Amkoullel, the Fula Boy

Product Description

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.

Review

“This book provides an intimate glimpse of all the transactions involved in the various political and social (dis)loyalties, kinship relations, and religious affiliations in a changing colonial landscape. The narrative locates Amadou Hampâté Bâ in the environment that armed him with a unique character and a set of ideas drawn from secular, animist, Islamic, and Western resources—an education that turned him into a shrewd colonial clerk and archivist of the ‘colonial library.’
Amkoullel, the Fula Boy is an insightful and significant autobiography, an ethnography of communities in transition, and a biography of Francophone colonial West Africa.”
— Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University

“Amadou Hampâté Bâ has long been recognized as one of the most authoritative voices about Mali, Islamic West Africa, Fulani culture, orality, and the dialogue between religions. Jeanne Garane’s masterful translation of Bâ’s rich and captivating memoir presents a vivid picture of the mechanisms of social change in Mali and many neighboring countries. The publication of
Amkoullel, the Fula Boy is truly a blessing.”
— Chérif Keïta, William H. Laird Professor of French and the Liberal Arts, Carleton College

“The work of a great storyteller . . .  filled with humor and drama alike, tracing the author’s everyday life in Bandiagara and later in the colonial Mali, while showcasing his preoccupation with oral history, tradition, anthropology, initiation, religion, fate etc.”
— Clara Burghelea ―
Ezra Published On: 2021-04-01

About the Author

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.