>> From the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. >> Joan Weeks: And good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the African and Middle East Division of the Library of Congress and to our Noontime Lecture Series with Dr. Nubia Kai 's presentation today on the oral historiography of the Mali Empire sponsored by the African section. I'm Joan Weeks acting head of the Near East Section and behalf of all my colleagues, in particular Dr. Mary-Jane Deep, Chief of the Division. I'd like to extend a very warm welcome to everyone. And before we start today's program, I'd like to give you a brief overview of the division and its resources so that hopefully you'll come back and use this beautiful reading room for your research. The division is comprised of three sections that build and serve the collections to researchers from around the world. We cover 78 countries and more than 35 languages. The Africa section includes countries in all of Sub-Saharan Africa. The Hebraic Section is responsible for Judaic and Hebraic worldwide and the Near East Section covers all of the Arab countries including North Africa, Turkey, Turkic Central Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, the Muslims in Western China, Russia, the Balkans and the people of the Caucasus. Now I would like to invite Marieta Harper our area specialist for Francophone West and Central Africa and [inaudible] to come to the podium and introduce our speaker. >> Marieta Harper: Thank you Joan. Today we are fortunate to have with us Nubia Kai who will discuss her new book, "Kuma Malinke Historiography; Sundiata Keita to Almamy Samori Toure" the first and last leaders of the Mali Empire from the 13th through the 15th centuries. Her book is dedicated to Diali, Djimo Kauyate who's pictured on the flyers that your received announcing this program. Djimo was well-known to the African Section. He played for us in 1997 when the African Section moved to the refurbished Jefferson Building and more recently his son Amadou Kouyate played the traditional kora instrument that he learned from his father Djimo in a performance sponsored by the Libraries American Folklife Center last March. Dr. Kai received her PhD. in African Literature and Film from Howard University. She is a poet, playwright, storyteller and novelist who was won numerous awards for her writing including three Michigan Council for the Arts Awards, three D.C. Commission on the Arts Awards and two National Endowment for the Arts Awards. She had published in Black Scholar, Black World and Essence Magazine and several other journals and anthologies. She has two collections of poetry "Peace of My Mind" and "Solos." Plays have been produced at the New Federal Theater, the New Penumbra and several other theaters. She has also taught in the History Department of George Washington University and Howard University's Department of Theater and Arts and the University of Maryland. Please help me welcome Dr. Kai [ Applause ] >> Nubia Kai: Okay, thank you very much for the introduction and thank you for inviting me and having to come here and do this presentation, Miss Harper and the Library of Congress African Section. I first would like to do a paper that I did several years ago and the title of the paper is "Drama Ritual in Theory and Mandinka Historiography" then I'm going to go on to do a PowerPoint presentation. The Mandinka, Mandingo and Malinke are well-known in the international world as the former founders and rulers of the Mali Empire, in more recent times, as master historians, musicians and performers. The term "griot" was popularized when Alex Haley's "Roots" was published in 1977. At that time, the entire world was exposed to the history of Kunta Kinte, Alex Haley's ancestor through an elaborate system of genealogical and historical discourse. The word "griot" is not an African word per se, but most likely a French corruption of the Fulani word for griot [foreign word spoken] or the [inaudible] word galowa [assumed spelling]. Griot nevertheless, has become the popular term for traditional African historians in general and has even been adopted in Western academia to refer to outstanding historians who have excellent memories. Before discussing the elements of drama, ritual and theory and its usage in Mandinka history, I would first like to clarify the meaning of the term "griot" and their function in Mandinka society. The word for griot in the Mandinka language is jeli or jail as is pronounced in the western region and it literally means blood. European scholars have often erroneously defined the jeli or griot as bards or storytellers likening them to the barded tradition of Medieval Europe. However, the griots have a much broader diversified and significant role than that of a mere storyteller. First of all, in the traditional precolonial era, griots were the principle political advisors to kings, chiefs and other high government officials. They were the mediators in international, national and local disputes. They served as ambassadors and diplomats to neighboring countries. They were the chief judicial advisors and advisors of national defense. They were also the officiators of rites of passage ceremonies, naming ceremonies, puberty rights, marriage, naming ceremonies, funerals, as well as, national inaugurations, harvest festivals, religious festivals, sporting events and other national holidays. They negotiated marriage and dowry arrangements between the families of the bride and groom. They were foremost historians, archivists, genealogists, social and cultural anthropologists, musicians and dramatic performers. Training of both male and female griots began at an early age in a peripatetic fashion through close