Population
Total People: 3.7 million (2000)
Urban Percent: Approximately 30%

Economics
GNP per capita: US$3,410 (Senegal)
Occupations: Tradesmen, Fisherman, Farmers - both field-crops and cattle.
Income sources: Income for many is mainly agricultural produce, particularly peanuts.

Living Conditions/Community Development Status
Food: The diet is very basic consisting largely of millet and rice. The Senegalese in general do not vary their diet or change the presentation of meals. This is probably due in some extent to a lack of means, but largely however to the fact that people do not like culinary change and don't care for anything new or different. Food shortage is quite common, especially after the planting season and before harvest begins. It is not unusual for the Wolof in the villages to eat only one meal per day during the later parts of the year.
Living Environmet: Most of the Wolof are found in the flat and dusty region of Senegal known as the Sahel. In the rural setting, the typical Wolof lives in a compound enclosed by a fence. The houses in these villages are often made from mud and thatched with grass or palm leaves. Rich Wolof in the villages have houses made of concrete blocks. The inhabitants of the compound may consist of an extended family-a man, his wives and children, his brothers and their families, aged relatives, and unmarried sisters. In the urban setting, housing ranges from shantytowns to concrete structures built by an employer. The urban household may consist of a nuclear family with extended family members from the village seeking job/schooling opportunities. Some urban Wolof families own a "family home" which is a place where displaced nephews or divorced sisters may live. In this case, it is the responsibility of the wealthy members of the family to provide for the needs of those living in the family house.
Clothing: The Wolof are a style conscious people. One is expected to dress appropriately for the occasion and according to one's role in society. For holidays, work, and a funeral, or to the mosques on Fridays, the mbubb or grand boubou is often worn. This is a flowing garment with an embroidered shirt and pants underneath. The Kaftan (sabador) is also worn for the same occasions as the Grand Boubou, though it may not be considered quite as elegant. Many urban Wolof men now wear Western style suits to their jobs if they are able to afford it. To the Wolof, outward appearance says a great deal about the character of the person. Wolof women also enjoy wearing elaborately embroidered dresses, especially for festivals and public activities. A Wolof woman will often go into debt in order to purchase material for a new dress to be worn on a special occasion such as a Muslim holiday. Though European clothing such as mini-skirts or jeans is often worn by the urban youth, this style of clothing is seen as offensive or seductive by the majority of the Wolof people.
Health care: Life expectancy, 44 years; Infant mortality, 15% before first birthday. Clinics are available, but herbs, gris-gris (muslaay), and magic formulas by religious leaders are the usual means of providing health care.
Water supplies: 35% have access to safe water. Water is available from the Senegal River in the river basin, but is unlikely to be suitable for domestic use because of Bilharzia. It is estimated by WHO research that in certain areas of the river regions as many as 80% of the population is infected by Bilharzia. In the outlying regions of the Jeeri water is scarcer, and arable land valuable and much sought after - especially as one moves north. Several governments in conjunction with Arab help concluded a project on the Senegal River in 1981 to provide irrigation and ultimately hydroelectric power to most of the region. Two dams were to be built: The first, the Manantali dam in Mali (completed 1980), was to help regulate the river flow and prevent flooding. The second dam, the Makadiama dam, was to be constructed in the river delta region in Senegal, to stop seawater seepage upstream in the dry season, and to help increase irrigation in the lower regions of the river. This second dam will probably never be constructed. In most towns and larger villages water is available. Water reservoir, wells and boreholes have been constructed almost on a willy-nilly basis in some regions, due to the lack of co-operation between NGO, government and semi-government development projects. Help is available for people in need, but often people choose to use the river because they don't have to pay for the water. Even in some towns one finds houses side by side - one with electricity and running water (and some even with flush-toilets), and the other without, simply because people do not want to pay for what they consider to be free inexhaustible resources.
Energy/Fuel/Electricity: In most of Senegal electricity is available, but in many villages people do not want power because they don't want to pay the bills.

