2024-07-10 15:11:03
Organized under the theme “Classificatory approach of African and Afro-descendant writers: field, parameters and reconfiguration of reception”, this conference is dedicated to paying tribute to the Malian writer Amadou Hampâté Bâ, one of the emblematic figures of literature, culture and diplomacy in contemporary Africa.
During this tribute, which took place in the presence of his youngest daughter, Roukiatou Hampâté Bâ, several speakers took turns to testify to the different human and scientific qualities of this icon of African literature.
In an opening speech, the Permanent Secretary of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, Abdeljalil Lahjomri, affirmed that through this initiative with dual academic and memorial resonance, the Academy reaffirms its vocation as an institution respectful of the sum of the pasts of the great African continent and open to the universal debate of ideas.
Looking back on the exceptional literary career of the Malian writer, Amadou Hampâté Bâ, called to God 33 years ago, Mr. Lahjomri stressed that the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco retains several elements of the legacy of this reference figure called “the Elder of the twentieth century” and among them, three fundamental points. First, the recognition he always expressed for the teachings received, notably by two giants: his instructor and master Tierno Bokar, then by the initiation to the profession of researcher at the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa. Second, his plea to UNESCO in 1960, on the threshold of African independence, which defended oral traditions and lastly his speech to youth.
Regarding the theme of this event, Mr. Lahjomri noted that it invites participants to consider the precise criteria from which a reputation is established, as well as the foundations or reasoning from which the scales of distinction are organized, adding that “we must, of course, return to the works of the authors, take into account their actions, but also take into account the judgment of History.”
Introducing this opening session, Eugène Ebodé, administrator of the Chair of Literature and Arts, noted that it was a question of highlighting the contributions, the African roots and the influence of Amadou Hampâté Bâ, a writer who conveyed ideas and worlds who used to say “My sentences are not mine, but from the continent” and who tamed the storms of particularism to better navigate a furious century.
Mr. Ebodé said he was honored to participate in this meeting which offers the opportunity to question literary taxonomy, in other words the mechanisms of fame and the way of classifying writers and literary critics, adding that African youth whom he referred to as “rising pens” should be considered by inverting the literary pyramid at the foundation of which are “sacred monsters” followed by “consecrated figures” and “massacred personalities”.
Invited to speak about the significance of this tribute, Roukiatou Hampâté Bâ, Executive Director of the Amadou Hampâté Bâ Foundation, expressed her pride in participating in this commemorative initiative to commemorate the memory of her father who liked to say “It is not me who speaks about Africa, it is Africa that speaks to me”.
Recalling the famous phrase pronounced by Amadou Hampâté Bâ at the UNESCO podium: “In Africa, every time an old man dies, it is an unexploited library that burns”, Roukiatou indicated that the interest of this meeting lies in the attempt to understand how to optimize the promotion and dissemination of works based on the scales of fame.
During this two-day cultural event, Moroccan and African academics, writers and researchers will be called upon to explore avenues for responding to the question: Is there a scale of values in literature or should we consider literature in general and more particularly the reception of intellectual works as falling only within the domain of subjectivity?
They will also be led to examine a major question concerning notoriety: “can we define the contours of a pantheon of African and Afro-descendant literatures? What would be the admission criteria?
The agenda of this conference includes two sessions focusing on “Criteria of distinction, classical parameters, poetics of transition” which will be chaired by Ahmed Boukouss, member of the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco with speakers including Amboise Kom from Cameroon and Amine Martah from Morocco, and “Memory, places of enunciation, reconfiguration of the faculty of distinction” chaired by Moroccan academic Bouaza Benachir with interventions by Fouad Laroui from Morocco and Lucas Scaravelli de Silva from Brazil.
2024-07-10 15:11:03