Malidoma Patrice Some

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Malidoma Somé

Malidoma Patrice Somé (born 1956) is a West African writer. He was born in Dano, Burkina Faso, among the Dagara.

He was kidnapped at the age of four by French Jesuit missionaries, raised in their boarding school, and given a Western education. The missionaries were attempting to convert and train a legion of black Africans who might go back to their tribes and bring them to Christianity. He did not escape the missionary school until he was twenty, by which time he had forgotten his native language, having been forbidden to speak it by the Jesuits. In order to be able to communicate with his people, he underwent a process of "relearning". He took part in a month-long Dagara initiation process. ^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

The Dagara believe that each person is born with a destiny, and he or she is given a name that reflects that destiny. The name Malidoma means "become friends with the stranger/enemy". Malidoma Patrice Somé believes it is his destiny to come to a western audience in friendship and tell them about his experience of being torn away from his people by westerners. His book, Of Water and the Spirit, is his attempt to describe his experiences. His life in the Jesuit school was unpleasant at best. He describes it as a jail. He was repeatedly sexually abused by the priests there.^[1]

Somé holds three Master's degrees and two doctorates from the Sorbonne and Brandeis University. He has taught at the University of Michigan.^[1]

Somé conducts seminars and retreats in Oregon and throughout the world.^[4]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Somé, Malidoma Patrice (1994). Of Water and Spirit: Ritual, Magic and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman. New York: Tarcher/Putnam. ISBN 978-0874777628.
^ Somé, Malidoma Patrice (1993). Ritual: Power, Healing and Community. Portland, OR: Swan and Raven. ISBN 978-0140195583.
^ Somé, Malidoma Patrice (1998). The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose Through Nature, Ritual, and Community. New York: Tarcher/Putnam. ISBN 978-0874779912.
^ Somé, Malidoma Patrice (2007). Malidoma.com.