Bépp làkk rafet na: Textual Estrangement, Vernacular Affinities

This article examines the enigmatic afterlife of a widely circulating Wolofal verse—“bépp làkk rafet na”—commonly attributed to the early twentieth-century poet Muusaa Ka, and long mobilized by Senegalese writers and activists advocating for the value of writing in Wolof. Taking up Annette Damayanti Lienau’s invitation to consider ʿajam as a ground of comparison, the essay uses this fragment to explore the relationship between Wolof’s two major scriptural traditions—Arabic-script and Latinate—and the forms of textual estrangement and unexpected affinity that arise between them.