Sundiata (ca. 1210-1255)

The Mali Epic of Sundiata - Late 13th, early 14th c.

• What Disney Movie is (loosely) based on this story?

• With which two religious figures is Sundiata most directly associated?  Explain.

• What is a griot? Why does this griot introduce himself?

• Why do the brothers "give" Sogolon Kedjou to Maghan Kon Fatta?
• How does Nare Maghan "conquer" Sogolon?

• Why is Djata not made king when his father dies?

• Explain:  "Man, under the influence of certain illusions, thinks he can alter the course which God has mapped out, but everything he does falls into a higher order which he barely understands" (113).
• Explain:  "The multitude loves and fears strength" (113). (See also "The people love all who assert themselves over them" (120)).

• Explain:  "The snake seldom bites the foot that does not walk" (114).
  

• Why does Sundiata accept exile?

• What is narrative?
• What is the hajj?

• What is the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive oral narrative?
• What is an epic?

• Explain the significance / purpose of the African praise song or poem.

• Why is Sundiata considered "the son of the Buffalo, the son of the Lion" (103)?

• Who is Bilali Bounama?
• Who are Maghan Kon Fatta and Sogolon Kedjou?
• Who are Sassouma Berete and Dankaran Touman?
• Why does the hunter give a leg to Maghan Kon Fatta?

• Explain the hunter's prophecy.
• Who are Oulamba and Oulani?

• Who is the Buffalo of Do?
• Why does she tell the hunters how to kill her?
• Why has she been ravaging Do?
• What is a wraith?
• How does the treatment of the Buffalo after her death compare with that of the Bull of Heaven?

• Why is there a storm when Sologon gives birth?
• Explain the naming ceremony.
• What is the child's name?

• Why does Nare Maghan "debar" Sogolon from his house?
• Who is Balla Fesseke?

• Why does Sogolon hit her son?

Who is Alexander the Great? 

• Why does Dankaran Touman send Balla Fesseke away?

• How does Djata "win" at wori with Mansa Konkon?

• Explain:  "Modesty is the portion of the average man, but superior men are ignorant of humility" (119).  Do you agree?

• What is "booty"?

• What is a jinn?
• What is a fetish?

• Explain:  "Kings are only men, and whatever iron cannot achieve against them, words can" (122).
• Why does every king want a griot?
• Who is Soumaoro Kante? How does he compare with Gilgamesh?

• Who is Fakoli Koroma?  Why does he defect to Djata's side?

• How does Sundiata "pay" for his mother's burial plot?  Explain the symbolism of his offering to the king.

• How does Djata defeat Soumaoro?

• Why does Sundiata destroy Sosso?

• What kind of king is Sundiata considered to be?

• Why does Dankaran send his sister, Nana Triban, to the king of Sosso?

• Explain:  "Whoever knows the history of a country can read its future"(122).
• How, according to Konyate', has writing "killed the faculty of memory" (122)?
• Explain: "Sosso was the bulwark of fetishism against the word of Allah" (122).
• What does it mean to defile a family?

• Who is Moussa Tankara?

• Why can't Djata defeat Soumaoro at this time?

• Why does Soumaoro tell Nana Triban the secret of his success?
• What is a Tana?
• Explain:  "I am the word and you are the deed" (130).

• Why must Djata listen to what his ancestors have done?

• Who hates Soumaoro more, Djata or Fakoli?  Explain.

• What happens to Soumaoro?

• Why does Sundiata shave the heads of the young men of Diaghan?

• What is the moghoya-dji?

• Explain: "The day you are fortunate is also the day when you are most unfortunate, for in good fortune you cannot imagine what suffering is" (141).

• Explain:  "Mali is eternal" (143).