Orality and Life Histories: Rethinking the Social and Political History of Senegal

Life histories and other oral sources are an essential element of African historiography and ought to be integrated into the history curriculum of African institutions. Seeking to reorient the teaching of African history, history professors at the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Cheikh Anta Diop University (Dakar, Senegal) initiated an oral history project involving education students. Students collected life histories, which they later integrated into their lesson plans. Using the example of the 1947-48 railroad strike, the article points to the complex relationship between literary creation and collective memory.