La femme dans la littérature orale sénégalaise : narratrices et représentations des femmes

The analysis of the Senegalese oral tradition allows us to highlight the activities and functions of Senegalese women storytellers, as well as the traditional representations of women. In order to address these issues, this article is divided into two main parts: first, we look at griottes, the real storytellers of past and present times; after this, we offer the representations of women in several genres: the epic, the xaxar (welcoming the bride to her husband's house) and denkaane (recommendations) songs, in which the woman is the real protagonist, and finally the enigmas. We thus offer a complex vision of the image of women that facilitates a better understanding of certain aspects of tradition, admired or denounced by Senegalese women writers in their works.