Aissata G. Sidikou is Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies in the Department of Languages and Cultures at the United States Naval Academy. She is author of Recreating Words, Reshaping Worlds: The Verbal Art of Women from Niger, Mali, and Senegal.Thomas A. Hale is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of African, French, and Comparative Literature in the Department of French and Francophone Studies and the Department of Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University. He is author of Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music (IUP, 1999) and editor (with John William Johnson and Stephen Belcher) of Oral Epics from Africa (IUP, 1997).

• PrefaceIntroduction: The Powerful Voices of Women in SongSong Lyrics1. Marriage2. Children3. Women in Society4. DeathAppendix: Original Transcriptions of Selected SongsBibliographyIndex

"Women's Voices from West Africa is a must for libraries, scholars, professors, and researchers. It is an interdisciplinary resource for all who are interested in authentic voices from Africa recorded in indigenous languages. It is also a valuable resource for the enrichment of general readers."—African Studies Review"There is a very limited source literature of this kind in French and local African languages, but nothing comparable in English. . . . It will open doors."—Heather Maxwell, University of Virginia"A valuable contribution to the corpus of literature on African women's verbal art."—Fiona Mc Laughlin, University of Florida