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Cultural diversity complete abstract
Islam In West Africa
Islam In West Africa
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Segu by Maryse Conde
Using specific illustrations from Maryse Conde's novel Segu, this is an essay that discusses how the coming of Islam to Bambar society affected that people's traditional, political, social and economic practices as well as challenging the Bambaras' religious beliefs.
Before the arrival of Islam, Segu and its people, the Bambaras, were extremely different world from what they became under Islamic rule. The Bambaras were proud people with a long history in farming, and the wealthy ones worked with hundreds of slaves and planted millet, cotton and fonio (p. 4). Their currency was cowrie shells and gold dust, and they hadn't even heard of money, which came with the white man. With the coming of Islam, manufactured goods from Europe and North Africa were making their way into Bambara households (p. 324). Conde described it: "It was not unusual to see well-born young men in boots bought from some trader. Many families had silver dishes in their huts, and the Mansa proudly displayed to his friends a service of fine Chinese porcelain that he never actually used." Fetishists, they turned to all manner of objects and all manner of gods to assure their good fortune. For example, Dousika used a tooth twig to increase his physical strength and sexual potency (p. 3). As Sira gave birth, Nya ordered plants be burned to drive away the evil spirts and help the milk come (p. 11).
Much of life was extremely magical, as evidenced in the way Tiekoro reacted when he first saw a man write with a pencil. The animist world of Segu was rocked when the Muslim religion took over. Segu was steeped in the traditions of story telling and the griot's song was the way the society passed on its news and traditions. The Mus...
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...nsulted the ancestors "What blindness, what folly! After such crimes the name of Segu would disappear off the face of the earth. Or else become the name of some miserable little hole dozing on the banks of its river, unheard of (p. 477)," Conde wrote.
The god they worshipped also changed. Fetishists believed that two gods were to be credited for the creation. The god Pemba whirled around and created earth while the god Faro took care of the sky and the waters (p. 14). Islam, of course, teaches that there is just one God, Allah.
Bibliography:
Marys,Condee. Segu. Barbara Bray, trans. (New York: Viking Penguin, 1987).
Kemedijo, Cilas. The Curse of Writing: Genealogical Strata of a Disillusion: Orality, Islam-writing, and Identities in the State of Becoming in Maryse Conde's Segou. Research in African Literatures 27. (1996, December 1): 124.
Nisei Daughter, by Monica Sone. Even with all the mental anguish and struggle, an elemental instinct bound us to this soil. Here we were born; here we wanted to live. We tasted its freedom and learned of its brave hopes for democracy.
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The novel immediately projects the fear and misunderstanding felt by the people of Bambara due to the unexpected early changes that are taking place in Africa. “A white man...There’s a white man on the bank of the Joliba” is exclaimed by Dousika’s pregnant wife Sira (Conde 5). The family is instantly struck with a curious mind but also one that is uneasy. The sight of this white man causes great despair already for the man of the house Dousika: “White men come and live in Segu among the Bambara? It seemed impossible, whether they were friends or enemies!”(Conde 10). The unexpected appearance of this white ...
The first thing people usually do when encountering or learning about a culture or civilization different from their own is to instantly begin comparing and contrasting the two, especially the family unit. The vast differences between Bambara, Fulani, and Muslim cultures in various parts of Afrca alone are great. When compared to a European style of living, it might as well be a whole other world entirely. A striking attribute of the Bambara people displayed in the novel is the size of their family units. A main character that a good portion of the novel surrounds, Dousika Traore, is father of twenty something children bore by legitimate wives and at least two illegitimate children bore by a concubine and another by a slave. On top of his own large family, Dousika lives in a compound with his own brothers along with their own individual families. The interconnectedness of the family and the ties between them are undeniably loyal, however the actual feelings they hold for one another are an entir...
Rahman, Fazlur. Islam & Modernity: Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1982. Print.
In the early 6th century, Muhammad introduced Islam into the Arab world, and asserted that there was only one true God. Islam demanded that believers obey God’s will and laws (Islamic Law, web). By introducing Isla...
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Head, Bessie. “Snapshots of a Wedding.” Unwinding Threads: Writing by Women in Africa. Ed. Charlotte H. Bruner, et al. London: Heinmann Books, 1983. 157-161.
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