CUISINE AND POWER IN THE SUNJATA EPIC AND IN WEST AFRICA

Abstract

This article discusses cuisine in Guinea-Conakry and its representation in the literary tradition of Sunjata. Many key events involving women in the epic of Sunjata center on their role as cooks and cuisine provides female protagonists with the resources they use to demonstrate their heroic abilities and competence. Heroic status in the epic requires both magical abilities and social recognition through elegiac praise sung by griots. This article shows how the relationship between heroes and heroines reveals the deeper Mande value of gender complementarity in society. Heroines do not fight on the open plains or track game in the bush, but rather the kitchen becomes their battlefield and they often play key roles in matters of national significance through their culinary activities.

 Not only does cuisine take on heroic proportions in this Mande literary tradition, but it also continues to play an important social function in modern Guinea. Through the activity of cuisine, Mande diaspora women in Conakry demonstrate artistic ability that is both acknowledged and respected by men. Building on the idea of complementarity, Nelson considers the importance of cuisine as an element of feminine identity in modern-day Guinea. Adapted from Nelson’s 2018 master’s thesis at Dallas International University, this article explores the activity of cuisine both through library research involving comparisons of a variety of published versions of Sunjata, and through fieldwork in Guinea-Conakry where Nelson focused on values and perspectives regarding cuisine. During her fieldwork, Nelson studied cuisine and she analyzes it here using the “seven lens” approach to highlight its artistic elements and cultural significance.

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