Femme Bambara
"Bambara Woman" (caption translation). Bambara (Bamana or Banmana) are a Mandé ethnic group throughout West Africa, mostly in the Senegambia and Central Savanna regions. Boilat explained that this woman was "named Sira, who requested him to draw her. She is sitting on a woven grass mat and is wearing an elaborate silk gown, her holiday dress. An ornate kerchief or head-tie of Madras cloth is tied around her head, and her jewelry consists of large gold earrings, and several bracelets and anklets, in addition to a long necklace which ends in little straw rings that have been made with great care. She is also shown with cicatrisation/scarification marks are on her cheeks" (p. 31). 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 Bambara
RegID
SI-OB-999
Date
1850s
Title
Femme Bambara
Source
David Boilat, Esquisses sénégalaises: physionomie du pays, peuplades, commerce, religions, passé et avenir, récits et légendes (Paris: P. Bertrand, 1853), plate 24.
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
2-Apr-16
Identifier
Boilat15