Griots and Griottes

Griots, a uniquely African profession, fulfill a variety of roles as genealogists, historians, spokespersons, diplomats, musicians, teachers, praise singers, and advisors. Telling the story of these remarkable wordsmiths and performers, Thomas A. Hale addresses the nature of their verbal and musical art, the role of female griots, or griottes, how griots and griottes fit into their societies, and what their future might be in Africa and the rest of the world.

Thomas A. Hale is Liberal Arts Professor of African, French, and Comparative Literature at The Pennsylvania State University. He is editor of The Epic of Askia Mohammed (IUP, 1996) and co-editor (with John William Johnson and Stephen Belcher) of Oral Epics from Africa (IUP, 1997).

Acknowledgments	p. xiii
A Note on Orthography and Measurement of Distance	p. xv
Introduction: Ibn Battuta, Alex Haley, and the Diffusion of Knowledge about Griots	p. 1
A Job Description for Griots	p. 18
The Origin of Griots	p. 59
The Verbal Art of Griots	p. 114
Music across the Griot World	p. 146
The Making of a Griot	p. 172
Would You Want Your Daughter to Marry One?	p. 193
Griottes: Unrecognized Female Voices	p. 217
From the Courtyards of the Nobility to a Global Audience	p. 244
The Value of Words	p. 288
New Millennium Griots	p. 311
Appendices
Griots Working in the United States	p. 339
Films and Videos Featuring Griots	p. 340
Selected English Translations of Epics by Griots	p. 343
Audio Recordings by Griots	p. 345
African Music Books That Include Sections on Griots	p. 348
Ethno-Specific Terms for Griots	p. 350
Theories for the Origin of the Word Griot	p. 357
Selected Bibliography	p. 367
Index	p. 393
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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