LibGuides: Emancipation of Majigeen: Senegalese Culture

Culinary

A taste of Senegal: exotic and tantalizing, West African cuisine merges traditional French and Portuguese foods with those of local tribal groups for unique and inspiring offerings.
Accara Offers a Taste of Senegal in Fried Form recipe for accara, Senegalese dish, in New York Times article
African veg flavor: a Senegalese chef shares his love of West African cuisine
Old ways made healthier - Nonprofit's classes in traditional cooking target obesity and poverty. - Oldways Black-Eyed Pea Salad - Oldways Tangy Collard Greens - Oldways Senegalese Sweet Potato Stew - Adapting old recipes for a new spin on nutrition healthier recipe for Senegalese sweet potato stew
FOOD - Hospitality sweet - Teranga offers taste of authentic Senegalese cuisine Senegalese recipes: accara, accara sauce, & mafe.
Recipe for Senegalese Fish and Rice Thieboudienne is the national dish of Senegal. It is a stewed and stuffed fresh whole fish with vegetables, rice, and a tomato base.
Food Network--Chicken Yassa recipe Food Network gives limited permission to link to their website

By Kinesira (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Language

French in Senegal In French, no subtitles. Acquired French sounds different than French that is spoken from birth. French allows communication among Francophone Africa. Villagers have local languages.
Decolonization and questions of language: The case of Senegal Language remains the domain in which Senegal is slow to decolonize. French, the tongue of the colonizer, continues to be the official language but is strongly challenged by Wolof, a local language spoken by the majority of the Senegalese population.
Women and language choice in Dakar: a case of unconscious innovation. (Senegal) (Women's Linguistic Innovation) Women are traditionally conservative in their use of language but, among the Senegalese in Dakar, women often speak 'Urban Wolof,' a combination of Wolof and French, without being aware of it. Therefore, women are supporting linguistic innovation because French is supported by men as the preferable language even though Urban Wolof is more commonly used in informal situations
ACI's Experience Senegal Program The Experience Senegal Program© helps to strengthen language skills, cross-cultural competency and deepen an understanding of Senegal and other developing nations.
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We provide intensive, high quality, custom designed courses in French, Wolof, Pulaar, Mandinka, Sereer, Portuguese, Creole, English and other national and West African languages for independent learners and study abroad groups.

By Darwinek (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0] via Wikimedia Commons

Religion

Islam in Senegal Films on Demand. The history and spread of Islam in Senegal, and its role in the history of the slave trade, are explored. Daily life, culture, customs, religion, language, architecture, historical sites, and other aspects of Muslim life in Senegal are examined.
Islam and Popular Music in Senegal: The Emergence of a 'New Tradition' [Peer Reviewed Journal] This article explores the influence of Islam on Senegalese popular music and describes the emergence of a 'new tradition' that adapts the griot's praise song to Sufism. The emerging tradition is discussed against the backdrop of social relations between griots and the people they praise, and between marabouts or Sufi religious leaders and their disciples. Elements derived from both relationships can be found in the 'new tradition', making for a hybrid musical genre that reflects the social and religious reality of modern Senegal.
"Baay is the spiritual leader of the rappers": performing Islamic reasoning in Senegalese Sufi hip-hop [Peer Reviewed Journal] For many, Islamic hip-hop is a contradiction. Yet many prominent rappers in Senegal have joined the Fayá¸OEa Tijaniyya Sufi movement and communicate religious messages through their music.

