"General History of Senegal": 14 new volumes to revisit the country's past

View of the Plateau district in downtown Dakar, Senegal. Initsogan/Wikimedia

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It is the continuation of a very ambitious project: 14 new volumes of the General History of Senegal have just been published. The first five were presented in 2019. A scientific work carried out by some 450 researchers, and supported by the State. Objectives: to discover or revisit the past by moving away from colonial history.

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With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac

The 14 new volumes of the General History of Senegal are devoted to very eclectic themes, often unknown, from prehistory to the contemporary period. Among them: The megalithic landscapes of Senegal and The Gambia. "It's about megaliths, the equivalent of dolmens from Brittany to Senegal, which allow you to discover an ancient civilization," explains Professor El Hadj Ibrahima Ndao. That's why it's considered a World Heritage Site."

He has been involved in the project since the beginning. He himself has written two new books on the electrification of Senegal. "Two extremely dense volumes, and above all very rich in period photographs," he says. We see the evolution of the city of Dakar. How electricity has accompanied this urbanization".

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Other volumes are devoted to the brotherhood of Tidianes – a Muslim brotherhood very present in West Africa – to mouridism – another Muslim brotherhood, founded by Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba – or to the Fouladou region in Casamance. A work that fills a void, or allows a "rewriting of history" explains the academic: "There are events for which we have extremely reliable sources, and which do not give the same version as what we were taught in history books at the colonial library.

Research continues: a total of 25 volumes are expected to be published by 2024.

« Making the Senegalese discover their history is an imperative »

This large-scale project was initiated in 2013 by the late Professor Iba Der Thiam. From now on, Professor Mamadou Fall coordinates the steering committee of the General History of Senegal. With this work, he hopes to better familiarize the Senegalese with their history, especially ancient history.

► Also listen: In the General History of Senegal, "There are grey areas to clarify"

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Since we want to write our history in the place, we must start from the origins, he says. The priority obviously remains the youth of Senegal, because it is a youth that is more or less at odds with its history. And I assure you that the majority of Senegalese, you ask them about the history of Senegal before the fifteenth century, and it is the black hole".

He insists: "So, really, it is an imperative to make the Senegalese discover their history, because there are so many gray areas, there are so many ruptures, there are so many fractures in this history. How was this country forged? What is the anthropological background that gave it shape? What is the trajectory of this country? Do you know that even in the name of Senegal, it is still controversial? Sunu gaal, Sineghana, Sanghana... The community of historians does not agree on the very etymology of the name Senegal. And I start from the idea that many of the problems we are experiencing today are related to a lack of knowledge of our history.

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• Senegal
• History
• Culture
• Culture Africa