association with their parents and of other family members who were also griots. By the time a griot child reaches adulthood, they have already learned and absorbed a good deal of Mandinka cultural history. Then they may travel widely to learn the local histories of specific regions of the empire and become apprentices of master griots where they may study anywhere from 10 to 20 years. By the time a griot reaches the last stage of initiation achieving the title of [foreign words spoken] "master of the word" they have a mass a phenomenal amount of very detailed knowledge of every aspect of the Mandinka culture, society, history, politics, art, genealogy, and in most cases have mastered a musical instrument or instruments, elocution, singing, dancing and dramatic performance. They have the repositories of history with a repertoire that can fill a library. The astonishing amount of information that the griot's stores in his or her brain corroborates the disarming fact that human beings use only 10% of their brain capacity. For the griots seem use a much larger percent and confirm the singly infinite capacity of the human brain to a mass knowledge. The griots then are far more than storytellers. The use storytelling techniques and devices in their explication of history, yet that skill is a drop in the bucket of a multifaceted range of skills at expertise and numerous professions. The musician, performer, genealogist, historian are in inseparable in Mandinka historiography. The intellectual and esthetic are inseparable. In a culture where there is no separation between the sacred and the profane, the individual and the collective community, the corporal and spiritual worlds, the historical artistic paradigm is only a reflection of the way art is integrated into the daily life of the people. History to the Mandinka griot is a form of divine revelation; a sacred text that provides human beings with a spiritual ethical map on how to arrive by degrees to their initial state of perfection. Since life in this cosmological scheme is sacred, the recording of social and cultural life is also sacred, thus, the histories in traditional cultures are denoted as sacred histories. The most important event in history, in Mali's history, in any history, according to the griot [foreign name spoken] who the picture you have there and who I dedicated the book to, is the birth of a child for when a child is born a miniature universe is born, hence ego that is the ego that we see in the genealogical charts, the individual is the center of the world and the center of history. How does a Mandinka griot accomplish the task of infusing history into the souls of every Malian citizen? The answer lies in a historiography rooted in a correspondent cosmogony and a deployment of esthetic devices designed to engage the body simultaneously at an intellectual, emotional and spiritual level. Drama, ritual and art play a prominent role in the daily life of traditional African society and a special role in enlivening, interpreting and transmitting history so that histories powers of transformation are actualized. In order to understand the function of ritual, drama and art in Mandinka history, it is first necessary to define these concepts from the Mandinka's theoretical frame of reference. A ritual is an acting out of an established prescribed procedure. It can range from a family event such as offering prayer before a meal to an elaborate religious ceremony such as the kaba bolon performed every 7 years in the historical town of Kangaba but ritual is much more than that. Rituals serves to link the human being in an unbroken interdependent continuum with the material world of animals, plants and other human beings and the spiritual world of planets, stars, Gods, angels, spirits and ancestors. Ritual enactments reify and reinforce the preexisting cosmogonic relationship between man, nature and the universe. For example, a marriage ritual which establishes a bond between a man and woman in their respective families is witnessed not only in the human community, it is acknowledged in the natural world and the spiritual world of the Gods, spirits and ancestors who all play a role in seeing that the marriage vows are kept. Similarly, when a child is born it lives through the transitional period of 7 days, it is named in an Aqiqha, a ritual ceremony in which all of the spiritual forces and forces of nature evoked are obliged to be part in the infant's growth and development. The most important event in history, the birth of a child is always accompanied with a ritual and since ego is situated at the center of the world, history is constructed to revolve around ego. Each member of Malian society is made to fill that they are a central part of Mali's history through this ritualization of history. That is the recounting of each person's genealogy and the legacies established by their ancestor at rites of passage ceremonies and various other ceremonial venues. There is no citizen of Mali who does not have eponymous ancestors who took part in the shaping of the empire. The griot recounts an individual lineage, the significances of their fore parents and at the same time, enjoins them to eclipse or surpass their fore parents in character in deeds. Most often rituals are enactments of what Joseph Campbell calls "Living myths." He uses living myths to distinguish them from the connotative usage of myth, meaning, a lie, a false or a fictional narrative. Living myths signifies the opposite of the connotative construct. It is a narrative that expounds the highest level of truth that can be expressed within the limits of language. Bachofen argues that the origins of history can only be revealed though myth since in myth lies