PHILIP CURTIN The Uses of Oral Tradition in Senegambia Maalik Sii and the Foundation of Bundu It is well known that history serves many purposes not least of which is to influence present action by inculcating appropriate beliefs about the past History taught European schools was and sometimes still is designed to teach useful lessons about patriotism political wisdom and moral rectitude not to tell the unbiased truth about the past Even today the goal of unbiased non-ethnocentric history is far from universal and African oral history is not very different in these respects from European written history The story of Maalik Sii and his foundation of the kingdom of Bundu in the is convenient touch-stone for examining the uses of history by Senegambian bards It has special interest as one of the best remembered and most frequently retold of all Senegambian oral traditions Among other versions one by Saki lal Diaye Njai)1 was published in this journal in 1971 with Pulaar and English versions of facing pages Others were recorded as far back in time as the 1840 and as far removed in space as 600 kms to the east and to the west of Bundu itself Twenty-five of the more complete versions on record have been chosen for comparison On temporal scale seven were recorded before 1900 five were recorded during the colonial period while the remaining thirteen including the version of Saki Diaye were recorded in 1966.2 The place of recording is not always known but at least seven of the twenty-five were recorded outside of Bundu itself The sample

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