THINGS THE GRIOT SAID

FEMME BAMBARA - Bambara Woman.

THE GRIOTS OF WEST AFRICA

FEMME MALINKE 

1,000 – wuli kiliŋ

My brother and I took these photos March 15, 2017, my Grandma Flossie’s 93rd birthday. I was just a few months fresh from my 2016 trip, still feeling like my heart was in Senegal. 

Samory Touré (1830-1900) of the emergent Mandinka Empire in Guinea/Mali/Sierra Leone and northern Côte d'Ivoire was born in Guinea. As his new empire was taking off, Touré began to forge a new political order and ran up against the French imperialists who were also trying to extend their territories inland from their base in Dakar, Senegal.

Time Hetherington, Libera (Mandinka Man)

Fa, if we were in Juffure, could I be a Mandinka warrior? No, a woman cannot be a warrior in Juffure.

For a Mandinka warrior, one horse is worth 20 men in battle. I know you have been taught to ride by your family, but not a horse like this. He is a king of a royal line that goes back to the great kings of Mali.