(SenePlus) – The colonial massacre of Thiaroye, which occurred on December 1, 1944, will be the subject of a major international conference in Dakar on December 2 and 3, 2024, according to the program distributed by the Scientific Committee to commemorate the 80th anniversary. This event, which will be held between Ucadet and the military camp of Thiaroye Gare, will bring together historians, researchers and artists around the historiographical, memorial and cultural issues of this colonial tragedy.
The conference will open at the Khaly Amar Fall amphitheater at Ucad with an inaugural conference by Professor Ibrahima Thioub, preceded by artistic performances including slam and poetry. The first panel, chaired by Rokhaya Fall, will directly address the question of the colonial massacre, including an intervention by Armelle Mabon on “The Thiaroye Massacre, December 1, 1944, History of a State Lie”.
The international dimension of the event is reflected in the diversity of speakers and approaches. Hassoum Cessay will explore the echoes of the massacre in the Gambian national archives, while Lazare Ki-Zerbo will place Thiaroye in the broader context of the “Black Atlantic”.
On the second day, work will continue at the Thiaroye Gare military camp, the location of the events. The programming emphasizes artistic and literary representations of the massacre, with a particular focus on the work of Léopold Sédar Senghor and the cinema of Sembène Ousmane.
Questions of transmission and teaching will occupy a central place, as evidenced by the panel dedicated to the integration of Thiaroye into school programs, both in Senegal and in Cameroon. The conference will conclude with a “Call from Thiaroye” for the right to archives, emphasizing the continued importance of access to historical sources.
This major scientific event, organized under the aegis of the Institute of African Worlds (IMAF), marks an important step in the recognition and study of one of the darkest episodes of French colonial history in Africa. . It illustrates the persistence of questions of memory and their contemporary resonance, 80 years after the events.
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