Cultural Foundations of the Mali Empire
In the poem An Epic of Old Mali, the narrator presents a story concerning the rise of an authoritative ruler, Sundiata. The report pays excellent attention to several features of the history and traditions practiced by the people of Mali and West Africa. This paper is based on cultural analysis, specifically the history and rituals outlined in the following sections. The nation was founded in West Africa. Historians say the real king Sunjata was the ruler from 1235 to 1255.
The plot revolves around the unity of Mande’s numerous chiefdoms, Ghana’s decline, and the growth of trade routes. The story also explores the development of Islamic culture and religion, as well as the persistence of native African beliefs. Mali was already an Islamic state from the beginning of the fourteenth century (Niane, 1994). As a result, the story unfolds against a backdrop of complex cultural and social events of that time.
Historical and Political Context of An Epic of Old Mali
It is crucial to briefly analyze the poem and the plot to understand the cultural context of the verse and how it reflects and projects the features of Mali and West African society. The story opens with Maghan Kon Fatta, the king of the tiny West African nation of Mali, receiving a prophecy from foreign hunters. They claim that if a man marries an ugly lady, he will have an exceptional son. A few years later, the hunters returned to the Maghan Kon Fatta to report the buffalo they had killed in the Do regions (Niane, 1994). In the story, characters choose “Sogolon Kedjou or Sogolon Kondouto as hunchbacks, at the behest of the old women’s mystery.
The king is married and has a son with his former wife, but still marries Sogolon Kedjou because of a prophecy about her. Sogolon soon gives birth, but does not meet the king’s expectations because the newborn does not resemble the father’s magnificent beauty. Sogolon Kedjou becomes pregnant again, but a girl is born this time, not a boy, which does not convince Maghan Kon Fatta that the prophecy is true.
Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali depicts many aspects of Mali culture, tradition, and West African civilization. First and foremost, the poem describes a primitive political organization in which stateless societies differed (Niane, 1994). Power was inherited by members of the many chiefdoms who lived in separate communities ruled by leaders. Marriages between people of other villages were expected due to the necessity for a diversified population and developing ties with neighbors. Sundiata is referred to in the poem as “the son of the Buffalo, the son of the Lion” (Niane, 1994). As a result, it depicts his ancestry from representatives of 2 distinct ruling dynasties: the maternal buffalo totem from Do and the father lion emblem from Mali. This feature alludes to the ancient totem animals of several West African states and the inclination of clans to band together under Sundiata’s rule.
Another aspect of the same plot depicts the characteristics of West African society, specifically Mali. There was no need to keep the land inside that household through monotheistic or endogamous marriage because it was not subject to conflicts and was open to everyone. As a result, the land was not held within the family, farmed by wives and children, who supplied “the economic foundation for the rest of society” (Niane, 1994). On the other hand, female fertility and possession were important factors, leading to the growth of polygamy and varied practices of obtaining wives from households or compelling them to marry.
Religious Traditions and the Rise of Islam in Mali
The poem also makes numerous references to West African religious and spiritual traditions. One example is the African belief in numerous banshees or copies, addressed several times during the narration. While women’s fertility was valued in society, conceiving a non-normal child, such as Sundiata, was frowned upon, as the poem depicts. Because spiritual cults were prevalent in West African traditional religion, such an event was frequently attributed to witchcraft. Sogolon Kedjou alludes to his son as the “son of adversity” in the poem, supporting this view (Niane, 1994). Sundiata hails from an Islamic family, according to the poetry. Even though Sundiata was not a devout Muslim, the country’s unification acknowledged Islam as noble and essential in the state (Niane, 1994).
The region’s many religious beliefs thus explain the rise of Islam in West Africa. Missionaries frequently equated local ideas with demonstrations of Satan and evil, which helped locals adopt the current religion.
Empowerment and Female Agency in Sembene Ousmane’s Faat Kine
Poverty eradication, human development, and economic progress in Africa may be achieved through women’s empowerment, as seen in the film Faat Kine. The film’s director, Sembene Ousmane, utilizes Kine, a single mother of two, and Senegalese women from the town to demonstrate African women’s power. The film shows how Africa may achieve significant success by empowering women rather than adhering to the conventional male-dominated society (Faat Kine, 2000). This follows Kine’s lover’s disappearance, who left her with children, and his second lover, a rogue conman who vanishes with her money. Kine eventually gains business savvy and becomes a petrol station manager because of her perseverance and hard work.
