For the second paper in Dr. Laumann’s World Civilization class we had to read a book entitled Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. The story follows along Sundiata a feeble child born to a king and an unattractive women. Sundiata’s father, Maghan Kon Fatta, was promised a great ruler upon the marriage of an ugly woman and thus Sundiata is born. The tale follows him on his many adventures on his quest to greatness. Upon careful reading of this text and also the history book itself I was able to form a paper based on important details regarding this book. I was able to get the historical context, find out what roles the different characters played in Sundiata’s life, figure out how trade worked in , and also able to learn about West Africa's history.
The historical
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Sogolon Kolokan was Saudiata’s sister, and the daughter of Maghan Kon Fatta and Sogolon Kedjou. She played a major role in his life from helping raise him while his mother was sick to looking after him. She is a sorceress who cares for him on several occasions making sure he is safe and sound. She is ultimately his protector and makes sure he is in good standing. While Sundiata’s griot, Balla Fasséké also plays a major role in his life as well. The griot was his consultant and also his best friend. Balla Fasseke was the son of Doua, who was griot to Sundiata’s father. Balla helped Sundiata in several situations. One instance being when Sundiata and his family were leaving Mali after being exiled Balla helped him through the process and informing him of what was to come. Another example of how Balla plays a significant role in Sundiata’s life was right before Sundiata was preparing to go to war with the King Kante Balla briefed Sundiata on the history of Mali and how it played into his role as leader. The relationship with both of these people were very significant in his safety and well
This paper is about the usefulness of Sundiata as a primary source document for studying trade and commerce in ancient Mali, by comparing and contrasting secondary sources accounts of trade and commerce, and the account given in the Epic of Sundiata, to prove that the book the epic of Sundiata is a useful primary source document for studying trade and commerce in Ancient Mali. When talking about trade in Ancient Mali, knowing about the Dyulas is paramount. A large amount of trade in ancient Mali was done by the trader caste of the Dyulas, who are tangentially mentioned in the Epic of Sundiata, on Page 82 " Dyulas became numerous. "
The autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” of former slave Olaudah Equiano, is a detailed account of his journey, starting from the time he was kidnapped from his home, separated from his family, and later separated from his sister. He was eventually loaded into a slave ship, which sets sail for Barbados. The story continues through the time he was a slave until the time he bought his own freedom and, subsequently, write the autobiography. To help readers visualize the reality he lived through, Equiano uses in-depth descriptions of the experiences and conditions he endued in his journey. The transatlantic journey taken by Olaudah Equiano in “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” demonstrate him to be curious, strong-willed, and frightened individual.
In the book Sundiata and the essay “Second Letter of Fernando Cortes to Emperor Charles V,” both texts tell stories about the great conquerors in the history. In Sundiata, Sundiata and his strong allies defeated Soumaoro, the King of Sosso; he became the leader of the Mali Empire. In “Second Letter of Fernando Cortes to Emperor Charles V,” Cortes is the conqueror of the Empire of Aztec; he allied with some groups of natives to fight with the others. He had powerful weapons and horses. Moreover, Cortes and his men brought smallpox, a serious infectious disease to Aztec.
It is also a story of intercultural marriage, the foreign population of Addis Ababa in the early 1970s, and a descriptive narrative of the early years of the Ethiopian revolution. The book keeps repeating the descriptions of ritual and village life, rural travel, problems for women in a society
Sundiata and Ramayana are both epic storytelling. Similarities In the portrayal of the image of mothers. In the Sundiata: An Epic Of Old Mali by D.T. Niane, although in Muslim's societies women are often considered unimportant, the women in Sundiata manage to stand out because of how they portray themselves, as by motherhood towards their children, power of women and loyalty they have towards their family and culture. Motherhood is shown by Sogolon, Sundiata's mother who does whatever possible to keep her son out of danger from people who want to harm him. Power comes in when Saussama, Maghan's first wife feels Sundiata's as a threat to her son, Dankaran Touman's to get to the throne first.
