Soundiata Keïta

Summary

Dominique Pagani mentions Sundiata Keita mainly as the hero of the Manding epic, which in his view plays the role of the Iliad in West Africa1. He regularly calls him the West African "Achilles"2 and points out that griots still sing of his deeds as a conqueror. One motif comes back across several sessions: the role of the blacksmith. Sundiata is plunged into the forge, linked with the underworld3, and it is the blacksmith who gives him the weapon of his victory. On this point he compares him to the Germanic epic, where the forged weapon also makes the hero invulnerable4. These mentions come up in discussions of mythology, truth and memory. In 2024, in a session on the Sahel and imperialism, he presents him in more historical terms, as the founder of one of the greatest African empires. There he mentions a caravan of gold that reportedly brought prices down in Cairo5.

1. 1Mythology and truth8 Aug 2015 · 6:14
2. 2#5 Benefits and harms of amnesia…19 Nov 2020 · 29:37
3. 3Mythology and truth8 Aug 2015 · 45:12
4. 4Michel Foucault2 May 2019 · 50:34
5. 5Sahelian Africa and imperialism: Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger23 Mar 2024 · 1:01:37

Summary produced automatically from 9 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.