Sundiata The Griot Analysis

In this paper I want to go in depth to share my understanding and perception of what I believe a griot is, i am choosing to write about this because 1, I was captivated by the word, its meaning, its influence in the story and 2 because I believe even till this day we still have areas where people still carry out these functions and also because I was not satisfied with my digestion of this word when we talked about it in our section groups due to limited time.

The story of “Gilgamesh” depicts all of the heroic triumphs and heart-breaking pitfalls a heroic narrative should depict to be able to relate to today’s audience. However, “Gilgamesh” was once considered a lost and forgotten piece of literature for thousands of years, so there is a tremendous gap between the time it was created and the time it was translated into language that today’s audience can understand. That gap in history makes several aspects of the story of “Gilgamesh” strange and unfamiliar because what we now know about ancient Middle Eastern cultures and languages is a lot less than what we know about the cultures that prospered after ancient Middle Eastern cultures. Much of the content in the story of

Throughout the history of mankind, almost every culture has an epic poem, a poetic narrative about significant event, often featuring a luminary. The epic of Sundiata is a story that was memorized orally and passed by griots for centuries. Mamadou Kouyate the original griot who tells the story explains that Sundiata’s father Maghan Kon Fatta was the king of a city called Niani. A soothsaying hunter tells the king that he produce an heir that would become a significant leader through impregnating an ugly woman. The hunters offer the king a woman named Sogolon to be his wife, the hunters received her by the means of defeating a repulsive buffalo. Sogolon is described as hideous and has a hunchback. The king takes Sogolon as his second wife and

The Epic of Gilgamesh follows a tale of two brothers tasked with defeating an all-powerful beast, yet they aren’t the most important characters in this story. Without their wisdom and guidance, Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s journey would have ended a lot sooner, and Gilgamesh would have still rampaged in Uruk, never bringing peace to those who were below him. Aruru, Shamhat, Ninsun, Ishtar, Siduri, and Utanapishtim’s wife all contribute to Gilgamesh’s journey, and in the end, provide Gilgamesh with the necessary tools in order to transform his character. These women in The Epic of Gilgamesh are essential to the plot, and provide both wisdom and perfection, but can also bring temptation and destruction if given the power to do so.

The perception of foreign cultures can at times be quite peculiar. The article “Eating Christmas in Kalahari” by Richard Borshay Lee, foretells a classic example of cross culture misunderstanding when people from different cultures operate in a culturally unfamiliar environment. Richard Lee, a social anthropologist, explains what he learned living with the !Kung Bushmen, a South African tribe, for three years. This Gemeinschaft community of hunters-gatherers worked together to teach the anthropologist something important to their people, even though he was unaware of their intentions in the beginning.

The West African bardic tradition refers to the passing on of empirical knowledge from elders, known as griot, via a media of rapping, which occurs as a tradition where “the grandfather...bring[s] all the immediate children around him to rap.” This tradition is the expression of historical culture and lessons via a media of poetry, rhythm, and music. The role of

The griot ends the epic by praising Sundiata and his rule of the golden age of the Mali Empire. He tells the audience that Mali is eternal and that reminders of history are everywhere, but only the griot can know

The themes of myths speak to concerns for every human being. This shows that different cultures are interconnected and share ideas. From reading the Epic of Gilgamesh we can begin to understand the values help by ancient Mesopotamian society. By reading the Ramayana we can analysis the religion and world view of Hinduism. Many ancient stories seem to parallel each other. Although stories are written in diverse cultures, there tend to be likenesses, especially between the protagonists. This is true with the stories of the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ramayana when it comes to the depictions of their hero’s.

“For those wracked by melancholia, writing about it would have meaning only if writing sprang out of that very melancholia.”

Heroes are the people who demonstrate qualities of courage or outstanding achievements and are recognized for their influence in the society. Heroic characters are defined similarly in literatures as well. In the two literatures, Sundiata An Epic of Old Mali and The Odyssey, the main characters shape the plot the stories by their heroic abilities. The literatures also tend to illustrate how heroic qualities were perceived and portrayed in societies. Both characters come from different part of the world yet their plots are similar to each other. The protagonist from two literatures is on a quest to go home and to claim their ancestors’ throne, which is righteously theirs.

The story about Gilgamesh is one of the earliest pieces of world literature dating back to the second millennium B.C.E. This story has been evolved gradually over a long span of a millennium, and has been enjoyed by many nations. The Epic of Gilgamesh teaches life lessons that apply to the past and present while revolving around the question of what it means to be human, and to experience the phenomenon of friendship, love, and death.

Perhaps one of the main reasons the Epic of Gilgamesh is so popular and has lasted such a long time, is because it offers insight into the human concerns of people four thousand years ago, many of which are still relevant today. Some of these human concerns found in the book that are still applicable today include: the fear and concerns people have in relation to death, overwhelming desires to be immortal, and the impact a friendship has on a person’s life. It does not take a great deal of insight into The Epic of Gilgamesh for a person to locate these themes in the story, and even less introspection to relate to them.

They store our heritage. In Mali, there are griots, storytellers who are the living historical record of their community. One griot tells us, “We are vessels of speech. We are the repositories which harbor secrets many centuries old. We are the memory of mankind.”6 As for my own personal history, I would not recall that I once stuck an apple seed up my nose had my parents not told me this precious story. In 6th grade I wrote the biography of my father’s life. To do this, he had to tell me many of his childhood stories. How he got knocked unconscious by a line drive playing baseball. How he had a paper route for $7.50 a week. And how he had to walk to school every day uphill both ways in the snow. I loved sitting with my dad listening to him tell these stories. Some of my favorite memories come from late nights when I couldn’t sleep. We always played this game where I would name three random animals and he would make up a story about it. At the time, they seemed ridiculous, but the meaning of those stories and the times shared with my family meant every

In Sundiata: An Epic of Mali and The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, the importance of storytelling and recording history is prevalent throughout both stories. In Sundiata, the griot serves as the narrator of the story recounting the tale of Sundiata told to him by his father who learned it from his father and so on for countless generations. Griots travel amongst their people using oral history as a way of preserving African culture and heritage throughout generations. They treasure the superiority of oral history above written history because the written word “lacks the warmth of the human voice.” Conversely, Olaudah Equiano explores the written word as a method of spreading his story throughout the world. He writes a biography because it can be translated into countless different languages because his purpose is to educate as many people about his story in an effort to end the atrocities of the slave trade. While the function of the griot is to connect Sundiata with his ancestry via oral storytelling and music, Equiano’s written testimony distances himself from his indigenous African heritage.

     This paper will provide a unique, psychological perspective on a timeless story that is alive with mythological and religious splendor. I must state clearly that this is not the first time that Gilgamesh has been viewed in the light of the philosophy of Jung.  One of two Jung essays I happened upon while preparing my research was the Psychology of Religion. Although I initially felt that this source would provide little help with my paper, I was very mistaken. On the seventeenth page, I have discovered Jung directly referencing Gilgamesh himself.