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MANDINKA 487
a surclass of noble lineages who provided the rulers of Mandinka states. Everyone
in Mandinka society today knows which lineages made up this elite group.
Indeed, many members of the one-time ruling lineages are prominent persons
in regional and national society and politics. But there is much more to the freeborn
class than the former rulers. Larger numbers of farmers, merchants, Muslim
clerics and others are among this group of "free" people.
The occupational groupings of artisans, sometimes ambiguously termed
"castes," are endogamous lineages of blacksmiths, leatherworkers and praise
singers (griots). Artisans are set apart in society and are held in fear and awe.
Blacksmiths and workers of leather are revered for their craft secrets and expertise,
which involve spiritual rituals others are incapable of performing. Griots
are social separates, living on the edges of villages and traditionally not allowed
to defile the ground by burial therein. In past days griots were buried in the
enormous trunks of baobab trees. The separation of the griot from the rest of
society is a result of being an entertainer, an occupation of low status in many
societies, and of having intimate ties with persons in positions of power. Over
the years griots have been particularly important members of Mandinka society,
for they have borne the primary responsibility of perpetuating the oral traditions
and cultural heritage of the Mandinka.
Many Mandinka today prefer not to discuss the social category of "slaves."
Nevertheless, there remain persons and lineages identified as slaves, or at least
as descendants of individuals who were slaves in the not too distant past. But
as in most African societies, slavery among the Mandinka is different from the
chattel slavery once practiced in the Americas. During the years of the Atlantic
slave trade, there were indeed "trade slaves," who in most instances were slaves
captured in warfare or otherwise obtained from other societies. However, "domestic"
slavery seems to have been more a state of social and economic dependence.
Some think of it as the status of the kinless in a society where kinship
is vital for social position and economic viability. In fact, there is evidence of
virtually kinless Mandinka nuclear families having "enslaved" themselves to
prominent lineages in times of social upheaval or economic want. Today, although
slavery is outlawed in all countries where Mandinka live, the knowledge
of who is of a slave lineage continues to affect Mandinka social relations. It is
rare for a free-born Mandinka to marry a "slave" boss, regardless of relative
skills and qualifications. Among contemporary rural Mandinka, whether called
slavery or not, dependence, and with it a degree of social inferiority, remains
commonplace.
What makes the various social groupings fit into a larger Mandinka whole is
the seemingly simple ingredient of kinship. The largest common descent group
among the Mandinka is the patrilineally identified clan, which includes all persons
with the same surname who trace their ancestry to the same man. Geographically
dispersed clans are too broad to be effective social units, however; the effective
units are made up of extended patrilineages living together in the same village.
Each such patrilineage has a leader, usually the eldest male member, who presides