Paper short abstract:

The paper relates a borderland of a particular kind: the Bijagós- of Guinea-Bissau. The Bijagós are a hot spot of globalization. “Global players” are present on the islands who seek to obtain specific rights to access the islands’ resources. This leads to crises of trust and mutual accusation of immorality.

Paper long abstract:

Abstract

The paper relates a borderland of a particular kind: the Bijagós-archipelago off the coast of the tiny West-African country Guinea-Bissau. In contrast to popular opinion, depicting the islands as a last paradise unspoiled and untouched by the consequences of modernity, the Bijagós actually are a hot spot of globalization. Numerous "global players" are present on the islands: operators of the global tourist industry, international drug dealers, fishermen from West-African countries, industrial fish trawlers from Asia and Europe, petrol companies, as well as transnational environmental organisations.

Following Vigh's argument who describes Guinea-Bissau as a façade state (William Reno), state structures, including state borders, do not serve the country's population but almost exclusively the interests of its elites. Instead of hardening state borders, Guinea-Bissau's elites have opened the country to various actors and activities, not least illicit ones.

All newcomers seek to obtain specific rights to access the islands' resources, be it oil, fishing grounds, beaches, biospheres, or hiding places. The confrontation of autochthonous norms with allochthonous conceptions affects morally protected boundaries between various spheres of exchange, leading to crises of trust, misunderstandings and mutual accusation of immorality. On the archipelago, local groups actively cope with these challenges by alliances and conflicts with allochthonous groups most of which are short living. At the same time there are claims for the re-establishment of "neo-traditional" rights on land and fishing grounds, which are not only directed against newcomers, but are also prone to bring about changes within the age-class society of the Bijagós.