Changing Philosophies And Shifting Perspectives: Souleymane Bachir Diagne On His New Memoir

Upper West Side NY

07 October, 2021

3:45 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY FERNANDA AGUERO OCTOBER 7, 2021 The doors of Columbia's Maison Française reopened last Thursday, welcoming students and staff back to Buell Hall for its first in-person event since March 2020. The Maison Française hosted a discussion with the director of the Institute of African Studies and professor of French and philosophy Souleymane Bachir Diagne on his memoir, "Le fagot de ma mémoire," which was published in French earlier this year. Diagne was in conversation with Emmanuelle Saada and Pierre-André Chiappori, his friends and fellow Columbia professors, allowing for an intimate discussion about the new memoir. Acclaimed for his philosophical texts on the history of mathematics, Diagne was awarded the Prix Saint-Simon award for best autobiography for "Le fagot de ma mémoire." The memoir highlights Diagne's academic life across the various cities he has lived in. Diagne discusses his time studying at the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure de la Rue d'Ulm in Paris, as well as his time working as an advisor to the president of Senegal, showing how each place influenced his intellectual development and shaped his work in philosophy. Diagne paused the project several times to write two philosophy books, only fully revisiting it during the COVID-19 pandemic. In all, writing the memoir took him a total of five years. "Le fagot de ma mémoire" begins with Diagne's childhood in Senegal, before transitioning into his years studying in France. Later chapters follow his time teaching and studying in Dusseldorf and across several U.S. cities. He recalls the shifts in his academic focus and names the figures in his life who influenced the development of his studies. "When you have the endeavor of visiting a trajectory where you measure what people in your life have meant to you … it becomes something almost overwhelming," Diagne said. The writing of the memoir was unexpectedly emotional for Diagne, who was forced to relive several life-altering events. The death of his brother, which occurred when he was young, previously felt distant to Diagne. Only when writing about it did he see "how present [the death] still was and, in a way, had always been." "Le fagot de ma mémoire," closely translating to "the bundle of my memory," comes from a poem by Senegalese poet Birago Diop. Diagne's memoir acts as an introduction to his current academic career. Diagne describes the memoir as an interruption of his work, as he is still actively teaching. Instead of writing from the perspective of a retiree, the memoir instead takes a look at his work up until the current moment. Returning to work after completing his memoir has made Diagne more conscious of his relationship with teaching. According to Diagne, writing gave him a new consciousness and passion for his work. "If you revisit your own intellectual trajectory, you see the connection between works that for you were just random," Diagne said. "When you look at them in succession, … you find something about the evolution of your own thinking." Diagne wanted the memoir to be a declaration of love for his parents and mentors. He saw the project as a way to pay respect to the people in his life, discovering the extent of these connections through the writing of the book. "It was a great adventure to just be … led by the story itself," Diagne said. "You have the feeling ... that somehow, the story is leading you as much as you are leading it." Staff writer Fernanda Aguero can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.