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Status and Identity in West Africa
Nyamakalaw of Mande
Edited by David C. Conrad and Ramsay Georgina
Published by: Indiana University Press
- eBook
- 9780253112644
- Published: May 1995
$11.95
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" . . . the contributors to Status and Identity in West Africa have swept away the dust that has obscured the study of the societies of western Sudan and have made it possible to pursue the salutory work of decolonizing the history and sociology of these regions." —American Ethnologist
"This discussion is among the most significant contributions that African studies can make to the contemporary global dialogue on multicultural issues." —Choice
"It is 'must' reading for anyone who works in African literature today." —Research in African Literatures
"an indispensable guide to understanding the producers of art in the Mande world, including the art of the spoken word. The writing and arguments are clear and jargon-freeit will provide a rich harvest of detailed original research" —African Arts
"[This] book. . . is the most impressive effort to look at these groups in comparative perspective. The essays fit together nicely to challenge notions that came out of colonial scholarship." —Journal of Interdisciplinary History
". . . the volume makes a significant contribution to the social history and ongoing processes of cultural pluralism in West Africa." —Journal of Religion in Africa
The nyamakalaw—blacksmiths, potters, leather-workers, bards, and other artists and specialists among the Mande-speaking peoples of West Africa—play powerful roles in Mande society. This book presents the first full portrait of one of Africa's most powerful and least understood social groups.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A NOTE ON ORTHOGRAPHY AND TERMINOLOGY
Introduction Nyamakalaya
Contradiction and Ambifuity in Mande Society
David C. Conrad and Barbara E. Frank
Part One: The Paradox of Word and Meaning
I. Etymologies of nyamakala
Charles S. Bird, Martha B. Kendall, and Kalilou Tera
II. Power, Structure, and Mande Jeliw
Barbara G. Hoffman
III. The Semantics of jugu
Blacksmiths, Lore, and Who's Bad in Mande
Patrick R. McNaughton
Part Two: Retracing Steps in Search of Social History
IV. Linguistic Evidence for the History of West african "Castes"
Tal Tamari
V. Blind Man Meets Prophet
Oral Tradition, Islam, and fune Identity
David C. Conrad
VI. Soninke garankew and Bamana-Malinke jeliw
Mande Leatherworkers, Identity, and the Diaspora
Barbara E. Frank
Part Three: The Power of Agency and Identity
VII. The Dieli of Korhogo
Identity and Identification
Robert Launay
VIII. Women Craft Specialists in Jenne
The Manipulation of Mande Social Categories
Adria LaViolette
IX. Jaliya in the Modern World
A Tribute to Banzumana Sissko and Massa Makan Diabate
Cheick Mahamadou Cherif Keita
CONTRIBUTORS
INDEX
DAVID C. CONRAD is Associate Professor of History at the State University of New York at Oswego. He is editor and cotranslator with Soumaila Diakité of A State of Intrigue: The Epic of Bamana Segu According to Tayiru Banbera. BARBARA E. FRANK is Assistant Professor of Art History at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She has worked in Mali and Sierra Leone on Mande leatherworking traditions and with women potters in Mali.