the beginning of all development. Origination establishes a prototypical model of subsequent development character and direction. The primordial power of the original act is recaptured through the narrative performances and rituals that we enact the myths. W.T. Stevenson further explains the primacy of mythological discourse. The essential character of our personal and social lives are shaped by myth or it is by the power of particular myths which determine by way of determining our fundamental precept positions the way we shape our cultural, social, political and economic lives. We do nothing of significance which is not informed by myth in a fundamental way and the more significant our act, the more this is true. It is dissembles within the context of myth which give rise to all thought. This is true even in the modern western context as well. Joan called these symbols the transformers of energy. Their function being to convert libido from a lower to a higher form. Marcel Griaule who did extensive research on Dogon Mande cosmology found that among the cosmology found that among the Dogon and Mandinka the symbol not the object is a loaned essential quality since it reifies the spiritual potency of an object. The Dogon, a branch of the Mandinka people configure a network of equivalences between all things through an elaborate system of symbols and myths. The universe to the Dogon is an orderly synchronized hole incessantly disturbed perpetually reordered along the lines of a preexisting internal harmony. Myth constitutes the [foreign word spoken] the astonishing word, a history of the universe and man simultaneously. The hole is illumined by myth. Structures in it appear progressively in time the one superimposed on the next each having its own meaning, each also displaying close correlation with the others. That's a quote from [foreign name spoken]. Mythic symbolism attempts to explain the spiritual nature of men and women and their inextricable connection to universal order. In traditional cultures, myths, legends, epics are regarded as real history while fairytales, animal [inaudible] tales are generally categorized as fictional. In the modern world, the extreme methodology of Aristotelian logic combined with social Darwinism relegated myth to the fantastic fictions of the infantile primitive mind. Nevertheless, and despite the intellectual hubris that generated the disfigurement of myth, there was an undeniable consensus regarding its transformational power and peculiar ability to shape and transmute consciousness among some of the most influential religious scholars and psychologists, Mircea Eliade, Bachofen, Carl Jung,[inaudible], Sigmund Freud, W.T. Stevenson and Joseph Campbell turned a psychoanalytical eye on mid and formulated at least a precise explanation of this functionality. The idea that myths are invented in order to rationalize and explain human existence was radically challenged once scholars isolated and carefully observed the cause effect relationship of myth and consciousness. Joseph Campbell, one of the foremost scholars of mythology defines for functions of living myths and their ritual enactments. "The first is what I have called the mystical function to awaken and maintain in the individual a sense of all and gratitude in relation to the mystery dimension of the universe not so that he lives in fear of it but so that he recognizes that he participates in it since the mystery of its being is the mystery of his own deep being as well. The second function of mythology is to offer an image of the universe that will be in accord with the knowledge of the time, the sciences and fields of action, of the folk to whom the mythology is addressed. The third function of the living mythology is to validate, support and imprint the norms of a given specific moral order that namely of the society in which the individual is to live. And the fourth is to guide him, stage by stage in health, strength and harmony of spirit through the whole foreseeable course of a useful life." And that is from Joseph Campbell. In the case of Sundiata Keita the founder and first emperor of the Mali Empire, his monomyth, that is his personal myth, is represented in one of the most extensive beautifully constructed and important epics in Africa. Historical myths are direct descendants of creation myths inheriting their numinous qualities, internal structure dialect, movements and revelation of the spiritual, ethical norms of the society. Only instead of the narrative revolving around the Gods and primordial world, it is revolved around the culture hero. Historical myths are narratives of mythic proportions and functions such as the biblical history of the children of Israel, the Bhagavad Gita of India and the Babylonian Epic of Glgamesh. The predominant venue of expression for historical myths is the epic, far less symbolic and abstruse than creation myths. Historical myths record history as it actually occurs though they may be embellished with extended metaphors, hyperboles, parables, proverbs, imagery, symbolism and philosophical analysis. In the epic, the narrative is usually built around the life and deeds of the hero. The circumstances of his or her birth, childhood, trials, obstacles, triumphs and their impact on the course of history. Epics even more than creation myths, are constructed to personalize experience through the vicarious revelation of the hero who's acts epitomize the most cherished human principles; faith, courage, integrity, generosity, compassion, loyalty, intelligence. Through these virtues the hero is able to [inaudible] all opposition and obstacles and achieve a personal and public victory. Often the monomythic journey is a national parable