Sundiata Women's Roles

Women throughout the world have always had multiple roles in a society. Some roles were more influential, while others remained more domesticated. Yet, throughout both novels, women shared similar duties. Sundiata, by D.T. Niane, describes the journey of King Sundiata Keita’s road to become ruler of the Mali Empire. The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz, recounts the downfall of the Aztec Empire. In the Aztec, Spanish, and Mali Empires women were portrayed as domesticated, were used as a means of creating alliances, and were idols in certain empires. These similarities were common among ancient civilizations during those times. Throughout history women were belittled and mostly treated as maids or servants. As explained by Bernal Diaz, …show more content…
A common way of doing so was to marry off daughters of nobles, who were virgins, to nobles of other nations as a gift or as a sign of a long lasting friendship. For example, in The Conquest of New Spain, Hernan Cortes received a “fine girl” to treat well and if he did, he would in return get “gold and cloaks”. Diaz, the author of The New Conquest of Spain never mentioned anything regarding the Spanish giving up their own women as a part of any type of alliance. This in turn creates the assumption that they didn’t use women as a bargaining tool, unlike the Aztec’s. Similarities are seen in the Mali Empire when a young woman was sent against her will to become the wife of an evil ruler named Soumaoro. In many ways they were looked at as possessions and not so much as an individual person. However, the alliances that were created could also be destroyed. In Sundiata, Soumaoro stole his nephew’s wife and because of that his nephew said he would be on his enemy’s side and turned against him. Thus, there was no guarantee an alliance would …show more content…
The Spanish, who practiced Christianity, prayed to the Virgin Mary and wanted to convert the Aztecs to do the same. The Spanish wanted them to forget about their own idols, which they thought were evil and wicked. Although the Aztec’s worshiped many male figures, they also idolized female deities. For example, two idols were present during the marriages of women in their villages, whom they offered sacrifices to during the ceremony. In Sundiata, although not a deity, Sologon, the mother of Sundiata, was treated with much respect once her son began to walk. In the Mali Empire, it was said that the more pain and sacrifices a mother endures for her child and husband, the greater the child will be. Once realizing how much Sologon did for her children, she earned respect and was no longer treated as the joke of the town. Niane, the author of Sundiata didn’t write about many female idols, which creates the assumption that the Mali Empire focused more on male figures as idols rather than females. There are different variations as to the way they idolized these women, but nonetheless women did play important roles in their