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Aminata Sow Fall with Mindy Leavitt and Michael Christensen,
BYU French Students |
We are so lucky to have Aminata Sow Fall, the most renowned female author of francophone Africa, on BYU campus this week. If you missed her lecture yesterday, you can still make it today at 11! Don’t miss out!
Professor Chantal Thompson introduced Aminata Sow Fall with a summary of her impressive resume. What an incredible woman. But her presence spoke more than any introduction could. She started out by telling us that what she enjoys much more than speaking is being a part of exchanges between people, so there was ample time for the discussion of several valuable questions at the end.
Her lecture was inspiring and enlightening. She didn’t talk much about her books or her work; she didn’t need to for everyone in the room to be impressed by her poetic soul. She told us about her life and her convictions, starting with her childhood in Senegal: she lived on an island between the two branches of a river that served as a threshold into Senegal. Consequently, there was a lot of diversity, but no conflict between people because of religion or race or gender other differences. There was just a strong sense of community and respect. Her lecture was entitled Culture, Tradition, et Modernité en Afrique Francophone but the clear theme was the unity of all humanity and our common pursuit of happiness.
