About this ebook
"This discussion is among the most significant contributions that African studies can make to the contemporary global dialogue on multicultural issues." -- Choice
"It is 'must' reading for anyone who works in African literature today." -- Research in African Literatures
"…an indispensable guide to understanding the producers of art in the Mande world, including the art of the spoken word. The writing and arguments are clear and jargon-free…it will provide a rich harvest of detailed original research…" -- African Arts
"[This] book... is the most impressive effort to look at these groups in comparative perspective. The essays fit together nicely to challenge notions that came out of colonial scholarship." -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"... the volume makes a significant contribution to the social history and ongoing processes of cultural pluralism in West Africa." -- Journal of Religion in Africa
The nyamakalaw -- blacksmiths, potters, leather-workers, bards, and other artists and specialists among the Mande-speaking peoples of West Africa -- play powerful roles in Mande society. This book presents the first full portrait of one of Africa's most powerful and least understood social groups.
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About the author
DAVID C. CONRAD is Associate Professor of History at the State University of New York at Oswego. He is editor and cotranslator with Soumaila Diakité of A State of Intrigue: The Epic of Bamana Segu According to Tayiru Banbera. BARBARA E. FRANK is Assistant Professor of Art History at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She has worked in Mali and Sierra Leone on Mande leatherworking traditions and with women potters in Mali.
