Thursday, January 26, 2012

Putting in down on paper: Books on Mali

Image source.
While checking out some information on the Fulbright, I found this site and the book pictured above (found on Amazon here).  It was written by a woman who completed a Fulbright in Mali on the role of Islam on education.  Looks good!

I was inspired to compile a list of books on Mali - have you read any?  I've browsed through some - I will try to check them off my list this year!
 
Monique and the Mango Rains.

A book used by educators in Virgina written by Andrew Prophett, "the esteemed educator responsible for the development of Virginia’s new innovative elementary-level Mali curriculum."  Go Virginia!

Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali.

A book about West African empires - Mali included!

A beautifully illustrated children's book about Mansa Musa: "one of Mali's most celebrated kings."

I am currently reading Segu by Maryse Conde and am learning more about the root of the joking cousins tradition.  When I googled 'joking cousins + Mali' this is what I found - neat!  Audra (and Ben) and I were volunteers together!


Waiting for Rain

I bet this book on Bogolan is filled with beautiful images. 

Dancing Skeletons - a book by a biocultural anthropologist (never heard of that before!) about working with malnourished children in West Africa.  Anyone read it?

Do you have any favorite Mali/West Africa books?  Any recommendations for my reading list?

4 comments:

  1. I love this compilation, Jennifer! I've been wanting to read "To Timbuktu." Do you have a copy?

    Dancing Skeletons is a great book and one of the only anthropological accounts about Mali written by an American (though we should ask Bodil if she knows of others). I used it a lot during my senior thesis and when thinking through and interpreting some of my experiences in Mali...

    Here's a good one for those interested in Malian music! http://www.amazon.com/Griot-Time-Banning-Eyre/dp/1566397588/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327594576&sr=1-3

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey Alys! Thanks a lot - I appreciate the addition and I bet it would be a good gift for my Dad to connect to Mali since he's a musician. I do not have the book but I'll look into getting it! I really want to get the children's book one day on Mansa Musa, Rebecca has a copy and it's just beautiful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Jennifer,
    I'm thinking about going into the peace corps and would like to go to the west african region, but i'm a bit concerned about some of the events that have happened there and i would like to ask you a question. Has the PC been keeping you informed about events such as the attack by tuareg rebels on a northern town in mali that recently happened? Or about al-qaeda's prescence there? Hope so, if not, I hope I didn't just give you a scare.
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  4. :) Thanks for reading and good luck with your application! Peace Corps, as I'm sure you've read, keeps volunteers' safety & security as their number one priority. We're informed of events happening in Mali and receive text message alerts for things we need to know. And we have the internet, too so we can read the stories about Mali as well! (PS - those are my opinions!)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...