Introduction

The Sundiata epic tells the story of how Sundiata founded and ruled over the Malian empire between c. 1235 and 1255. Previously, this story existed solely in the form of oral history, as the tale was passed down through each generation, however, griot Djeli Mamoudou Kouyaté and Historian D. T. Niane transformed it into a “prose novel.”1 Though some aspects of the epic may seem mythical to the point of fiction, Sundiata was, indeed, a real man who walked this Earth and who ruled over the great nation of Mali. Solidifying this epic in a written form separated it from its intended form of fluidity, as tellings always changed slightly for its audience, but it simultaneously increased its accessibility to both Malians and the world. 

The primary players within the epic are men who struggle against each other to claim power and lead the nation. Nonetheless, female voices are distinctly present as well. If we look at Sundiata as simply a text concerning a man coming to power, we lose much of its significance. It is also the story of a people becoming an empire, containing the intricacies of Malian social structures, political power, and gender relations.

This acknowledgment leads us to the primary question within this essay: What does the Sundiata epic reveal about how gendered relations play a role in authority and power within Malian society? I will explore this question through 3 analytical lenses: ruling power, maternity, and marriage. The epic depicts the final period of a transition of the nature of power within the Mande world—from allowing women to hold seats of power to reserving them solely for men. Women are highly involved in this story, yet they are held back from power by men. Furthermore, because the tale was not told to us by women, female perspective is largely unavailable except through the mouths of men. 

Political Power: The Right to Rule

Sundiata was born to Sogolon, who was married to King Maghan Kon Fatta. As a child, Sundiata and his mother were exiled from their home by his stepmother, Sassouma Bérété, called the “queen mother,” who continuously plotted evil against the two.2 When Sundiata returned from his exile, he was a grown man with a “voice [that] carried authority, arm[s of] iron, he was the husband of power.”3 A highly gendered, physically masculine expression of jurisdiction defined the perception of power within this text. Sundiata also clings to a divine prophecy that grants him authority as king:

“If it is foretold that [his] destiny should be fulfilled in such and such a land, men can do nothing against it…[Sundiata’s destiny] was bound up with that of Mali. Neither the jealousy of a cruel stepmother, nor her wickedness could alter for a moment the course of great destiny.”4 

The prophecy acknowledges both men and women as threats to Sundiata’s authority in Mali, but, in the same breath, it dismisses them. While the prophecy proclaims that, very generally, ‘men’ could not interfere with Sundiata’s path to power, it only names one woman (his stepmother) who might attempt to disrupt his right to rule. This distinction is incredibly important because it frames all men as individuals who might have a right to rule or exercise influence, and it frames this one woman as an improbable exception to the general truth that women could not have political influence. 

The Sundiata epic must be understood in a larger context of the Mande and Islamic world.  According to African Historian Michael Gomez, who wrote a text attempting to understand the Sundiata epic, “Mande traditions in other areas where Islam becomes significant also include discussions of women who assume the mansaya or rulership.”5 Many kingdoms even claimed female rulers as a part of their history. For example, the kingdom of Niumi “boasts twelve women who consecutively held the mansaya.”6 In the Mande world, women acted as heads of state, exercising political power as leaders of kingdoms. However, after the adoption of Islam, women in seats of power became less common in West Africa. The epic encapsulates this gendered transition of power. 

The central conflict of the epic details a power struggle between Soumaoro Kanté, the ‘Sorcerer King’, and Sundiata in their attempt to stake claim over Mali. They are both men, but they are held up by women. Gomez wrote, “The subsequent close association between [Sundiata] and his mother…reflects the degree to which [Sundiata] is the product of women.”7 He was born to a woman, he was helped by women, and he ultimately would not have fulfilled his destiny without the role women played in his life.  

Outside the Soumaoro-Sundiata conflict, the epic sheds light on another instance of a royal power struggle. Do-Kamissa, after being deprived of her inheritance by the king of Do, her brother, transformed herself into a buffalo and killed 107 men in anger.8 This lamentation of the loss of political power and violent behavior by Do-Kamissa seemingly validates the anger of women. However, it represents a shift in power from being relatively gender-fluid to power being reserved just for men.

