Amadou Hampâté Bâ (January or February 1900 or 1901 in Bandiagara, Mali – May 15, 1991 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast) was a Malian writer and ethnologist. 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... 1901 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... See also the Empire of Mali and the town of Mali, Guinea. ... May 15 is the 135th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (136th in leap years). ... Abidjan is the largest city and former capital of Côte dIvoire. ... Côte dIvoire (often called Ivory Coast in English; see below about the name) is a country in West Africa. ... See also the Empire of Mali and the town of Mali, Guinea. ... Ethnologyis a genre of cultural anthropology and| anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the beliefs and practices of different societies. ...

Biography

Amadou Hampâté Bâ was born to an aristocratic Peul family in Bandiagara, the largest city in Dogon territory and the ancient capital of the Macina Empire. After his father's death, he was adopted by his mother's second husband, Tidjani Amadou Ali Thiam of the Toucouleur ethnic group. He first attended the Qur'anic school run by Tierno Bokar, a dignitary of the Tidjaniyya brotherhood, then transferred to a French school at Bandiagara, then to one at Djenné. In 1915, he ran away from school and rejoined his mother at Kati, where he resumed his studies. Categories: Africa-related stubs | Burkina Faso | Cameroon | Ethnic groups of Africa | Fulani Empire | Mali | Nigeria ... The Dogon are a group of people living in Mali, in West Africa. ... The Quran ( Arabic al-qurʾān أَلْقُرآن; its literal meaning is the recitation and is often called Al Quran Al Karim: The Noble Quran, also transliterated as Quran, Koran, and less commonly Alcoran) is the holy book of Islam. ... The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. ... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In 1921, he turned down entry into the école normale in Gorée. As a punishment, the governor appointed him to Ouagadougou with the role he later described as that of "an essentialy precarious and revocable temporary writer". From 1922 to 1932, he filled several posts in the colonial administration in Upper Volta, now Burkina Faso and from 1932 to 1942 in Bamako. In 1933, he took a six month leave to visit Tierno Bokar, his spiritual leader. Île de Gorée (i. ... Ouagadougou (WAH-GAH-doo-goo) is the capital of Burkina Faso. ... Upper Volta (French Haute-Volta) was the name of the African country now called Burkina Faso until August 4, 1984. ... Burkina Faso is a landlocked nation of western Africa. ... Bamako, population about 1 500,000 ( 2004), is the capital of Mali. ...

In 1942, he was appointed to the Institut Français d’Afrique Noire (IFAN, French Institute of Black Africa) in Dakar thanks to the benevolence of Théodore Monod, its director. At IFAN, he made ethnological surveys and collected traditions. For 15 years he devoted himself to research, which would later lead to the publication of his work L'Empire peul de Macina (The Peul Empire of Macina). In 1951, he obtained a UNESCO grant, allowing him to travel to Paris and meet with intellectuals from Africanist circles, notably Marcel Griaule. (City of Dakar, divided into 19 communes darrondissement) City proper ( commune) Région Dakar Département Dakar Mayor Pape Diop ( PDS) (since 2002) Area 82. ... Ethnologyis a genre of cultural anthropology and| anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Global Metrics Human security Major Armed Conflicts: Total Deaths in Battle: 700,000 people Violent Deaths caused by Government (Other than War): Violent Deaths caused by other humans: Juvenile Violent Crime: Political security Nations Holding Multi-party Elections: Percentage Living under a Fully Democratic System of Governance: Free Countries: Percentage... UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations system established in 1946. ... Marcel Griaule (1898-1965) was a French anthropologist known for his studies with the Dogon of West Africa and for pioneering ethnographic field studies in France. ...

With Mali's independance in 1960, Bâ founded the Institute of Human Sciences in Bamako, and represented his country at the UNESCO general conferences. In 1962, he was elected to UNESCO's executive council, and in 1966 he helped establish a unified system for the transcription of African languages. UNESCO logo The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, commonly known as UNESCO, is a specialized agency of the United Nations system established in 1946. ... -1...

His term in the executive council ended in 1970, and he devoted the remaining years of his life to research and writing. He moved to Abidjan, and worked on classifying the archives of West African oral tradition that he had accumulated throughout his lifetime, as well as writing his memoirs (Amkoullel l'enfant peul and Oui mon commandant!, both published posthumously).

Bibliography

• L'Empire peul du Macina (The Peul Empire of Macina, 1955, new edition in 1984)
• Vie en enseignement de Tierno Bokar, le sage de Bandiagara (The Life and Education of Tierno Bokar, the Sage of Bandiagara, 1957, rewritten in 1980)
• Kaïdara, peul tale (Kaïdara, a Peul Tale1969)
• L'étrange destin du Wangrin (The Strange Destiny of Wangrin, 1973, grand prix de littérature d’Afrique noire 1974)
• L'Éclat de la grande étoile (The Brightness of the Great Star, 1974)
• Jésus vu par un musulman (Jesus, as Viewed by a Muslim, 1976)
• Petit Bodiel (conte peul) et version en prose de Kaïdara (Little Bodiel (a Peul story) and a prose version of Kaïdara, 1977)
• Njeddo Dewal mère de la calamité (Njeddo Dewal, Mother of Calamity, 1985, Peul fantasy tale)
• La poignée de poussière, contes et récits du Mali (A Handful of Dust, Malian Stories, 1987)
• Amkoullel, l'enfant peul (Amkoullel, the Peul Child, 1991, the first part of his memoir) and Oui mon commandant! (Yes, My Commander, 1994, the second part of his memoir) were published posthumously

Quotes

• En Afrique, quand un vieillard meurt, c’est une bibliothèque qui brûle. — "In Africa, when an old man dies, it's a library burning." 1960 at l'UNESCO.

• Les peuples de race noire n'étant pas des peuples d'écriture ont développé l'art de la parole d'une manière toute spéciale. Pour n'être pas écrite, leur littérature n'en est pas moins belle. Combien de poèmes, d'épopées, de récits historiques et chevaleresques, de contes didactiques, de mythes et de légendes au verbe admirable se sont ainsi transmis à travers les siècles, fidèlement portés par la mémoire prodigieuse des hommes de l'oralité, passionnément épris de beau langage et presque tous poètes ! 1985. — "The people of Black race, as they are not peoples [with a tradition of written literature], have developped the art of speech in a most special manner. While it is not written, their literature is not less beautiful. How many poems, epics, historic and chilvalrous narratives, didatic tales, myths and legends of egregious [literary style] have so been transmitted through centuries, carried by the prodigious memory of the men with an [oral tradition's], passionately in love with beautiful language and almost all poets."

• Je suis un diplômé de la grande université de la Parole enseignée à l’ombre des baobabs. — "I graduated from the great university of the Spoken Word taught in the shade of baobab trees."

References

• This article began as a translation of the corresponding article in the French Wikipedia, accessed 9 April 2005.

Links

• Malian ministry of culture, dossier for the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Amadou Hampâté Bâ (http://w3.culture.gov.ml/a-culturelles/centenaire/index.html) (in French)