Union College Department of Modern Languages

FRN-149A/MLT-042: West African Oral Literature

GenEd Credit - CDAA

Course Description:

This course is designed to consider West African oral genres with a focus on tales and epics in their form and ideologies. The study of West African epics and tales provides a broad understanding of pre-colonial African cultures and histories. By exploring these oral forms of cultural expressions, we will understand how ancient West Africa societies were politically and socially structured and how they were altered because of colonial, Islamic, and Christian implications.

The course will also examine the survival of local traditions in gender, religion, classes, and political structures in modern Africa.

Course Material:

Books Required:

These texts are transcriptions of oral performances.

• Why Goats Smell Bad, by Raouf Mama, Shoe Sting Press, North Haven, 1998
• Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, by Djibril T. Niane, London Longman, 1994
• Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe, First Anchor Books Edition, 1994

Films and Documentaries:

• Keïta: The Heritage of the Griot, by Dani Kouyate, Burkina Faso, 1994.  A griot reveals to a young boy the story of his distant ancestor, Sundiata Keïta, the 13th Century founder of the great Malian trading empire.
• Guimba, by Cheik Omar Sissoko, Mali 1995. A historical allegory that tells a timeless tale of a tyran’s over-reaching and inevitable downfall, reminiscent of Sheakespeare’s Richard III or Mac Beth. Guimba provides a powerful warrior and sorcerer has seized power in the once prosperous town of Sitikali (present day of Djenne) by killing six predecessors, his wife and daughter. Guimba makes a powerful argument for transparency in African government.

Three Tales from Senegal that Translate the African Oral Storytelling into Language:

• Le Franc, by Djibril Diop Mambety, 1994, 45mn.
• Picc Me, 1992, 20 mn. Two street children’s brief day of freedom becomes a protest against the widespread exploitation of children in an African city.
• Fari: L’Anesse, 17mn, 1989 by Mansour Sora Wade
• Djabote, Doudou Ndiaye Rose
• Seven Nights, Seven Days, by Maurice Dores, 58mn. About “Ndepp,” a traditional healing ceremony by the shaman Fat Seck from the Lebou ethnic group in Senegal.

Expectations:

In this course we will learn how to analyze a literary text by conducting close readings of texts and the ways they are developed in relation to the socio-cultural contexts of their production. We’ll also consider the ways the writers construct their stories by looking at the literary techniques they use and which make their work original.

I expect students to approach the material (written and audiovisual) in and outside the classroom with a critical judgment clearly reflecting their efforts and their ability to understand these texts.

Course Requirements:

ALL ASSIGNMENTS ARE DUE ON THE DAY I WILL TELL YOU. Each unexcused absence after your 3 freebees will lower the participation grade by half a letter. Example: a B in participation becomes a B- after the 4th unexcused absence, C+ after the 5th, etc.

Attention to French Students: In addition to meeting with me at the regularly scheduled times, you are urged to meet regularly with our French Assistant. The Assistant is responsible for providing help as far as your need in terms of writing is concerned. You can also get help from the Writing Center via a trained student tutor who will listen to your concerns and work with you wherever you are in the writing process.

Grades:

• Class Participation and Attendance: 20%
• Oral Presentation in class: 20%
• Midterm short Paper (4-5 pages): 25%
• Final Paper, including rewrite (8 pages): 35%

Timetable:

2nd Week:

Introductory class: presentation and comments on the material to be used

About the three ancient West African kingdoms: Ghana , Mali, Songhai

Commonalities between the three kingdoms: social stratifications (the nobles, the mass, the castes / captives), political structures (royal family / provinces), and economical drives (trade / agriculture). Religion : animism (local traditional religion) and monotheism (Islam beginning of the 10th century, Christianity through colonialism.

Oral traditions in the past: folktale, epic stories, riddles, proverbs

The storyteller: background, training, age, social role and status

Characteristics of the story: characters, plot, symbolism involved, values or moral lessons being conveyed.

Settings: time, space

Read “The Study of African Oral Literature,” by Isidore Okpewho, in African Oral Literature, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press

Why Goats Smell Bad

Read the Preface, the Acknowledgment and the Introduction.

• Why the “loss of oral tales” represents a “danger” to Raouf Mama?
• Mama, as he says, has recorded tales as told by Fon storytellers and translated them. What do you think about the fact that he has translated and, more importantly, retold the stories? How about his own choice of the titles?
• What is the groundwork of this book according to the author?
• Why precisely did Mama, as a child, use to listen to stories after the evening meal? Why after the evening meal? Who would tell those stories?
• Of what value are folktales according to Mama? What is the magic of folktales?
• What do we know about the Fon ethnic group in Benin and Benin itself?

3rd Week:

The Unwanted Child

• What are the historical references that inform us about the time and space to which this story belongs?
• What are the different functions (departure, motivation, situation of lack, interdiction, obstacles, villain/provider, struggle, ending, etc.) in this story?
• Is there any moral lesson?
• Select some narrative techniques in the story. What are their narrative functions?
• What are the story themes?
• Are there any symbolic elements that inform us about the customs and traditions of the particular society this story refers to?

