Skip to main content

Search from vocabulary

Content language

Concept information

Preferred term

Thomas Sankara  

Definition

  • Although in power for only a short while (from 1983 to 1987) Thomas Sankara, president of the West African nation Burkina Faso, implemented the Democratic and Popular Revolution, which was primarily concerned with eradicating corruption, fighting environmental degradation, empowering women, and increasing access to education and health care, with the larger goal of liquidating imperial domination. On the first anniversary of the coup that brought him to power, he changed the country's name from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which translates to “land of upright men” in Mossi and Dioula, the country's two most widely spoken indigenous languages. [Source: Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice; Sankara, Thomas (1949–1987)]

Belongs to group

URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/Thomas_Sankara

Download this concept: