2023-05-03 08:00:11
Dakar, May 2 (APS) – A research group is working to make accessible, through mapping, the “very rich” archive collections of poet-president Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001), which were listed a almost everywhere in the world, in particular in France and Senegal, we learned from a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
“For this, a fruitful dialogue is established in Senegal with the Senghor museum and the foundation of the same name, the archives of the Socialist Party (PS) as well as other places of conservation of manuscripts and archives on the first president of independent Senegal. (1960-1981)”, explained Claire Riffard, Tuesday, in Dakar, during a study day centered on the theme: “Rereading Senghor in the light of the archives”.
“In addition to the two large countries that hold the majority of poet-president Senghor’s literary archives, namely France and Senegal, the research group has also tracked down documents in Germany, the United States, in particular in American universities and in the departmental archives of Martinique”, added the French researcher during this study day held at the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques of Education and Training (FASTEF) of the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar. (UCAD).
She explained that one of the sensitive points of this work of mapping archives, namely where to locate them and make them available to the public, is access to these archives by agreement for public dissemination. Digitizing the archives on Senghor would be a solution, as well as putting them online subject to the agreement of the rights holders, said the researcher.
Digitization “allows access to any point of the globe and we hope so”, in the form of “completely free and essential access to renew Senghorian studies in the light of the archives, the subject of this meeting of today,” she added.
She indicated that on the occasion of this day, the update on the archives of the poet-president made it possible to map the existence of 28 archives from six countries. “The archives on Senghor are very rich both in France, in particular in the archives of Verson in Normandy, in the national library of France, in the archives of Nantes and Aix-en-Provence and in other institutions “, underlined Ms. Riffard.
The researcher from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) also argued that the content of the archives allows us to enter into Senghorian poetics. “There are, she says, discoveries to be made within the drafts of the poems of Lépold Sédar Senghor, in particular in that dedicated to the champion of the 1500 meters ladies in 1974, + Le chant pour Yacine Mbaye + where the Wolof word + Khéréer + ( which refers to the black color of the skin) has disappeared in the edited version”.
“There are also surprises when you get into the complexity of Senghor’s writing. We know Senghor translator of African languages into French, but the archives show a poet translator from English to French, which was, he said, a poetic recreation which, we know, influenced and enriched his writing. , further supported Ms. Riffard.
Professor Mamadou Ba, coordinator of this research group, stressed that the most important project related to this work is to make “a reference edition of all the poems of Senghor”.
This research group on Senghor, made up of historians, philosophers, political scientists, archivists, linguists, literary experts, among other specialties, was created in October 2022. It plans to organize monthly seminars and colloquia with researchers from France, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal and the United States “to talk regarding various subjects with Senghor as a central point” and in the light of the archives.
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