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Photography and National Memory: Senegal about 1960

2010; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 34; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03087290903361480

2150-7295

Jennifer Bajorek,

North African History and Literature

Abstract This essay explores key historical and theoretical concerns in the photographic history of Senegal. Drawing on interviews carried out during visits to Saint-Louis and Dakar (in 2007–2008), it documents the polyvalent practices of photographers working in Senegal in the mid-20th century, with a focus on the career and collections of El Hadj Adama Sylla, a photographer active in Saint-Louis from the 1950s and the former curator of the photographic collections of the Centre de Recherches et de Documentation du Sénégal (CRDS). Sylla was also a formidable private collector, and, in the first part of the essay, I examine the complex relationships between these official and personal collections, and I explore the broader consequences of polyvalent practice for the constitution of collections, definition of genres, and for our broader understanding of the role played by photography in the development of the political imagination of the postcolonial state. In the second part of the essay, I examine the extension of photography, in the period immediately following independence, into new domains of political imagination, and its role in the production of both 'official' and unofficial or non-state investments in the political iconography of the postcolonial state. Keywords: Saint-LouisSenegalphotographic archivesphotographycultures of reproductionofficial and political photographyindependence period I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Sophie Coly, Ndeye Teinde Dieng, Guibril André Diop, Lamine Fall, Ibrahima Faye, Rozy Fredericks, Erin Haney, Aliou Ly, Bocar Ly, Gnilane Ly, Oumar Ly, Abdou Mbodj, Khady Ndoye, Everlyn Nicodemus, Leslie Rabine, Bouna Medoune Seye, and Toby Warner; to the personnel of the CRDS, especially Fatima Fall, Ismaïla Camara, Abdoukarim Fall, and Abdoukhadre Sarr; and to El Hadj Adama Sylla, without whose willingness to exchange this research would not have been possible. Finally, I am indebted to John Parker and to the African History Seminar at the School of Oriental and African Studies for the opportunity to present this research at an early and crucial phase.