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Margarita Arnold

Frost McLaughlin

ENG 251

8 April 2023

The Epic of Mali: Son-Jara

“Here in our Mali, / We have found our freedom. / Though a person find no gold, /

Though he find no silver, / Should he find his freedom, / Then noble will he be” (John Bierhorst

1559). The epic of Son-Jara is the native epic of the Mali people located in the core of West

Africa. The story of Son-Jara encompasses the oral narrative of how Son-Jara overcame his

trials and became the ruler of the Manding people. The history of Mali is a simple one. There are

two Main subgroups of the Manding people: the Bambara and the Malinke. The Bambara live in

southern Mali, while the Malinke live in Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. All the Manding people

come from a mountainous area at the base of Mali, where in 1235 Sundiata or Son-Jara acquired

the area from Sumanguru (Bridget Giles 34).

The epic of Son-Jara is an oral work, passed down throughout the by griots (Sara

Constantakis 728). “Griots are professional historians who serve a ruler in much the same way

that modern rulers are served by written constitutions, legal staff, and archival staffs. Griots

recall what earlier leaders have done to advise current leaders on how to handle problems”

(Jones). Son-Jara was only available only to those who could understand the native language of

the griot, and that is how this oral epic stayed in West Africa for centuries. In 1960 Mali

historian Djibril Tamsir Niane transcribed the words of Djeli Mamoudou Kouyatè, thus

producing a French translation. G.D. Pickett collated his work with Djeli Mamoudou Kouyatè

and produced a translation in English in 1965 (Sara Constantakis 728).

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Son-Jara’s lineage is traced back to the roots of Islam, where he is the “descendant of

Bilal, a companion of Muhammad and a religious leader” (John Bierhorst 1548). In the epic the

importance is hajj (the pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslims are obliged to take once in their

lifetime) is discussed as Son-Jara’s mother makes the journey with him.

“The literacy Islam introduced enabled the formation of an elite educated in

Arabic, whose services to the early rulers made possible the establishment of their

rule over ever-widening territories and fostered the emergence of the three best-

known West African medieval empires: Songhai, Ghana, and Mali” (John

Bierhorst 1547).

The importance sited in the Muslim text of the Koran, which is only believed authentic if read in

Arabic, stimulated learning of the language. The obligatory learning of Arabic also gave the

griots and the leaders of the tribes a uniform language. This aided the Manding people to merge

and form one of the three major empires of Africa in medieval times. This also reinstates the

importance of griots as historians, and orators. They are much more essential to preserving

history than a ruler himself, for the reason that Son-Jara would be nothing as a person without a

griot by his side.

The Ghana Empire existed before the Sundiata Empire in 800 AD, and continued to exist

until the eleventh century. Ghana fell apart because of Muslim aggressors. Sundiata Empire rose,

because farmers were being attacked and it was their way of opposing; by teaming up together to

stand up. The farmers lived in separate villages, occupied by immediate and extended family. In

dry seasons, nomads entered these little family villages and began wars for food and water.

These invasions united the villages in the area and they became kingdoms.

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“As described in the epic of Sundiata, these kingdoms were based on walled

towns headed by a royal family. They were surrounded by supporting villages

whose leaders provided taxes to the king in the form of gifts and service, in

exchange for protection, justice, and access to the king's religious powers. (Jones).

The epic of Son-Jara is predictable epic, with the “runt” being “cast out” and then he

establishes himself through deeds of valor to be a national hero. Son-Jara helped establish a

shared values and cultural history for an entire society. Because of its partisan nature where a

public hero is presented as a “moral” force which overcomes the “malevolent” enemy, the epic

gives the Manding people a sense of mutual self-respect of origin, civilization, and nationwide

authenticity which could merge them as a people and military force.

To this day, there is a rich oral tradition in Africa. It merges folklore, legend, myth, and

poetry. The tales are conducted by bards, called dyeli or belein-tigui in Mandin and griot in

French. These bards held a place of morality and went with the leaders and royal family. As

time passed, more tales were added to Son-Jara, taking it from a series of praise poems to an

epic of a national hero founding an empire. As a result, it contains three distinct genres: a

narrative framework of structural episodes and genealogies, praise poems, and songs. Even the

oral recitation in the original Mande language is very rhythmic and song-like (John Bierhorst

1548). In the text in parenthesis, representations of answering chants/interjections that audience

members are expected to provide call/answer.

The epic of San-Jara is a translation from oral to a written version, and some expressions

may not have been translated to context. The plot of the epic as mentioned above is how a

national hero is formed through his virtuous deeds. The theme is formed from the plot with San-

Jara becoming the ruler of Mali because he is a strong and a compassionate leader, unlike his

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half-brother Dankaran Tuman, who is angry about being cheated out of a birthright. San-Jara is

very hard to comprehend, and should not be read but heard from a life narrative. It would make a

difference to hear it, because the reader does not pay attention (read) to written call back from

the audience.

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Works Cited

Bridget Giles. Peoples of West Africa. New York: the Diagram Group, 1997.

John Bierhorst. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton &

Company, Inc., 2009.

Jones, Jim. Background to Sundiata: an Epic of Old Mali. 2003. 13 11 2012

<http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/notes/sundiata.htm#religion>.

Sara Constantakis. Epics for Students. Vol. 2. Farmington Hills: Gale, 2011.