eposvfuЭпосоведениеEpic Studies2782-4861Северо-Восточный федеральный университет имени М.К. Аммосова10.25587/SVFU.2019.13.27693eposvfu-430Research ArticleСтатьиArticlesCUISINE AND POWER IN THE SUNJATA EPIC AND IN WEST AFRICACUISINE AND POWER IN THE SUNJATA EPIC AND IN WEST AFRICAНЕЛЬСОНХанна ВикторияNELSONHannah Victorianelson.hannah@gmail.comДалласский международный университет, Даллас.Соединённые Штаты АмерикиDallas International University, Dallas.United States201930062026018391Copyright © НЕЛЬСОН Х.В., 20262026НЕЛЬСОН Х.В.NELSON H.V.Данная работа распространяется под лицензией Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.https://www.epossvfu.ru/jour/article/view/430

В этой статье обсуждается кухня в Гвинее-Конакри и её представление в литературной традиции Сундьята. Многие ключевые события, в которых участвуют женщины в эпосе «Сундьята», посвящены их роли кулинаров, что дает героям-женщинам ресурсы, которые они используют, чтобы продемонстрировать свою силу и компетентность. Героический статус в эпосе требует как магических способностей, так и общественного признания благодаря элегической похвале, которую поют гриоты (сказители). В этой статье показано, как отношения между героями и героинями раскрывают более глубокое значение гендерной взаимодополняемости в обществе у Манде. Героини не сражаются на открытых равнинах и не ищут следы в чащах, а, скорее, кухня становится их полем битвы, и они часто играют ключевые роли в вопросах национального значения благодаря своей кулинарной деятельности.

В этой литературной традиции Манде кухня не только принимает героические пропорции, но и продолжает играть важную социальную функцию в современной Гвинее. Посредством кулинарного искусства женщины из диаспоры Манде в Конакри демонстрируют художественные способности, которые признаются и уважаются мужчинами. Опираясь на идею взаимодополняемости, автор рассматривает важность кухни как элемента женской самоидентичности в современной Гвинее. Адаптированная переработка магистерской диссертации Х. В. Нельсон, выполненная в Международном университете Далласа, рассматривает деятельность кухни как с помощью библиотечных исследований, включающих сравнение различных опубликованных версий Сундьята, так и с помощью полевых работ в Гвинее-Конакри, где автор сосредоточил внимание на ценностях и перспективах кухни. Во время полевой работы Нельсон изучила кухню и анализирует ее здесь, используя подход «семь линз», чтобы подчеркнуть ее художественные элементы и культурную значимость.

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.

