Christopher Wise (along with Kristiana Kahakauwila) ran the Senegal Program for the second year, bringing 15 WWU English majors to Dakar, Saint Louis, and Saly, where they studied West African literature and culture. Wise, Kahakauwila, and Suzanne Paola co-edited a special international issue of The Bellingham Review featuring West Africa writers. The special issue is entitled “Scribes, Griots, and Poets: New Writing From West Africa,” including Wise’s translations of excerpts from the Tuareg poet Hawad’s poem ‘In The Net’ and the Senegalese author Boris Boubacar Diop’s short story “Night of the Imoko.” Wise also participated in a panel discussion in Djilor, Senegal at the Foundation Léopold Sédar Senghor, entitled “Léopold Sédar Senghor et la poésie de la négritude” (February 10, 2020). Since the coronavirus struck, he has been stuck at home recording lectures for his classes on deconstruction and animal metamorphosis. These lectures are available for public viewing on his YouTube channel, “Christopher Wise.”
Kristiana Kahakauwila and Christopher Wise
This past Winter term (2019) Kristiana Kahakauwila and Christopher Wise co-led a Study Abroad class to Senegal, the first of its kind for WWU and the English department. Christopher taught two courses in West African literature, covering the pre- and post-colonial eras, while Kristiana taught contemporary Senegalese women writers as well as travel writing and its pitfalls. Fourteen undergraduates, almost all department majors, went on the trip and spent time in the cities of Dakar, Touba, St. Louis, and Saly. Western Today wrote about the trip in an article titled “Postcards from Senegal,” and the experience was deemed such a success that the same trip will be offered in Winter 2020.