She was also responsible for relationships between people and their connection with gods. Joshua J. Mark also described some of the minor goddesses: “Tenenet was the goddess of beer,
Always encountering success, Gilgamesh was once a tyrant to his people. Reflecting on his rule, he recalls that, “He demanded from an old birthright/the privilege of sleeping with their brides” (15). His triumphs fostered arrogance. To him, everyone else paled in comparison. When he experiences defeat, however, Gilgamesh grows as a leader, seeing the similarities between him and his subjects, their common humanity.
She is the goddess of warfare in lower Egygpt, the Nile river delta region, before unification of cultures of ancient Egypt. Her cult was centered on her temple at Bubastis. Her name translated is “Devouring lady”. She has siblings named Tefnut, Shu, Serket, Hathor, Horus, Sekhment, Anhur; Ammut and Hoth.
The kingdom of Mali was established around 1235 CE. Sundiata Keita was a ruler who formed the empire of Mali. Mansa Sundiata and his grandson Mansa Musa are known as two of the most influential Malian kings. The capital city of the empire was Niani. Around the year 1000 CE, West Africa was home to three major kingdoms, the Mali, Ghana, and Sosso.
Sung by the griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaté, and written in prose by D.T. Niane is an epic steeped in an unequivocal blend of African tradition, myth, and history, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali. The epic begins by tracing the patrilineality of the Father of Mali who was predestined by a soothsayer to be the seventh conqueror of the earth. Sundiata for most of his childhood was incapable of walking; as a result of his physical limitation many assumed he would not fulfil the soothsayer’s prophecy, despite being wise beyond his years. Subsequent to the death of his father, Sundiata, his mother Sogolon, and his brother Manding Bory fled from Mali in fear of persecution, and exile by his stepmother Sassouma Bérété.
Cole and Ortega’s The Thinking Past is a book that covers the history of humans and civilization. The authors cover the transition of humans from a hunter-gatherer life into a sedentary life, forming the civilizations we know today. This transition can be witnessed through the character, Enkidu, in The Epic of Gilgamesh. Enkidu—a glorified forager—is created by the gods to keep the King of Uruk, Gilgamesh, in check.
According to Martin Payne, narrative therapy encourages “richer, combined narratives to emerge from disparate descriptions” of experiences (Payne 7). The strong use of narrative in Half of a Yellow Sun is an essential aspect of the novel, with the narrative being interdependent on the mixture of many different stories being told by a variety of narrators. (De Mey 9). Adichie employs the intersections of these different narrative strategies within the novel as Ugwu writes the story of his experience of the Biafran War, while for Olanna; the narration of her traumas to Ugwu is central to being able to overcome its stifling affects. Through these characters’ experiences with narration, Adichie is able to illustrate its potentially therapeutic effect.
Sassouma Berete or otherwise known as the “Queen Mother” is a powerful and influential woman throughout the Epic, but is juxtaposed as an antagonist in the story next to Sogolon. Sassouma was the first wife of King Maghan Kon Fatta and gains much power over the kingdom after the passing of the King. She is the orchestrator of Sundiata’s exile and exerts her authority to make her own son king, despite the prophecy that Sundiata will be the great ruler of an Empire. Sassouma is of royal blood and uses her connections to get what she wants. Although she is eventually unsuccessful in undoing Sundiata’s conquering of the empire she is able to stifle the growth of his power through her own authority.
The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story known to mankind, being written on Sumerian clay almost five thousand years ago (Garone). Since the story was originally known orally, the culture and themes from The Epic of Gilgamesh must have existed long before it was finally inscribed (Mark 4). Having known this, the cultures and themes can be compared to today’s society, discovering about how they have shifted and evolved, and also observe how they are similar. The ancient days of Gilgamesh has brought culture that has greatly influenced today’s society. Because Gilgamesh was set around the time of late Babylonian or early Sumerian society, the Babylonian and Sumerian cultures also play a role in shaping the world into what is is today (Mark).
The main character, Marlow, in Joseph Conrad’s 1910 novel The Heart of Darkness begins his journey into Africa skeptical of what might occur, but naive to the true horrors that were in stake for the young man. Marlow’s detailed descriptions of the sights and torturous actions towards the natives he witnesses along his journey lead to many literary critics to deem Conrad a racist. One author notorious for calling Joseph Conrad out on his racist remarks is Chinua Achebe who gained fame from his article “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness”.