The Future of Mande Studies: Views from the Literary Alioune Sow (bio) The literary domain represents a key source for a discussion on the future of Mande studies. A substantial corpus of oral and written narratives has long engaged with transformations of the Mande territories, providing contrasting interpretations of Mande experiences and raising questions about the significance of the concept of Mande itself and its identification and meanings. Analyzing Mande realities through literary works can be a complex exercise partly due to competing interpretations of the narratives. Texts such as those of Seydou Badian KouyatĂ© (Sous lâorage, 1954), Camara Laye (Lâenfant noir, 1953), Fily Dabo Sissoko (La savane rouge, 1962), Massa Makan DiabatĂ© (Comme une piqĂ»re de guĂȘpe, 1980), and Moussa KonatĂ© (Fils du chaos, 1986) have been interpreted by some as powerful and unique explorations of Mande modernity and as evidence of its unique forms of cosmopolitanism (Keita 1995). Others interpret these narratives as either exemplifying the loss of cultural landmarks underlining the erosion of specific Mande ways of life or, in the case of readings of KonatĂ©, the necessary emancipation from the constraints that Mande traditional values impose on the individual (Nissim 1993). In addition, discordant interpretations of Mandeâs evolutions are also due to the generic categorization that tends to oppose readings of written production to those of oral production. Oral literature is regarded as the embodiment of âMandeness,â to use Amselleâs term (Amselle 1998, 56), since [End Page 169] Mande realities and values are central to the features, narrative conventions, contents, ideologies, and purposes of the oral production (Belcher 1999, 64). Contrary to oral literature, and certainly due to the themes, sociology, and reception of the texts, written production is often perceived skeptically as being âMandeâ and more equivocal in its engagement with Mande experiences. While engagement with Mande undoubtedly differs between oral and written literatures, the contrast may be overestimated since both genres share similar features and concerns about Mande and its future (Kane 1982, 62; Keita 1995). For instance, in the Entretiens avec Balla KantĂ©, Jan Jansen and Mountaga Diarra point to a long list of changes affecting Mande territories such as âlâinclusion dans lâensemble mondial, la soumission aux pouvoirs extĂ©rieurs, la monĂ©tarisation de la vie quotidienne, lâintroduction du salariat et des nouvelles technologies, lâabandon des anciennes coutumes et des formes dâassociation et dâorganisation sociale, lâintroduction dâune nouvelle morale sexuelle, les changements climatologiquesâ (2006, 9). Jansenâs reflection on the vicissitudes of the âinclusionâ of Mande societies into âlâordre mondialâ can be easily applied to the written production. Consider canonical works such as Camara Layeâs Lâenfant noir, Seydou Badianâs Sous lâorage, Ahmadou Kouroumaâs Les soleils des indĂ©pendances (1968), Massa Makan DiabatĂ©âs Comme une piqĂ»re de guĂȘpe, Moussa KonatĂ©âs Fils du chaos, or MandĂ© Alpha Diarraâs Sahel sanglante sĂ©cheresse (1981). These texts exemplify what Christopher Miller has called âMande subjectivitiesâ and emphasize âwhat is specific to the Mandeâ (Miller 1990, 167). Indeed, in their narratives Badian, Camara Laye, DiabatĂ©, and Diarra probe unique ways of life, identify distinct historical trajectories and itineraries, and create bodies of knowledge and experiences defined by Mande values and customs. At the same time, and without exception, all these narratives acknowledge the irreversible transformations of Mande realities, accounting for the metamorphoses of territories and societies and debating at length about the emergence of new political ideas, orders, and sensibilities (Badian, Kourouma, and KonatĂ©). Some of these cultural transformations followed from the introduction of colonial education (Badian, Laye), relations between Mande and its neighbors and its changing demographics (DiabatĂ©), increased mobility from rural to urban areas and across national borders (Badian, Kourouma, KonatĂ©, and Diarra), and the expansion of Islam and new forms of religiosity (Laye, DiabatĂ©, and KonatĂ©). Most importantly, these writings point to the dilution of Mande ways of life. From Badian to Diarra, the narratives tell us about familial and social tensions stemming from the diffusion and adoption of outside values that inevitably alter Mande political and cultural institutions. Whether in colonial or decolonial contexts, the narratives speculate about...