Heritage Of The Griot Analysis

Keita: Heritage of the Griot is a historical fiction that takes place in the geographical location of Africa. The film focuses on a storyteller who aims to deliver ancestral heritage to Mabo Keita (the young boy). The storyteller, whose name is Djeliba captures Mabo’s attention by discussing the origins of his name and significance of the country's history (Kouyaté). The conflicts in this film were twofold; the rejection of non-western history by Africans and Mande King’s first wife whom has a difficult time dealing with Sundiata replacing her son for the King’s throne; revealing other African values.
Conflicts in Miseducation. According to Miller, “Griots” serves the purpose to travel and to spread words of importance throughout the land in West Africa. The tasks includes: “memorizing chronologies, cultural traditions, and legal precedence to advise kings and state leaders. Griots also travel and perform theater and praise-songs throughout empires to spread …show more content…
It is under the Mali Empire that Sundiata Keita emerged (Miller 354). The history that the Griot (Djeliba) delivers to Mabo includes tales of Sundiata’s purpose before his existence. The tale includes that of the two brothers killing the buffalo and breeding with her flesh (Sologon, the ugly one). King’s first wife is bitter and mistreats Sundiata as a child and shows obvious signs of jealousy (because her son wouldn’t succeed Mande King). Sundiata is cripple as a child, the first wife Sassouma is to blame. Miller discusses how Sundiata overcomes obstacles from Sassouma’s witches. This is evidence of African spirituality along with how the buffalo and Sologon both possesses supernatural human and animalistic characteristics. The conflict ends when Sundiata learns to walk on his own. “Sundiata has learned everything from his mother. The plants, the poisons, the best remedies, the language of the wild beasts and of the birds. From then on Sassouma Berete is very worried.”