Fiction
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba
This novel is a perceptive testimony to the plight of articulate women who live in social milieux dominated by attitudes and values that deny them their proper place. It is a sequence of reminiscences, some wistful, some bitter, recounted by a recently widowed Senegalese school teacher. The letter, addressed to an old friend, is a record of her emotional struggle for survival after her husband’s abrupt decision to take a second wife. Although his action is sanctioned by Islam, it is a calculated betrayal of his wife’s trust and a brutal rejection of their life together. (Review from Good Reads)
God’s Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane
In 1947-48 the workers on the Dakar-Niger railway staged a strike. In this vivid, timeless novel, Ousmane Sembène envinces the color, passion and tragedy of those formative years in the history of West Africa. (Review from Good Reads)
Nonfiction
However Long the Night by Aimee Molloy
This book tells the unlikely and inspiring story of Molly Melching, an American woman whose experience as an exchange student in Senegal led her to found Tostan and dedicate almost four decades of her life to the girls and women of Africa. (Review from Amazon.com)
In the News
Five women arrested under Senegal’s anti-gay law
Rebuilding war-ravaged Casamance
The New York Times on Y’En A Marre (“Fed Up”), a political movement of young rappers
AJWS Global Voices Blog
Seynabou Male Cissé wins prize from Women’s World Summit
President Obama’s push for peace in Senegal
A win for democracy in Senegal
Other
Women of Senegal: Agents of Peace. A Senegalese author writes about how women have responded to the conflict and formed the Platform of Women for Peace in Casamance.
Binta and the Great Idea, a short film set in Casamance. Soda, a young girl, tells the story of her father and of her own struggle to go to school.
Understanding the Casamance Conflict: A Background. This in-depth, 33-page report describes the situation that led to the conflict and ongoing consequences.