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The Lieutenant of Kouta is the first novel in Massa Makan Diabaté’s award-winning trilogy. Featuring an introduction by leading Diabaté scholar Cheick M. Chérif Keïta and Shane Auerbach, it tells the story, part tragicomic and part hagiographic, of an African lieutenant in the French Army who returns as a decorated hero from the battlefields of Europe to Kouta, a fictionalized version of the author’s own birthplace, the Malian town of Kita. Upon his return, Siriman Keita finds it difficult to adjust to village life as he navigates traditional customs in his attempts to create his place in the predominantly Muslim Kouta. The novel offers a rich and nuanced representation of Mali on the brink of independence; it is a tapestry of traditional Mandinka society and the French colonial apparatus, illustrating the dynamic interplay between the two. This text is, ultimately, a story of one man’s transformation coinciding with that of his country.
"Situating literature and anthropology in mutual interrogation, Miller's...book actually performs what so many of us only call for. Nowhere have all the crucial issues been brought together with the sort of critical sophistication it displays."—Henry Louis Gates, Jr. ". . . a superb cross-disciplinary analysis."—Y. Mudimbe
Mali is one of the world's poorest nations, and the second largest country of francophone West Africa. In 1883 it became a colony of France. Following independence in 1960, the country pursued an aggressive socialist programme under the leadership of Modibo Keita, who was overthrown in a bloodless military coup in 1968. Four coup attempts followed in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a highly publicized student strike and two disastrous droughts. Mall continues to be troubled by political and social tensions. This annotated bibliography, the first on Mall to be published in English, provides extensive coverage of English-and French-language publications on all aspects of the country.
With Mande Music, Eric Charry offers the most comprehensive source available on one of Africa's richest and most sophisticated music cultures. Using resources as disparate as early Arabic travel accounts, oral histories, and archival research as well as his own extensive studies in Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and the Gambia, Charry traces this music culture from its origins in the thirteenth-century Mali empire to the recording studios of Paris and New York. He focuses on the four major spheres of Mande music—hunter's music, music of the jelis or griots, jembe and other drumming, and guitar-based modern music—exploring how each evolved, the types of instruments used, the major artists, and how each sphere relates to the others. With its maps, illustrations, and musical transcriptions as well as an exhaustive bibliography, discography, and videography, this book is essential reading for those seeking an in-depth look at one of the most exciting, innovative, and deep-rooted phenomena on the world music scene. A compact disc is available separately.
These essays examine Sunjata from a variety of perspectives.
This volume of essays covers all phases and geographical areas of African literature, including lesser known areas such as oral literature, literature written in African languages and Lusophone literature. Also included are articles on Caribbean literature, developments in South African theatre, and two articles on African film. Several writers receive special attention: Chinua Achebe, Maryse Conde, Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Hampate Ba. Also included are the key-note addresses by Achebe, Conde and Osundare.
Founded in the early thirteenth century, the Mali Empire stretched from the Atlantic coast of West Africa across the savannah lands to Timbuktu and Gao. Comprised of multiple ethnics groups—the Soninke, the Mandenka, Fula, Sosso, Tuareg, Sonrai, Almoravids—Mali was politically dominated by the Mandenka people who developed a comprehensive, eloquent, and ennobling historical tradition that has garnered international recognition and praise. Combining music, poetry, drama, storytelling, genealogy, history, and philosophy, the Malinke griot or jeli interprets Mali’s history both aesthetically and discursively with the utilitarian objective of maintaining peaceful and ethical social relatio...
A collection of ten articles on African literature selected from papers presented at the 1995 conference of the African Literature Association held in Columbus, Ohio.