West African Women Prophets: Defending Diola Land and Religion in Colonial Senegal

This lecture examines the history of Diola prophets in Senegal and Guinea Bissau, who claim direct revelation by the supreme being, Emitai, and who were commanded to share what they were taught with their communities.  In the pre-colonial era, all fifteen prophets from whom I have collected oral traditions, were male.  Since the European occupation of Diola lands, beginning in the nineteenth century, most of the fifty prophets have been women.  I will also explore this prophetic tradition's increasing role in protecting Diola autonomy by resisting efforts of Christians and Muslim to formally convert the communities to these newer religions, their critiques of their own religious traditions, and their opposition to colonial efforts to commercialize Diola agriculture and force their integration into a colonial economic system.  The talk will focus on two of the best known of the Diola prophets, Alinesitoue Diatta and Alandisso Bassene who were primarily active in the period of the First and Second World Wars.