Babacar Sedikh Diouf or Babacar Sédikh Diouf (Serer: Babakar Sidiix Juuf, b. 1928) is a Senegalese historian, author, researcher, campaigner against "Wolofization", a Pan-Africanist, and former teacher. He has written extensively about the history and culture of Senegal, Africa, and that of the Serer ethnic group to which he belongs. He usually writes by the pen name Babacar Sedikh Diouf.
Academia
In 1951, Diouf met Léopold Sédar Senghor – the future President of Senegal, when Senghor visited a village in Casamance were Diouf was working at the time as a teacher. Senghor, who was then a member of parliament was visiting the area as a surprise and had to sleep overnight in a hut—away from the comforts he was used to. According to Diouf, after that chance meeting, he became a supporter of Senghor "because his visit had proved his humility and interest in teaching." As a result, he started to read Senghor's literary works. Sometime later, Senghor awarded him a grant to study Serer history "along Cheikh Anta Diop's hypotheses."
Diouf, who is a retired teacher was appointed President of the Association of Retired Teachers of Senegal (French: l'association des instituteurs à la retraite). As of 1980, he was the Director of the Thiers School (l'Ecole Thiers). He has been a long-standing member of the National Union of Languages.
Diouf sometimes write by the pen name Babacar Sedikh Diouf. Many of his works are unpublished but cited by African, Caribbean and Western scholars who've interacted with him over the years. Some of these include gender politics writers Louise Langevin, Fatou Kiné Camara and Jeremy I. Levitt; historians Mamadou Diouf, Abdoulaye Keita of IFAN—UCAD, Cyr Descamps and Iba Der Thiam; and anthropologist Henry Gravrand.
Diouf usually writes in French but has also written in Serer. An eighty-page short biography of the 19th century Serer King of Sine — Maad a Sinig Kumba Ndoffene Famak Joof, titled: O maad a sinig : Kumba Ndoofeen fa Maak JUUF (Buka-Cilaas), 1853–1871, PAPF (1987) was written in Serer.
Senegambian stone circles
Diouf was one of the first (if not the first) to suggest a Serer religious significance for the Senegambian stone circles, based in part on their arrangement and religious symbolism which he saw as related to Serer numerology. His work published on 7 July 1980 on the Senegalese newspaper Le Soleil became headline news and was picked up by the prehistorian and archaeologist Professor Cyr Descamps and his colleague Professor Iba Der Thiam.
The builders of these megaliths are still unknown. Other possible candidates are the ancestors of the Jola people or the Wolof
The Guelowar Dynasty in Seereer kingdoms
The mainstream view has been that, the Guelowar Maternal Dynasty (whom some writers such as Martin A. Klein, Donald R. Wright and Emmett Jefferson Murphy wrongly labelled as Mandinka or Malinke) conquered the Serer people and subjugated them. After years of researching and documenting the oral traditionas of the Serer and that of Kaabu, Diouf was one of the first historian and author to posit that the Guelowars of Sine and Saloum (the two Serer kingdoms) did not conquer and subjugate the Serer people but were granted asylum by the Serer Council of Great Lamans, who then went on marry into the Serer noble patriclans. The Guelowars who were relatives and offshoots of the powerful Ñaanco (or Nyancho) Maternal Dynasty of Kaabu, underwent a dynastic war or struggle against their powerful Ñaanco relatives. The Senegalese historian Alioune Sarr, in his acclaimed paper Histoire du Sine-Saloum (1986–87) supports that view and placed that dynastic war around 1335. Sarr's Histoire du Sine-Saloum is one of the leading work on the history of Sine-Saloum and is generally regarded as the prevailing view especially in regards to the date of reign of the Kings of Sine and Saloum.