Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- 9 Introduction:
- 10 Singing Songs and Performing Dances with Embedded Historical Meanings in Somalia
- 11 Song Lyrics as Pathways to Historical Interpretation in Northwestern Côte d’IvoireThe Case of Kabasarana
- 12 Slave Voices from the Cameroon Grassfields
- 13 Silent Testimonies, Public Memory
- 14 In Remembrance of Slavery
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
11 - Song Lyrics as Pathways to Historical Interpretation in Northwestern Côte d’IvoireThe Case of Kabasarana
from Part Two - The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
Book contents
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword Beyond the Printed Word
- Introduction Finding the African Voice
- Part One Remembering Slavery and the Slave Trade
- Part Two The Verbal Arts and Everyday Objects
- 9 Introduction:
- 10 Singing Songs and Performing Dances with Embedded Historical Meanings in Somalia
- 11 Song Lyrics as Pathways to Historical Interpretation in Northwestern Côte d’IvoireThe Case of Kabasarana
- 12 Slave Voices from the Cameroon Grassfields
- 13 Silent Testimonies, Public Memory
- 14 In Remembrance of Slavery
- Part Three Documenting Our Own Histories and Cultural Practices
- Part Four Slavery Observed: European Travelers’ Accounts
- Part Five Administrative Records
- Part Six Legal Records
- Part Seven Recorded Encounters with the Enslaved: Christian Workers in Africa
- Part Eight Documents from Muslim Africa
- Part Nine Living with the Past
- Index
Summary
This chapter examines the use of song lyrics as a supplement to oral traditions often used in the reconstruction of African history. The oral traditions and song lyrics that the author collected among the Malinke peoples in several districts of northwestern Côte d'Ivoire in the 1980s and 1990s shed light on relations between masters and subordinate classes in Kabasarana from its formation, circa 1848 to the liberation of captives during the first decade of the twentieth century. The lyrics were rich with revelations about the negotiated terrain of power and authority between rulers and the vanquished. Passed along from generation to generation, the lyrics provided a pathway to understanding the Malinke worldview of social stratification, power, and subordination. The songs of Kabasarana reveal aspects of the tensions between the freeborn, the enslaved, and the caste members of society.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- African Voices on Slavery and the Slave Trade , pp. 129 - 136Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013