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Keita

            
             Every African name has a secret meaning and significance, where only the griots hold the knowledge of these names. Keita was a chief tribe of Early Mali during the pre-colonial period. "Keita- is based on the book written by D.T. Niane, Sundiata. It is based on the story of the thirteenth century King of Mali, Sundiata Keita. The history of the ancient Mali king is told through a griot named Djéliba. He is telling the story to a little boy named Mabo Keita to fulfill the historical tradition of a griot. Sundiata Keita is Mabo's ancestor and it is essential for Djéliba to pass down history to the next generation. .
             On the contrary, Mabo's mother is outraged by the storytelling because it has a negative impact on his colonial education. The fact that they live in a modernized, Western civilization, Mabo's mother seemed to have adapted to the ways of the colonizer. When Djéliba first arrived, that evening his mother cooked a white meal, spaghetti. The griot also noticed that Mabo's mother did not do any housework because she hired a black maid named Bintou. The Sankofa principle (claiming the retrospective of one's heritage) seems to play a vital role throughout the film.
             RESPONSE.
             I think the Sankofa lesson was portrayed in the film through the ways of Mabo learning the ancestral past, his mother and his teacher. The griot came to town to fulfill an important duty. It was Djéliba's duty make Mabo Keita aware of his past to reclaim history. It was vital that history would not be forgotten by the ways of the changing world. He was surrounded by a modernized civilization in which he was adapting to colonial customs through education. .
             I believe that Mabo acted accordingly due to the fact that his mother seemed to have forgotten where she came from. I noticed in the film that his mother prepared spaghetti and being a white meal, I think that she needed to reclaim her heritage as well.


Essays Related to Keita

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... since the French leaders have no limit on the number of delegates, it is only fair that the railway men not be limited either. Fa Keita is also looked upon as a man of great importance. His arrest by French militiamen reinforces this idea. From the beginning of the novel the people ... constantly look to Fa Keita for direction and guidance, calling him "the old one". At first when he is arrested the other prisoners treat him with must disrespect, but they ... him for reassurance that everything with the strike is going well, and that their efforts and the injustices brought upon them ...

  • Word Count: 930
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2. African Women and Visual Culture

... a state of complete anarchy until it was occupied by the French. When the Moroccans destroyed the Songhay state, all the northern Soninke states became independent. Three rival descendents of the Keita line ruled the central Mande region (Manding, Karadugu, and Bendugu), but its complete disintegration was not arrested and the country became filled with hundreds of village states of which the ... Sundiata, the great emperor of Mali. Today, filmmaker Dani Kouyate, a member of the Griot family, considers himself to fulfilling his mission through the medium of film. His full length video, ...

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3. Sundiata - Mali Ruler

... she would give him a son who would one day be a mighty king. Maghan Kon Fatta remembered the prophecy and married this lady. She soon gave birth to a son named Sundiata Keita. Sundiata Keita was unable to walk throughout his early childhood. When Sundiata's father died, Dankaran Touman, Sundiata's half brother became king of the Mali Empire. Sassouma Berete, Maghan Kon Fatta's first ... ...

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4. Low-Income Communities and the 2007 Housing Crisis

... education, stemming from a family that was wealthy for many past generations. Low-income communities today primarily have a large percentage of Hispanic and African-Americans. According to Cha-Jua and Sundiata Keita, "In 2008, blacks' net wealth was $20,000 compared to whites' $140,700, or 14.6% of whites' net worth"(2008). People of every ethnicity tried their hand at ... ...

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5. Cultural differences in Corporal Punishment

... , and Ennett, 1998). Victimization is a traumatic progression which may consequence in interpersonal discrepancy such as feelings of powerlessness (Straus & Gimpel, 1994), weakened self-esteem, and self-defeating interpersonal strategies (McGrath, Keita, Strickland, & Russo, 1990; Herman, 1992). These characteristics are also unswerving with depression in psychological profiles (American Psychiatric Association, 1987), alcoholism (Cox, 1987; Goluke, Landeen, & Meadows, 1983), and intra-family mistreatment ... ...

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6. Mansa Musa

... until the middle of the 11th century. As Ghana declined, several short-lived kingdoms lived for influence over the western Sudan region. The small state of Kangaba, led by Sundiata Keita, defeated the nearby kingdom of Susu at the Battle of Kirina in 1235. The tyrannical king Sumanguru Kante led the Susu. The clans of the heartland unified under Sundiata, now ... ...

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7. Oral Tradion

... specific occupations, such as, warrior, ironsmithe, djeli, and more. (Mali- formation of Empire) These occupations were designated to kin groups, leaving the position of mansa (king) for Sundiata's own dynasty, Keita. History also says that Sundiata set up administrative system based on provinces, which accommodated regional desires for a degree of self- government while allowing the mansa to retain ultimate control over ... ...

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8. Contemplating Racism

... relatively distinct units. Individuals by definition are more similar to each other in each unit in all measurable parameters and any individual can serve as a representative of the whole group (Keita and Kittles 534). As previously stated, these groups do not contain identically representative individuals and concepts of race should not be held with any degree of confidence in its validity ... ...

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9. Olympics

... Breaking Point that in 1992 in Paris, which then from Barcelona, another member, Ashwini Kumar of India got a free tour of Loire Valley castles and at the same time Lamine Keita of Mali got the use of an apartment in Paris. Sydney could not be excluded. For the summer Olympics of 2000, they offered $35,000 to Charles Mykora of Kenya ... ...

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