My name is Moustapha Fall . I am from Senegal in West Africa. I have been studying in Beloit since September 2000. I am majoring in Modern Languages and minoring in Political Sciences.

This semester will be a great opportunity for me to revisit the history of my continent, Africa where I was born, precisely in a small town called Touba 200 miles away from Dakar, capital of Senegal. Being the eldest son of my family, I felt the weigh of my responsibilities at a very early age, as someone who should provide my family with everything. In some African cultures, it is a dishonor not to respond to parents' needs when one becomes an adult. Those dreams that grow up in the heart of every African child, grew up in me many years ago. As a matter of fact, I dedicate this web site to my Mum, Amy Seye and my Dad, Serigne Fall who both did their best to raise me up and inculcated in me the true values of honesty, courage and determination . I will not forget about my grandma whose death continues to haunt my life because she guided me and gave me the basics of what a man should have in his life: self-respect, patience and courage. I won't forget friends, such as Cheikh Abdou lo, Abdoulaye Niane, Oumar Dia and Abdoul Fattah Niane who have shared with me difficult and trying times in university. Their advice, material and moral support have been very helpful to me to get through life. Finally, all thanks and congratulations go to Taleh Ziyadov, a friend, a brother who built this web site with amazing skills.

I have decided to TA this class with the consent of Sonja Darlington, for three main reasons. First, as a Muslim this course will help me to exchange with students ideas about Islam in a friendly environment. There are some unsolved and unanswered questions in Islam that people have to know about and discuss.
Second, Being in this course will help me revisit some African literatures and traditions for a better understanding of our religious, cultural and social backgrounds. For example Camara Laye's Dark child Cheikh Ahmidou Kane's Ambigous Adventures, Leila Abouzeid's Year of Elephant, Tayeb Salih's Season of Migration to the North ,Nawal el Saadawi's Women at point Zero , Assia Djebar's A sister to Scheherazade and many other texts will help us a lot to go deeply in African religions and cultures. They are tremendously informative books that shed light on how religions and cultures are intertwined and how they are likely to influence human beings' destiny as a whole. These books are worth being studied for the understanding of our societies and others around the globe.
The third reason is this course may be helping, to see why Islam has been a target in the West for the past 25 years.

Islam has been portrayed negatively in many televised programs in the west for being a religion in whose name many atrocities have been committed .
The hostage of USA embassy in Tehran 1979, the bombardment of Us embassy in Kenya in 1995, the recent September 11 attack 2001, the war in Chechnya, the Israeli and Palestine conflict and the civil war in Sudan between Muslim and Christian.All these events unfolding in the world politics, have shaped western views about Islam. As a matter of fact,the West has pointed at many countries in the Middle East, as the enemies to wage war by all accessible means. Is the cost of doing so worth the price? I think we should see things in human lenses and weigh the pros and the cons of our daily actions in order to create the conditions of a peaceful world where everyone enjoys justice, respect and equal opportunities.

Moustapha Fall's Web site http://stu.beloit.edu/~fallm

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