Le docker noir(Paris: Debresse,1956). Translated into English by Ros Schwartz and published as the The Black Docker (London: Heinemann, 1987).

This first work of fiction by Sembene depicts the betrayal suffered by an African writer whose novel is published under false pretenses, and the betrayal suffered by African workers who lead a miserable existence in Marseille. This novel is also a fictional reconstruction of race relations between the French and the exiles from France’s colonies in Africa and the black diaspora. Autobiographical in its orientation, it set the political tone for a new breed of works by French-speaking African writers.

O pays, mon beau people (Paris : Le Livre Contemporain, 1957).

Sembene’s second novel is a lyrical work. Through Oumar Faye’s tragic fight for land and freedom for his people, the author explores the issues of race relations, racial intolerance, and mixed marriage in a colonial in a colonial setting. Sembene focuses on the odyssey of a young Senegalese man who returns from France to the Casamance in southern Senegal with a white wife and the dream to liberate his countrymen and women from colonial exploitation. Oumar’s death at the end of this novel points to the tragedy lived daily by colonized people under French rule.

Les bouts de bois de Dieu (Paris: Le Livre Contemporain, 1960). Translated into English by Francis Price and published as God’s Bits of Wood, with an introduction by

A. Adu Boahen (Garden Cit: Anchor Books, 1970).
By far the most widely read and studied of Sembene’s novels, God’s bits of wood is a fictionalized reconstruction of the railroad workers’ strike in 1947that for months paralyzed traffic between Bamako, Thies, and Dakar. A celebration of the people’s power and determination to control their own destiny, this work has also been hailed by critics as one of the first African novels to formulate the idea of women as active agents in the historical process of liberating (politically, economically, and culturally) the African continent,. Most of all, the novel depicts the different changes that can affect an entire people engaged in a fight to free themselves from foreign exploitstion.

Voltaique (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1962).

With this collection of thirteen stories, Sembene broadens the scope of his artistry. The texts assemble here range from tales (“Mahomoud Fall”), to fables (“Communaute”), short stories (“Devant l’histoire,” “Prise de conscience,” “La noire de…, ” and “Voltaique,” a story on the origin of tribal scars). The themes in these stories range from the portrayal of African exiles and polygamy to women’s power and political consciousness.

L’Harmattan (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1964).

Like God’s Bits of Wood, this novel is based on historical events that had far-reaching effects on West Africa’s political transformation: the 1958 referendum on the future of France’s African colonies, organized by General de Gaulle. Set in an unnamed African capital, the story recreates the climate of excitement, hope, fear, and deception experienced by a whole generation of Africans at that time. Through it’s robust characters, the novel also traces the different political orientations of the intellectual elite on the eve of independence.

Le mandat, precede de Vehi-Ciosane (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1966). Translated into English by Clive Wake and published as The Money Order, with White Genesis (London: Heinemann, 1972).

Adapted into a film as ‘Mandabi” in 1968, “The Money Order” represents Sembene’s first and uncompromising look at the human tragedy of post-colonial Africa. Under the combined effects of an imposed cash economy, an alien administrative system, and illiteracy, the hero Ibrahima Dieng casts a new light on the despair experienced by those left out and forgotten by the empty promises of corrupt political and economic hardship.

Xala (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1973). Translated into English by Clive Wake and published as Xala (Westport: L. Hill and Co., 1976).

Like “The Money Order” this almost farcical novel focuses on contemporary Senegal. Here Sembene uses the image of sexual impotence as the metaphor for the newly independent nation. The novel also documents the shocking and widening gap between a self-absorbed wealthy elite class and the multitudes living in extreme poverty.

Le dernier de l’Empire, tomes 1 & 2 (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1981). Translated by Adrian Adams and published as The last of the Empire: A Senegalese Novel (London: Heinemann, 1983).

The context here is now familiar: nepotism, incompetence, and the abuse of the public power rampant in many African states in the decades following independence. Set in independent Senegal, the novel dramatizes the military coup that has been a plague on Africa’s political landscape, jeopardizing political instability and economic development.

Niiwam (Paris: Presence Africaine, 1987). Translated into English and published as Niiwam and Taaw: Two Novellas ( Oxford and Portsmouth, N. H.: Heinemann, 1992).

This work is a collection of two short stories: “Niiwam,” which gives the title to the collection, and “Taaw.” “Niiwam” tells the story of the peasnt Thierno’s nightmarish bus trip with his son’s body on his knees from the hospital morgue to the Muslim cemetery of Dakar at Yoff, Sembene intrpduces the reader to the human, material, and moral decay that the fetishism of money has caused in modern urban Africa. As for “Taaw,” the dominant theme is th ecruel reality of life in suburban Dakar, with its unemployment, poverty, drugs, and lack of moral leadership. We see here as well other themes important to Sembene: generational conflict, teenage pregnancy, and the oppression of women by a culture of patriarchy. But as with many of his other works, “Taaw” ends with a note of rebellion and hope for a better future for all oppressed.