explaining the philosophical and ethical ideas of the society through the life and character of the culture hero. The life of Sundiata Keita is a national parable. He is a leader of men on intimate terms with the Gods and possessed with divine qualities that give him a transcendental link between the contingencies in the social world and the world of spirits. Thought the epic of Sundiata is cast in a secular narrative, there is an implicit religious ideal embodied in the heroic themes. The finite and the infinite, man's mortality and immortality are brought into conflict with each other through the hero's action but the two worlds, the material and spiritual also overlap and the conflicts are resolved through him. His ideas, visions, inspirations and actions come pristine from the primal screams of human life and thought through which society is reborn. Sundiata, the founder of the first and first emperor of Mali overcame a debilitating illness during his youth. He evaded the attempted murder initiated by his father's first wife Sassouma Bereté, went into exile for several years with his mother Sogolon Condé and finally vanquished the despot [foreign name spoken] who had ruthlessly conquered and subjected the Manden kingdoms. Under his rule, the Manden kingdoms were reorganized into the Great Empire of Mali. He restored peace, order, justice and autonomy to the Mandinka kings and established alliances and solidarity with neighboring nations who were installed in the empire. Syndicate's greatest achievement which until recently was guarded in secrecy by a consensus of Mandinka griots was his abolition of slavery and the slave trade. His numerous conquests in West Africa were launched in order to enforce the oath of the Manden. The Edict officially banning slavery and slave trade in the empire. Unfortunately, the slave trade and slavery was resumed 20 years after his death and apparently the national shame of the breaking of the oath compelled the griots to censure this significant event from the annals of Mali's official history, yet this effacement was public not private and initiated griots, the [foreign word spoken] were taught the history but had to swear never to reveal it. [Foreign name spoken] who was the chief griot of Mali in the 1970s and 80s griot [foreign name spoken], made the decision to break the vow of silence and divulge this hidden history to a Malian historian, a modern Mali historian [foreign name spoken]. [Foreign name spoken] collected and published [foreign name spoken] [foreign words spoken]. Excuse my French for those of you who know the language right and I want to show you and talk about the oath of the Manden or it's also called the Manden Charter in the PowerPoint but I'm going to come back to that. Alright. The Epic of Sundiata like the [foreign words spoken] became a major source for dramatic adaptation. Griots dramatized the text using music, dance and storytelling techniques at rites of passage ceremonies, national festivals, inaugurations, hunting, fishing, weaving and harvest ceremonies. In Mandinka society, every social ceremonial whether secular or religious gave rise to colorful, flamboyant and elaborate theatrical performances that involved the entire community and lasted for days or weeks. As [foreign name spoken] noted, everything in them is displayed and performed. Social practices are in a state of permanent dramatization. Ritual drama permeates the society on a daily basis and infuses its members with an experiential sense of history, culture, morality and spirituality. History, culture, politics, and social practice are consistently explicated through multiple forms of dramatic performance; masquerade, theaters, spoken, drama, dance, theater, dramatize [inaudible], and civic and sacred rituals. The epic of Sundiata and many other epics popular among the Mandinka are reenacted in all these theatrical forms. Griots primarily account Mali's history through dramatized narratives. The written word holds a secondary place in their historiography. Why? Because the world was created through the word and history is transmitted through the creative word, the spoken word, thus, history in the Mandinka language is called Kuma the word or word force. The primacy and preference of an oral dissertation of history in a culture that has two written scripts; they have the Mandinka script and the Arabic script but there is still a preference for using the spoken word. It's predicated on the power of the spoken word which contains and abundance of inyama [assumed spelling]. Inyama means a vital force or a vital energy and this vital force and vital energy is contained in the spoken word at much greater level than it is in the written word. So, it pervades and effectively impacts consciousness more than a written text. That's why they prefer to use the spoken word. So, the inyama force that comes from the spoken word instills in audience the mystical function of language so that they know and understand the history exponentially and with that I'm going to go into the Manden Charter and then talk a little bit more, show some photographs and talk a little bit about some of the principles of their philosophy of history and methodology. Now this Manden Charter is as I said before, was a charter or an oath that was constructed at the beginning of the formation of the Mali Empire and with the information that came out, and this information came out in the 1980s, the secret history was revealed through [foreign name spoken]. Now scholars are trying to look, they have to kind of look again at the whole history of Mali because instead of some ruler Conte who was the enemy in the Epic of Sundiata Keita, he now becomes the hero or is a hero because he