| Administrative History | Adrian Adams was born in 1945 and began her higher education in the University of Dakar where her father was working as an officer of the US State Department. She undertook her doctoral studies at the London School of Economics and in 1971 began a lectureship in social anthropology at Aberdeen University. In 1975 she left for a preliminary study of agriculture in the village of Kounghani in the Senegal valley. In 1979 she left Aberdeen to live, marry and work with her husband Jaabe who was the leader of a Federation of peasant co-operatives devoted to improving farming methods. During the next 21 years her work moved from academic duties to political advocacy on behalf of the Federation, to pioneering literacy and publication of the Soninke language. She died in a road accident not far from Kounghani in 2000.
For further details on Adams's life in Kounghani, see Hargreaves's short biography, 'Adrian Adams in Kounghani: A memoir with letters' (Banchory: Woodend Publishing, 2005) |
| Custodial History | The collection was in the possession of Adams's former colleague at Aberdeen and close personal friend, Professor John Desmond Hargreaves, prior to being gifted to the University. |
| Description | The greatest part of this small collection comprises letters and postcards from Adams, written in Kounghani during the years 1977 through to 2000, to John and Sheila Hargreaves in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. In addition, there are a number of literacy and numeracy booklets in the Soninke language, including 'Duna', Nos. 1-2, 1988 - 1989, as well as off-prints and typescripts of papers by Adrian Adams for the period 1976 - 2000. |