The Twin Princesses

4th Week:

The Magic Drum

Watch Djabote, Doudou Ndiaye Rose

Assignment:

Watch Three Tales from Senegal at the library.

• What are the main themes in the three short movies?
• Can you find similar patterns (themes / storytelling) between one of these short films and a story in Why Goats Smell Bad?
• What are the differences and similarities as far as social, political or religious implications are concerned?

The Greedy Father

Assignment (Due on Monday 30):

Discuss and evaluate your general understanding of ancient West Africa based on the stories from Why Goats Smell Bad we read and analyzed in class. You may look into the impact that the author/translator has on these texts as well as the meaning of the themes and the morphological trends in these stories. (2 pages at least)

Devoir (à rendre le lundi 30):

Discutez et évaluez votre connaissance du passé de l’Afrique de l’Ouest en vous basant sur les contes que nous avons lus et analysés en classe du recueil Why Goats Smell Bad. Vous prêterez attention au rôle qu’a joué l’auteur/traducteur de ces textes, aux thèmes majeurs et à la morphologie de ces textes. (2 pages au moins)

5th Week:

Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali

Read Thomas Hales’s “Introduction: The Oral Epic in Africa” from Oral Epics from Africa, Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1997.

Assignment:

Read the Preface and "The Words of the Griot Mamadou Kouyatea".

• What’s your understanding of the griot?
• What differentiates today’s griots from the griots in ancient Africa?
• According to Niane, why oral sources have lost their predilection?
• On page viii, Niane states: “I am nothing more than a translator. I owe everything to the masters of Fadama, Djeliba Koro and Keyla.” To your understanding, who are these masters?
• What differentiates Niane from Mama in their approach to oral traditions ?

Assignment:

Read The First Kings of Mali (3 pages).

“Hunters’ Narratives” by Stephen Belcher, in Traditional Storytelling Today by Margaret Read MacDonald (Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999): 3-5.

Looking closely at the lineage of Sundiata, list the major events and personages that participate in the rise of the epic hero. What do we learn here that helps us understand this particular culture ?

The Buffalo Woman

• What are the symbolic and other cultural patterns that inform us about this particular society?
• Why does the “unknown man” carry twelve cowries? Why does he mutter some incomprehensible words in a low voice while he shuffled and jumbled the twelve cowries?
• What is your understanding of the hunter’s words? Are his words obscure? What is his prediction? Do the prophetic words materialize themselves?
• How do the other two hunters come to meet the buffalo woman and vanquish her? How did the king overcome the wraith of Sogolon?

The Lion Child

• What makes the birth of Sogolon’s child exceptional?
• What is the function of the royal drums?
• “The name was given the eighth day after his boy’s birth.” What is the symbolic connotation of the number “eight”?

6th Week:

Childhood

The Lion’s Awakening

Exile

Soumaoro Kante: The Sorcerer King

• History
• The baobab leaves
• The return
• The names of the heroes
• Nana Triban and Balla Fasseke
• The Empire
• Kouroukan Fougan or the Division of the world
• Eternal Mali

7th Week:

Watch Keita (need for an electronic classroom).

Watch Guimba (at the Library)

Midterm Paper

8th and 9th Week:

Things Fall Apart

10th Week:

Révision générale

Devoir de Fin de Trimestre:

Choisir et analyser un sujet en illustrant vos idees a partir des textes, documentaires et films que nous avons etudies en classe. Au moins 8 pages, à rendre au plus tard lundi 25 novembre, 2002.

1. La sagesse dans les traditions de L’Afrique de l’ouest
2. Traditions orales africaines: l’importance du Griot
3. L’image de l’enfant dans les traditions de l’Afrique de l’ouest
4. Les traditions d’hier vs. les problèmes d’aujourd’hui en Afrique de l’Ouest
5. Le Bien et le Mal: coexistence dans les traditions orales en Afrique de l’ouest
6. Les valeurs morales dans les traditions africaines
7. Le symbolisme dans les traditions orales en Afrique de l’ouest
8. De l’oralité à l’écriture en Afrique de l’ouest: problèmes/limites, avantages, inconvénients
9. Les rapports entre l’homme et la femme dans les traditions de l’Afrique de l’ouest: implications politiques, sociales et religieuses
10. Le déclin / La chute des traditions africaines: implications coloniales et religieuses
11. L’individu face à la société dans les traditions de l’Afrique de l’ouest

Final Paper:

Pick one topic that you will analyze illustrating your ideas from the materials (texts, documentaries and films) used in class. At least 8 pages long.

1. Wisdom in West African Oral Traditions
2. West African Oral Traditions: Importance of the Griot
3. The image of the child in West African traditions
4. Yesterday’s traditions vs. Today’s troubles
5. Good and Evil: how they coexist within the confines of West African Oral Literature
6. Moral values within West African traditions
7. Symbolism in West African Oral Traditions
8. From orality to writing in West Africa: problems, advantages and disadvantages
9. Gender structures In West African Oral literature: social, political, and religious implications
10. The Downfall of West African traditions: colonial and religious implications
11. The notion of an Individual vs. the notion of a Member within West African Traditions.