was the one who came up with the idea to end slavery in the Mali Empire and what he did he tried to call the Mandinka people to arms against [foreign name spoken] and against the Moore's [assumed spelling] and other Mandinka who were also trading in slaves. Now this is 300 years before the transatlantic slave trade and it was pretty bad even at that time and I'm not going to go into all the details but if you want to read [foreign name spoken] text that, again, where he's recording [foreign name spoken] you can get the text, but they have not been translated. They're still in French. Anyway, [inaudible] comes up with the idea and when the Mandinka refuse to go along with him and ending slavery because some of the major leaders in the Manden were slavers. They were big slavers and slave traders, so they refused. So, [foreign name spoken] this is when he launches his attack. He attacks the Mandinka people, kills 9 of the kings, impales their bodies on spikes, makes furniture out of the skins of his enemies and literally sells the people into slavery. That was his response when they refused to end slavery. That's why in the secret history he's known as a sacred despot. It sounds rather oxymoronic but he's called a sacred despot because the idea to end slavery and the slave trade was really [foreign name spoken] idea. So, finally and you probably know the story because the Epic of Sundiata has now become part of the literary canon now, you're reading in colleges almost everywhere. You know the story how he's away in exile because his step-mother is trying to kill him. He's away and the envoys are sent to get him and when comes back he goes into, he has this war with [foreign name spoken] and eventually vanquishes him and then he becomes the emperor. But what happens is, just before his mother passes away, his mother is Sogolon Conde who tells him, look they're going to ask you to be the emperor but before you accept the position of emperor I want you to abolish slavery and the slave trade in the Mali Empire forever and of course he agreed to do this and so this is what he did. This is why he goes onto this conquest of the outlying nations like the Jolof and [foreign name spoken] and other parts around Mali because he knew as long it continued in the outlying areas it was going to infiltrate back into the Manden proper. So, he creates an empire that was slave free, you know, an empire where slavery was forbidden and where the trade was forbidden and this is how the Charter goes. The hunters refers to it because Sundiata was a hunter. "The hunters declare all human life is one life. It is true that one life may appear to exist before another life but one life is not more ancient or more respectable than another life. In the same way, no living being is superior to another living being. The hunters declare all life being one life, all harm caused to a living being requires reparation. Consequently, no one can take things freely, steal from his neighbor. No one must cause harm to his fellow man. No one should kill his fellow man. The hunters declare that everyone must watch over his fellow man. That everyone should venerate their ancestors. That everyone should educate their children. That everyone maintain and provide for the needs of their family. The hunters declare that each guard the country of their fathers through country or homeland. He must also understand and especially men, that every nation, every land where men disappear from the face of the earth became immediately nostalgic. The hunters declare hunger is not a good thing. Slavery is no longer a good thing. There is no greater calamity than slavery in the present world. As long as we are in possession of the bow and quiver, hunger will no longer kill a person in Manden. If by chance famine raised against us, war will never again destroy some village to take away slaves. From now on no one can force a bit in the mouth of another human being to sell into slavery. A person will no longer beat, let alone put to death another because he is son of a slave. The hunters declare the essence of slavery is extinguished this day from one end to the other of Manden raiding is banished and reckoned with this day in Manden. The torments born of these horrors have ended this day in Manden. What tribulation, what torment especially when the oppress have no other recourse. What decadence this slavery, the slave has not shown any consideration in this world. The people of the past say, man and that he is an individual made of bones and flesh, of morals and nerves, nourishes himself with food and drink but his soul, his mind lives on three things; to see what it wishes to see, to say what it wishes to say and to do what it wishes to do. If even one of these things is missing from the soul it suffers and will surely waste away. Consequently, the hunters declare from now on each person arranges his own affairs. Everyone is free to do what he wants in respect of the prohibitions, such is the oath of the Manden for the benefit of the ears of the entire world." So, here is you have a map of the Mali Empire. Actually the darker color is the area of Mali and the, you know, there's variations to the territorial, how the territorial size. The other lighter color is actually part of Songhai and as you see Timbuktu and, at this point, Mali had Timbuktu and Gao after Mansa Musa comes to power and then Songhai is able to take back Timbuktu and Gao. Actually, Songhai Empire was actually a little larger than the Mali Empire but you see it goes all the way to the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean. Here is a picture of the Kama Blon. This is the sacred house of Kangaba where the Jebate jeli or Jebate griots get together