West African Clans
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This paper analyzes and compares The Epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition and The Mande Blacksmiths: Knowledge. Power, and Art in West Africa, two books that take quite different approaches to examining two of the groups of clan families that specialize in the Mande community in West Africa. The Epic of Son-Jara records a meticulous translation of the oral tradition of storytelling crucial to the community's recording and preservation of its history. The translation is drawn from a performance by a jeli or griot, a professional bard trained to tell the epic story of the legendary figure who founded the civilization more than 750 years ago. The Mande Blacksmiths is a more conventional examination of another of the four hereditary clan families within Mande society, the numuw, professional blacksmith/sculptors who also hold a distinct place in Mande society. Both of these groups perform very specialized and important roles in preserving and advancing the civilization. These two contrasting books provide a fascinating contrast in approaching a complex subject and explaining its intricacies to Western readers. The nyamakala encompass a specialized group of professionals within Mande society "that own the rights to arcane spiritual and technological practices and are therefore able to offer special services to the rest of society" (McNaughton 3). The nyamakala are endogamous, meaning that members can only be born into the group; while family members can leave
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ions of the cultural, religious, literary, and other references which are likely to be unfamiliar to most readers. These notes provide a fascinating capsulization of the Mande society's beliefs and world-view which almost make reading the actual text unnecessary for the student most interested in understanding the workings of the civilization. The notes are followed by genealogy charts, outlining the generations and descendants of the individuals whose heroic activities make up the story being recounted.
Focusing on an extended example of the jeli's craft is an unusual and effective way of demonstrating what being a Mandekan bard means. The poem, which is recited over the course of several hours and which varies (sometimes dramatically) with each telling and for each audience, is designed as much to influence society as it is to reflect it: "Bards tend to describe society as they believe it ought to be rather than as it may actually be" (Sisoko 11). This description is a largely improvised performance, a skill mastered through a lifetime of training and rehearsal by the jeli; it provides an intriguing document for comparison with the great epics of other civilizations.
The primary problem with the Epic is that it attempts
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1554
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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