ЭпосСундьятакухняГвинеяполженские исследованиягриоты (сказители)героиниизучение МандемагияEpicSunjatacuisineGuineagenderwomen’s studiesgriotsheroinesMande studiesmagicReferencesBird C. S. and Kendall M. B. The Mande hero. In: Explorations in African Systems of Thought. Edited by I. Karp & C. S. Bird. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1980, pp. 13-26.Bird C. S. and Kendall M. B. The Mande hero. In: Explorations in African Systems of Thought. Edited by I. Karp & C. S. Bird. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1980, pp. 13-26.Johnson J. W. The epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1992, 148 p.Johnson J. W. The epic of Son-Jara: A West African Tradition. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1992, 148 p.Belcher S. P. Epic Traditions of Africa. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1999, 276 p.Belcher S. P. Epic Traditions of Africa. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1999, 276 p.Conrad D. C. Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, 2004, 206 p.Conrad D. C. Sunjata: A West African Epic of the Mande Peoples. Indianapolis, Hackett Publishing Company, 2004, 206 p.Hale T. A. Griots and Griottes. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1998, 410 p.Hale T. A. Griots and Griottes. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1998, 410 p.McNaughton P. R. Language, art, secrecy and power: The semantics of dalilu. In: Anthropological Linguistics. No. 24 (4), 1982, pp. 487-505 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30027648 (accessed March 15, 2018).McNaughton P. R. Language, art, secrecy and power: The semantics of dalilu. In: Anthropological Linguistics. No. 24 (4), 1982, pp. 487-505 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30027648 (accessed March 15, 2018).Brett-Smith S. C. When is an object finished? The creation of the invisible among the Bamana of Mali. In: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. No. 39, 2001, pp. 102-136 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20167525 (accessed October 25, 2017).Brett-Smith S. C. When is an object finished? The creation of the invisible among the Bamana of Mali. In: RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics. No. 39, 2001, pp. 102-136 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20167525 (accessed October 25, 2017).Camara B. The hunter in the Mande imagination. In: Mande Studies. No. 10, 2008, pp. 121-132 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44080987 (accessed October 8, 2017).Camara B. The hunter in the Mande imagination. In: Mande Studies. No. 10, 2008, pp. 121-132 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44080987 (accessed October 8, 2017).Kouyaté S. Soumaoro Kanté. Condé-sur-Noireau. France, Société africaine d’édition et de communication, 2015, 112 p. (In French lang.)Kouyaté S. Soumaoro Kanté. Condé-sur-Noireau. France, Société africaine d’édition et de communication, 2015, 112 p. (In French lang.)Belcher S. P. Stability and Change: Praise-poetry and Narrative Traditions in the Epics of Mali. PhD Dissertation, Brown University, 1985, 405 p.Belcher S. P. Stability and Change: Praise-poetry and Narrative Traditions in the Epics of Mali. PhD Dissertation, Brown University, 1985, 405 p.Gentile J. S. The Mythic Storyteller: Word-Power and Ambivalence. In: Storytelling, Self, Society. Wayne State University Press, 2011. No. 7 (2), pp. 148-160.Gentile J. S. The Mythic Storyteller: Word-Power and Ambivalence. In: Storytelling, Self, Society. Wayne State University Press, 2011. No. 7 (2), pp. 148-160.Hoffman B. G. Gender ideology and practice in Mande societies and in Mande studies. In: Mande Studies. 2002, No. 4, pp. 1-20 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44093481(accessed October 8, 2017).Hoffman B. G. Gender ideology and practice in Mande societies and in Mande studies. In: Mande Studies. 2002, No. 4, pp. 1-20 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44093481(accessed October 8, 2017).Conrad D. C. Mooning armies and mothering heroes: Female power in the Mande epic tradition. In: In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Epic as History, Literature, and Performance. Edited by R. A. Austen. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1999, pp. 189-230.Conrad D. C. Mooning armies and mothering heroes: Female power in the Mande epic tradition. In: In Search of Sunjata: The Mande Epic as History, Literature, and Performance. Edited by R. A. Austen. Bloomington and Indianapolis, Indiana University Press, 1999, pp. 189-230.Highfield J. B. Food and Foodways in African Narratives: Community, Culture, and Heritage. New York, Routledge, 2017, 228 p.Highfield J. B. Food and Foodways in African Narratives: Community, Culture, and Heritage. New York, Routledge, 2017, 228 p.Innes G. Sunjata: Three Mandinka Versions. London, University of London, 1974, 326 p.Innes G. Sunjata: Three Mandinka Versions. London, University of London, 1974, 326 p.Osseo-Asare F. Food culture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Westport, CN, Greenwood, 2005, 191 p.Osseo-Asare F. Food culture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Westport, CN, Greenwood, 2005, 191 p.Schrag B. How Artists Create Enduring Traditions. In: Resiliency and Distinction: Beliefs, Endurance, and Creativity in the Musical Arts of Continental and Diasporic Africa. A Festschrift in Honor of Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje. Edited by K. L. Browne and J. N. Kidula. Richmond, CA, MRI Press, 2013, pp. 415-444.Schrag B. How Artists Create Enduring Traditions. In: Resiliency and Distinction: Beliefs, Endurance, and Creativity in the Musical Arts of Continental and Diasporic Africa. A Festschrift in Honor of Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje. Edited by K. L. Browne and J. N. Kidula. Richmond, CA, MRI Press, 2013, pp. 415-444.Schrag B. Creating Local Arts Together: A Manual to Help Communities Reach their Kingdom Goals. Pasadena, CA, William Carey Library, 2013, 282 p.Schrag B. Creating Local Arts Together: A Manual to Help Communities Reach their Kingdom Goals. Pasadena, CA, William Carey Library, 2013, 282 p.Osseo-Asare F. “We eat first with our eyes”: On Ghanaian Cuisine. In: Gastronomica. 2002, No. 2 (1), pp. 49-57 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/gfc.2002.2.1.49 (accessed March 16, 2018).Osseo-Asare F. “We eat first with our eyes”: On Ghanaian Cuisine. In: Gastronomica. 2002, No. 2 (1), pp. 49-57 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/gfc.2002.2.1.49 (accessed March 16, 2018).Hoffman B. G. Gender ideology and practice in Mande societies and in Mande studies. In: Mande Studies. 2002, No. 4, pp. 1-20 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44093481(accessed October 8, 2017).Hoffman B. G. Gender ideology and practice in Mande societies and in Mande studies. In: Mande Studies. 2002, No. 4, pp. 1-20 [Web resource]. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/44093481(accessed October 8, 2017).

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest present.