Njangu wolof,
francais, cosaan ak koor
My studies of wolof, french, tradition/customs and
Ramadan.
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This is my first blog post as a Boren Fellow (more about my plan abroad)
and my first blog post as part of my ‘practicum phase’ for my masters program
at SIT Graduate Institute.
The on-campus phase of my graduate program came and went as if it was
“one long night”..just as one of our professors had warned us it would be
during orientation back in August. I felt as if as soon as my boxes were
unpacked, my walls decorated and I was moved into the “Sunflower House”, I had
to begin repacking my things into boxes and mentally prepare myself to spend
exorbitant amounts of money to ship my life to my sister’s house for storage
(thank you, Hanna!). Similar to adjusting to cold bucket showers, I’ve also
gotten used to letting go of unnecessary material belongings.
But this is the life of a vagabond.
Or perhaps I’m transitioning to a “development” professional?
Either way, this is the life I have chosen.
This is the life I want.
Or perhaps I’m transitioning to a “development” professional?
Either way, this is the life I have chosen.
This is the life I want.
And to be honest, I secretly enjoy both of these things...the cold bucket
showers and lack of material possessions (except my books, I cant part with
those).
The weeks after leaving Brattleboro and SIT were spent in Wisconsin visiting
family and in New England with friends from school. Soon it was time for the
Convocation and Orientation for the Boren Fellowship in DC. To say the least, this
was an interesting three-day experience and I’m not really sure what I was
expecting to get. It was a mix of government propaganda, basic study abroad
orientation, advice on how to not
become a spy against the US government and a dash of “big brother is watching you” rhetoric.
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| Me and Carl (friend from SIT) at the Boren Orientation. He's going to Brazil! |
In all honesty, I didn’t learn anything from this experience and was overall
disappointed by the entire seminar. I felt the money could have been better
spent elsewhere. However, I do understand that these fellows (graduate/doctoral
students) and scholars (undergraduate students) have varying levels of
experiences and expectations and I’m sure NSEP and Boren did the best that they
could. One conclusion I came to which I constantly remind myself of even now as
I am in Florida is this: for some, this is a semester study abroad/exchange
program and even the first time out of the US…but for others, this is a
professional development opportunity that will likely launch them into their
career and even published research. On a personal note, I’ve become more aware
of my need to be accepting of this difference and the variety of people
participating in the program.
For once in my life, I am "the old person".
And I am learning a lot.
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| Everyone has scooters here - its really exciting and I am jealous. |
African Flagship
Language Initiative at University Florida-Gainesville
My first impressions of Gainesville and UF: hot; sticky; lots of
alcohol; party town; flat; rape culture (may do another post about this soon); hot;
generally privileged population (UF); massive school. After a couple of weeks, the
area really started to grow on me, but then again maybe I just like the way a
tan looks on me. I’m subletting from a bunch of fraternity guys and living with
four other students who are all part of the AFLI program (two going to Tanzania
for Swahili and two going to Mozambique for Portuguese). The neighborhood is
great; the apartment is the most bougie place I’ve ever lived and its walking
distance to my classes and some cafes for study time!
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| Class Photo: (L to R) Jacky, Brenda, Olivia, Kayla, Me and Oumar. |
I came to Gainesville for a seven-week intensive language study of
Advanced French and Survival Wolof. I am in this class with four other women of
which I am the oldest: two fellows and three scholars. Of the seven weeks
program – the first and last week will be spent on Wolof and the middle five
are French. After the first week of Wolof, I was able to introduce myself, my
friends and members of my family while giving a very little background of where
I come from and what I do. I can negotiate a taxi price (très importante!) and
go through basic salutations. Salutations are so important in Senegal, you must
always be sure to greet everyone! Wolof is the most common language in Senegal
while French, the language of the colonizer, is used more in formal settings
(ie: school, business, government).
Without any delay, we dove right into Senegalese culture, politics and
history by picking up our first novel, “Une Si Longue Lettre” (So Long a Letter)
by Mariama Ba – this book is sometimes referred to as the feminist manifesto of
Senegal and was written in the post independence era. It depicts several strong
female characters while giving an honest critique of polygamy, a practice that
is still very common in Senegal today. A heart-string pulling fiction, I
recommend this book to anyone interested in stories of love, friendship,
independence and liberation through the eyes of Senegalese women. They have a translated version!
Our class is about to finish our second book, “La Greve des Battu” (The
Beggars Strike) by Aminata Sow Fall and will begin our last book, “Le Ventre de
l'Atlantique” (The Belly of the Atlantic) by Fatou Diome, next week.
Several months ago I found an article (totally worth reading!) and a
video (totally worth watching!) showing Fatou Diome as she eloquently and
fearlessly detailed the
"migrant crisis" in Europe (mostly in the Atlantic and
Mediterranean). Explaining the hypocritical stance France has taken towards its
immigrants, she states, “If they were Whites, the whole Earth would be
shaking now. Instead, it’s Blacks and Arabs who are dying and their lives are
cheaper.” Low and behold, during the first week of classes I not only find out
that we will be reading her book on migration/immigration but also that my
instructor, Oumar Ba, was the author of the article I read months ago!!