Dance/Music/Sport

By Profession . . . an Artist: Contemporary Art in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and South Africa Films on Demand. Historically, the arts in Africa were largely communal and unrecorded. But much has changed over the past century, and this program takes a look at art in sub-Saharan Africa as it exists today through profiles of Senegalese rap groups Alif and Wagëblë and the rap collective Fight and Forget, who use their music as a form of political activism; Senegalese sculptor Babacar Niang, whose workshop has trained artists who have found success in both the U.S. and Europe; Willie Bester, one of South Africa’s most important resistance artists; Raymond Bogwana of Abakhaya, a world-touring crossover marimba band from South Africa; the cast and crew of Mother Courage, an AIDS documentary filmed in Burkina Faso and screened at the largest film festival in Africa; and Malian griot Fanta Diabaté, matron of a 65-member family in which all, without exception, are griots—masters of words and the keepers of history. (Portions in other languages with English subtitles, 52 minutes)
Locating hip hop origins: popular music and tradition in Senegal [Peer Reviewed Journal] This article complicates internationally circulating origin myths that alternately link hip hop to West African griot traditions or highlight the global resonance of its roots in the US inner city. I argue that such generalizing narratives potentially obscure how complex understandings of traditional cultural production inform local engagements with hip hop in Africa
Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal Given the increasingly intercultural nature of many musical genres in Africa, the need to understand how materials from diverse cultural sources cohere and communicate should garner more attention among scholars who seek to analyze the creative responses of African musicians to the dynamics of their postcolonial environment. Masters of the Sabar represents a significant contribution in this direction.
To Make Song Without Singing: Hip Hop and Popular Music in Senegal [Peer Reviewed Journal] Ethnomusicologists have argued that non-Western conceptions of song often center on social function as much as aesthetic or formal properties;2 as music's social functions change in the context of commercial popular music recordings, such understandings of song are likewise transformed.3 Accordingly, I ask here how shifting indigenous practices of singing, catalyzed by social, political, and religious change and mediated through new recording technologies, informed early hip hop musical practice in Senegal.4 While I have explored the social intent and impact of the Senegalese hip hop movement elsewhere,5 here I focus specifically on the earliest period of Senegalese "hardcore" hip hop and the particular, strategic musical choices that were made in defining hardcore hip hop song: most notably, the absence of singing.
Senegal Wrestling Tradition Films on Demand video. In Dakar, Senegal, wrestling is the king of sports. Senegalese men enthusiastically engage in wrestling, an ancient village tradition that has moved into the city.
Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love Films on Demand video. This music-infused cinematic portrait of world famous Senegalese pop star Youssou N'Dour follows the artist during the contentious period of time around the release of his album Egypt, a deeply spiritual album dedicated to a more tolerant view of Islam. While Western audiences embraced N'Dour's brave musical message, it encountered a serious religious backlash in his native country of Senegal where N'Dour is considered a national hero. Local critics and the media accused him of insulting Islam, arguing that pop and religious music should not mix. Combining unprecedented images of Senegal's most sacred Muslim rituals, vibrant concert performances filmed around the world, and intimate access to N'Dour and his family, this documentary chronicles the difficult path this remarkable artist chose to take, and is a stirring journey of faith, redemption, and the power of music to overcome intolerance.
Rhythmic Transformations in Senegalese Sabar Tang examines the changing role of the bakk, or musical phrase, within the sabar drumming and dance traditions. Although historically, bakks have been representations of spoken word, they have become vehicles for creativity due to the new livelihoods of gewels (Wolof griots), who for centuries made their living by singing praises and by drumming for kings, nobles and other patrons, but more recently have also become active in the burgeoning popular music industry. The expanded functions of the gewels, from their traditional role as communicators and praise singers to their new role as musicians in a popular music context, has directly affected the modes of signification of bakks within the sabar drum repertory. A close look at this fluid transition between traditional and popular music will shed light on the rhythmic transformations that have occurred in sabar drumming.
Sabar Dance Mix 31 Standard YouTube License

