In 2015-16, I spent ten months in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire as a Fulbright Scholar. I taught American Literature to intelligent, hard-working Ivorian students often working in their third language. I translated the poetry of Dadié. I traveled the length of CI and absorbed the warm welcome of West Africa. I even spent a few hours with Dadié himself.
Now I am working to get English speakers interested in the beautiful and important work of Bernard Binlin Dadié. I aim for this site to host a crowd-sourced bibliography of international scholarship on Dadié, his work, and his life. I also aim for this site to become a journal of the conversations scholars from different disciplines and countries need to have about West Africa and the possibilities for authentic exchange between Europe, the Americas, and West Africa. I want to learn and think about West Africa through, outside, and beyond colonialism.
My first engagement with CI has been the poetry of Bernard Binlin Dadié. His poetry has resonated deeply with me and I now I want to learn how Ivorians and West Africans engage Dadié’s work in literature and letters.
So, akwaba. All interested in the equilateral exchange of knowledge and inquiry are welcome here.
Peggy