Sundiata: The Epic of Old Mali 109Sundiata: The Epic of Old Mali
“Th e Epic of Sundiata” is the tale of Sundiata Keita (literally
“lion king”), the 13th-century exiled West African prince
who, called by his people to return and lead them, liberated
the Mande people from the oppressive rule of the Susu King
Sumanguru Kante and became Mansa or king. Th is victory
against the Susu marked the beginning of the great Mali
Empire, which occupied much of present-day Mali and
Guinea. Th e Mali Empire existed, although in a declining
state at the end, until 1546 when it fell to Songhai forces.
Th e epic is a celebration of Sundiata’s victory and serves
as a foundational narrative for the many people—such as
the Malinke, Mandingo, and Dyula—who claim Mande
ancestry.
Because of its widespread dissemination throughout
many regions of West Africa, Sundiata is also known as
Soundiata, Sunjata, and Sunjara. Likewise, the Sundiata epic
itself has many variations. Th e core of the story nonethe-
less remains the same: Sundiata’s birth to an ugly woman;
his frailty as a child; his mastery of his physical frailty; his
exile, return, defeat of Sumanguru Kante using his superior
knowledge of sorcery; and Sundiata’s ascendancy as king.
Th e epic, a privileged form within Mande culture, is
transmitted orally and told by a griot or jeli, a master oral
performer who occupies a unique position in the world of
the Mande. Despite his inherited position in the nyamakala
or artisan class, he also inherits membership into a highly
specialized group of men who are the sole disseminators of
the Sundiata epic. Apprenticed by a father or relative, the
griot is well versed in the history, genealogies, and cultural
traditions of the Mande. He plays the balafon and kora; he
knows verbal and nonverbal communicative traditions of
the culture. Th e griot serves as a reference and advisor to
leaders. In addition to commemorating and reifying Sun-
diata, his job is to use each performance of Sundiata to
moralize, teach, and reinforce cultural values. In this way,
the griot renders “Th e Epic of Sundiata” into a living text;
each telling is diff erent and situational. Also, the griot’s role
in the epic is self-refl exive insofar as the griot usually plays
a signifi cant role in the exploits of Sundiata. In the Niane
version, for example, Sumanguru Kante kidnaps Balla Fas-
séké, Sundiata’s griot, so that Sundiata’s motivation is, in
large part, an attempt to get his griot and by extension, his
legacy, back.Th e tussle between worker and planter persisted aft er
the Civil War. Sure of the planter’s vulnerability during
harvest, workers struck then for higher wages and full
payment the fi rst Saturday of each month. Some planters
relented, whereas others sought to reduce wages by increas-
ing the supply of labor. Th ey hired agents to recruit work-
ers from other states. In the 1870s, planters experimented
with Chinese, Scandinavian, Italian, Dutch, Irish, Spanish,
and Portuguese labor, all without restoring the subservient
workforce of the antebellum era.
Planters fretted over more than labor. In 1898, an
epidemic of sugarcane mosaic virus swept the cane fi elds
and only the introduction of virus-resistant sugar varieties
saved the plantations. Th e use of a mechanical harvester
aft er 1935 diminished the need for labor. Since World War
II, plantations have concentrated in a few hands. Between
1957 and 1995, the number of plantations in Louisiana de-
clined from 10,260 to 690. Th ese plantations encompass
364,000 acres along the Mississippi River and the bayous.
In 1996, Louisiana produced a record crop of 1,058,000
tons. Th at year Louisiana produced 30 percent of the U.S.
sugar crop. Florida, which produced its fi rst crop in 1931,
had by 1996 surpassed Louisiana, growing 40 percent of the
country’s sugar. In Florida, the plantations lie south of Lake
Okeechobee. Th e soft soil confi nes mechanical harvest to
one-quarter of the land. Men from the Caribbean cut the
rest by hand as they have in the Caribbean for nearly four
centuries.
See also: Hispaniola; Royal African Company
Christopher Martin CumoBibliography
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