Surnames as a passport to social mobility? Renaming practices of Fulɓe slave descendants in Central Mali

Considering the fact that naming is a universal practice, it is remarkable how little attention has been given to personal names in the social sciences more generally and in anthropology more particularly. What names ‘do’ exactly may vary across time, space and cultures, but in many situations names are windows on power relations, on renegotiations over social boundaries, and on commemoration practices.
In the African context, naming as practices of domination over collectivities has received most attention in relation to ethnicity. While several studies on African naming have paid attention to the politics of both individual and collective naming practices, none of them has referred explicitly to slavery and hierarchy. This article does.