Society
Rule/Authority/Selection: The heads of households make the major decisions for the family, but usually does so in consultation with peers and family members. Anyone who is not yet married is considered a "youth" and not capable of making important life decisions. When a difficult decision must be made, a Wolof person will often consult a marabout (a religious leader with supernatural powers) to give him advice on how the decision should be made. The marabout is believed to have the power to discern if the conditions in the unseen, spiritual world are favorable for the inquirer. If they are not favorable, the proper ritual or act will be prescribed in order to manipulate the unseen world to be favorably disposed toward the inquirer. Most local imams have authority in their community, especially in the area of Islamic concerns. But even more powerful than either the imam or the marabout are the leaders (sÁ riÔ ) of the Islamic brotherhoods of the Mourides and the Tijanis. These men are revered and respected to the point that blind obedience is given even if the commands given contradict formal Islam. These brotherhood leaders are the most powerful men in Senegal.
Social Grouings: Wolof society is characterized by a relatively rigid, complex system of social stratification. This system consists of a series of hierarchically ranked strata in which membership is ascribed by patri-filiation. The status groups are organized into three major hierarchical levels. The first of these is an upper or dominant level called geer, which is pre-conquest times was divided into several status groups including the garmi or royal lineages, the dom-i-bur or nobility, and the jaambur or free-born commoners, the majority of whom were small-scale cultivators called baadolo; these distinctions may still be alluded to on special occasions, but essentially the different strata have fused into a single status group which retains the label geer. Second is a lower or artisan level called nyenyoo, consisting of several occupationally-defined status groups. These groups include the metalsmiths (teug), the leatherworkers (wude), the weavers (rab), and the griots (gewel), who are the lineage genealogists, musicians, and general carriers of gossip. The lowest level is composed of the descendants of slaves (jaam), who are still called by that term. The jaam are differentiated into subgroups which are named and ranked according to the status of their former masters. This stratification system is a crucial aspect of village social life, and still retains a great deal of significance in the urban areas. Membership in a particular status group coordinates with specific social prerogatives and obligations which are ascribed, and which are manifested in social behavior. Each status category tends to be an endogamous unit, and the three major levels are strictly endogamous. In the villages the geer usually hold all of the key political offices and most of the dominant ritual roles rooted in Islam.
Family Structure: The basic social units in the village are locally recognized and spatially demarcated residential groups usually occupying a single compound. The Wolof term for these units is ker, while the French usually call them "carres." The core of each ker generally consists of a patrilocal extended family. The component family units tend to be polygynous. The Wolof follow Islamic marriage laws which permit up to four legal wives. There is also some preference for marriage with either cross-cousin. The ker is a corporate group and has an official head, the borom ker, who is the senior male of the dominant family unit. The borom ker allocates the fields to be cultivated by the ker members, settles minor disputes within the ker, and represents the ker in important village affairs. The ker may or may not constitute a single household. The main exceptions occur in the case of the larger ker which often incorporate an unrelated family unit of a lower status category. The head of that family unit stands in a client-patron relationship with the borom ker. Groups of contiguous ker are usually related patrilineally, and form localized patrilineal lineages. The patrilineal lineage (genyoo) is the pivotal kin group at the politico-jural level. The patrilineages are the groups that control the land, and they are the crucial units from the standpoint of property inheritance and usufruct. Political rank and the control of political offices in the village are also determined primarily by patrilineage affiliation. The senior male of a patrilineage is its official head (laman). This title is often interpreted in economic terms, since it is he who actually "controls" the lands of the patrilineage, and usually receives the tithe or waref for the use of these lands. The waref is generally equivalent to 10 percent of the production or income from a field. The Senegalese government has been making strenuous attempts to change this traditional system of land control which it considers exploitative.
Art Forms: Narrative songs told by griots, filigree work by gold and silversmiths, and basketry.
Recreation: Wrestling, dance, storytelling, Islamic festivities, basketball is beginning to be popular.
Self Image: Very proud of their ethnic identity.
Judicial system/Trial punishment: In Senegal, a secular democratic state granting freedom of religion and association, much of the French legal system is evident and the principles of the western law and legal systems are respected.
Media (Radio/TV/Newspapers/Films/Videos/Recordings): There is one radio for every eight people and one tv for every 118 people in Senegal.

Religion
Primary Religion: Islam (nearly 100%) Most Wolof belong to one of the follow two Sufi brotherhoods: Mouridism - The Mouride brotherhood is of Senegalese origin. It was founded in the later part of the 1800s by Amadou Bamba Mbacke. The success of Bamba's teachings quickly drew the attention of the French colonial authorities. As a result of his popularity, Bamba was exiled from Senegal for 12 years until he finally returned to Senegal and kept under house arrest in the city of Diourbel until his death in 1927. The arrest and exile only reinforced his prestige and gave him the opportunity to write an abundance of literature. To many Mourides, he is the intermediary between themselves and God. He is also considered a national hero, and a liberation hero. Tidjans - The founder of the brotherhood, Algerian Ahmed Tidjan, lived in the 18th century. The Tidjan brotherhood was strongly developed in Senegal among the Wolof by El Hadji Malick Sy. He was born in the Walo region, and died in Tivaouane, some twenty kilometers north of Thies. Consequently, Tivaouane became the capital of Senegalese Tidjanism. One branch of the Tidjans is known as the "Omarians," because they admire Omar Tal, the famous opposition leader to French colonization in the 1800s.
Practices/ceremonies: Standard Muslim ceremonies and practices are kept.

Current Church Development
Christians: <40
Scriptures available: New Testament in Wolof (1988). Bible in Standard Arabic and French for the literate.
Christian Radio: TWR, IBRA, ELWA and others.
Videos: The Jesus film
Satellite Media: This is a growing means of communication in this area of this world.

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