What Is The Theme Of Segou, Les Murailles De Terre?

864 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impacts of slavery on africans

Segou, les murailles de terre, Tome 1 is an epic historical africain novel spanning the years from 1737-1860. It written by maryseconde. This novel raises certain events that have put Africa in turmoil: the influence of slavery, influence of colonialism and the influence of Islam and Christianity.
We have analysed the novel in the light of three aspects mainly about the traore family: the journey of their lives , the kingdom of segou and also Bambara tradition in general.
Firstly we would like to talk about the influence of islam and Christianity on the people of Bambara.There were opposing value systems between the fetish Islam and Christian religion.The traditional religion of the people of segou was one in which there were many gods and …show more content…

the sons of dousika decide whether to convert to islam or defend their traditions , whether to give up their power and join the traders and merchants or to remain within their aristocratic agricultural heritage and whether to fight or surrender to slave trades.
The west and the arabs in their quest of power brought with them their educational institutions. These institutions reconstructed the conditions of Africa. Christianity also affected the people. The people who were captured for slave trade were forcefully converted into Christianity. It can be seen with the example of naba who was kidnapped and sold to the white men in Brazil. He was forcefully baptized into chrisitianity. There came a huge mix of culture, religion and traditions which influenced people of segou. The family of dousika traore also had to face a lot of problems as mentioned …show more content…

The mix of all the religions has created diverse beliefs so much so that people have started to accept change. But not all have accepted the change. A few still felt that their animiste practices is what they should follow. The war against religion is what made segou and the people of the Bambara tribe multicultural. Todays africain society is a result of peoples struggle and failure to the powerful. The people have accepted new religions and their way of life. All this has made, not just segou, but the whole of Africa a multicultural and a religious plural

Show More
Related

  • The Significance of Family in Maryse Conde’s, Segu

    1367 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though, the subject matter of family and religion plays a huge role in the story, they wouldn’t have been as immense if other themes such as migration, labor, colonialism, and commerce weren’t offered as well. In Segu, Maryse Conde represents imperialist aggression and the European colonization of Africa through the tale of a kingdom. Through the pretense of Europe’s greed, and the religions of Christianity and Islam, came Segu’s downfall. What happens to the Bambara family in Segu is the depiction of the changing lives of Africans nationwide. How the people of Africa confronted the change is symbolized by the three sons of a compound ruler. Yet, in part from the misfortunes that are depicted, there lies an appealing story about religion, diversity, and culture in the motherland.

    Read More

  • Segu a Book Written by Maryse Condé

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    The book Segu is about telling the story of Africa as if it was a person wanting an autobiography done before its life is over. The history of Africa during the 18th and 19th century was a really vague topic for me to understand. After reading Segu by Maryse Condé my thinking of this period was made clear by the personal experiences of the Traoré family sons. What I came to understand is this book deceitfully explains the decline of West African countries in the eyes and personal struggles of the Bambara people of Segu. In this case it’s the focus on the travels of the four sons of Dousika Traoré. Tiekoro, Siga, Naba, and Malobali all summoned on personal journeys that gave me a better understanding of what actually happened during the 18th and 19th century time period of people who actually experienced it.

    Read More

  • The Divine Providence of Equiano

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the eighteenth century, innocent victims from native Africa were kidnapped from their homes, the only land they knew, and then taken away on boats to a new world. This new world forced them to become slaves, and crucially took away all their human rights. A survivor of the slave trade from the middle passage is Olaudah Equaino, and he accomplished to publish an autobiography of his life in a book titled, “Equiano’s Travels: The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa the African.” Equiano suffered great oppression when he and his sister were kidnapped from their homeland, Ibo. Once he became accustomed to the European culture, he was taught of the Christian faith. This religion developed him into a believer of the fatalism of Providence, or guidance of human destiny by fate. Christianity has affected Equaino by the way he conducted his life, how he treated others, and found redemption through faith.

    Read More

  • Dichotomy In Ousmane Sembene's 'Black Girl'

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    This seems to illustrate Sembene’s personal storytelling about the patriotism and its effects on the post- colonial African. As the story of Black Girl seems to be nothing more than a tragedy of...

    Read More

  • Olaudah Equiano

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of slavery was accepted as a part of the culture and even in the fields of Isseke, Africa slaves were put to work. “Sometimes indeed, we sold slaves to them, but they were only prisoners of war, or such among us as had been convicted of kidnapping or adultery, and some other crimes, which we esteemed heinous.” (38)

    Read More

  • The Spread of Islam and the Slave Trade

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Segu is a garden where cunning grows. Segu is built on treachery. Speak of Segu outside Segu, but do not speak of Segu in Segu” (Conde 3). These are the symbolic opening words to the novel Segu by Maryse Conde. The kingdom of Segu in the eighteenth and nineteenth century represents the rise and fall of many kingdoms in the pre-colonial Africa. Therefore, Segu indirectly represents the enduring struggles, triumphs, and defeats of people who are of African decent in numerous countries around the world. There are three major historical concepts that are the focus of this book. One is the spread of the Islamic religion. Another is the slave trade, and the last is the new trade in the nineteenth century and the coming of new ideas from Europe (legitimate commerce). However, Segu does not simply explain these circumstances externally, but rather with a re-enactment that tells a story of the state of affairs on a personal level, along with the political one. By doing this, the book actually unfolds many deceitful explanations for the decline of West African countries in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

