• Born in Ziguinchor, Senegal in 1923

• At the age of 14 he is expelled from

school

• Fisherman, a plumber, a brick layer and

an apprentice mechanic before serving
with the French army.

• Returned to France as a stowaway on a

ship and found a job as a dock worker in
Marseilles.
Sembene Ousmane
 EARLY WORKS
INCLUDED:
• Le Docker noir
• O pays mon beau people! ( O My Country, My Beautiful People, 1957).

• Les Bouts de bois de dieu (God’s Bits of Wood, 1960).

• L’Harmattan ( The storm, 1964).
• Mandabi ( The money order, 1968). Prize winning film.

Sembene tries to awaken the consciousness of his

people to wide array of social problems.
“ Tribal Scars” comes from an
early short story collection,
Voltaique (1962). It is a tale of
oppression and resistance, of
fear and courage. Like a modern
day griot. Sembene tells a tale
from out of Africa’s past- a tale
that has a meaning and relevance
for contemporary society.
-tribal scars is a major part of the
African cultures and traditions.
- Sign of “beauty”
- Evidenced by his characterization of
Amoo-that one’s can love protect others
from harm.over protection of his daughter
- Amoo’s
Lome.
- Ousmane shows how Amoo will do
anything in order to ensure the safety of his
daughter.
 MAIN
CHARACTERS
• Amoo – protagonist, the
:
father.
• Lome – Amoo’s daughter

• Momutu - the antagonist,

leader of the slaves who is
careless.
Summary of tribal scars
Tribal scars is the story of a man (Amoo) and his daughter (Lome) trying to
escape the slave trade. Saer, the storyteller, has asked a question; “why do we
have tribal scars?” the people of the village asked the elders and they came up
with some reasons.

Saer was able to prove them all wrong. The slave boat was docked and after
eight days it got raided and looted by Momutu( leader).

Momutu’s lieutenants asked what they should do with Amoo. Momutu told them
to worry about Amoo later; that he was looking for his daughter. Amoo found his
daughter and he knew that the only reason Momutu had captured the slaves was
to re-sell them.
 After Momutu’s men had taken everything off of the boat, Momutu lit
a fuse connected to two barrels of gunpowder and blew the African up.
After they got ashore, Amoo was offered a drink by Momutu, but refused.

They were waiting for more slaves while waiting in the jngle. Amoo
wanted to go back to his village with his daughter, after working for
Momutu for two months. One of Momutu’s men asked Amoo if it was true
that he killed his wife so she wouldn’t be taken prisoner, and then asked
why he has risked his life more than once for for his daughter. Amoo
exclaims “SHE’S MY DAUGHTER!”.

He doesn’t want to lose lome because he has seen his whole family go
into the slave trade. Momutu wanta Lome because she’s young and would
be worth a lot of money.
 Momutu was trying to keep Amoo and Lome, not letting them out of his site,
but Amoo heard a couple of Momutu’s men talking about it so Amoo was on
guard the whole night, with lome on his lap.

While carving a dol for Lome, Amoo was confronted by Momutu. Momutu asked
why Amoo wanted to go back to his village; there was nothing left. Momutu
didn’t wait for Amoo to reply, instead he went on with his story about how he
once had village. A man came and told Momutu that the whites were coming and
had prisoners.

The lieutenants were ordered to kill all the European’s and take the prisoners. All
of a sudden, there were gunshots and screams; confused fighting. The man who
was in charge of watching Lome and Amoo had got up and at that second, Amoo
took his daughter by the hand and ran into the forest.
 For three weeks they ran, traveling mostly at night and then they reached
their village. There weren’t many people left in the village, but Lome’s
grandmother and Amoo’s mother in law took lome into her arms and wept with
her.

The elders of the village spoke with Amoo and asked if it was ever going to end.
They didn’t want to move the village any farther into the forest, for fear of
disease and wild beasts. In the long run, they all agreed and the whole tribe
helped each other.

The party that was to find a good spot, did, with fertile soil and they would also
be safe from the “procurers” (slave hunters recognizable by there uniform).
 One day out of the blue, the procurers came! Amoo, his mother in law and
lome ran. They went far into the forest. Amoo’s mother in law could not go any
further so Amoo told her what was up. Her skin was no longer any good for the
whites to make boots with.

But what to do with Lome? Amoo ran into the forest and grabbed some leaves.
He came back and told lome that she can’t be afraid, that this was going to hurt.

What Amoo did to lome would make her NEVER become slave. He took her
between his strong legs and made cuts all over her body. She screamed until she
had no voice. With the leaves he picked, he wrapped lome with them and then he
got captured.
He was taken prisoner to the coast. Lome returned to the village with her
grandmother and her body was healed fast due to her grandmother’s knowledge
of herbs. She still had scars, which made her worth nothing to the slave traders.
The procurers came back months later, captured lome and then let her go because
of the scars.

Through the years, people heard about it and their ancestors ended up with scars
all over their body too. That is where tribal scars come from.
“ THEY REFUSED TO BE SLAVES”.
WHAT IS THE MORAL LESSON OF THE
STORY?
DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH AMOO’S DECISION TO
KILL HIS WIFE AND DISFIGURE LOME RATHER THAN LET
THEM BE CAPTURED BY THE SLAVES HUNTERS?
THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS
EVERYONE!