
English
An 1805 map of West Africa: Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - depicting the Seereer Kingdoms of Siin and Saluum along with their Wolof, Mandinka and Fula neighbours. The Kingdom of Siin is referred to as the "Kingdom of Barbasin" - an early European (Portuguese) corruption of Siin in their writings and historical maps. The map also depicts the royal titles of some Senegambian kings as well as their residencies.
An early to mid 20th century post card depicting a Seereer familly : father,
mother and their six children. The boys are wearing a traditional Seereer
loincloth called uuf. On her her waist,
the mother is wearing a traditional Seereer hand woven waist wrap (usually made by Seereer men) called Seer.
The SRC Collection
What the Collection consists of
What the Collection consists of
The SRC Collection consists of pedagogical, historical, archaeological, genealogical and theological texts that will be useful to the religious, history and language teacher; Seereer parents; the Seereer community; specialists in Seereer history and culture and the general reader at large. It is a collection of Seereer related documents, artefacts, images, videos, audios and books donated or acquired by the SRC. Collectively, they are significant to the historical and cultural heritage of the Seereer people. From a wider perspective, they form part of Senegambian cultural heritage and history.
Why was it set up?
Why was it set up?
The SRC Collection was set up in order to support:
- first class Seereer education for parents of Seereer children;
- primary and secondary schools particularly in Senegal and the Gambia who wish to be seen as more inclusive in their delivery of history and religious studies, and appreciate the immense contributions of the Seereer people to Senegambian history and culture, as well as have a genuine appreciation of the fact that not all pupils follow the Abrahamic religions at home i.e. Islam and Christianity, but also there are those who adhere to the Traditional African religion and therefore, have a genuine aim to redress the balance in order to meet the religious educational needs of such pupils in a supportive and proactive manner;
- the Seereer community at large;
- the academic and general reader with an interest in Seereer history, culture, languages and religion.
Pedagogical
The pedagogical texts offers support for the effective teaching of Seereer religion in its orthodox form, effective teaching of Seereer history, Seereer-Siin and the Cangin languages from primary to GCSE and A/ Level.
The historical texts ranges from an examination of the old stories and legends passed down through the ages in its oral form, as well as the written history of the Seereer people.
The archaeological text covers archaeological discoveries in Seereer country. The culture of those ancient people and how they shape and impact on modern day Seereer culture.
The genealogical texts are archival documents that may be of use to all Senegambians with an interest in genealogy and family history. The SRC’s Genealogical records go as far back as the 18th century covering marriages, births and deaths. At the moment all these genealogical records covers the Gambia though we are working hard to include the Senegalese and Mauritanian records on our online digital archive. Not all of these records are digitalised. We are working hard to ensure that all these records are available online for your free download. These genealogical records run into tens of thousands and as one can appreciate, it does take time to digitalise them and have them available online.
The theological texts covers Seereer religious festivals, sacred chants and Seereer religious laws and customs.
The collection also includes a range of Seereer and Senegambian articles, audios, videos, postcards, maps and artefacts some of which date back to the 18th and 19th centuries. We are always trying to increase our collection especially Seereer and Senegambian artefacts. As one can appreciate, these artefacts don't tend to come into the open market that often and when they do, we waste no time in acquiring them for the SRC Collection. We try to work with private owners and encourage private owners of Seereer or Senegambian related artefacts to sell their artefacts or antiquities to us. We work with a strong team of professional auctioneers specialising in African antiquity as well as with Seereers with a great knowledge of Seereer antiquity. If you are a private owner of a Seereer or Senegambian antiquity and would like to dispose off your collection, please contact us via our contact page. We also welcome donations from the wider community. In fact, many of our objects, video and audio recordings are donated to us by the wider Seereer community. This helps us save money which in turn enables us to implement our charitable objectives.
Preserving Seereer heritage for future generations.