In the last couple of years I’ve began to realize how often we (as
Westerners, those from “developed countries”) read about people and situations
through the lens of people just like us. What do I mean by this? I mean that
our history books in school, talking about the Trail of Tears and Jim Crow Era
are written by white people (usually males) which gives an extremely limited
and often distorted viewpoint. When reading, we read books written by Americans
and Europeans (usually men): the knowledge keepers, the knowledge creators and
the knowledge protectors (For more on this – read Michel Foucault’s Power/Knowledge). For example, when I tried to find books and articles online
about Senegal, the most popular results were those written by white men and
women who in essence – went to Senegal – collected information – came back to
their respective countries – and wrote a book which defined what Senegal is and
who Senegalese people are. That is not ok.
To be clear, I am not saying this knowledge doesn’t have value (it does!) – but
it’s important to realize its limitations and to fill those gaps with the words of the actual people you are reading about.
For this reason and many more, I was immediately thrilled to have Oumar as
our instructor for the summer. Not only was he Senegalese and gave us three
books written by Senegalese authors, but they were written by Senegalese women!
An even more marginalized and unheard
group. Throughout our course thus far, we have watched movies by Ousman Sembene
(the father of African Cinema), learned about people like Annette Mbaye
d'Erneville (the first Senegalese with a degree in Journalism), the influential political M23 movement, including Y'en A Marre! (We're fed up!) and Touche Pas Ma Constitution! (Dont touch my constitution!) as well as watched
countless Senegalese and/or West African music videos everyday giving us a
taste of the nightlife and traditional music before we go.
One story that stood out to me was the story of “The Women of Nder”. A tragic and powerful story which took place
in 1819 in Nder, a village in the North of Senegal. This village, as like many
others during this time, had a history of resisting and falling victim to the
Moore warriors and slave trade. While the men of Nder were off fighting the
Moores one day, a woman saw another group of the Moore warriors crossing the
river on their way to Nder. They knew what awaited them, the same fate of their
mothers and grandmothers before them, a life of enslavement and shame. Instead
of giving up – they sent the elders and children to hid in a nearby fields and
armed themselves with everything they could find to fight off the warriors!
They won the first attack, but they knew a second was coming and that it would
be too much for them to handle. The women of the village decided they would
rather take death and honor than slavery. Collectively, the women burned
themselves in a massive fire before the Moores arrived to take them captive.
This story and so many others we have read/watched highlight the long-standing
Senegalese tradition of resistance, preservation and dignity.
The best part about all of this learning = ALL of it is done in French!!
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| Reading our book French book while waiting for our drinks and food to come. |
We also have conversation partners we meet with three nights a week who also double as our "host family" for two weekends throughout the program. Our get together was on my birthday (June 27th) and because it was during the holy month of Ramadan (June 18 - July 16), we decided to wait until Baye (our conversation partner) was ready to break fast for the day. Traditionally in Senegal, fast is broken everyday with Ndoogu, a special celebration and meal that is usually comprised of fried dough of some sort, dates and other small snacks along side of bissap (hibiscus juice), tea and/or coffee, followed by evening prayers and then a larger meal.
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| Our weekend "host family" with Baye - Celebrated with an Ndoogu! |
This year for Ramadan, I decided to fast once a week. Starting on a Thursday June 18th, I allowed myself water during the day but the following two weeks I had no water (and obviously no food). This last week I missed the day of fasting because we had free food for orientation (I couldn't miss that) so I shall make it up next week, the last week, by doing two. Friday is Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan and the breaking of fast. While I'm in Senegal next year, I will more than likely fast for the entire month as the majority of the country (95% of the population is Muslim) will be fasting.
Center for African
Studies at UF and Potential of a PhD
After a couple of weeks here at the University of Florida-Gainesville,
it finally dawned on me why Boren sent all of us here to learn these languages.
The Center for African Studies, the department that hosts the AFLI Program I am
studying with, is one of the largest (if not thee largest) African research
institutions in the US! The Center has over 100-affiliated teaching and
research faculty in several disciplines (e.g.: languages, humanities, agriculture, business, engineering, law and more). They
produce the African Studies Quarterly and have tons of opportunities for
Masters/Doctoral degrees, funding and research/professional development
opportunities. I’ve been thinking about a PhD sometime in the future, but didn’t
know where to start looking since I had always went to smaller schools. Like
they say, everything happens for a reason so I’ve decided to make some connections
here and look more into the programs they offer for the future.
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I also had my 26th birthday in Gainesville!! My best friend Sarah come up from Southern Florida to visit, I had some friends at my house for drinks and hooka then took off to the club for some dancing!
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I leave for Senegal in 27 days.
I plan to stay for 18 months.
I’ve been working on a country profile for Senegal; hope to have that
done soon.
I’ve also been working on a bucket list of things I want to do in
Senegal, just like that one for Cameroon.
"We know of course there's really no such thing as the 'voiceless'. There
are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard."
- Arundhati Roy
- Arundhati Roy
You are an inspiring woman, Antonia!
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