West Africa
Guinea/Mali
Pre-colonial Oral Traditions
French/Malinke
Folklore
The epic of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, as told by the griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaté to D.T. Niane in the 1950s. Sundiata overcomes physical disability, exile, and enemies to unite the Mandinka people.
Literary Significance
The foundational text of West African oral tradition; source for the name Mandela, the New York Knicks, and countless works of Afrofuturism
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Catalog summary
editorial-summarynot primary textThe epic of Sundiata Keita, founder of the Mali Empire, as told by the griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaté to D.T. Niane in the 1950s. Sundiata overcomes physical disability, exile, and enemies to unite the Mandinka people. The foundational text of West African oral tradition; source for the name Mandela, the New York Knicks, and countless works of Afrofuturism
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Research note
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