Washington, DC — This book reminded me two people I used to see at my literature class at the University of Paris VIII.
My literary teacher, Claire Joubert who used to say that a literary text always have 2 meanings : a transparent one, and an opaque one, hidden behind the words. The second person was a classmate, who had to prove in her thesis that works of arts, just like the words in literary texts, carry messages.
I saw in this book a wide range of marvelous pictures representing mostly "Senegalese" doors and I had the impression that each door, was telling me a story about Senegal.
The doors in the section dedicated to Saint-Louis which are a testimony of the French colonization. During the French occupation, Saint-Louis was the capital of Senegal, that's why you can still see the European influence through its architecture. This European influence is felt in Dakar, where most of the state buildings have signs written in French.
The mosque doors seen in different parts of the book reveal an important feature of the Senegalese culture . The country is 95% Muslim.
The Goree chapter reminds a gloomy part of the Senegalese history : slavery. Many African departed from the Goree house of Slaves to America.
If you put the artistic door next to the one appearing on page 72, which looks like a door of house in the slums of Dakar, you have a kind of representation of the clash between the rich people in Dakar, living in big mansions commonly called "villas' in Senegal and the poor ones, who generally live in slums, sometimes without running water or electricity.
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If you open "The Doors of Senegal", you really get a good insight of Senegalese culture. You feel through the colors of the cover of the book and through each door of this book, the warmth of the Senegalese people, whose country is also known as "Le pays de la Terranga, which means the country where visitors are warmly welcomed.
The Doors of Senegal: Les Portes Du Senegal
By Cleve Overton and Jude Andreasen
$16.95/88 Pages
Diaspora Voices Press
3301 9th Street, NE
Washington, DC 20017
Cleveo@aol.com
Aminata Sall is originally from Senegal. She has a bachelor's degree in classical English literature from France and has been working with AllAfrica Global media on their French site since 2002.
