The history of Africa and the Mali kingdoms is passed on to us through the oral accounts of the African griots and also through the written history of the Arab historians. Comparing the different approaches and views of the Arab historians to the African traditionalist of Sundiata, we see there are many similarities and differences between the two. With respect to the political, economic, and social aspects of the kingdoms, the epic of Sundiata portrays the Mali kingdoms through a story of a rising young king in which many of the negative aspects of society are ignored. The Arab historians describe an overall picture showing both the positive and negative aspects of being a king, a citizen, and a woman. The combination of the African traditionalist and the three Arab historian’s views, all with different approaches, helps us see a clearer picture of how life was in West Africa.
In the view of the African traditionalist, the griot, Mamadou Kouyaté, describes a political system based......
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Approximate Word Count: 2992
Approximate Pages: 12 (260 words per double-spaced page) |