Paper Topics and Examination Questions on Sundiata

1. Sundiata draws his strength from many sources--the strength that allows him to liberate his people and provide them safety and the law. Describe the sources of his strength, and from that, what the griot is teaching us.

2. Compare the role of the women in the beginning of Exodus, chapter 2, to the roles of Sogolon and Nana Triban in the Epic of Sundiata. Why are these women so important to the lives of the respective protagonists?

3. Compare the characters of Sundiata and Job. How do they experience adversity, success, and fate?

4. Compare the role of the Griot in the Sundiata to the role of the author of Gospel of Matthew? How are the roles of these chronicler-advocate-story-tellers similar and different? What problems of interpretation arise for their later audiences?