Maternity

While the epic exhibited a stripping of female political power, women were able to find respect and authority as mothers. This respect was ingrained in the very constitution of Mali, which was a legal document created in 1235 by a group of nobles. Article 14 decreed, “Never offend women, our mothers.”9 This declared that women were inherently involved in the process of giving life to all people, which then produced the expectation of respect that women deserved as a result of their maternal power. Childbirth is solely a feminine forte, which has made women indispensable to the nation-building process. 

Within the Sundiata epic, Sogolon gains the affection and attention of her husband, King Maghan Kon Fatta while pregnant with Sundiata.10 Sogolon’s pregnancy, as Gomez noted, “usher[ed] into the world a person of unprecedented power and grandeur.”11 Sogolon’s influence in Sundiata’s life, particularly his early years, is also incredibly important. Without his mother, Sundiata may never have walked, which would have seriously hindered his attempts to defeat Soumaoro. As a mother, Sogolon forever aligned herself with power, with a dynastic legacy. 

Marriage

Like maternity, marriage carried power. Marriage is inherently gendered within the Sundiata epic because unions only involve men and women. Sundiata’s destiny, which is “bound up with that of Mali”, was dependent on the marriage of his mother to his father and the resulting pregnancy. 

As seen in the epic, men chose their wives, and women had no choice but to marry the man who chose them. This reality granted men an excess of power over women from the beginning of the relationship. Furthermore, the expectation of ‘marital duty’, that is the consummation of union through sexual intercourse, created an unbalanced power dynamic within relationships. Sogolon, in the first week of her marriage to her husband, refused to consummate, which angered him greatly.12 One night, taking advantage of his authority within their relationship, Naré Maghan tricked Sogolon and frightened her so much that she fainted, and while she was unconscious, he raped her.13 It was from this sexual assault that Sundiata was conceived; therefore, the Malian empire was born of the physical exploitation of women, from the unequal power within marriage. 

However, while men held the majority of visible power within relationships, women in the Sundiata epic attempted to gain social and political power by entering into advantageous unions. For example, after King Gnemo Diarra announced that Maghan Kon Fatta could have the “most beautiful maiden in Do” to express gratitude that he had killed the rampaging buffalo, “all the daughters of Do wore their festive dress,” adorning themselves in gold and silver to attempt to catch the eye of Maghan Kon Fatta.14 Marriage had benefits for women including legitimizing their ability to be mothers. It could also align them with royalty or nobility, which carried an air of political influence. These women of Do were described in their efforts to acquire a good husband, one who was respected as a result of his valor. Here, women exercised their choice in wanting to be chosen, proving that marriage was not always forced upon an unwilling woman, but instead, seemingly orchestrated by them. 

The Limitations of the Sundiata Epic

The Sundiata epic was performed and remembered by griots, who were, at the time, exclusively male. Thus, all the details of gendered relations within the story removed the female perspective from the telling of female stories. Furthermore, the majority of what this essay discussed regarding history of female political power within the Mande world was taken from Gomez’s study of the Sundiata text. The epic did not focus much on the topic, only including half a line about Do-Kamissa’s inheritance. 

We must understand that the Sundiata epic was not meant to be a historical text in the sense that it cataloged empirical truth. Instead, it was created to celebrate the history and legacy of a great empire, giving us insight into how Malians understood themselves based on that history. The depictions of gendered relations may have been manipulated to prove some sort of point, to advance the plot, or even to heighten the grandeur of Sundiata. We will never know. However, acknowledging this possibility allows us to understand what liberties griots were able to take without their audience becoming skeptical of the story. This allows us to be more sure that the epic of Sundiata was reflective of the Mande reality of its day. 

Conclusion

The Sundiata epic revealed how, in the Mande world, authority was incredibly gendered, illustrating how important women were to the building of an empire, to the rise of a king. It also depicted the abuse and marginalization of women by men in their attempt to capitalize on power. The erasure of women from the field of history is not reflective of an accurate past. Whether or not textbooks proclaim it, women have always been involved in power—whether physically, influentially, or maternally, which is encapsulated in this story.