Mariama Bâ

Mariama Bâ ( born 1929 in Dakar, Senegal, † 1981 in Dakar ) was a Senegalese writer. It belonged to the people of the Fulbe.

Life

Coming from a traditional Muslim family, she attended after the death of her mother a French school and is characterized from the beginning by excellent performances from. In 1943, she moved to a secondary education school in Rufisque, which she left in 1947 with a degree as a teacher. In the following 12 years were dedicated to their profession, then applied for health reasons they should move to the regional school authority.

From her husband, the deputies Obèye Diop divorced she lived as a mother of nine children. After separation, Mariama Bâ engaged in numerous women's associations, and sat down with a number of speeches and articles in local newspapers for education and women's rights.

Une si longue Her first novel lettre ( Such a long letter ) was readily distinguished in his appearance in 1980 with the Noma Prize for African Writing.

The following year, she died of cancer, shortly before the release of her second novel. A secondary school in Dakar ( Maison d' éducation Mariama Bâ ) is named after her.

Her novels deal with the social conditions of their environment and the resulting problems, such as polygamy, caste system oppression of women - in her first novel - or family resistance and culture shock in intercultural marriages - in her second novel.

Works

• La fonction politique des Littératures africaines écrites, 1981 ( The political function of written African literature )
• Un chant écarlate, novel, Les Nouvelles Éditions Ines Africa, Dakar / Abidjan / Lome 1981 German: The Scarlet singing, from the French by Irmgard Rathke, with an afterword by Ulla shield, Row: The women in society; Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1984 ISBN 3-596-23746-7