ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses participants' definitions, perceptions, use, and critical assessment of specific local traditional values backed up by my own experience and some literature. Traditional values are vast, ambiguous, and controversial as defined and understood by respondents. However, my experience in such a large and diverse community coupled with my personal life experience has shown me that despite some differences in practices, beliefs, and attitudes, most people in Senegal understand the values mentioned below, accept, and live by them. This chapter focuses on the concepts of Jom (dignity), Kersa (decency), Muǹ (endurance), Teranga (hospitality), and Kal (joking kinship), how they are perceived and used in the daily life of the community and the Senegalese in general. The choice of these values is motivated by their common use and the role they play in the leaders' and community members' decision-making and choices in life.
The different comments throughout this chapter present and describe each of the values chosen in this study through examples and analysis. The discussion shows the positive nature of these values and the positive effects that they are expected to have on people and the larger community. The comments also present the negative perceptions and misuse of the concepts that may exist for different reasons.
