The Everyday Feminist

8Remember the Past … to Craft the Future

Spotlight: Miriam Miranda and Indigenous Rights Movement

Issue: Culture Survival

I first met Djenebou, the Jelisimo, at a dinner party shortly after arriving in Bamako, Mali. She was tall and well shaped, neither skinny nor fat, wearing dark eyeliner and huge gold jewelry. She wore a long boubou, the classic West African robe, sewn from a single piece of cloth, which is worn by both women and men. Hers was made of a burnt orange fabric, which I learned is beaten repeatedly to produce its beautiful shine. She was quietly sitting, contemplating her performance that was about to begin.

Djenebou is a griot, a West African storyteller, singer, musician, and oral historian. Griots train to excel as orators, lyricists, and musicians. The griot keeps records of all the births, deaths, marriages, and so much more through the generations of a village or family. I had heard of griots but had never met one and, for some reason, had assumed they were only men. That night, Djenebou sang a story about birds and trees, which, though translated from Bambara into French by one of the staff, made little sense to me, as it was told in parables and poetry.

The party was being held in my honor at the home of my new USAID mission director. Since joining USAID in 2001, after a stint in Pakistan, I had worked in the mission program offices in Botswana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This was the first time I was working for an office run by a woman. ...