Mariama ba biography of williams wife

In the s, Senegal was a new, independent nation. It had previously been ruled in succession by the Portuguese, the Dutch and finally the French, becoming a part of French West Africa around half a century earlier. With independence, Senegal struggled to create its own cultural identity.

Mariama ba biography of williams wife: Mariama Ba, Iconic Senegalese novelist

In , the young nation wrote its first constitution, and three years later its only political party became the Senegalese Progressive Union. About a decade later, a three-party political system was introduced. After being citizens of French West Africa for many years, many individuals had assimilated to aspects of French culture with its norms.

As a result, the nation created a unique blend of Islamic religious beliefs and practices, African cultural norms and French influence, resulting in the Senegalese values that are still a hybrid of practices today. While different, all three cultures — African, French and Muslim — have traditionally viewed women as a subordinate sex whose primary responsibilities are domestic and who live in the shadows of their husbands.

He was a renowned poet in French — having mastered the French language while studying in France during the colonial period -- and he believed that independence would bring about a partnership between Africa and the West. But his writings did not address the issues African women in Senegal face. Once Senghor took office, resistance to the French language and education system, which had begun years prior when Senegal was still a French colony, increased.