History

Senegal by Elizabeth Berg; Ruth Lau [PRINT] The highly regarded Cultures of the World ® series celebrates the diversity of other cultures in this fully updated and expanded edition. As has always been true of these outstanding titles, an abundance of vibrant photographs-including those new to this edition-stimulate the imaginations of young readers as they travel the globe.
Call Number: DT549.22 .B47 2010 (Senegal)
ISBN: 9780761444817
Publication Date: 2009-09-01
Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara by John Middleton (Editor) [PRINT] This 4-vol. set covers its people, its cultures, and its complex history. Intended for students and the general reader, the Encyclopedia provides current and accurate information in more than 1,000 articles on the sub-Saharan region. The articles describe such topics as archaeology family and kinship; government; politics and law; and African arts; cultures; and languages.
Call Number: DT351 .E53 1997 (South)
ISBN: 9780684804668
Publication Date: 1997-12-01
Griots and Griottes by Thomas A. Hale [PRINT] Griots, a uniquely African profession, fulfill a variety of roles as genealogists, historians, spokespersons, diplomats, musicians, teachers, praise singers, and advisors. Telling the story of these remarkable wordsmiths and performers, Thomas A. Hale addresses the nature of their verbal and musical art, the role of female griots, or griottes, how griots and griottes fit into their societies, and what their future might be in Africa and the rest of the world.
Call Number: GR350 .H275 2007 (Kent Reserves)
ISBN: 9780253219619
Publication Date: 2007-07-31

Crafting, Cooking, and Constructing Histories: Women and the Politics of Everyday Life along the Falémé River ( ca. AD 1000–1900) Recent archaeological research in Africa has moved to illuminate the dynamic ways in which cultural identities such as ethnicity and caste have intersected with regional histories. Along these same lines, this paper focuses on the roles of women within the processes of frontier and periphery that shaped, and were shaped by, daily life within the precolonial landscape of Upper Senegal.
Ousmane Sembene: Everything at Once Films on Demand video of rare interview shot on 16mm film in 1992 and edited in 2011 with super-8 archives, master Senegalese author and filmmaker Ousmane Sembene spoke with French filmmaker Christine Delorme about his film Guelwaar, a comedy based on a true story concerning the conflict between the Muslim and Christian communities in Senegal. Often considered the father of African film, Sembene's candid reflections on religion, culture, literacy, the role of women, and the future of Africa shed light on topics as critical today as they were in 1992.
Rencontres: Senegal Independence Day On April 4th of each year, Senegalese citizens celebrate their independence, which was gained in 1960. One man recalls his experiences in 1940 Saint-Louis, which was central to French West African trade. . A BBC Production.
SENEGAL (Documentary, Discovery, History) Standard YouTube License

Polygamy

So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba; Modupe Bode-Thomas (Translator); Kenneth W. Harrow (Introduction by) [PRINT] Written by award-winning African novelist Mariama Ba and translated from the original French, So Long a Letter has been recognized as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. The brief narrative, written as an extended letter, is a sequence of reminiscences-some wistful, some bitter-recounted by recently widowed Senegalese school teacher Ramatoulaye Fall. Addressed to a lifelong friend, Aissatou, it is a record of Ramatoulaye's emotional struggle for survival after her husband betrayed their marriage by taking a second wife.
Call Number: PQ3989.2.B23 S513 2012 (South)
ISBN: 9781577668060
Publication Date: 2012-05-01
So Long a Letter by Mariama Bãa [PRINT] This semi-autobiographical account is a perceptive testimony to the plight of educated and articulate Muslim women. Angered by the traditions that allow polygymy, they inhabit a social milieu dominated by attitudes and values that deny them status equal to men.
Call Number: PQ3989.2.B23 S513 2008 (Kent)
ISBN: 0435913522
Publication Date: 2008

“I Am Not Interested in Denouncing Polygamy: My Film Goes beyond That”: Interview with Angèle Diabang about So Long a Letter An interview with Senegalese director Angèle Diabang is presented, wherein she talks about her latest film project in development which is the adaptation of the novel "So Long a Letter," by Mariama Bâ, which focused on polygamy, her filmmaking process, and the possibility that the film once completed could be used for educational purposes.
"Marrying out" for love: women's narratives of polygyny and alternative marriage choices in contemporary Senegal. This article examines the ways in which childhood and youth experiences of living in polygynous households shape the aspirations of middle-class Muslim Senegalese women to companionate marriage. Increasingly, such aspirations are fulfilled through marriage with European men.
Advantages of Polygamy Films on Demand video segment.