Epic of Sundiata

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

Things to Consider:

Epic Conventions
African Oral Tradition
Role/Presentation of History
Piety / Duty / Devotion
Prophecies
Treatment of Women
Islam
Language/Oral components
Powerful People "in Disguise"
Physical Strength vs. Mercy/Intelligence/Emotions
See List of Characters (Note: Some names may be spelled slightly differently)

** Homework Questions ** See Part Two Q's

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

54:

What is a griot?

55:

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

57:

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

64:

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

67:

Why is Djata not made king when his father dies?

69:

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" (69).
Explain: "The multitude loves and fears strength" (69). (See also "The people love all who assert themselves over them" (76)).

70:

Explain: "The snake seldom bites the foot that does not walk" (70).

71:

Why does Sundiata accept exile?

Other Discussion Questions:
53:

What is narrative?
What is the hajj?

54:

What is the difference between restrictive and nonrestrictive oral narrative?
What is an epic?
Why does the griot introduce himself?

59:

Why is Sundiata considered "the son of the Buffalo, the son of the Lion" (59)?

59-60:

Who is Bilali Bounama?

60:

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?

61:

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

62:

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 following Hector's and the Bull of Heaven's deaths?

65:

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

66:

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

67:

Why does Sogolon hit her son?

69:

Who is Alexander the Great? (Or was he great?)

71:

Why does Dankaran Touman send Balla Fesseke away?

73:

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

75:

Explain: "Modesty is the portion of the average man, but superior men are ignorant of humility" (75). Do you agree?

76:

What is "booty"?

** Part Two Homework Questions **

What is a jinn?
What is a fetish?

78:

Explain: "Kings are only men, and whatever iron cannot achieve against them, words can" (78).
Why does every king want a griot?
Who is Soumaoro Kante? How does he compare with Gilgamesh?

79:

Who is Fakoli Koroma? Why does he defect to Djata's side? How does this scenario compare to that between Agamemnon and Achilles in the Iliad?

81:

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

90:

How does Djata defeat Soumaoro?

91-92:

Why does Sundiata destroy Sosso?

98:

What kind of king is Sundiata considered to be?

Other Discussion Questions:
77:

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

78:

Explain: "Whoever knows the history of a country can read its future"(78).
How, according to Konyate', has writing "killed the faculty of memory" (78)?
Explain: "Sosso was the bulwark of fetishism against the word of Allah" (78).
What does it mean to defile a family?

81:

Who is Moussa Tankara?

83:

Why can't Djata defeat Soumaoro at this time?

86:

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" (86).

89:

Why must Djata listen to what his ancestors have done?

90:

Who hates Soumaoro more, Djata or Fakoli? Explain.

91:

What happens to Soumaoro?

92:

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

93:

What is the moghoya-dji?

97:

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" (97).

99:

Explain: "Mali is eternal" (99).

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