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Seminar on Human Rights in Africa, Book Colloquium Winter 2016

February 18, 2016

6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Leyburn Library, room 201

Shirley Richardson

The center for International Education’s 2015-16 Seminar on Human Rights in Africa, thanks to funds from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, invites your participation in the following book colloquium, the third of four this academic year:
--Thursday, February 18, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. W&L Leyburn Library room 201 (So Long a Letter, by Mariama Bâ): 95 pages
Winner of the prestigious Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, this 1981 epistolary novel (originally published in French as Une si longue lettre) by Senegalese writer, Mariama Bâ, chronicles the trials and tribulations of an overwhelmingly Muslim society dominated by stifling patriarchal and ancestral traditions. The novel focuses on the main character, Ramatoulaye, and her friend, Aissatou, both grappling in their own different way with their husbands’ decision to take a second wife, among many other issues confronting them. The narrative captures, in an eloquently incisive manner, the zeitgeist of a society in the later years of colonization and the first decades of independence. This is a must read for anyone interested in a well-crafted story that teaches us a thing or two about our universal human struggle for survival and dignity.

If you would like a FREE copy, please contact Shirley Richardson via e-mail at: srichard@wlu.edu or in person (Tucker Hall 316, preferably before 3 pm). Copies of books are limited and on first come first served basis! While the colloquia are open to all, only those who are sure of participating actively in the discussions should request a free copy of the book.
Refreshments are served at our colloquia!