Elitism vs populism in the West African epic: the politics of 'Sunjata'.

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dc.contributor.authorAusten, Ralph
dc.date.accessioned1994-07-13T13:15:28Z
dc.date.available1994-07-13T13:15:28Z
dc.date.issued1994-07-13T13:15:28Z
dc.descriptionPaper presented at the Wits History Workshop: Democracy; Popular Precedents, Practice and Culture, 13 -15 July 1994. Copyright freeen_US
dc.description.abstractThe epic is a political genre whose function is to calibrate the power of the masculine warrior, or aristocracy, at the expense of other social groups. This is the understanding of the African oral narrative the Mende 'Sunjata'. It focuses on the conquering founder of the Mali Empire. The dominant idea of the epic is of hunting, limited in membership to the male. Despite this the appeal of the epic is in its subversive relationship to the hegemonic patriarchal order.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10539/7582
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesWits History Workshop paper;9
dc.subjectElitismen_US
dc.subjectPopulismen_US
dc.subjectWest Africaen_US
dc.subjectAfrica, Westernen_US
dc.subjectSunjata (African epic)en_US
dc.subjectMende (African people)en_US
dc.titleElitism vs populism in the West African epic: the politics of 'Sunjata'.en_US
dc.typeWorking Paperen_US
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