M. Chastanet — At the Sources of the History of the Soninke Country: The Case of Kingi (Mali).
In La graine de la parole, the subject of this article, Mamadou Diawara discusses the various types (whether from families or specialists) of historical oral traditions in the Kingi state from the fifteenth till the mid-nineteenth century. He relates these traditions' social and political functions to social changes, and analyzes the more or less formal ways in which they have been transmitted. Emphasis is laid on the roles of women and slaves.