Difference in Similarity: Visual Narratives in Fulani WhatsApp groups in the Sahel

Drawing on ethnographic case studies of WhatsApp groups in Chad and Mali, this paper addresses the visual narratives Fulani communicate online. The manual collection and computational analysis of images using the CLIP model allows for an interregional and cross-group thematic comparison. The results highlight similarities and differences in visual communication in Fulani-dominant WhatsApp groups. The complex configuration of various social actors of Fulani across the groups and the ambiguity in the expression of social affiliation shows that a generalizing framework of “ethnicity” and “Fulaniness” is unfit. The article revisits anthropological theory on ethnicity in the 1990s to establish a point about the construction of identity by Fulani subgroups in a digital age. Arguably, that while some people communicate a representation of Fulaniness by pictures of livelihood and ethnoreligious morals, the circulation is formed by local interests and demographically diverse social groups. From the visual narratives it becomes evident that an ethnographic understanding of violence, uncertainty, and political stakes in the region, as well as everyday experiences among WhatsApp users are essential to interpret the prevailing images of kidnappings, killings, conferences, and Islamic authorities.