Epic of Sundiata: The Role of Families and Community in Mali Empire

The Oral Tradition
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
The Oral Tradition
Role of Community in a Particular Culture
The epic of Sundiata is not a story of Sundiata's life only. It is also concerned with the entire community in the Mali Empire. The novel tells the audience how the empire of Mali was built through the effort of the community as a whole. Sundiata fought the enemies, conquered and unified his community. The story is about the creation and formation of alliances both at the family and at the community level. The alliances are created through marriages and having children who are brought up to be the defending men and women of their community. A broader picture, the role of a community is the creation of a vast empire through procreation and unity. King Sundiata strength in the formation of strong personal and communal relationships contributed to his success in the building of the massive empire. Therefore, this implies that cultivating the family and community relationships is vital in uniting a large group of people.
Creation of families through marriages and having children is the significant way in which the story’s characters have built their communities. Niane, Chappel and Jones wonders, “Oh, no who can recognize the little child the great king to come” (2006). This was the prophecy of the great king Sundiata that would be born of his father the king and an ugly woman Sogolon. That means that the role of the community is to continue procreating and increasing in number. A society can only have good rulers who are born and raised in such communities by responsible families. Through the story of Sundiata, it can be seen how the society played a significant role is to bring up Sundiata who later became their leader.
The marriages create family units which are the essential building blocks of the society. The community at large is the dominant driving force of politics in a nation. Since the story of Sundiata has its setting in a patriarchal society, the women are used as the unifying factor in society. Men use women and their marriages as tools for politics. Men also interchange the women in their community through intermarriages for them to consolidate power and build strong alliances. Therefore the family, society, and politics cannot be separated. For example, the text shows us how the empire of Mali benefited from the marriage between Sundiata’s father and Sogolon. Sundiata’s father accepted to take Sogolon as his wife because of the prophecy that the son of Sogolon who was Sundiata would conquer many nations and unite the Mali Empire. As Niane, Chappell, and Jones have put it clear that “our actions is not for us for it is commanded of us” (2006). The union comes not just because of a desire to have a wife but because the union would produce the leader who would serve the Mali empire for generations to come.
The role of the community is to nurture leaders who would later defend them when they grow up. In the story, we are told of the weakness of Sundiata who was crippled and only could walk when he attained the age of seven. Niane, Chappell, and Jones indicate that “Sologon's son had a slow a difficult childhood” (2006). Th...