Homme Sérére
"Serer Man" (caption translation). According to Boilat, "the bearded man, a talented weaver, is shown with an earring and what appears to be an amulet (gris-gris) hanging from his neck. He belonged to the kingdom of Sine, one of the pre-colonial Wolof states" (pp. 7-8). David Boilat (1814-1901) was one of the first Catholic priests in the Senegambia region. His father was French and his mother a Signare, which was a term from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries used to describe a mixed-race, French-African woman. Boilat spoke Wolof and Serer; and made his drawings from life. The 24 plates based on these drawings are explained in an accompanying text. Boilat left Senegal around the age of 13, was educated in France and he returned to Senegal in 1842 where he lived for ten years working as a teacher. He returned to France where he completed his Esquisses sénégalaises in 1853. He also published a Wolof dictionary in 1858.
Image Title
Homme Sérére
RegID
SI-OB-985
Date
1850s
Title
Homme Sérére
Source
David Boilat, Esquisses sénégalaises: physionomie du pays, peuplades, commerce, religions, passé et avenir, récits et légendes (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1853), plate 2.
Language
French
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Western Savanna
Reproduced In
David Boilat, Esquisses sénégalaises: physionomie du pays, peuplades, commerce, religions, passé et avenir, récits et légendes (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1853).
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
5-Apr-16
Identifier
Boilat01