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The Bambara (or Bamana) of the Mandings Peoples

bara are mostly farming people, although many now live and work in towns (Imperato 36). They grow corn, millet, and sorghum and also keep cattle, though milking cows was probably introduced from outside Manding culture. Traders of mixed Malinke and Bambara ancestry buy products such as butter, milk, livestock, and salt, and sell rice, corn, and cloth (36).

These people and their language both go by the Mande name of "Dyula," which literally means "trader." The Bambara live in villages that vary in size from 100 inhabitants to over 1,000, the average village having about 500 inhabitants (Imperato 11).

Socially, a group of Bambara villages form a district overseen by a fama (leader) who is drawn from a dominant family. Both Bambara and Malinke families are organized into dyamu. This is the Malinke word for groups of people who share the same name, male ancestors, and taboos - such as a ban on eating the animal that a dyamu has as its totem Imperato 36). There are also nyamakala, which are basically craft or professional groups. There are nyamakala for people such as bards, farmers, leatherworkers, and blacksmiths.

A system of secret societies helps to regulate how people live their lives (Imperato 36). For example, ntomos prepare young boys for circumcision and initiation into adult society. Joining such societies and obeying their rules and taboos helps to make people conform to what are considered acceptable kinds of behavior.

Islam is now the main faith of the Bambara (Imperato 37). It was introduced to the Malinke Kingdom in the 1100's by Berber traders, but the Bambara were slower to give up their old beliefs and rituals. Music has long played and important role in Manding culture (37). Bambara women are famous for their dresses of

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The Bambara (or Bamana) of the Mandings Peoples. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 15:46, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692308.html