ASC-075287668-2887-01

62 CHAPTER 1How far Malian national identity was perceived to be ‘Mande’ or ‘Bambara’by the new republic’s inhabitants is a pertinent question. Most elements used inMalian nationalist discourse and identity-building were taken from Mande cultureand history. Even the name of the new republic is indicative. Many coloniesin Africa changed their name after independence, but although referencesto the past were gladly made, most sought historically neutral names to avoidenhancing possible ethnic tension. Hence, Dahomey, a colony created largelyaround the kingdom with the same name, changed its name to Benin, a wellknownpre-colonial kingdom which territory was located to the west ofDahomey. Although the Gold Coast Colony was more or less shaped around theAshanti kingdom, the colony renamed itself Ghana after an empire that hadbeen located at the upper Senegal River hundreds of kilometres to the north.Soudan Français however, opted to adopt the name of an empire, which hadindeed largely been situated on the same territory as the new republic. However,the new republic included land that once formed part of other empires, such asSonghay, the name of which was explicitly not adopted. The name of the newrepublic reflected the dominance of its core populations: the Mande andBambara. Mali was explicitly presented as the rightful heir not only of the MaliEmpire, but also, more broadly, of a Mande civilisation whose glory anddignity, robbed by colonialism, had to be restored. Malian schoolbookspresented the history of the new nation almost uniquely through the history ofthe Mali Empire and other Mande kingdoms, leaving some space to theSonghay Empire, and largely leaving aside the complex histories of the manyother communities in the republic. The imaginary glue holding the variouspeoples of the country together consisted of frequent reference to Sunjata’sempire-building, thus reflecting an ‘official nationalism’ in Anderson’s meaningof the term. 105 Certain Mande social structures, such as the village youngmen’s associations known as tonw, were conscripted into ‘the Revolution’ andbecame the vectors of modernity. In this way, Malian national culture wasMande culture, and Mali’s national character was the Mande national characterof industriousness and self-sacrifice.The new regime stimulated the creation of local troupes artistiques to promotenational cultural heritage in music, song, and dance. Frederick Lamp discussesthe function of similar groups in neighbouring Guinée (Conakry). Heargues that the theatrical troupes in Guinée and the attention given to theirperformances served primarily ‘the “Malinke-ization” of all of Guinée – atheart, the expansion of Islamic Malinke cultural hegemony’. 106 Cutter has describeda similar situation for the Keita regime’s cultural policies through105 Anderson, B. 1991: 83-111.106 Jansen, J. & C. Zobel, eds, 1996; Lamp, F. 1996.