every 7 years and they have this major festival. They recite all of the create myths, the historical myths and it's also a time when it represents the resuscitation of the empire of the nation and it's something they say the people who have been there to see this where the old roof of the house is lifted off and it's a move that kind of just mystically comes back and sits on top of the house, so that's what it's really know for, people are you know kind of fascinated by that, the Kama Blon. That's one of the most, again, sacred sites in Mali in Kangaba. Bakaary Soumano he was Chief Griot or Jeli of Mali. He was a person who I spent many hours interviewing him and I remember Toumani Dibate who was one of the best kora players in Mali, he told me he said, "Oh, you're going to talk to Bakaary Soumano." He said, "You don't need to talk to anybody else." That's just how much knowledge he had. He knew everything but, of course, you did different things from different griots but he was truly a master and he gave a lot of information, a lot of information in the book is coming from Bakaary Soumano who died a year after I was there to do the interviews. Here is a picture of a Jeli who is also the picture on the flyer, Diali Djimo Kouyate. Notice that they had the spelling Di which is the J sound in French and they say Jali because they say Jali in Senegal and in Gambia but they say Jeli in Mali. So, it is Diali Djimo Kouyate who I also dedicated the book to. He was the first griot that put me in touch with all the other griots and, of course, he is based here in Washington, D.C. He taught at University of Maryland; outstanding also outstanding karafola or a kora player. And then this is Sidiki Diabate he was one of the first griots in interviewed over in when I went to Mali. It was just for a visit but I started interviewing griots whenever I went to Africa. Sidiki Diabate he was the father of Toumani Diabate who is the famous kora player and probably the best kora player in Mali today. Toumani Diabate and you see him again with the kora. When I first went to Mali, Toumani was just a little boy, you know, so but then he became my host. I stayed 5 months at his guesthouse. He never took a dime from me. I stayed 5 months at his guesthouse when I was doing the research for the book. Sira Mora Diabate, this is an example I say sometimes they use the word griotte, you know, to refer to women but I just say Master Griot because she was probably one of the most popular griots in Mali while she was alive. Here is a picture of her when she was young and you see she's blind but she was, had this beautiful deep voice. Some people say she kind of sound like Bid Mama Thornton, but when she saying the history of Mali it used to just bring the people to tears and people would just, would say oh they would cry when they would hear Sira Mora Diabate recite the history, sing the history. So, she was master griot also a master at mediating. There was never a conflict that she did not resolve and she was very dedicated to solving disputes. So, she was master mediator as well, Sira Mora Diabate. And then these are some of the instruments that are used by the griot because there are certain instruments that only griots use. Nowadays, you know, everybody is using them and people are learning the kora and balafon but during the time the Mali Empire there was specific instruments that were primarily used by the griot and this was one of them, the kora which is like a 21-string instrument. Very beautiful sounding harp-like sound. And then these the sorons kind of which is a smaller version of the kora with, you know, fewer strings as you can see. And this is the Ngoni which they say was the precursor of the banjo because the Ngoni was brought over here by Africans coming from West Africa; it's usually a three string instrument; Ngoni some people also say, in fact the Mandinka call it Ngoni. This was actually bombara [assumed spelling] or Ngoni. So, the Ngoni and then the other one of course is the balafon which is, again, the precursor to the xylophone and actually the piano if you look at it; you set it up vertically, you know, put the mallets on the keys, you have a piano to something I noticed about the balafons, xylophone. Okay and here's the quiz, one of the famous emperors of Mali, Sundiata Keita of course probably was to people of Mali because he was the founder, is considered the greatest but Mansa Musa certainly was probably the most well-known internationally and that was because of the pilgrimage that he made to Mecca in 1324, it was the silken privilege in which he gave away some wealth, you know, everywhere he went he built schools, he built hospitals, he built moss and he was giving away a lot of gold and they say he gave away so much gold the that the world suffered from deflation for the next 20 years, so, Mansa Musa. This also, this picture comes from an old map in a, old Spanish map but this picture was also in the New York Post recently. They had an article about the richest men in the world and Mansa Musa was on the top of the list, you know, and they did what do they call it, the inflation adjustment but he was number one; the richest man in history was Mansa Musa but then I always also wondered, were they talking about his personal riches or were they talking about the riches of the nation? Because they're still mad at Mansa Musa in Mali because he took the treasure, the Mali's treasury and a lot of sacred icons and gave them away, right, so that wasn't clear the article if the article was talking about his personal wealth and not, but still he was again a very wealthy man. The empire was very wealthy you could say at that time. This is Goundam. This is a city in the Timbuktu