Benoît Ogoul'Iquaqua wanted, he said, “to bring meaning,
the intelligence, the spirit of the customs” of his people; he wanted to ‘establish history and traditions through science’. (Cf. PART ONE, p. 53).
Five landmarks, among others, illustrate Benoît Ogoul'Iquaqua's great interest in the history and culture of his people, and his passion for bringing them to light and promoting them:
(1) 1932 : with the deed of July 1, 1932 (see PREMIERE
PART p. 50), he points out:
(2) 1947 : on August 28, he provided his compatriot Jean Rémy Ayouné (Service de Presse et d'Information, Brazzaville) with “information on the Oroungou country”, in response to his “questionnaire on the economic, social and political organization of this country before the arrival of Europeans”.
(3) 1950-1951 : following the visit (November) and correspondence accompanied by an exhaustive questionnaire on
the history and traditions of the “Omyènè” (December) by André Hauser, Sociologist at the Institut d'Etudes Centrafricaines (Brazzaville), Benoît Ogoul'Iquaqua sent him in April 1951.
(4) 1954 : Also approached by Abbé Raponda Walker, Benoît Ogoul'Iquaqua contributed to the latter's project on the Oroungou.
(5) 1978 : Benoît Ogoul'Iquaqua answers RTG's Questionnaire in preparation for the Independence Day celebrations in Port-Gentil, an interview on the theme of “Histoire de l'Ogooué-Maritime”.
In the same year, he continued his writings on the Oroungou in a “Cahier”, taking up, deepening and broadening his earlier productions. In the chronological presentation of all his contributions that we have adopted, we include the contents of the “Aperçu d'histoire Ombèkè”.
(Oroungou)” and the additions appearing in the 1978 ‘Cahier’ in Benoît Ogoul'Iquaqua's answers to the various questionnaires and interrogations of his interlocutors.
