Cosaan Seereer : Exclusive interview with Professor Maara Jon : LIVE - 28th May 2016 by The Seereer Resource Centre and Seereer Radio

On Saturday, 28th May 2016, the Seereer Resource Centre and Seereer Radio's Cosaan Seereer team interviewed Professor Maara Jon live on the radio on matters relating to Seereer religion. Members of the interviewing team consisted of Tamsier Joof (London, UK), Demba Sene (Dakar, Senegal) and Mamadou Fall (Sheffield, UK). 

Date of first broadcast on Seereer Radio : Saturday, 28th May 2016

Presenters : Demba Sene, Tamsier Joof and Mamadou Fall 

Interviewee : Professor Maara Jon

Source language(s) : Saafi-Saafi, Seereer-Siin, English and Wolof

Subjects covered : Seereer prayers and Seereer religious festivals.

Radio program : Cosaan Seereer

Radio station : Seereer Radio

Owner : The Seereer Resource Centre (SRC)

Collection : The SRC Collection

Date of recording : Saturday, 28th May 2016

Location of interviewee : Médina, Dakar, Senegal

Medium : Audio recording

Additional information : This audio was recorded for the SRC Collection, with permission to broadcast granted to Seereer Radio  | The Voice of the Seereer Community (our 24 hour stream radio station). 

Information about Professor Maara Jon (née. Aliou Dione) : Professor Maara Jon (or Professor Mara Joon) is a linguist, historian, researcher and author. He graduated from the University of Cheick Anta Diop (French: Université Cheikh Anta Diop or UCAD) and since 1974 has been a prominent researcher and author of Seereer (particularly Saafi) history, culture and religion. Professor Jon also attended the Centre de Linguistique Appliquée de Dakar (CLAD) under the supervision of Professor Souleymane Faye, a professor of linguistics at UCAD and a member of the SRC team. Prior to his academic career, Professor Jon had success in acting. His name Maara derived from a film he was in where he played the role of a marabout. His real Seereer name is Jig Jam Jon.

Professor Jon has had several peer-reviewed papers under his name, and has authored, co-authored or contributed to several papers and books including assisting Professor David Maranz in his research on the Seereer-Saafi Raampa script (1992). Some of his work include :

• "Saafi, ɓoo fiisaat peɗmi ɓoo ɓap" (Saafi, lisons et écrivons notre langue maternelle), Société Internationale de Linguistique, BP 2075, Dakar, Sénégal, 2000 (réédité en 2004) (author: Rokhaya Seck, in collaboration with Aliou Dione, Carol Larsen and Jorunn Dijkstra)

• "Le mythe de l'origine de l'héritage chez les Saafi" ((in Saafi: Cosaan-in Iam Saafi) [in] Notes africaines, Issues 181-190, Institut français d'Afrique noire, Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire, Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire Cheikh Anta Diop, Institut français d'Afrique noire (1984) (see page 25 and from page 43).

• "Le thème de la mort dans la littérature Seereer: Essai", author : Amade Faye, Contributor : Agence de coopération culturelle et technique, Nouvelles éditions africaines du Sénégal (1997), Credit : Aliou Dione - page 212, note 306

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Download transcript « Télécharger la transcription » :

Visit the Seereer Resource Centre download page to download a transcript of this audio in English, French, Seereer a Sinig, Saafi-Saafi, Ndut, Sili-Sili, Noon and Laalaa.

Websites :

The Seereer Resource Centre (SRC) - www.seereer.org 

Seereer Radio - www.seereerradio.com