    Read More

  • Segu a Novel by Maryse Conde

    1540 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the novel Segu, Maryse Conde beautifully constructs personal and in depth images of African history through the use of four main characters that depict the struggles and importance of family in what is now present day Mali. These four characters and also brothers, by the names of Tiekoro, Siga, Naba, and Malobali are faced with a world changing around their beloved city of Bambara with new customs of the Islamic religion and the developing ideas of European commerce and slave trade. These new expansions in Africa become stepping stones for the Troare brothers to face head on and they have brought both victory and heartache for them and their family. These four characters are centralized throughout this novel because they provide the reader with an inside account of what life is like during a time where traditional Africa begins to change due to the forceful injection of conquering settlers and religions. This creates a split between family members, a mixing of cultures, and the loss of one’s traditions in the Bambara society which is a reflection of the (WHAT ARE SOME CHANGES) changes that occur in societies across the world.

    Read More

  • Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many African religions have common tenets. They share a belief in a community of deities, the idea that ancestors serve as a way to communicate with these deities. They also share the belief that society as a whole is organized around values and traditions drawn from a common origin, which was created by one Supreme Being.... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • The African Methodist Episcopal Church

    2467 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although, the Civil war brought about change for Africans, along with this change it brought heart ache, despair and restriction of worship to the African...

    Read More

  • How did European Colonialism affect Kenya?

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    European colonization in Kenya had a large impact on Africa’s religion and culture. Africa had over 100 ethnic groups in which were effected from the colonization. (Doc.2). The Europeans believed that Africans did not have a developed religion and believed in bizarre thing such as witchcraft (Doc.6). But, in the Abaluyia Story of Creation, it told how the world and man was created, which was really like the European religion of Christianity in which Adam and Eve was made in a similar way. This proved that they indeed did have an organized religion (Doc.7). In 1962, 80% of Kenyans believed in the indigenous beliefs, but after in 2002, only 26% of the population believed in the indigenous beliefs. Because Europeans believed in Christianity, Protestant beliefs went from 7% in 1962 to 38% in 2002, and Catholic beliefs went from 3.5% to 28% (Doc. 8). Europeans felt they gave Africans the Christian religion, a “superior” form of government, and a more developed civilization (Background Essay). The colonization in Kenya changed their culture also. Kenyans changed their clothing. Leaders of Kenya including the first president Jomo Kenyatta wore clothing very similar to the clothing of the Europeans (Doc.5). This made people feel that their clothing was not in fashion and they had to follow the way of the Europeans. This decreased the amount of people wearing their regular clothing and the amount of people following their own culture. Kenya’s religion and culture truly converted, because of European colonization.

    Read More

  • Civilization In Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart

    758 Words  | 2 Pages

    Almost every civilizat in the world was at one time colonized by another civilization with differing cultural beliefs. this is just the case in the Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart. were the Umuofia tribe in niger has being colonized by the british empire. which leds to the members of their tribe to either decide to learn to give into the brits and leave there way of life and accept the new christian teachings or have to fight to uphold their way of life that has kept order and peace in the village. by the end of the book many of the natives start rethinking their culture and join the christian church but the main character named Okonkwo all he is know is to work hard and slowly work his way up the umuofia's social ladder but it is now threatened by the the new christians teachings. at the end of the book okonkwo instead of fighting and knowing he will be unsuccessful he decides to kill himself because no matter how strong he is he knows that his fate was either kill himself or have all of his hard work to be

    Read More

  • God's Bit of Wood

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    In conclusion, the book was mostly about the struggle of the Senegal people and how they were being treated unfairly by the railroad companies. People have gone through series of unfortunate events to get to the freedom necessary for life. In this book the people’s need for change conflicted with the management’s desire for unequal rights to continue. Greed had led them to think like this, but the people prevail against all odd so they find independence from oppression.

    Read More

  • Islam In Africa Essay

    1837 Words  | 4 Pages

    The spread of Islam in Africa had taken course from a number of factors, including external and internal forces. After my analyzing of the spread of Islam in Africa, I have gather three main themes that stuck out during the expansion of Islam: Islam and trade, the conversion conditions of Islam, and the economics/political development involving Islam. These three themes provide great insight on how Islam started to spread through out Africa. Through trade the culture and religion of Islam was spread to many different areas. This correlates to the conversion of different people, which helped spread Islam. By these conversions Islam was able to establish Islamic states, which played a factor in the development of strong economic and political

    Read More

  • The Byzantine Empire And Islamic Civilization

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this paper I will discuss the relationship between the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic civilization. I will do this by giving you a brief history of both the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic Caliph. Then I show you how the two cultures developed and influenced one another throughout their history. Let’s start with the Byzantine Empire.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Colonialism in Things Fall Apart

    349 Words  | 1 Pages

    Also, as many of the natives ran to the new Christian faith, many family bonds were broken. Before colonialism took place, family was an important thing in the Igbo society. It was not often that a man would give his son away for any reason, but because of the English coming in and teaching a new faith, many families were forced to give up their sons, daughters, and even some men were forced to give up their wives. The new religion also affected the way certain customs took place in the Igbo society. An example would be when one of the newly converted Christians killed the highly honored snake.

    Read More

More about What Is The Theme Of Segou, Les Murailles De Terre?

Open Document