The Sunjata epic is a foundational oral narrative for Manding populations of West Africa and claims to describe the origins of the famed medieval empire of Mali. It is both a historical source and an artistic creation of West African oral specialists, the griots (jèliw). Despite its importance, the epic is known to Anglophone non-specialists only through a handful of accounts published after 1960. Corpus of Early Accounts of the Sunjata Epic, 1889-1959 presents twenty understudied versions of the epic, recorded during the colonial period, that are not easily accessible. Previously published in French and German colonial periodicals, here these sources are translated into English, each with a scholarly introduction, allowing the reader to appreciate each version's context and purpose.
List of maps & figures Acknowledgements Note on translations Foreword: A Platform for Re-Examining History and Praise, the Public and the Personal, in the Sunjata CorpusPaulo Fernando de Moraes Farias: Maps Introduction: Towards a history of the Sunjata epic 1: Emile Hourst: The legend of Somangoro and Sundiata from Kulikoro 2: Jean-Gilbert Jaime: The legend of Sumanguru from Kulikoro 3: Fernand Quiquandon: 'The history of Manding power according to legend and tradition' - Sunjata's epic from the griots of Kenedugu fàama Tieba Traore, ruler of Sikasso 4: Charles Monteil: Two Khasonka versions of the legend of 'Simanguru and Sun-Jata' 5: The history of Sundiata from a Kita chronicle 6: Mamadou Diakite: Genealogy of the Keïta - an Umarian account of Sunjata 7: Mamadou Diakite: Historical legends of the Nioro region 8: Bathily: An oral performance of the Sunjata epic from Nioro's Western Sudanese chronicle 9: Mamadi Aïssa Kaba Diakite: The history of the war between the empires of Sosso and Mande 10: Kande Kanote: The legend of Sundiata 11: Habibou Sissoko: Additional material on the legend of Sundiata 12: Kieba Koate 'Korongo': The Sunjatta legend of the Malinke people 13: Jules Vidal: The 'official' legend of Sundiata, founder of the Mali empire 14: Bakary Diabate: Sundiata - Abdoulaye Sadji's hero for the Negritude movement 15: Mamby Sidibé: Sundiata Keita, historical and legendary hero, emperor of the Manding 16: Théatre dahoméen: The Tricks of Jegue 17: Maximilien Quénum: The legend of Fama-Sundiata 18: René Guillot: The Magic Arrow 19: Paul Humblot: Episodes from the legend of Sondiata 20: Ali Sawse: A Wolof version of Sunjata Glossary Table of episodes Index of common names Bibliography Index
Stephen Bulman wrote a Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham on written versions of the Sunjata oral tradition and has researched and published on Manding oral traditions, including (with Valentin Vydrine), The Epic of Sumanguru Kante (Brill, 2017) based on fieldwork in Mali. He works in administration at Lancaster University. Stephen Belcher graduated from Brown University in 1985. He was a member of the Peace Corps in Mauritania, and taught at Penn State. He was the editor of Mande Studies until 2010. He is now retired and mixing family history with African studies. Valentin Vydrin wrote a Ph.D. at the Leningrad State University on Looma language (Southwestern Mande group) in 1987, and a habilitation thesis at the St. Petersburg State University (Russia) on comparative studies of Mande in 2001. He has worked at the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in St. Petersburg and taught Manding languages at the St. Petersburg State University. Since 2010, he is professor of Manding at INALCO, Paris.
