Pulaar

Efforts to revive language

Pulaar is the second most spoken native language in Mauritania, after Arabic. The Association pour la Renaissance du Pulaar- Republique Islamique de Mauritanie (ARP-RIM) was established to teach Pulaar literacy in Mauritania. The organization received increased government funding after the coup d'état of the then President of Mauritania, Moktar Ould Daddah in the late 1970s. The programs which the ARP-RIM participated in included campaigns to increase Pulaar literacy, this was done by creating more radio programs which taught the local languages of Mauritania. As The ARP-RIM also focused on applying the Pulaar language to primary education as it allocated Pulaar teachers to public schools in Mauritania. The efforts to revive Pulaar in Mauritania were reduced after the 1984 coup d'état of then President of Mauritania, Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, by Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya. In response to the coup d'état, the Manifesto of the Oppressed Black Mauritanian was published in 1986 which criticized the perceived power and influence of the Arab "minority" in Mauritania. After the publishing of this manifesto, crackdowns by the Government against Pulaar speaker and teachers increased. Political imprisonments against the Pulaar people increased, notably Djigo Tafsirou, who was a Pulaar language activist, was arrested and possibly died in detention after 2 years of imprisonment. Recently, there have been efforts by Mauritanian activists to elevate the status of Pulaar to official language, similar to Arabic.