“I Took My Life in My Own Hands”: The Clandestine Business of Prostitution in Bamako

Prostitution in Africa, a topic of research since the 1920s (Bryk 1928: 92-102; Bujra 1975 in Nairobi), is often negatively stereotyped, troubled as it is by images of slavery (Kreutzer and Milborn 2008), poverty, the suppression of women in patriarchal social contexts (Giesen and Schumann 1980), and its prevalence in Muslim societies (Kouassi 1986: 233-235). Although the conceptualization of prostitution has become increasingly differentiated in recent years, the majority of studies on prostitution still rely on rather narrow perspectives (cf. Kiremiere 2007: 24-32).