district. This gives you an idea of the kind of traditional architecture that you had at that time; Goundam, these are buildings that go back to the 14th-15th century. And then here's a panoramic view of Timbuktu, kind of a bird's eye view of Timbuktu. You see the similar architecture that you find in [foreign word spoken]. Then here's a picture of a warrior in the middle and his griots. This is from Senegal. These are Sosso, Sosso again are a branch of the Mandinka people. In fact, Soumaoro Kanté was a Sosso. [Inaudible] Sosso after the war between [foreign words spoken] ended up in Guinea, but he was a Sosso griot and his, I don't know if they're his wives or what, but you see he plays the Ngoni. And there's a jali, you know, from jali from the western region of Mali from Senegal actually; a jali playing the balafon. These are just a few principles I have this is more detailed in the book, and again, even in book it's just you know some of the ideas about Malinke historiography, their philosophy of history. Malinke philosophy of history is rooted in its cosmogony. History is an ongoing manifestation of the first creative word that brought creation into being, so they always go back to the creation list. History follows the same principles of emotion, gender, polarity, dialect, it's to govern the natural laws of the universe. You know, anthropologists here also believe that we're trying to find these laws but they understand this to be the case also that if follows the same laws. Nothing in history is new, remember that's the famous thing when African-Americans that they may come directly is that nothing in history is new. This what the jelis's will tell you. Every idea, human activity and even is a reconfiguration of something that took place before. So, there's nothing new under the sun, right, everything's been done before. History's purpose is to teach people to know themselves, that's something else again, which you find the griots will say to know thyself in words. Inherent in the dramatic structure of history are parables directing humanity to right action and behavior in accordance with the moral ideals of the culture. History serves a spiritual ethical function and is therefore a sacred text. The meaning and message of history are allegories that can be applied to mediate any dispute or resolve any conflict, thus, the jeli's are also mediators. Spiritual forces and entities, angels, gems, totems, etcetera are constantly interacting in human activities and must be accounted for as they actually appear in history. This is where you get the fantastic elements in the history because these things are going on, they've been extricated from western historiography but they're still acknowledge in traditional histories. Theory methodology is the few things that beautiful rhythmic arrangements of poet narratives make versus easier to memorize and infuse them with an eternal numinous quality. So, again, poetic narratives is considered superior to a discursive narrative. Esthetic devices such as metaphors, symbolism, alliterations, rhythm, allegory, imagery and drama magnify the emotional and spiritual response of the audience and allows them to experience the vicariously. Oral recitation of history is preferred because writing lacks the warmth, intimacy and word force [foreign word spoken] embodied in the human voice. The more [foreign word spoken]unleashed in the performance, the more impact it has on transforming human consciousness. Mythic narratives reconnect this audience with the cosmic world in collective memory and the ritualization of myth allows the individual to relive the historical experience. Genealogy is an essential and inextricable component of a people's history. History should be directed to the individual so that she/he is inspired to eclipse or surpass the deeds of their ancestors. Writing inhibits the development of memory because writing is really a substitute for memory. While trained oral recitation expands the demonic capacity, the capacity to memorize ascribe writes history but a master historian memorizes it, and that's, that's all I have to say [applause]. >> Joan Weeks: I would like you to have an opportunity to interact with our audience here and those of you who have questions please raise your hand and she will respond to you. >> Nadia Kai: Yes. Okay, that's a good question. Well, for the first question I'm not familiar with the instruments used in Uganda but it could be that they come from the same source, because I didn't go into this in the lecture, but in the book I talk about the origin of the griot tradition and actually they inherited their tradition from the Soninke people, okay of the empire of Wagadau, the empire of Ghana and then then the Soninke got the tradition from Sunni which is in Egypt and in fact Sunni is called Aswad today, but the Egyptian name is Sunni and there people who still call it Sunnine, so Sunni King means people of Sunni and they migrated from, you know, upper Egypt to the area of ancient Ghana around 100 A.D. but they brought their tradition with them, okay, so the so that's why I say the loop instruments, right, are probably again derived from there. Yeah, and then then the second question on Islam that's a loaded question because I talked to the griots about their relationship, you know, because, you know, I guess around probably in the 7th century you started getting the Muslims coming in to North Africa and they conquered North Africa but one of the misconceptions, and this is a huge misconception, at this particular time the Arabs that are coming into North Africa are black Arabs, they're Afro-Arabs. They're not what we think of Arabs today, we're usually thinking of white Arabs because