Monday, October 27, 2008

Griots and Co-Wives

On Friday, we had a musical performance at school to learn about traditional Malian music and celebrate the end of classes for the semester. A group of musicians came, as did several griots who sang praises about our Malian family names. Traditionally, griots sang stories about families and legends, and they played an important role in Malian oral tradition. Today, griots sing at baptisms, weddings, and other special events, so it was really fun to get to take part in such an ancient tradition. The one downside was that they sang in Bambara, so we really had no idea what they were saying about our family names. I imagine, though, it was something along the lines of “Safi Traoré’s family is totally rad, especially because she’s in it.” (rough translation)

The next day, Saturday I had my first interview for my ISP! I met with a woman in a polygamous marriage and talked with her for an hour about everything from raising her children to her rotation of cooking and conjugal duties with her co-wife. It was incredibly interesting. It was slightly difficult because I had to read her the questionnaire that she would have ideally completed privately, but I still got some great data. It won’t be a perfect Psych experiment, but it’s going to be very enlightening in any case.

For the next ten days, we’ll being seeing Mali tourist-style on the “Grand Excursion.” We are visiting Ségou, Djenné, Pays Dogon, and Mopti. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to visit Timbuktu because of security risks of some kind, but the mosque in Djenné is supposedly amazing, as are the cliffs of Pays Dogon. I’m very excited, and I’m sure I’ll have to lots to blog about when I get back! Bon voyage!

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