Adame Ba Konaré (born 1 May 1947 in
Segu,
Mali
Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...
) is a Malian historian and writer who is married to
Alpha Oumar Konaré
Alpha Oumar Konaré (born 2 February 1946) is a Malian politician, who served as President of Mali for two five-year terms from 1992 to 2002 and was Chairperson of the African Union Commission from 2003 to 2008.
Scholarly career
Alpha Oumar Ko ...
, former
President of Mali
This is a list of heads of state of Mali since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day.
A total of seven people have served as head of state of Mali (excluding three acting presidents). Additionally, two people, ...
.
She is active in several causes for newborns and refugees.
Life
Adame Ba Konaré was born in
Ségou
Ségou (; bm, ߛߋߓߎ, italic=no, ) is a town and an urban commune in south-central Mali that lies northeast of Bamako on the right bank of the River Niger. The town is the capital of the Ségou Cercle and the Ségou Region. With 130,690 i ...
on 1 May 1947 to Marmadou Ba who was a dentist and his wife Kadiatou Thiam. Her parents hailed from a
Fula
Fula may refer to:
*Fula people (or Fulani, Fulɓe)
*Fula language (or Pulaar, Fulfulde, Fulani)
**The Fula variety known as the Pulaar language
**The Fula variety known as the Pular language
**The Fula variety known as Maasina Fulfulde
*Al-Fula ...
family. She attended the highest education facility, the
École Normale Supérieure
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in
Bamako
Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...
, along with her future husband, Alpha Oumar Konaré. They married on 15 September 1971. Her new husband was employed as a high school teacher but he was to be sent to the
University of Warsaw
The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
to undertake doctoral research. They both obtained a PhD in History in 1976. She returned to Mali and became a history professor at her alma mater in Bamako.
[
Konaré and her husband worked together on several projects. They published a book together in 1983 called ''Grande Dates Du Mali'' and they both worked for the democratic cause under the presidency of Moussa Traore who ruled Mali's single party state until 1991. During that time they created a publishing house ''Jamana'' and a daily newspaper ''Les Echos'' and a political party called ADEMA-PAS. In 1991 president Moussa Traoré was deposed and in the following elections her husband was elected as the first democratically elected president since Mali's independence.][
Konaré has written various types of books, from biographies (about ]Sunni Ali Ber
Sunni Ali, also known as Si Ali, Sunni Ali Ber (Ber meaning "the Great"), was born in Ali Kolon. He reigned from about 1464 to 1492. Sunni Ali was the first king of the Songhai Empire, located in Africa and the 15th ruler of the Sunni dynasty. ...
) to philosophy (''L'Os de la parole'') and even a novel (''Quand l'ail se frotte a l'encens''), the plot of which focuses on the social gap in a fictional society similar to Mali's. For this book, her style has been compared to French authors Emile Zola
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*''Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*''Emil and the Detective ...
and Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...
's works.
Although officially retired, she is often invited to conferences on African History. In addition to her work in academia, Adam Ba Konare is also an outspoken feminist, and the founder of one of the few women's museums in Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. The museum was started in 1987 following the publication of Konaré's book ''The Dictionary of Famous Women of Mali''. The museum, Muso Kunda, is funded by Konaré.History and Mission
, Muso Kunda, retrieved 11 March 2014
More recently, she has been involved in a project to promote African History, following French president Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
's speech in Dakar
Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
. The movement aims to write a history of Africa, defending the African legacy and past civilizations. As an historian, Adam Ba Konare disagreed with Sarkozy's speech and invited African historians, intellectuals and all friends of Africa to join to write a rebuttal to Sarkozy's speech in order to denounce "the attacks on African memory".
She is the mother of Kadiatou Konaré, a Malian minister of culture.
References
External links
African Union article
Refugee Education trust
Site of the Women's Museum (Muso Kunda)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Konare, Adame Ba
1947 births
Living people
First Ladies of Mali
Malian historians
Malian women novelists
Grand Officers of the National Order of Mali
Fula people
People from Ségou
Women historians
20th-century historians
20th-century women writers
21st-century historians
21st-century women writers
21st-century Malian people