The film’s premise is encapsulated by the theme depicting African women’s efforts, hardships, and accomplishments while narrating their everyday heroics. The movie expresses the element of hard work expressed by commoners. Indeed, the efforts demand admiration more than that deserved by the patriarchal masters. Faat Kine is presented as a different woman from other mothers. She has reduced reliance on men in the economic market outside the national sector (Faat Kine, 2000). The composer Sembene Ousmane conveys this idea in the figure of the protagonist heroine in Faat Kine.
Kine is presented as a single mother of two young children who runs a profitable gas station in Dakar. The film chronicles this woman’s daily hardships as she raises two children from two distinct broken relationships while juggling her job, family, and friends (Faat Kine, 2000). The film skilfully explores the challenges that solitary African women face, which differ from the mainstream perception of African women. In a place where male domination is high, the capability of an African woman to conduct herself with confidence and manage to run a gas station is intriguing. This factor piques the reader’s attention in this review, which delves into the different aspects of African cultural heritage and indoctrination processes related to single parenting and career advancement.
These processes are intriguing since the film depicts the maturation of a region portrayed as profoundly traditional and culturally dependent. Furthermore, these factors are relevant considering the topic is women’s singlehood in Africa. Sembene effectively solves these concerns through the heroine’s personality, Faat Kine. The heroine is introduced as a well-dressed woman who stops her car to let customarily well-dressed women pass her (Faat Kine, 2000). Sembene employs flashbacks to convey the story of Kine’s life to the audience. The flashbacks illustrate Kine’s tribulations, and her children’s completion of examinations is celebrated as a triumph.
Throughout the film, the challenges of African women, particularly single mothers, are highlighted through the struggle between the conventional roles of female and male, as well as parents and children. In modern Senegal, women fight to provide for their children and themselves, as seen in the film. For example, Mammy refers to Kine, her daughter, as her “daughter” in the movie, following Kine’s father’s brutal act of paralyzing her and Kine’s deed of helping her mother. Kine’s son, Djib, on the other hand, recalls how he mistook his mother for his sister and opposes his absent father’s claim to him, while Kine is disowned by her father, who cripples her mother.
The film takes the audience through African women’s psychological and emotional challenges as they defy tradition to make a life. The film conveyed the difficulties that African women experience due to abuse and the entrepreneurial energy of African women, such as Kine (Faat Kine, 2000). It was presented with the abusive nature of patriarchal relationships through flashbacks, which reflected the greater African community, which is made up of corrupt and ineffectual male elites. Kine’s high school teacher’s abuse of power, her second husband’s con practices, and his final theft of Kine’s money demonstrate the dishonesty and incompetence of African men. The world’s traditional perspective is that African women suffer needlessly, with no means of escaping male power, because they rely on their male relatives.
Resilience and Entrepreneurship of African Women in Modern Society
The film, however, shifts this perspective by using Kine’s flashbacks to show that there are several self-sufficient businesswomen. Ousmane uses flashbacks to alter people’s perceptions of African women, mainly single moms. Kine leads the audience through her pain and emotional abuse as all the prominent men in her life betray her. Kine’s instructor was the first to abuse her, seducing and then abandoning her with a daughter.
The movie’s premise shows Kine as a protagonist who successfully claims her rights as a businesswoman. While operating in Dakar, she avoided overdependence on men (Faat Kine, 2000). The determination allows Kine to care for and provide for her family because she has attained managerial roles and does not rely on men. She is mirrored as an inspiration to other women who own small businesses at the Dakar marketplace. Indeed, women feel more confident because their businesses offer self-assurance and erode all the uncertainties.
Many aspects have been drawn from the film, but the most notable is the entrepreneurial and tenacious attitude of single African women in a country steeped in tradition. The market, where the film pervaded through commercial interactions, as illustrated by Kine, the self-reliant financial paradigm that is even-tempered and kind, is an unforgettable memory of the film. This film is exceptionally intriguing since it demonstrates African women’s power, economic cleverness, and knowledge of worldwide financial markets. It is a special section of the movie as Kine portrays that even market ladies are aware of the issues that borrowing money poses to any enterprise and a nation’s economy.
References
Niane, D., 1994. Sundiata: An epic of old mali.
Faat Kine. 2000. [film] Directed by O. Sembene. Senegal.