Fama Diagne Sène (born 1969,

Thiès Thiès (; ; Noon language, Noon: ''Chess'') is the third largest city in Senegal with a population of 391,253 in 2023. It lies east of Dakar on the N2 road (Senegal), N2 road and at the junction of railway lines to Dakar, Bamako and Saint-Louis, ...

) is a

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

ese writer. Educated in Thiès, she became a teacher there.

Ken Bugul Ken Bugul (born 1947) is the pen name of Senegalese Francophone novelist Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma.'Bugul, Ken', in Simon Gikandi (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of African Literature''. Routledge; 2002. In the Wolof language, her pen name means "one who i ...

listed her among "illustrious women" in Senegalese literature. In 1997, she won the presidential award for art and literature with ''Chant des ténèbres''. Born to a Serer family, Fama's controversial play ''Mbilem ou le baobab du lion'' denounces Serer tradition and received great criticism from the Serer traditionalists of Senegal. The ''Mbilim'' (variation : ''Bilim'') is a religious festival in the Serer calendar, celebrated once a year and is equivalent to the new year. In pre-colonial times, right until recently, some Serer

griot A griot (; ; Manding languages, Manding: or (in N'Ko script, N'Ko: , or in French spelling); also spelt Djali; or / ; ) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicatin ...

s were buried in the trunks of a

baobab tree ''Adansonia'' is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). The eight species of ''Adansonia'' are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barb ...

rather than buried in a pyramid

tomb A tomb ( ''tumbos'') or sepulchre () is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called '' immurement'', alth ...

with all the regalia dictated by

Serer religion The Serer religion or Serer spirituality (''Serer language, Serer:'' A ƭat Roog, meaning "the way of the Divine", "path of God", or "religious life"Kalis, Simone, ''Médecine traditionnelle, religion et divination chez les Seereer Siin du Sén� ...

. Tomb burial and mummification were always given to the Serer nobility, but some Serer griots were not buried this way. In this play, she criticises this tradition and came head on with the Serer priestly class.

Works

*''Le chant des ténèbres''

he Song of Darkness He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

: Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Sénégal, 1997 (154p.). . Novel.(Award-winner) *''Humanité''. Editions Maguilen et Editions Damel, Dakar et Genève, n.d.

002 002, 0O2, O02, OO2, or 002 may refer to: Airports *0O2, Baker Airport *O02, Nervino Airport Astronomy *1996 OO2, the minor planet 7499 L'Aquila *1990 OO2, the asteroid 9175 Graun Fiction *002, fictional British 00 Agent *''002 Operazione Luna'' ...

(30p.). Poetry. *''La momie d'Almamya'' he mummy of Almamya Dakar: Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines du Sénégal, 2004. (264p.). . Novel.

Honours

Diagne Sène has been awarded the

National Order of the Lion The National Order of the Lion () is the highest order of Senegal. The order was instituted by Law 60-36 of 22 October 1960 and was awarded to His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I The FIRST as The Grand Cross of The National Order of the Lion ...

for her services to the Nation in her role as director of the library at Alioune Diop University of Bambey.

References

External links

* Etienne Texeire "LE CHANT DES TENEBRES DE FAMA DIAGNE SENE NEAS – DAKAR 1997" n''Ethiopiques'

Serer writers Senegalese dramatists and playwrights 1969 births Living people Senegalese women writers Senegalese writers in French Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Senegal {{Senegal-writer-stub