In the past decade Gambian historical studies has been enriched by works on political history by Gambianists such as Arnold Hughes and David Perfect; on The Gambia's role in Atlantic trade by Toby Green; and on electoral politics after the 1994 coup by Abdoulaye Saine and Ebrima Ceesay. However, there had been no attempt to use what Michel Doormont calls the “historical biography” genre to elucidate any aspect of Gambian history. Senghor's book is therefore a seminal departure point in Gambian studies as it situates the life story of a prominent member of the Gambian colonial elite in the political and social evolution of the country.
This is a scholarly work by The Gambia's leading historian, Jeggan C. Senghor, senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London. The book has all the trappings of an academic text, including very detailed notes and references, the index and above all, its balance.
The balance lies in the ability of the author to give a dispassionate account of the life and times of the man West Africa magazine once called “The Gambia's amiable example”. This is not a hagiography. The author maintains the historian's balanced view by giving fair observations on Faye's achievements as teacher, church man, diplomat, nationalist politician; and shortcomings such as his indebtedness in the late 1950s, which made him the subject of numerous litigations by people and companies (p. 137).
The book has 12 chapters, which can be divided into three main themes: Faye the teacher, Faye the nationalist politician, and Faye the Anglican pastor. Chapters 1 and 2 retrace his early life as a founder teacher of the famous Kristi-Kunda (KK) (Christ's Home in Mandinka); a brave yet ill-fated scheme by the Anglicans to establish a Christian community in parts of the Upper River region of The Gambia which were still largely untouched by Islam. Faye established KK against the odds, and built a successful school known for its high standards of scholarship and discipline. The school was to produce a Gambian vice president, many cabinet ministers and scholars such as Dr Senghor. Moreover, because Faye was also involved in other education-related activities such as founding The Gambia Teachers' Union in 1938, these chapters also provide a good glimpse of a history of Western education in the high period of colonial rule in The Gambia.
In chapters 3 to 8, the author discusses Faye's political life, which started in 1947 when he was appointed to the enlarged Gambian Legislative Council to represent the Upper River region (p. 61); a measure of Faye's respect and trust among his hosts while serving at KK. These chapters are especially insightful about Faye's political trajectories, such as his founding in 1951 of the first political party in The Gambia, the Gambia Democratic Party (p. 76) thereby kick-starting the struggle for independence, and his appointment as the first Gambian cabinet minister in 1953. These were indeed decisive moments not only for Faye, but also for the struggle against British rule which started much later in The Gambia than her neighbours. If 1947 to 1960 were Faye's golden years in nationalist politics, the author reveals also that in the subsequent years “he faced new challenges” from men he had groomed such as I.M. Garba Jahumpa, leader of the breakaway Gambia Muslim Congress Party which soon eroded Faye's political support in Bathurst.
But an even more effective reason for his political demise was the emergence of new political forces emanating from the few educated Protectorate-born Gambians: The People's Progressive Party (PPP) of Sir Dawda Jawara which won independence for The Gambia. Besides a brief stint as Gambia's first High Commissioner to London from 1963 to 1964, Faye had faded from the political field even before Gambian independence in 1965. A sad epitaph for the pioneer Gambian nationalist.
The last three chapters of the book focus on Faye's church work; he spent the last two decades of his life as deacon of the Anglican Church in The Gambia. As in the previous chapters, here the author efficiently contextualizes Faye's life in the church such that we have a good glimpse of the history of the peaceful Christian–Muslim relations in the Gambia in the last five decades of the twentieth century, a theme also addressed in recent scholarship on Gambian religious history by Martha T. Frederiks and Marloes Janson.
The author should be commended for his highly relevant conclusion in chapter 12 as he reflects on the broader leadership question in Africa. In a continent where leadership shortcomings are usually blamed for underdevelopment and violence, Senghor concludes that Faye is a role model for Gambian and African leaders of today and the future.
It is unfortunate that a very useful and informative book like this on a giant of Gambian politics and society, did not come from the presses of an academic publisher or a publishing house more renowned than AuthorHouse. Also, the text suffers from inconsistencies in spellings of common Gambian proper names such as “NJie” for “N'jie” (p. 349); and “Jarawa” for “Jawara” (p. 348). Yet this is a useful book, on Faye in particular and on Gambian social and political history in general. The book is indeed a eulogy to the triumph of the elite in urban colonial Gambia over adversities imposed by limited opportunities for upward mobility available to them as subjects of British rule.
