Africana Periodical Literature 
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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | The 'Secret' in Malian Historical Consciousness: Re-narrating the West |
| Author: | Roth, Molly |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Periodical: | Mande Studies |
| Volume: | 2 |
| Pages: | 41-54 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Mali |
| Subjects: | Manding oral traditions epics (form) Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/44078789 |
| Abstract: | The 'secret' examined in this paper is a recurrent narrative figure, one that appears in popular accounts of current events and which strongly echoes narrative constructions from Mali's historical epics. After providing examples from both epic texts and casual discourse, the author suggests that this figure or trope constitutes the kernel of a popular philosophy of history - a philosophy that confounds Western expectations in intellectually productive ways. In various Sahelian legends, an individual's power is based on a secret or secrets. The secret secures the means to exercise and keep power. Once the secret knowledge, or the knowledge of the secret, is breached, the individual's power crumbles. The author suggests that Mali's traditions of historical narrative include, in addition to a wealth of data, a particular historiography that structures the well-known texts. The existence of this 'indigenous' historiography is demonstrated by the appearance and reappearance of the signature trope; the secret that founds power. The author further suggests that the circulation and mass consumption of Mande historical narratives in contemporary Mali constitute these texts as a widely shared aspect of Malian popular 'public' culture. Bibliogr., notes, ref. |
