{{Short description|Nigerien film director and diplomat}} {{Infobox person | name = Mariama Hima | image = | birth_date ={{birth date and age|1951|02|20|df=y}} | birth_place = Niamey | nationality = | citizenship = Niger | occupation = Film director,<br>Anthropologist,<br>Diplomat,<br>Politician | years active = }} '''Mariama Hima Yankori''' (born 1951, Niamey) is a Nigerien film director, ethnologist and politician. She became the first female Nigerien film director in the 1980s, was State Secretary of Promotion of Women and Protection of Children, and later the first female Nigerien ambassador to France.
==Early life== Hima was born in Niamey in 1951 and studied locally until she achieved a bachelor's degree.<ref name="cinema">{{cite book|title=Les cinémas d'Afrique: dictionnaire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=61Ol3PLhYhsC&q=Mariama+Hima&pg=PA236|year=2000|publisher=Karthala Editions|language=French|isbn=2845860609|page=236}}</ref><ref name="Nigerdiaspora">{{cite web|url=http://nigerdiaspora.net/les-infos-du-pays/societe/item/67130-portraits-des-femmes-pionnieres-du-niger|title=Portraits des femmes pionnières du Niger|last=Moutari|first=Souley|date=13 May 2014|publisher=Nigerdiaspora|language=French|accessdate=28 January 2016|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160202182256/http://nigerdiaspora.net/les-infos-du-pays/societe/item/67130-portraits-des-femmes-pionnieres-du-niger|archivedate=2 February 2016}}</ref> In 1973, she left for France and studied ethnolinguistics at the École pratique des hautes études in Paris. She got her PhD in 1989 from the University Paris X in anthropology.<ref name="cinema"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.diffusiontheses.fr/8252-these-de-hima-mariama.html|title=Entry of the ANRT database|publisher=ANRT|language=French|accessdate=28 January 2016|location=Lille|archive-date=6 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206234736/http://www.diffusiontheses.fr/8252-these-de-hima-mariama.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Cinematic and political career== thumb|Building at the National Museum in Niamey, where Hima was the director from 1992 to 1996. In the 1980s and 1990s she shot five documentary films, becoming the first female Nigerien film director.<ref name="ellerson" />
After shooting most of her films, Hima worked in total over a decade as a conservator at the National Museum of Niger in Niamey,<ref>{{cite book|last=Schmidt|first=Nancy|editor=Kenneth W. Harrow|title=Sub-Saharan African Women Filmmakers: Agendas for Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9es6zZIb-NcC&q=%22Mariama+Hima%22&pg=PA178|series=Matabu Series|volume=19|year=1997|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=9042001542|pages=163–191}}</ref> where between 1992 and 1996 she served as the director.<ref name="histdict">{{cite book|last1=Idrissa|first1=Abdourahmane |last2=Decalo|first2=Samuel |title=Historical Dictionary of Niger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFFjEMjKrWkC&q=Mariama+Hima&pg=PA332|year=2012|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0810870901}}</ref> In 1990, she was designated the national Director of Culture.<ref name="Nigerdiaspora" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = African Cinema: Postcolonial and Feminist Readings|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kRR2fBv2NhUC|publisher = Africa World Press|date = 1999-01-01|isbn = 9780865436978|language = en|first = Kenneth W.|last = Harrow}}</ref>
In 1996, Hima was appointed the State Secretary of Promotion of Women and Protection of Children by president Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara. Subsequently, she became Minister of Social Development of Niger.<ref name="Nigerdiaspora"/>
In 1997, she was appointed the ambassador of Niger in France, becoming the first female Nigerien ambassador.<ref name="Nigerdiaspora" /><ref name="schmidt2">{{cite book|last=Schmidt|first=Nancy|editor=Kenneth W. Harrow|title=Sub-Saharan African Women Filmmakers: Agendas for Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRR2fBv2NhUC&q=Mariama+Hima&pg=PA289|year=1999|publisher=Africa World Press|isbn=0865436975}}</ref> Despite Maïnassara's death during the 1999 military coup, she remained the ambassador in Paris until 2003.<ref name="Nigerdiaspora" />
Hima is the Chevalier and the Grand Officier of the National Order of Merit and the Commandeur of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques. As of 2013, she had no Nigerien decorations.<ref name="Nigerdiaspora"/>
== Filmography == Hima's films are documentaries, focused on artisans working in Niamey. They have been awarded prizes at international film festivals, including Venice and Beaubourg.<ref name=":0" /> * 1984: ''Baabu Banza'' (Rien ne se jette), documentary, 20 minutes<ref name="cinema"/> * 1985: ''Falaw'' (L’aluminium), documentary, 16 minutes<ref name="cinema"/> * 1986: ''Toukou'' (Le tonneau), documentary<ref name="ellerson">{{cite web|url=http://www.africanwomenincinema.org/AFWC/Afwc_Niger.html|title=Niger|publisher=Centre for the Study and Research of African Women in Cinema|accessdate=28 January 2016|archive-date=14 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414010534/http://www.africanwomenincinema.org/AFWC/Afwc_Niger.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> * 1987: ''Katako'' (Les planches), documentary<ref name="cinema"/> * 1994: ''Hadiza et Kalia'',<ref name="schmidt2"/> documentary<ref name="ellerson"/>
==References== {{reflist|30em}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hima, Mariama}} Category:Nigerien women film directors Category:Nigerien film directors Category:Nigerien academics Category:Ministers of council of Niger Category:École pratique des hautes études alumni Category:Grand Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Category:Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques Category:1951 births Category:Living people Category:People from Niamey Category:20th-century women politicians Category:Women government ministers of Niger Category:Ambassadors of Niger to France Category:Women ambassadors of Niger Category:Ambassadors of Niger