that's what we see all the time, right? As represented, but if you go to the Sudan, you go to the Saudi Arabia you're going to see that 80-85% are black people, you know, in fact most of them are darker African-Americans. These were the people that the people of Mali Empire encountered. So, when I asked them about what about the Arabs that came in, he said "Well, they were just like us. They were African people." And there are a lot lineages. I go into the lineages that come from Saudi, that are part of the Mindinka people, part of Fulani people, the Soninke all of these groups, you know, because again, I said they're genealogists as well and the genealogy is not separate. They haven't extricated it from the history. So they're considered just they're brothers, they don't look at them as, you know, what I'm saying the way; of course now it's a different relationship with the, you know, the North Africa but at that time the formation of the Mali Empire, it was a good relationship and in fact Sundiata Keita when they talk about his genealogy if you remember from the Epic, where do they trace it back to? His lineage goes directly back to Balah. He is a descendent of Balah who is the first [foreign word spoken] of Islam so you have all of these, so they knew about Islam from the very beginning but you had some of the emperors who are Muslims, you know, or as they say they practice the religion, did the prayers and you had others that didn't, you know, that dealt with the traditional or local religion that was practiced, so it went back and forth, back and forth. You know, by the time you get to Mansa Musa he's a devout Muslim from him and his brother Manden [foreign name spoken] because I didn't talk about the voyage to America. That's another thing, there's a chapter in the book on Mansa Musa and Manden Abubajari but the relationships that they had with the Arabs, you know, and the early Muslims was a good relationship, again but they're dealing with people who look like them and who were actually a part; there are several lineages that actually come directly from Saudi Arabia that part of the Mandinka people, you know, and Sundiata himself comes from Balah. Balah was supposedly originally from Chad, you know, but again so they had very close ties, you know. Yes. [ Inaudible Question ] Oh. [ Inaudible Response ] Well, thank you and thank the angel that was on my, Dr. [foreign name spoken] I should say was on my committee, you know, he was on my committee when I did the dissertation, so. Are they, you mean are they still recording the history orally in a way that they had been? [ Inaudible Response ] Yeah. That's a very good question. From what I understand, they are no longer doing it, you know, it's like the title of [foreign name spoken] Kuma actually Kuma is also another category of history, it refers to [foreign name spoken] from the time that [foreign name spoken], I mean I'm sorry, the time of Samori Toure, alright who is the one who's fighting the French and he was like the last to kind of reorganize the empire to the present but it really ends with Samori Toure. You know the griots after that, after Mali is colonized the empire was broken up, now you see it between [foreign word spoken], Mali, Guinea, you know, [foreign word spoken]; there's no longer a tradition of them learning new histories and recording the new histories which I think is unfortunate. So, but now I mean they still have the griots but now they're memorizing history up until the period of the French conquest, you know, and there's also a movement [foreign words spoken] Kante, there's a movement to begin to use Mandinka script, well he's using, he's kind of created a new script called Unko [assumed spelling], you know, like I write. So, there's a movement to start using Mandinka script and then you have the traditional Mandinka script, you know, I don't know how much they're using that much but you know a lot of the modern griots that maybe come from griot families but they've, you know, studied in the west and have their PhD's, many of them expressed to me that while they wish they could have come along and learned what their fore parents learned because they don't have the memory that their fore parents had, right because they're relying on the writing and writing is the substitute, right, it limits your mnemonic capacities so they wished they had learned in the same way. So, who knows there might be a movement but as far as I know there's not at least when I was doing the research. Yes. Are you my neighbor? That's what I thought. How you doing? Okay? Yeah. Well, it was you know the Soninke people they were the principle traders and they were mainly selling Mandinka slaves to the Moore's; these are all again African people and some of the main people involved in the trade which is why [foreign name spoken] was angry and wanted to put an end to it were the Mandinka people who were selling, you know, their own people so, again, there was an input to all of this for a time during the time that the empire was first formed and this was a time when it was a very, very peaceful place, you know, from what has been recorded by other historians coming from outside who recorded it and talked about Mali. They didn't tolerate any kind of injustice but unfortunately, it didn't last real long. There were also serious consequences, alright that came, this was an oath. When people swear to an oath it's like you got to keep the oath or else there are serious consequences for breaking the oath, so I don't know, I look at the millions of us that are over here now who knows? You know, there were consequences for breaking that oath. >> This has been a presentation of the Library of Congress. Visit us at loc.gov.