Amkoullel, the Fula Boy

Born in 1900 in French West Africa, Malian writer Amadou HampÂtÉ BÂ was one of the towering figures in the literature of twentieth-century Francophone Africa. In Amkoullel, the Fula Boy, BÂ tells in striking detail the story of his youth, which was set against the aftermath of war between the Fula and Toucouleur peoples and the installation of French colonialism. A master storyteller, BÂ recounts pivotal moments of his life, and the lives of his powerful and large family, from his first encounter with the white commandant through the torturous imprisonment of his stepfather and to his forced attendance at French school. He also charts a larger story of life prior to and at the height of French colonialism: interethnic conflicts, the clash between colonial schools and Islamic education, and the central role indigenous African intermediaries and interpreters played in the functioning of the colonial administration. Engrossing and novelistic, Amkoullel, the Fula Boy is an unparalleled rendering of an individual and society under transition as they face the upheavals of colonialism.

Autorentext

Amadou HampÂtÉ BÂ (1900–1991) was one of the major intellectual and literary figures of twentieth-century Africa as well as a colonial official and postcolonial diplomat. He is the author of the novel The Fortunes of Wangrin and numerous books in French.

Jeanne Garane is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina.

Klappentext

Born in 1900 in French West Africa, Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ was one of the towering figures in the literature of twentieth-century Francophone Africa. In Amkoullel, the Fula Boy, Bâ tells in striking detail the story of his youth, which was set against the aftermath of war between the Fula and Toucouleur peoples and the installation of French colonialism. A master storyteller, Bâ recounts pivotal moments of his life, and the lives of his powerful and large family, from his first encounter with the white commandant through the torturous imprisonment of his stepfather and to his forced attendance at French school. He also charts a larger story of life prior to and at the height of French colonialism: interethnic conflicts, the clash between colonial schools and Islamic education, and the central role indigenous African intermediaries and interpreters played in the functioning of the colonial administration. Engrossing and novelistic, Amkoullel, the Fula Boy is an unparalleled rendering of an individual and society under transition as they face the upheavals of colonialism.

Zusammenfassung
In Amkoullel, the Fula Boy, Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâone of the towering figures in the literature of twentieth-century Francophone Africatells in striking detail the story of his youth, which was set against inter-ethnic conflict and the arrival and installation of French colonialism.

Inhalt

Foreword to the Translation / Ralph A. Austen ix
Introduction: Between Memory and Memorial / Jeanne Garane xv
Amkoullel, The Fula Boy
Preface to the Original Edition / Théodore Monod 3
Author's Foreword / Amadou Hampâté Bâ 7

1. Roots 1
   My Dual Heritage 11
   Pâté Poullo, My Maternal Grandfather 15
   The Story of My Father Hampâté, the Lamb in the Lion's Den 20
2. Kadidja, My Mother 39
   Kadidja's Dream 39
   Kadidja and Hampâté: A Rocky Marriage 42
   Kadidja and Tidjani 45
   The Toïni Revolt 49
   Kadidja's Quest 64
   The Trial 79
3. Exile 83
   Tidjani's Long March 85
   Kadidja's Village 87
   On the Road to Bougouni with My Mother 98
   Kadidja Battle the Boss of the Laptot Boatmen 100
   Birth of My Little Brother 105
   My Father in Chains 111
   An Ember That Does Not Burn 115
   Death of My Early Childhood 121
   Danfo Siné the Dan Player 124
   Death of My Old Master 127
   In the Shade of Great Trees 136
   Freedom at Last! 137
4. Return to Bandiagara 142
   A Day in the Life of a Child 145
   The White Man's Excrement and the Town Made of Trash 149
   I Establish My First Association 153
   A Handful of Rice 156
   At School with the Masters of the World 159
   Sinali's Garden 161
   Boy and Girl Valentines 168
   Kadidja and Tidjani in Crisis 173
   Circumcision of My Brother Hammadoun 176
   The Great Battle 185
5. At the White Man's School 194
   Requisitioned by Force 194
   The Commandant and the Five-Franc Coin 202
   Primary School 209
   My First Encounter with Wangrin 218
   The Death of My Older Brother 220
   The School at Djenné: My Primary Studies Certificate 223
   The Great Famine of 1914: A Vision of Horror 234
   Declaration of War 241
   Flight 251
   On The Trail of the War Dogs 256
   The Three Colors of France 259
   The Land-Roving Pirogue of Metal 264
   The Abysmal Lair of the Great Black Hyena 266
6. In the Military of Town of Kati 270
   My New Waaldé Association 274
   A Hasty Circumcision 278
   Return to School 281
   The Warrant Officer and the King's Son 282
7. Final Studies in Bamako 296
   My Second Primary Studies Certificate 296
   In Vain Pursuit of the Wind 299
   Boarding School in Bamako 311
   The Consequences of a Refusal: Exile in Ouagadougou 317
   I Bid Farewell on the Riverbank 326
   Translator's Acknowledgments 329
   Notes 331
   Bibliography 345
   Biographies 351
   Index 353