ABSTRACT

This chapter explains multiple perspectives on gender, Islam, and development in order to elucidate the central roles that women play in the areas of both musical performance and public health. Niuminding Fatty was an exceptional woman in many ways, but her story provides a starting point for a broader investigation of women’s music and women’s power in contemporary Gambia. Yet in The Gambia, Islamic discourse often serves to reinforce the association of music with femininity, thereby making space for women’s voices to be heard in the public sphere. Kanyeleng are notorious for their shamelessness and their consequent ability to address taboo topics and make fun of authority figures, evident in Niuminding Fatty’s comical songs about former president Dawda Jawara. International development programs for women’s health and women’s empowerment are grounded in ideas about Muslim women’s subordination and silence.