reveal the significance of their practice and engagement as youth leaders and active citizens in The Gambia. Simultaneously, we witness the power of visual narrative as a means of enabling an exploration into the themes that emerged from discussion and observation. These themes lead us to ask how The Gambia's young people have come to negotiate the social phenomena of wrestling, migration, and art as ‘new trends' rooted in ‘old’ practices, how tradition is held onto, and how have they taken on new forms within the youth landscape of The Gambia.Engagé à restituer les réalités de certains jeunes Gambiens à travers leur expérience vécue, l'article explore comment une critique d'art, lors de l'atelier Visual Voices, a servi de plate-forme permettant aux jeunes de s'appuyer sur des méthodologies visuelles afin de réfléchir et partager sur les principales préoccupations et défis auxquels la population des jeunes Gambiens est confrontée, d'une manière ou d'une autre. S'appuyant sur les œuvres d'art des participants de l'ArtFarm (AF) – un collectif d'artistes et d'agriculteurs, des photographies prises lors d'un ‘Jakarlo' – un événement de lutte pour les jeunes à Kerr Sering (un village gambien), et des discussions sur les migrations en tant que nouveau phénomène avec des jeunes de l'Association des jeunes d'Abuko (AYO), l'article explore les façons dont les jeunes s'engagent dans les traditions des arts visuels et du spectacle, de la lutte et des migrations de façons nouvelles. Les discussions révèlent l'importance de leur pratique et de leur engagement en tant que jeunes leaders et citoyens actifs en Gambie. Nous sommes simultanément témoins du pouvoir du récit visuel qui permet d’explorer des thèmes issus des discussions et de l'observation. Ces thèmes nous amènent à nous demander comment les jeunes Gambiens en sont venus à négocier les phénomènes sociaux de la lutte, de la migration et de l'art en tant que « nouvelles tendances » enracinées dans des pratiques « anciennes » ou comment les traditions sont conservées et comment elles ont pris de nouvelles formes dans le paysage des jeunes de Gambie.Keywords: BackWayJakarlovisual voicesvisual archivingvisual methodsvisual sociologyClandestine migrationGambian youth spacesyouth leadersMots clés: BackWayJakarlovisual voicesvisual archivingvisual methodsvisual sociologymigration clandestineEspaces de la jeunesse gambienneLeaders de la jeunesse Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Statement of EthicsThe interviewer clearly communicated the scope and purpose of the research project to all interviewees. All interviewees gave consent to be interviewed for the purposes of this research. All interviewees also consented to interviews being used for publication purposes. At the time this study was conducted, University of Bedfordshire did not require ethical approval to be sought for this type of research.Notes1 Key hole gardening is a permaculture concept that is designed to use kitchen waste to grow vegetation also known as an edible or kitchen garden. Implemented to strengthen food security across Africa. See Lawanson (Citation2021).2 The Gambia National Human Development Report https://www.gm.undp.org/content/dam/gambia/docs/NewDocs/NHDR%202014.pdf [accessed 11 July 2017].3 ‘The Gambia: Migration in Africa's ‘Smiling Coast’’ p. 2. See The Online Journal of the Migration Policy Institute: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2429807.4 See https://displacement.iom.int/system/tdf/reports/Gambia_ENG.pdf?file=1&type=node&id=10576.5 Kori community youth organization: http://www.kori.org.uk.6 DOAF.co.uk.7 The Vessel programme: https://kori.org.uk/the-vessel/.8 Interview with Keba Salah 2016.9 Interview with Omar Corr 2016.10 Interview with Omar Corr 2016.11 Interview with Omar Corr 2016.12 Focus group discussion with ArtFarm 2016.13 Personal communication with Lamin a security guard in Abuko.14 Advocacy in this regard means the group of young people elected to lead education programmes for other young people in their community.15 Interview with a member of AYA, Abuko Youth Association.16 Interview with Pa Doullo Kandeh 2016.17 Emms Craig et al. ‘The Gambia’.18 See Hoyantaan the making of the King https://www.chronicle.gm/hoyantaan-the-making-of-the-king-of-gambias-wrestling-arena/.19 See https://www.grts.gm/new-site/public/news-article-details/sports/gwa-concludes-training-for-thirty-wrestlers-referees.https://www.gambia.com/gwa-commences-3-day-training-for-wrestlers-referees-in-janjanbureh/.https://www.gambia.com/wrestling-out-of-poverty-in-gambia-the-chronicle-gambia/.20 The history of Gambian wrestling http://allafrica.com/stories/201408011311.html.21 See Elephant Man Willie Bounce https://youtube/r038-tDd8eI.22 Interview with Pa Doullo Kandeh 2016.23 Interview with Pa Doullo Kandeh 2016.24 A discussion on how countries are woven as seen through visual representations of black life. Barson, Tanya et al. ‘Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic,’ p. 12.25 Interview with Pa Doullo Kandeh 2016.26 See the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/10/gambia-wrestler-trying-to-reach-italy-drowns-in-mediterranean.27 African Youth Cultures in a Globalized World: Challenges, Agency and Resistance. United Kingdom, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2015.