The Bamana Empire by the Niger

The Bamana Empire by the Niger

Author: Sundiata A. Djata

Publisher: Markus Wiener Publishers

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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An exploration of the powerful Bamana State, which emerged in 1712 and centred around the Middle Niger. It shows how it was a solid commercial, military and agricultural society for centuries. The author also tells of the efforts of two alien powers to assert hegemony over the Bamana of Segu.


Ma Parole S'achète

Ma Parole S'achète

Author: Molly Roth

Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 3825813525

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This study argues that material compensation and caste status are essential to the signifying practice of Malian jeliw ("griots") and its continuing relevance. As Mande society's hereditary "masters of the word", jeliw� entrance their listeners with accounts of ancestors' heroic deeds, sometimes in the context of epic recitations and sometimes in popular song. These genealogical narratives function as praise in a society that understands descent as an essential constituent of personality. Indexing an imperial social order with inherited bonds of obligation between patron and client, this praise reproduces the status of the jeliw. Gifts of cash and goods to the jeliw on the occasions of these performances concretize the traditional obligations of nobles and, thus, realize the nobility of the givers. Material compensation makes jeli flattery true in ways it would not otherwise be. These gifts defy both the Maussian discussion of gifting and the Marxian analysis of commodity exchange. The jeliw's semiosis is performative in the sense that they help to create the historical imaginary to which their utterances refer. Thus, performances of jeli praise may help Malians to negotiate the marginalizing effects of globalization.


Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara

Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara

Author: Alisa LaGamma

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1588396878

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This groundbreaking volume examines the extraordinary artistic and cultural traditions of the African region known as the western Sahel, a vast area on the southern edge of the Sahara desert that includes present-day Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. This is the first book to present a comprehensive overview of the diverse cultural achievements and traditions of the region, spanning more than 1,300 years from the pre Islamic period through the nineteenth century. It features some of the earliest extant art from sub Saharan Africa as well as such iconic works as sculptures by the Dogon and Bamana peoples of Mali. Essays by leading international scholars discuss the art, architecture, archaeology, literature, philosophy, religion, and history of the Sahel, exploring the unique cultural landscape in which these ancient communities flourished. Richly illustrated and brilliantly argued, Sahel brings to life the enduring forms of expression created by the peoples who lived in this diverse crossroads of the world.


A New Paradigm of the African State

A New Paradigm of the African State

Author: M. Muiu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2009-01-05

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 0230618316

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Offers a historical, multidisciplinary perspective on African political systems and institutions, ranging from Antiquity (Egypt, Kush and Axum) to the present with particular focus on their destruction through successive exogenous processes including the Atlantic slave trade, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism or globalization.


Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past

Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2018-08-13

Total Pages: 537

ISBN-13: 9004380183

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Landscapes, Sources and Intellectual Projects of the West African Past offers a comprehensive assessment of new directions in the historiography of West Africa. With twenty-four chapters by leading researchers in the study of West African history and cultures, the volume examines the main trends in multiple fields including the critical interpretation of Arabic sources; new archaeological surveys of trans-Saharan trade; the discovery of sources in Latin America relating to pan-Atlantic histories; and the continuing analysis of oral histories. The volume is dedicated to Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias, whose work inspired the intellectual reorientations discussed in its chapters and stands as the clearest formulation of the book’s central focus on the relationship between political conjunctures and the production of sources. Contributors are: Benjamin Acloque, Karin Barber, Seydou Camara, Mamadou Diawara, Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias, François-Xavier Fauvelle, Nikolas Gestrich, Toby Green, Bruce Hall, Jan Jansen, Shamil Jeppie, Daouda Keita, Murray Last, Robin Law, Camille Lefebvre, Paul Lovejoy, Ghislaine Lydon, Carlos Magnavita, Sonja Magnavita, Kevin MacDonald, Thomas McCaskie, Ann McDougall, Daniela Moreau, Mauro Nobili, Insa Nolte, Abel-Wedoud Ould-Cheikh, Benedetta Rossi, Charles Stewart.


Butabu

Butabu

Author: James Morris

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 1568984138

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This volume examines the complex technique of wet earth construction, as practised in parts of West Africa. It includes a variety of structures, ranging from small huts to mosques, including the mosque at Dougoumba which dates from the 12th century.


Conflicts of Colonialism

Conflicts of Colonialism

Author: Richard L. Roberts

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-02-24

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1009116894

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Based around the life of Mademba Sèye, an African born in the colonial town of Saint Louis du Sénégal in 1852, who transformed himself with the help of his French patrons from a telegraph clerk into an African king, this book examines Mademba's life and career to reveal how colonialism in French West Africa was articulated differently at different times and how Mademba survived these changes by periodically reinventing himself. Investigating Mademba's alleged abuses of power and crimes that pitted French colonial indirect rule policy with its foundations in patronage and loyalty against its stated commitment to the rule of law and the civilizing mission, Conflicts of Colonialism sheds light on conflicts between different forms of colonialism and the deep ambiguities of the rule of law in colonial societies, which, despite serious challenges to Mademba's rule, allowed him to remain king until his death in 1918.