Best of Season 1: Mariama Ba

Episode Summary

The episode focused on Mariama Bâ, a pioneering Senegalese author and feminist. Bâ was born in 1929 in Dakar, Senegal. She lost her mother at a young age and was raised by traditional Muslim grandparents who believed girls should not be educated. However, her father insisted she receive a formal education. After graduating from an elite teaching school, Bâ married a Senegalese parliament member but they soon divorced, leaving Bâ as a single mother of 9 children. She became active in women's rights causes, giving speeches and writing articles advocating for women. At age 50, Bâ published her acclaimed debut novel "So Long a Letter", which addressed issues like polygamy and the caste system. The book highlighted the disadvantages faced by women in Senegalese society. It won the first NOMA Prize for publishing in Africa in 1980. Bâ's second novel "Scarlet Song" was published posthumously after she died of cancer in 1981 at age 52. It featured a love story between partners of different castes and ethnicities, further exploring the need for female empowerment. Though she died young, Bâ left a significant legacy through her bold, pioneering novels that criticized traditional practices harmful to women and advocated for gender equity in Africa. She is considered a foundational figure in both African literature and the advancement of women's rights on the continent.

Episode Show Notes

Mariama Ba (1929-1981) one of the most important African authors of the 20th century. She carved out her own meaning of women’s rights and empowerment, caught between tradition and modernity.

Episode Transcript

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One-year upgrade on Go 5G Next requires financing new qualifying device and upgrading in good condition after six plus months with 50% paid off. Upgrade ends financing in any promo credits. Visit T-Mobile.com. SPEAKER_05: You and your dog are close, like watch each other go to the bathroom close, but you could be even closer with Bark Super Chewer. Every month, Super Chewer brings dogs and their humans together with tough toys and meaty treats. Sign up now at superchewer.com slash iHeart. SPEAKER_07: Hi, it's Jenny. I've been thinking a lot about what a strange time it is to graduate. I wanna take a quick moment to congratulate the class of 2020. Graduation is such a special milestone and nothing can take that away from you. Here at Wonder Media Network, we wanna honor the grads in your life. So we're excited to introduce a new kind of gift, custom episodes of Encyclopedia Wamanica. Follow the link in our episode notes to get one for your grad today. SPEAKER_05: ["Warmenia"] SPEAKER_06: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Shira Atkins, co-founder to the one and only Jenny Kaplan, and I am beyond thrilled to step in today to kick off this month of Encyclopedia Wamanica. We're gonna look back at the women and all of the themes that we've covered over the past year and feature this month some of the standout stars. So of course, choosing from this whole grouping of women over the past year has been incredibly difficult, but our hope is to share some spotlights from each theme each month, across time and throughout history. So I just wanna say before we get started that working on this project has been an amazing journey, a real honor, and I just wanna thank all of our listeners for supporting us, to the amazing team of producers, to Jenny and to Liz Kaplan, and thank you to all of you for having me in today. So here it goes, let's kick off this month. I would love to turn our attention to Mariama Ba. She's a brilliant author, a writer, a critical thinker, feminist from Senegal, who endured tremendous hardship throughout her life and who was constantly pulled between tradition and modernity. And the work that she pioneered lives on to this day. Not only that, she had nine children, which is just amazing to think about. This episode initially aired in March of this past year alongside other great feminists from history. Now, without much further ado, here's my business partner, my hero, your host, Jenny Kaplan, to tell you all about Mariama Ba. Enjoy. SPEAKER_07: Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Encyclopedia Wamanica. If you've been listening for a while, you know that on Encyclopedia Wamanica, we're making every month Women's History Month. But in honor of March, the official Women's History Month, we're talking about feminists, women who fought for gender equity. Today's feminist had to carve out her own meaning of women's rights and empowerment, caught between tradition and modernity. In the process, she became one of the most important African authors of her century. Let's talk about Mariama Ba. Mariama was born in 1929 in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. By the time of Mariama's birth, Senegal had been under the control of France for hundreds of years. At one time, it was a source for the African slave trade. Mariama's mother passed away soon after Mariama's birth, so she was raised by her devoutly Muslim, highly traditional grandparents. Her grandparents believed girls shouldn't go to school. Mariama's father, however, was a powerful and open-minded government official. He insisted that his daughter receive an education, so Mariama received the best possible French education available to African women at the time. Much of Mariama's early life was defined by the push and pull of her grandparents' traditional values and the progressive values she was exposed to over the course of her liberal education. In 1947, Mariama graduated from an elite teaching school with high marks. She got married to a Senegalese parliament member and had nine children with him, but they soon got divorced, leaving Mariama to care for all the children on her own. After her divorce, Mariama continued to struggle to reconcile the traditional principles she was raised to value with more modern ideas of the world and women's rights. She became very active in a variety of women's associations and began delivering speeches and writing articles for local newspapers on women's rights issues relevant to her community. She self-identified as a modern Muslim woman. When Mariama was 50 years old, she published her debut novel called, So Long a Letter. It was a massive popular and critical success, quickly becoming a cornerstone of African literature for its honest depiction of women's disadvantages in society. In the novel, Mariama directly addresses polygamy, the caste system, and other strict and harmful practices and ideas that were common in Senegalese communities at the time. Mariama advocated for the value of all women, stating that women are important mothers of Africa. Mariama won the first NOMA Prize for publishing in Africa in 1980 for So Long a Letter. She passed away from cancer just a year later. Her second novel, Scarlet Song, was published posthumously. It's a love story featuring partners from two different castes and ethnic backgrounds. The novel highlights the tyranny of tradition and the need for women to empower themselves. Though she died too soon, Mariama's incredible literary skills and bold ideas left a significant mark on African literature and on the movement for women's rights in Africa. All month, we'll be covering feminists from throughout history. We're specifically featuring women who are particularly important to the women's rights movement, the suffrage movement, and or modern feminism and feminist theory. This month's group is not an exhaustive list by any means, and we're sticking to a smaller time range in our regular weekday episodes that we can really focus in. On weekends, we're gonna highlight favorite feminists from past months chosen by other podcast hosts we love. For more on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our new Encyclopedia Wamanica newsletter. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. Talk to you tomorrow. SPEAKER_02: Hi, everyone. I'm Liz, the director of audio at Wonder Media Network. My favorite thing about Encyclopedia Wamanica is taking each script from words on a page to a full-blown audio experience. 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