Ndèye Coumba Mbengue Diakhaté (9 December 1924 – 25 September 2001) was 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 educator and poet who was active in promoting the education of mothers and their children. Her poetry is published in ''Filles du soleil'' (Daughters of the Sun, 1980).

Biography

Born in 1924 in

Rufisque Rufisque (; Wolof: Tëngeéj) is a city in the Dakar region of western Senegal, at the base of the Cap-Vert Peninsula east of Dakar, the capital. It has a population of 295,459 (2023 census).

, Senegal, Mbengue Diakhaté was one of the first schoolteachers to graduate from the Rufisque Normal School. She was an active member of Rufisque's ''Association pour l'Action sociale des femmes'' (Women's Social Action Association).

Works

Her poetry conveys her views on how women are placed in society, for example, when a man tells his sister or mother "Jiguen rek nga!" (After all, you're just a woman). The conflict with the white population comes through in "Ils étaient Blancs, j'étais Noire..." (They were white, I was black). She not only conveys her innermost thoughts through her poetry but reproduces the forms and rhythms of the Serer oral tradition in her French verses.

Death and legacy

Ndèye Coumba Mbengue Diakhaté died on 25 September 2001 in Dakar.

References

External links

N'dèye Coumba Mbengué Diakhaté
in ''D'Orphée à Prométhée: La poésie africaine au féminin'' by Angèle Bassolé Ouédraogo (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Mbengue Diakhate, Ndeye Coumba 2001 deaths People from Rufisque Senegalese poets Senegalese women poets Senegalese schoolteachers 1924 births 20th-century women writers 20th-century poets