Culture of Mali - Ethnic Patchwork and Intermixing

Ethnic Patchwork and Intermixing

Mande peoples share a caste system in which certain skills (metalworking, fishing, history-keeping) are passed down through families. The rituals and cultural associations of these activities have spread far beyond the Mande communities themselves.

While the Malinké, Soninke - Sarakole, Dyula, and Bambara peoples form a Mande core (at around 50%) of Malian culture in the heavily populated regions of the south and east, a mosaic of other cultures contribute to a uniquely Malian society. The Fulani, originally nomadic but now as likely village and city dwelling, are scattered in communities across the nation, as they are over much of West Africa. Fula peoples were amongst the first and most fervent believers in Islam, a religion which orders the lives of the vast majority of Malians. The Fula traditions of nomadic cattle herding has bequeathed values of mobility, independence, and at the same time created networks of mutual dependence between certain communities and cultures. The Fula transhumance cycle would mean that entire Fula tribes would spend seasons living in Bambara communities, creating formalized relationships called Cousinage. This survives to this day as the Malian cultural institution known as sanankuya, or the "joking relationship". In Mali, the state of Macina, in the midst of the Inner Niger Delta was dominated by Fula people and culture. Dogon and Songhay peoples are dominant in the east of the country, with the Songhay Empire pushing traditionally animist Dogon deep into the isolating hill country of the southeast. Here the Dogon have maintained a unique culture, art, and lifestyle which has become a source of pride for all Malians. All along the edge of the Sahara, and far into the dry land of isolated oases live the nomadic Berber Tuareg and the (in the northwest) Maures (or Moors), of Arab-o-Berber origins. While making up only 10% of the population, these groups bring a distinct culture to modern Mali.