Boubacar
Barry
Professor of History at the University of Dakar
The
Futa Jalon has long been the center of economic, political and educational
activity for the "far west" of West Africa, stretching from the
Ivory Coast in the southeast to Mauritania and Mali in the north.
The leading figure in collecting and publishing historical materials
on Futa Jalon is Boubacar Barry, Professor of History at the University
of Dakar. A descendant of one of the two branches of the Almamate,
Barry has taught and conducted research from his Dakar base since
the 1960s. In addition to his volume, Bokar Biro published in the
Ibrahima Kake series in French, English and Pulaar, he has collected
an enormous range of sources critical to understanding this critical
area. The texts in this small gallery are but a sample of these
materials, and have been scanned by the technicians at WARC, the
West African Research Center. Three of the five which we offer here
come from French explorers who became intensely interested in Futa
Jalon in the late 19th century. The Barry collection is extremely
important, even more as a consequence of the impossibility of conducting
research in Futa Jalon during the Sekou Toure presidency of Guinea
(1958-84). For more information on Collection Boubacar Barry, read
the background on the Barry collection.
The
Futa Jalon has long been the center of economic, political and educational
activity for the "far west" of West Africa, stretching from the
Ivory Coast in the southeast to Mauritania and Mali in the north.
The leading figure in collecting and publishing historical materials
on Futa Jalon is Boubacar Barry, Professor of History at the University
of Dakar. A descendant of one of the two branches of the Almamate,
Barry has taught and conducted research from his Dakar base since
the 1960s. In addition to his volume, Bokar Biro published in the
Ibrahima Kake series in French, English and Pulaar, he has collected
an enormous range of sources critical to understanding this critical
area. The texts in this small gallery are but a sample of these
materials, and have been scanned by the technicians at WARC, the
West African Research Center. Three of the five which we offer here
come from French explorers who became intensely interested in Futa
Jalon in the late 19th century. The Barry collection is extremely
important, even more as a consequence of the impossibility of conducting
research in Futa Jalon during the Sekou Toure presidency of Guinea
(1958-84). For more information on Collection Boubacar Barry, read
the