Femme Sarackoullé
"Sarakole Woman" (caption translation). The Soninke (Sarakole, Seraculeh, Serahuli, among other variations) are from the Fuuta Jalon highlands in the Senegambia region. They speak Soninke, which is one of the Mande languages. Boilat described how this woman was "clothed in an elaborate indigo-dyed blue gown with turban or head-tie and a gauze veil (which she made herself), the woman is shown with an intricate long necklace of coral and enormous amber beads that hangs down to her chest. This outfit is worn on solemn occasions and the same type of dress, the author notes, is also found among the neighboring Toucouleur" (p. 29). 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
Femme Sarackoullé
RegID
SI-OB-997
Date
1850s
Title
Femme Sarackoullé
Source
David Boilat, Esquisses sénégalaises: physionomie du pays, peuplades, commerce, religions, passé et avenir, récits et légendes (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1853), plate 22.
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
Boilat13