‘NO KINGS, NO LORDS, NO SLAVES’: ETHNICITY AND RELIGION AMONG THE SEREER-SAFÈN OF WESTERN BAWOL, 1700–1914

Abstract

The Sereer-Safèn occupied a defensible refuge zone in Western Bawol, where forests and sandstone ridges provided protection against Wolof monarchy. The Safèn were part of a larger ‘Sereer’ world that defined itself by opposition to Islam in the period from 1700 to 1914. This religious divide made the Sereer targets for enslavement by the Wolof, but Sereer religion was also linked to Safèn resistance to Islam, slavery and monarchy. Religion was interwoven with an ethnic boundary, which emphasized the incompatibility of Wolof and Sereer society. Safèn religion was centered on the village ‘shrine’ or xérém, which served as the focal point of ritual, justice, communication with the other world and defense.