ABSTRACT
Many of the organizing principles which structure village life are absent in Tambacounda. The matrilineage structures both urban-rural interaction and interactions between urbanites themselves. In both cases, this takes the form of brokerage, where established townspeople play a middleman role between the rural and the urban environments. Townsmen occasionally talk of organizing an initiation in Tambacounda itself. In 1977-78, 3 or 4 of Etyolo's long-term migrants living in Tambacounda kept goats and cattle in the village. Like villagers, many townspeople tend to be somewhat suspicious and mistrustful of Moslems. In Tambacounda, 14 of the 25 intra-lineage marriages were between Bendyas, nine between Bubans, and one between Bonangs. The rate of intra-lineage marriage is therefore not only higher in Tambacounda, but it extends across more lineage groups. For nearly all urban migrants, the matrilineage continues to be a major organizing principle, structuring relations both among townspeople and between them and their villages of origin.
