Curriculum Vitae Professor Samou CAMARA Academic background Research doctorate in Paleoanthropology and Prehistory, University of Paris 1. Panthéon-Sorbonne (1993) under Professor José Garanger. Thesis: Paleoantropologie et Préhistoire au Mali. Etat de la question. 3 volumes, 1100 pages. Mention Très Honorable avec les Félicitations du Jury. Jury Members: Prof. Henry Duday (Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Physique de l’Université de Bordeaux 1), Prof. Ginette Aumassip (Université de Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne).
Field of competence and interest Scientific research and university lecturing (archaeology, prehistory). Management of archaeological collections. Planning and direction of archaeological work sites. Feasibility, design and management studies regarding archaeological museums. Interest in issues regarding the integration into society of diversity and equal opportunities. Interest in socio-economic development based on issues related to education, culture and the environment.
Professional experience Since 2000 Professor Samou Camara has been the Scientific Director of the Italian Archaeological and Anthropological Research Mission in the Sankaran Valley (Municipality of Sere Moussa ani Samou di Siékorolé) in Mali. The Mission is run in collaboration with the National Scientific and Technological Research Centre of Mali, the Human Science Institute of Mali, the Department of History and Archaeology of the University of Mali and the Department of Anthropology of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium. During this period, Professor Camara carried on research activities involving archaeology and anthropology and local training of students of the University of Bamako (Mali). The research focused on collecting evidence of the history of the population (the role of hunters in the choice of the settlement sites in the ancient market towns of the Sankarani valley), on the socio-economic dynamics (agriculture, gold mines) underlying the development of the region, on GIS (Geographic Information System) inventorying and mapping of the archaeological sites, as well as the opening of excavations on the outdoor habitat and shelters and of the metallurgical ateliers. Prof. Camara currently directs the Centre de Recherche sur le Développement par l’Education, la Culture et l’Environnement (Credece, Brussels) established in 2008. The Centre gathers together experts in the social sciences, environment and local development within the framework of research and studies carried out in the sector of the ecological and cultural heritage, and conservation and development, in close collaboration with national and international partners and in synergism with the rural communities. In 2006, Prof. Camara worked as trainer at the Amay Centre for Orientation and Training (Belgium) within the framework of the VITAR Project, funded by the European Social Fund for the socio-vocational insertion of African migrants in Europe. During this period he developed two projects: one on the socio-vocational integration of migrants (Appel à projet Cabinet Vienne), the other setting up a karité butter cooperative in the town of Sindou in Burkina Faso (Appel à projet of the Union of Walloon Cities and Municipalities). Between 1994 and 2000 he collaborated actively with the Archaeological Superintendency of Lazio. During this period he carried out numerous studies and researches on the typology and cataloguing of prehistoric collections (Africa, Europe) belonging to the L. Pigorini National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum (Rome), and the reconnaissance and cataloguing of the archaeological sites of Farnese and Viterbo; he also held the post of scientific director of archaeological investigations related to the Rome-Naples section (Municipality of Ceprano) of the high speed railway project (Alta Velocità). He was also scientific director of the excavation of the prehistoric cave of Val de Varri (Bronze Age) in the municipality of Rieti and had the task of planning and implementing the prehistoric itinerary of the Prehistoric Museum of the TiberinoCornicolano Territory at Sant’Angelo Romano (Orsini-Cesi Castle, Province of Rome).
From 1984 to 1988, as a research student under the direction of Professor José Garanger (University of Paris I, Pantheo-Sorbonne) he participated in several archaeological work sites organized by the Laboratoire d’Ethnologie Préhistorique de l’Université de Paris I and by the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Physique de l’Université de Bordeaux I on the prehistoric sites (collective burials) of Villedubert, Moux, Corconne (Gard), directed by Prof. Henry Duday, as well as at the site of Méréaucourt (Picardy), directed by Prof. Claude Masset. From 1977 to 1984 he was Research Assistant at the National Museum of Mali (Bamako). During this period he carried out research on the traditional role (politics, security, healing) of the hunter society in the Sankarani valley and on the initiation rites of the jo society in the Baniko region. He carried out investigations into the plundering of archaeological sites in Mali and lectured on the role of museums in the national policy of safeguarding cultural heritage. He was an active participant in setting up the inaugural exhibition of the National Bamako Museum (1982), in particular as far as the definition of the museographic itinerary and the selection of the items was concerned. Over the past ten years, Professor Camara has published scientific studies and articles (47 publications) (archaeology, history, anthropology) in specialist and popularizing journals in Italy and Mali. These include publications in Etudes Maliennes of the Mali Human Science Institute, the entries on African archaeology published by the Treccani Archaeological Encyclopaedia and the history, archaeology and anthropology sections in the reviews Africa (Ferrara) and Finis Terrae (Turin). Over the same period, Professor Camara presented communications at numerous scientific meetings (International Congress Of Mande Studies Association, Pan African Congress Of Preistory, Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente, University of Mali, Mali Human Sciences Institute) on the subject of the abovementioned research in Mali, including the prehistoric site of Bamako-Manianbugu, as well as on the scientific data produced by the Archaeological and Anthropological Research Mission in the Sankarani Valley in Mali. The Mission data formed the subject of communications to the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Maison Africane di Bruxelles.