Djaïli Amadou Amal

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Djaïli Amadou Amal at the Paris Book Fair (2012)

Djaïli Amadou Amal (* 1975 in Maroua , Diamaré ) is a Cameroonian writer and human rights activist . In her semi-autobiographical novels, written in French, she addresses topics such as forced marriage , polygamy , domestic violence and women's rights in the Sahel , but also reports on the peculiarities and beauty of the Fulani culture to which she belongs. She also founded the non-profit association Femmes du Sahelwho advocates education and women's rights.

Life

childhood and education

On her father's side, Djaïli Amadou Amal came from the originally nomadic pastoral people of the Fulani from West Africa . She grew up in northern Cameroon. The Muslim woman describes her Cameroonian father, a law professor, and her Egyptian mother as “understanding” and her sister and she were allowed to go to school just like the three brothers. The children grew up in a large community with many uncles and aunts and between the Arab and Fulani traditions. Amal later studied business administration . Since she was a child, she has spoken in addition to Pulaar , a variant of Fulfulde , and French.

Amal's interest in literature began at the age of eight. Since there was no library in her home ward, she secretly sneaked into the Catholic Mission Church. When Amal's father found out about this, he ordered her to enter the building through the entrance portal. The Catholic priests later became friends with their parents. As a child, Amal read a lot, including works by African authors such as Amadou Hampâté Bâ , Ferdinand Oyono , Ken Bugul , Mariama Bâ (Une si longue lettre) and Seydou Badian Kouyaté (Sous l'orage) . She also has a weakness for the historical novels by Juliette Benzoni , and she drew and kept a diary.

Unhappy marriages and path to becoming a writer

Originally, Amal had dreamed of becoming a journalist before she was engaged to a man she was friends with as a 14-year-old docile daughter. He had studied in the USA and his sisters were among their friends. Instead, at the age of 17, Amal was forcibly married off by her uncles to a wealthy, much older politician in his fifties, against his father's wishes . She described the five-year marriage as "difficult" and claimed to have had suicidal thoughts . She also tried to run away, but was allowed to continue attending high school (“When I was married something broke”). As an outlet, Amal started writing a diary after three or four years of marriage: “I took a diary and began to tell what I was going through. I only felt good writing. It took me ten years to complete my manuscript. I never published it, ”said Amal. She finally left her husband in 1998. As a result, she fell in love with a polygamous man, with whom she entered into her second marriage, which had two daughters. “I decided to live this love [...] This man turned out to be brutal, violent and depressing. This marriage was just like my novel [ Munyal ], very hard, with no room for the wife, ”said Amal.

Amal's second, violent marriage broke up ten years after the first ended when her husband was planning the wedding preparations for one of her underage daughters. "I could bear it that he beat me, silenced me and buried my dreams, but I couldn't bear to see my daughters go through!" Said Amal. She decided to become a strong person in order to protect her daughters and moved to southern Cameroon, to the capital, Yaoundé . Nonetheless, Amal continued to face constant harassment, particularly from her second husband's family. Among other things, he kidnapped their children in order to punish his wife. However, Amal was not discouraged by this and found a job in management through her previous studies. She sold her gold jewelry in order to be able to afford a computer, table and chair and pursue a career as a writer. In preparation for this, she also took part in many writing workshops.

Djaïli Amadou Amal is third married to a writer with whom she has two other children. The family lives in Douala , Fulfulde is spoken at home . Amal is the mother of five children, two daughters are studying law and psychology. According to her own statements, her books sometimes lead to "very harsh verbal attacks" and differences of opinion. Nevertheless, according to Amal, their compatriots are more proud of having a writer from the far north of Cameroon. She herself achieved her goal and is known as “the voice of the voiceless” through her commitment to women's rights.

Act

First novels and foundation of "Femmes du Sahel"

In 2010, Amal's first novel, Walaande, l'art de partager un mari , was published in Cameroon. It revolves around the themes of polygamy , violence and forced marriage and is set in Maroua, her birthplace. The focus is on four women from a polygamous marriage with a wealthy businessman. The book was published with financial support from the governor of the region and made Amal known nationwide. It won the Prix de la Fondation Prince Claus, was translated into Arabic and also published in the Maghreb and the Middle East . In 2012 Amal was a guest at the Paris Book Fair and founded the Femmes du Sahel association in Cameroon . This advocates the education of women and girls in the Sahel zone and aims to sensitize them to the issue of forced marriage and violence. She also organized public talks and debates between men and women. Later, Femmes du Sahel also campaigned for scholarships for students from disadvantaged families, the establishment of libraries and mini-libraries in remote locations, and career advice for women to strengthen their roles. Amal's organization was supported by companies in her home country, as well as the US and French embassies . In 2013, Ifrikiya published Amal's second novel Mistiriijo la mangeuse d'âmes . In this she denounces the accusation against women of being carriers of ominous spells.

