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Paper short abstract:

Manantali, Mali, a vibrant urban service center, grew after dam construction and national development led to changes attracting people from throughout Mali. Yet, political development remains problematic, as the commune government struggles to represent the disparate interests of town and villages.

Paper long abstract:

Manantali grew from a village of 7 households in the mid-1980s to a town of some 10,000 after the Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) built a dam on the Bafing River in western Mali to regularize the river’s flow and provide electricity to its member states. Since its initial boom due to dam and power plant construction, Manantali has transformed into an urban service center, benefitting from the roads, stable electricity and piped water provided by the dam. In the mid-1990s, national development initiatives that followed democratization and decentralization encouraged private entrepreneurship and the growth of social programs in education and health. The new economic and social infrastructure has drawn people from throughout Mali, creating a diverse and cosmopolitan urban population. Politically, Manantali remains one village of the 22 in Bamafele commune, even though it alone provides more than 40% of the commune’s population. Moreover, the OMVS retains a large informal role in governance as it has significant resources and owns the land on which Manantali town stands. In this context, Manantali remains structurally a “village” and does not have the political prominence that might be expected. The elected commune government of Bamafele, which includes both Manantali residents and villagers, struggles to find resources to integrate new people and activities from Manantali town without losing its responsibility to represent the indigenous people of the Bafing. At the same time, the boundary between village and town has blurred as people move freely between areas.