Introduction – Towards a History of the Sunjata Epic

Abstract The Sunjata epic is introduced as an oral performance practice of Manding culture and a set of texts, analysable on at least three levels as history, social formation, and personal morality. Two hypotheses are presented to account for its origins, one positing a post Mali creation, the other continuity between imperial Mali and the literary corpus of the late 19th century. The history of the Sunjata epic corpus itself is then traced via European exploration and colonisation; development of relations with traditional rulers; establishment of colonial control; evolution of an apparatus of academic enquiry including historical and ethnographic studies; establishment of an elite education system; and emergence of an African intelligentsia.