There's Ethnography, and Then There's Ethnography
After the explorers and colonial spread came the ethnographers, whose work largely took on two forms: one positivistic and largely under the guise of science; and the second, mission literature, which were written with literary care and which "evoked place and process" in a unique manner (Thornton, 507). Nonetheless, these individuals were functionaries representative of their establishment, or to put it simply: their ethnography was inherently political and the ethnographers inherently visitors. Particularly in a locale so charged with contested history and cultural politics, an outsiders' image (like my own) will be inherently flawed.
While ethnographers do have firsthand access to their subjects and to a large degree write for those they are writing about, their ability to organically and richly evoke pertinent narratives is greatly limited when compared with the jalis. Stoller expands on this with a beautiful insight on Jaliya as a whole:
While ethnographers do have firsthand access to their subjects and to a large degree write for those they are writing about, their ability to organically and richly evoke pertinent narratives is greatly limited when compared with the jalis. Stoller expands on this with a beautiful insight on Jaliya as a whole:
First, griots must master a body of rudimentary knowledge.... Such mastery, however, is insufficient, for griots must also master themselves. This means that they must learn to dispossess their "selves" from the "old words" they have learned. The words that constitute history are much too powerful to be "owned" by any one person or group of people; rather these words "own" those who speak them. Accomplished griots do not "own" history; rather, they are possessed by the forces of the past. By decentering themselves from history and the forces of social life, these griots are infused with great dignity. Only these griots are capable of meeting the greatest challenge: imparting social knowledge to the next generation. (353)
Literacy: Independence and Transition in Africa
After acting as a central theater of World War 1 and a supplementary theater of World War 2, Europe was largely over and done with Africa. The great burden of civilizing the indigenous was ultimately too great a burden, and so by the late 1950s the colonizers began to step away from the African territories. While England attempted to establish solid foundation for their territories to self-actualize, France permitted its territories votes of independence and in time each one received international sovereignty. At last, Africa had entered an age of self-governance (Hulton, 74).
The post-colonial was a time of major change in the societal views of the griot. As many saw it, it was the goal of the independent lands to create a citizen free of the contradictions which arose from outdated pre-colonial beliefs. The modern Malinke no longer had the same need for storytellers and ceremonial masters; however their role as intermediaries did adapt to the more modern circumstances of politics and other delicate matters which required the services of a smooth-talker. Beyond such advisory roles though, public opinion of griots became largely scornful, many accusing them of either misusing or abusing the spiritual superiority that was supposedly theirs (Hopkins, 56-57). This dramatic departure from tradition and shift of tides ultimately led many griots of the towns and cities to all but abandon the position, though they can still be found upholding tradition today as if untouched by modernity in many of the rural villages of Mali (Niane, xxiii). Others have simply left Africa entirely.
While the societal view of the griot changed, there was still a movement in certain circles to preserve the oral heritage and traditions of the pre-colonial through more modern means -- like writing and recording. Perhaps the most significant of these attempts, both to the Malinke and to the literate world was the transcription of the Epic of Sundiata by the jali Mamadou Kouyaté and its subsequent novelization by D.T. Niane. The ability for me to read Sundiata, complete with laid out cast of characters and notes on the relevant geography represents a true literary breakthrough, and the entrance of African tradition into David Christian's Modern Revolution.
The post-colonial was a time of major change in the societal views of the griot. As many saw it, it was the goal of the independent lands to create a citizen free of the contradictions which arose from outdated pre-colonial beliefs. The modern Malinke no longer had the same need for storytellers and ceremonial masters; however their role as intermediaries did adapt to the more modern circumstances of politics and other delicate matters which required the services of a smooth-talker. Beyond such advisory roles though, public opinion of griots became largely scornful, many accusing them of either misusing or abusing the spiritual superiority that was supposedly theirs (Hopkins, 56-57). This dramatic departure from tradition and shift of tides ultimately led many griots of the towns and cities to all but abandon the position, though they can still be found upholding tradition today as if untouched by modernity in many of the rural villages of Mali (Niane, xxiii). Others have simply left Africa entirely.
While the societal view of the griot changed, there was still a movement in certain circles to preserve the oral heritage and traditions of the pre-colonial through more modern means -- like writing and recording. Perhaps the most significant of these attempts, both to the Malinke and to the literate world was the transcription of the Epic of Sundiata by the jali Mamadou Kouyaté and its subsequent novelization by D.T. Niane. The ability for me to read Sundiata, complete with laid out cast of characters and notes on the relevant geography represents a true literary breakthrough, and the entrance of African tradition into David Christian's Modern Revolution.
I'd like to close by introducing one last development in the safeguarding of this intangible heritage: The National Museum of the Gambia. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Gambian Oral History and Antiquities Division (OHAD) began systematically collecting and recording oral sources and testimonies about the precolonial and colonial past before the individuals able to give them died. The OHAD continued on recording folktales, proverbs, and other orations from the rich repositories of rural villages, and were ultimately able to produce an entire exhibition space with their collected efforts. We can only hope that with time, the museum continues the sacred griot tradition of "keeping the present in touch with the plurality of its past" (Bellagamba, 45).