The quest for luck: fate, fortune, work and the unexpected among Gambian Soninke hustlers

Abstract

This article investigates the linkage between ‘luck’ as an element of Islamic destiny and ‘questing’ or hustling as a peripatetic and open-ended livelihood mode among Gambian Soninke men. It is argued that hustlers' invocations of ‘luck’ neither reflect theological preoccupations, nor are simply engendered by economic insecurity and speculative economies of fortune in the Gambia. The ‘quest for luck’ rather constructs contingency and the unpredictability of economic life as a productive field of possibility, action and self-realization. A kinetic notion of destiny informs a view of human existence as a space of potentialities set out by God, which men must serendipitously navigate and explore without completely mastering. This encourages them to remain open to unexpected turns in their careers, to keep moving and to work as a way of remaining alert to the unforeseen occurrences of fortune.