ECO-UBUNTU AND SLOW VIOLENCE IN ANALYSING BIRAGO DIOP’S “SOUFFLES” AND MALICK FALL’S “ECOLIERS”

“Souffles” (Breaths) and “Ecoliers” (Schoolboys) by two Senegalese writers namely, Birago Diop and Malick Fall respectively, serve as study texts in the present research. Its objective is to analyze in details the said poems using ecocritical concepts of “eco-ubuntu” and “slow violence”. The findings show that in “Breaths”, Birago Diop establishes the interconnectedness of African ancestral worshippers in particular and Africans in general to living and non-living things, living and dead ancestors and gods in the ecosystem while in “Schoolboys”, Malick Fall expands the interconnectedness of Africans giving it an international dimension thanks to the historical and political phenomenon of colonization, specifically colonial education; and their attendant long-term effects by way of slow violence. It is established that Birago Diop and Malick Fall are both ecopoets and adherents of eco-ubuntu. Both poets through the intermediary of their poems “Souffles” and “Ecoliers” advocate the interconnectedness of Africans and Westerners and by implication, others in various parts of the ecosystem. Africans are, however, warned by Malick Fall never to jettison their roots, their customs, and traditions; in short their cultures while in the process of global interconnectivity.