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CREATING MALI 61jihad-states and the Bambara kingdoms, which are presented in the nationalmyth (and much scholarly work) as the rightful heirs to the Mali Empire.For a new state, the social and cultural importance of history in wider societyis a solid anvil on which to forge a sense of national unity. If the new state canbe successfully linked to the conception of history as embodying culture andsociety, the national historical myth is made. The Keita regime did its utmost todo so. By giving the Republic the name of its adopted medieval predecessor, theMali Empire, the Republic of Mali presented itself as its rightful heir, and alsoas the rightful heir to its succeeding kingdoms. Modibo Keita, namesake to thefounder of this empire, Sunjata Keita, was without a doubt to any Malian minda descendant of the great imperial family, and he implicitly presented himself assuch. 100 Sunjata’s alleged device ‘Rather dead than dishonoured’ was taken upby the new nation. 101 The colonial period was presented as a short and disturbinginterlude to the natural course of history, with only two positive elements: ithad brought modern education and technical expertise with which the countrycould improve its living standards; and it had created the opportunity to reunitemost of the areas formerly included in the Mali Empire and succeedingkingdoms into a new state. 102 The historical foundation of the Malian nationalmyth is first and foremost based on the all-important living history of theMande and Bambara areas. As Cutter argues, ‘the variety of historical traditionswhich co-exist in contemporary Mali, while not explicitly dismissed, weredenied operative consequence for the contemporary state in the leadership’smyth of unity’. 103 However, the new government was quick to admit that theseMande and Bambara kingdoms had been conquered and transformed by otherethnic groups living in the present-day republic. The Songhay Empire and theFulbe jihad-states, the glorious past of Timbuktu founded by the Kel Tamasheq,as well as Samory Touré’s empire and the Sikasso kingdom of Babemba Traoréall found their place in the national myth, and not without reason. As MamadouGologo, former Minister of Information and the Keita regime’s main ideologistexplained:Nationalism is the awareness of belonging to a nation and the conservation of thisidentity, which is shaped in a rich history. All Malian ethnic groups have had theexperience of state rule, to have been ruled and to have ruled. This experienceexcludes tribalism in national sentiments. 104100 Cutter, C. 1971.101 Snyder, F. 1967.102 Campmas, P. 1978; Snyder, F. 1967.103 Cutter, C. 1971.104 Interview with Mamadou Gologo, former Minister of Information. Bamako, 18/01/1998.