Great African Reads discussion

Our nonfiction topic in the first quarter of 2021 is pre-colonial African empires. Please join us for a side read The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa.

Who's reading this one? Please share your questions, reflections, and other thoughts with us as you read.

If you'd like to dig deeper, join us for the main Quarterly Nonfiction read, A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution, on this thread.

And lots of other book ideas on the topic in the book selection thread)!

I'm planning to read this starting mid-January. Wish I could read Fistful if shells, but I've got too much on my plate.

I will start this as soon as my copy arrives mid-January.

Ardene wrote: "I'm planning to read this starting mid-January. Wish I could read Fistful if shells, but I've got too much on my plate."

Ardene, surprisingly enough I received my copy this morning :)) So I am ready for our buddy read but could also wait until mid-January as that was our original plan :)) What do you think?

If you don't mind, I'd like to wait for mid-month. I have two engrossing reads going on right now, and don't think I can juggle a third one in. Shall we say starting the week of the 17th?

I hope to be finished with Leo Africanus by then

This is perfectly fine by me! I also did not expect the copy to arrive so early as it was announced for mid-Jan, so I scheduled other books as well :)).
Take your time, enjoy your reads and we will start the week of the 17th! Looking forward to our buddy read!

Great. Thanks!

I have started to read this one. Find myself a little confused by the storytelling/mythology that begins each section. On the one hand I like it because it shows what the culture values, tells itself. On the other hand, it feels like the story gets infused into the facts, which makes me confused about what happens..

Ardene wrote: "I have started to read this one. Find myself a little confused by the storytelling/mythology that begins each section. On the one hand I like it because it shows what the culture values, tells itse..."

I have finished the Authors' Note, the Introduction and Part I on the kingdom of Ghana (first 40 pages).
I thought the Notes and the Introduction are helpful for people who are clueless about this topic (i.e. me :)).
The Notes give a basic overview of the history of research into African history as such (biased, of course, as in the past the scholars were mainly from non-African countries).
The Introduction clarifies the meaning of certain words (Sudan and Sahel) and explains what "Mande" is.
In Part I, among other things, the Soninke (Mande-speaking group of people) oral traditions are explained as is the role of the bard (griot). This was eye-opening for me, as it explains the way of writing of writers such as Véronique Tadjo whose writing is rooted in this oral tradition of storytelling and therefore could be received as "weird" (both formally and as far as the contents is concerned) for someone used to a different tradition of storytelling (me again:)).
I also like the way the authors explain certain aspects by comparing them to what is familiar to us in the West (e.g. oral story telling performed by griots is compared to oral story telling in Ancient Greece (e.g. "The Iliad" by Homer)).
As to your confusion, Ardene, I reckon that in African cultures which focus on oral traditions the "mythos" has the same quality as e.g. the "stories" in the Bible that were told and that also refer to historical events that scholars / archaeologists have already proven to be facts or that they are still busy to verify. Another example could be the discovery of Troy by Schliemann who took Homer's Iliad and Odysee in parts literally and thus was able to find this ancient city.
And I think it is vital to have in mind that the word "history" also includes the word "story" :))

Thanks Orgeluse, I think you are right that the history is rooted in the story as well as what people have been able to demonstrate via archaeology, oral tradition, etc.

I liked this. It was a super fast read. And a nice synopsis of the Ghana, Mali, and Songhai Empires. I had done some research previously on Mansa Musa but have only just recently starting running across references to Sundiata Keita. I find the cultural notes fascinating.

Have you got any recommendations for further readings once we have worked our way through this synopsis of these kingdoms? I would like to stay in this region and with these kingdoms and get some deeper knowledge if possible.

I have just decided to join in the group read of A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution as soon as I will have finished this one here. I had a glimpse into "A Fistful...." over on amazon and saw that the author also focusses on the history of Western to Central Africa. I also found some aspects of what we have already learned from The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay: Life in Medieval Africa mentioned again and examined in more detail, e.g. the role of the griots as preservers of the history of kingdoms, so I thought this already sounded familiar :))

I finished the book yesterday. Though it was published in 1994 and therefore a bit dated, I think it was a good starting point into the history of West Africa. It leaves me wanting to know more which is always a good sign :))
I guess the greatest achievement of this book is its criticism of African history mainly being written by non-Africans and its take on what additional sources should also be taken into consideration when reconstructing African history.
Although there are no inconsistencies in the book I sometimes felt that there could have been more information on certain sources but I guess that it is difficult to get hold of them as they are in archives all around the world...