Books by Bulman, Stephen
The Sumanguru Kante epic song narrated by Abdulaye Sako in Bamana, enregistred by Staphan Bulman.... more The Sumanguru Kante epic song narrated by Abdulaye Sako in Bamana, enregistred by Staphan Bulman. The original Bamana text is provided by discoursive marking and translated into English.
Papers by Bulman, Stephen
Mande Studies, 2021
More than sixty years after its publication, Niane’s Soundjata ou l’épopée mandingue
remains a s... more More than sixty years after its publication, Niane’s Soundjata ou l’épopée mandingue
remains a standard and popular account of the Manding oral epic. This article seeks to determine the causes of its longevity through a comparison with other Sunjata narratives that Africans published in the period 1930–1960. Factors identified include the narrative’s length, format as a single volume, and claim to the high-status literary genre of epic, alongside the characterization of the hero and a relatively weak focus on women, sexual politics, and the supernatural. New information on the range of sources Niane employed is used to counter widely held assumptions on the nature of the book as a translation or transcription, and to support the hypothesis that Niane sought to model complex
aspects of traditional African oral sapience through his book.
History in Africa, 1997
This checklist of published versions of the Sunjata epic aims to include the widest possible corp... more This checklist of published versions of the Sunjata epic aims to include the widest possible corpus of written variants of the Mande tradition available through publishers, libraries, and in unpublished higher degree dissertations. It builds upon the work of Guy Tombs, Stephen Belcher, John Johnson, David Conrad and Ralph Austen. Entries are arranged alphabetically, by the name of thejeli (griot or bard, plural jeliw) or writer. Included in each entry are (1) the bibliographical reference (and subsequent references if the item has been republished or published in a translation or excerpted form); (2) the name of the performer (or writer); (3) details of the location and date of the performance; (4) details of the recorders) and translators); (5) the format of the published version (including the language(s) and the type of translation); and (6) the coverage of the published version. Coverage is indicated by use of a simple five-fold division of material traditionally included within...
The Journal of African History, 2017
John William Johnson and Fa-Digi Sisòkò, with Charles S. Bird, Cheick Oumar Mara, Checkna Mohamed Singaré, Ibrahim Kalilou Tèra and Bourama Soumaoro, The Epic of Son-Jara: a West African tradition. Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1992, 159 pp., ISBN 0 253 33102 1 hardback, 0 253 2071... Africa, 1994
African Studies Review, 1999
... John William Johnson, Thomas A. Hale, and Stephen Belcher, eds. ... from the Duala of Cameroo... more ... John William Johnson, Thomas A. Hale, and Stephen Belcher, eds. ... from the Duala of Cameroon; from Zaire, the Mongo "Lianja" and the Nyanga "Mwindo." From East Africa there are Swahili tenzi and Rwandan traditions, and from South Africa there is "Chaka." This wide ...
We are delighted to share the findings from this research study. The contribution of participatin... more We are delighted to share the findings from this research study. The contribution of participating learned societies, professional bodies and their members adds an important insight into the key teaching and learning issues faced in higher education through a crucial disciplinary lens. Supporting high quality innovative teaching and learning in the disciplines is a core objective of the HEA's mission and we are excited to be working closely with a whole range of learned societies and professional bodies to respond to the issues identified.
<i>The epic of Sumanguru Kante</i> contains the Bamana text and English translation o... more <i>The epic of Sumanguru Kante</i> contains the Bamana text and English translation of griot Abdoulaye Sako's oral narrative of the life of Sumanguru, recorded in 1997 in Koulikoro (Mali), together with explanatory notes, a scholarly introduction, and sections on the Bamana language and musical accompaniment. Sumanguru is a familiar figure within Manding epic oral traditions about ancient Mali. But while these narratives generally focus on Sunjata Keita, Sako's oral poem is rare in according Sumanguru the central role. In so doing he includes hitherto undocumented episodes relating to Sumanguru's life and role as the ruler of Soso, the little known state said to have flourished in the western Sudan between the fall of ancient Ghana and rise of ancient Mali.
The Epic of Sumanguru Kante contains the Bamana text and English translation of griot Abdoulaye S... more The Epic of Sumanguru Kante contains the Bamana text and English translation of griot Abdoulaye Sako’s oral narrative about Sumanguru, recorded in Koulikoro (Mali), together with explanatory notes, a scholarly introduction, and sections on the Bamana language and musical accompaniment.
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Books by Bulman, Stephen
Papers by Bulman, Stephen
remains a standard and popular account of the Manding oral epic. This article seeks to determine the causes of its longevity through a comparison with other Sunjata narratives that Africans published in the period 1930–1960. Factors identified include the narrative’s length, format as a single volume, and claim to the high-status literary genre of epic, alongside the characterization of the hero and a relatively weak focus on women, sexual politics, and the supernatural. New information on the range of sources Niane employed is used to counter widely held assumptions on the nature of the book as a translation or transcription, and to support the hypothesis that Niane sought to model complex
aspects of traditional African oral sapience through his book.
remains a standard and popular account of the Manding oral epic. This article seeks to determine the causes of its longevity through a comparison with other Sunjata narratives that Africans published in the period 1930–1960. Factors identified include the narrative’s length, format as a single volume, and claim to the high-status literary genre of epic, alongside the characterization of the hero and a relatively weak focus on women, sexual politics, and the supernatural. New information on the range of sources Niane employed is used to counter widely held assumptions on the nature of the book as a translation or transcription, and to support the hypothesis that Niane sought to model complex
aspects of traditional African oral sapience through his book.