About
Amadou Hampâté Bâ, born around 1900 in Bandiagara (present-day Mali) and died in 1991 in Abidjan, is a major figure of Francophone African literature. Born into an aristocratic Fula family, he collected oral traditions for over five decades. He worked as an ethnologist at the Institut Français d'Afrique Noire and founded the Institute of Human Sciences in Bamako. A member of UNESCO's Executive Board from 1962 to 1970, he helped establish a unified system for transcribing African languages. His work, notably 'L'Étrange Destin de Wangrin', earned him the Grand Prix littéraire d'Afrique noire in 1974. He is famous for his aphorism: 'In Africa, when an old man dies, a library burns'.
* 1900-01-01 — † 1991-05-15
Major works
- L'Empire peul du Macina (1955)historical essay
- L'Étrange Destin de Wangrin (1973)novel
- Amkoullel l'enfant peul (1991)autobiography
- Oui mon commandant! (1993)autobiography
Key milestones
- 1960Delivers at UNESCO his famous aphorism about the death of elders as burning libraries.
- 1962Elected to UNESCO's Executive Board, serving until 1970.
- 1974Awarded the Grand Prix littéraire d'Afrique noire for 'L'Étrange Destin de Wangrin'.
Themes
Oral traditionCultural identityColonialismMemorySpirituality
Sources: unesco.org · berose.fr · ascleiden.nl