The Senegalese-Wolof Culture

The person that I interviewed is from the Wolof people group and is from the Gambia/Senegal region of West Africa. She had lived there in the urban setting for a good majority of her life, but has also had good amount of western influence. She identifies herself as a Muslim but is not as serious about her religion as the majority of the people in her culture and she does not believe in a lot of the unorthodox Islamic practices. This factor gave an interesting perspective during the religion section of the interview.
Family Structure Islam largely influences the Senegalese-Wolof people of West Africa; therefore it is common in the culture for a family to be polygamous. Unless the person comes from a Christian background, most would agree …show more content…
A person’s relationships with the people in their community and their family members come as a top priority. People relate to each other either because they are family or because they live within close proximity with each other. Whenever a person sees someone, it is considered rude to not greet him or her. For example, in America it is not common for a person to walk up to a stranger and start having a conversation with someone. At the most, a simple “hello” is acceptable. In Senegalese-Wolof culture, it is socially acceptable to greet people by asking questions like, “How are you?” “How is your morning?” “How is your family?” even if two people do not know each other that well. Hospitality is also an important value within the social aspect of the culture. Families and households should be hospitable to guests in the home. It is also the norm to go to another person’s home unannounced or to be invited into a person’s home that you just …show more content…
It is so important that it is proper to ask a person if they are in peace when greeting someone. “Keeping the peace” within the community and family often means that conflicts are avoided simply to keep the peace. The idea of witch doctors and animism is also common and accepted in the society, so sometimes people live in fear that their neighbor has put a curse on them. Since family, relationships, and Islam are all three highly valued in the Wolof society, if a person is born into a Muslim family is the cultural norm that they are automatically Muslim. If a family member decides they want to leave Islam it is considered not keeping the peace within the family or community. It is also common to be kicked out of their homes or cut off from their