International success with "Munyal" / "Les impatientes"

Amal's international breakthrough as a writer came with her third novel Munyal, les larmes de la patience (2017), which looks at Fulani and Muslims in an affluent area of ​​Maroua. The focus of the plot is on the fates of the two half-sisters Ramla and Hindou, who have the same father but different mothers. The 17-year-old Ramla is married to the much older and wealthy Alhadji Issa against her will as a second wife. At the same time, she is confronted with the 35-year-old first wife Safira, who hates her young rival and wants to get out of the house better today than tomorrow. The younger Hindou, who is married to her violent and indifferent cousin Moubarak, who suffers from alcohol and drug addiction, suffers a similar fate. All women in the Fulani culture grew up from an early age with the eponymous “Munyal!” (Eng. “Patience”), a call for moderation. They are forced to submit to their husband in marriage and to follow tradition, superstition and religious interpretations without complaining. Although Amal spoke of not having written an autobiography with Munyal, Ramla was the closest of the three female characters to her.

Munyal, les larmes de la patience was praised by the specialist critics and was awarded the Prix de la Presse Panafricaine and the Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique, which was awarded for the first time in 2019. Véronique Tadjo , jury president of the Prix Orange, praised the novel for its “strong, sincere, rebellious voice, which is served by a language that carries its culture”. It was then that the French historian and publishing director Emmanuelle Collas became aware of Amal, who brought her text into a more universal form and published it in France in 2020 under the new title Les impatientes . As a result, the novel, which also contained words in Fulfulde in the version for the French book market , was shortlisted for the most important French literary prize, the Prix ​​Goncourt . and won the Prix ​​Goncourt des lycéens . Corinne Renou-Nativel ( La Croix ) described Munyal as a "tough novel" whose simple style gives the work strength. Hassina Mechaï ( Le Point ) praised Amal as a “storyteller and weaver” who lets her characters have their say in “a subtle whisper”.

Works

Novels

Awards

  • 2012: Prix de la Fondation Prince Claus for Walaande, l'art de partager un mari
  • 2019: Prix de la Presse Panafricaine for Munyal, les larmes de la patience (Best African Writer)
  • 2019: Prix Orange du Livre en Afrique for Munyal, les larmes de la patience
  • 2020: Prix ​​Goncourt des lycéens for Les impatientes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Eléonore Sulser: Djaïli Amadou Amal: "J'ai décidé de protéger mes filles" . In: letemps.ch, November 6, 2020 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  2. ↑ Djaïli Amadou Amal . In: africultures.com (accessed November 9, 2020).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gladys Marivat: La Camerounaise Djaïli Amadou Amal, surprise de la sélection du prix Goncourt . In: lemonde.fr, October 23, 2020 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g Djaili Amadou Amal, la voix des femmes . In: ouest-france.fr, May 21, 2015 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  5. ↑ a b c d Djaïli Amadou Amal: "Je milite à travers mes écrits" . In: lepoint.fr, June 4, 2019 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  6. ↑ a b c Goncourt 2020: "Les Impatientes", le pamphlet de Djaïli Amadou Amal contre le mariage précoce et le viol conjugal, dans la course finale . In: tv5monde.com, September 22, 2020 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  7. ^ A b "Les impatientes" by Djaïli Amadou Amal: secrets de femmes camerounaises . In: la-croix.com, October 28, 2020 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  8. ↑ a b Mabrouck Rachedi: Prix Goncourt: l'écrivaine camerounaise Djaïli Amadou Amal parmi les finalistes . In: jeuneafrique.com, November 4, 2020 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  9. ↑ Litterature: Prix de La Presse Panafricaine 2019 . In: francophonieactualités.com, March 16, 2019 (accessed November 9, 2020).
  10. ↑ Valentin Etancelin: Le prix Goncourt des lycéens 2020 draw to Djaïli Amadou Amal pour "Les impatientes" . In: huffingtonpost.fr, December 2, 2020 (accessed December 2, 2020).
personal data
SURNAME Amal, Djaïli Amadou
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Amal, Djaili Amadou
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cameroonian writer and women activist
DATE OF BIRTH 1975
PLACE OF BIRTH Maroua , Diamaré