Back
MALI
Dirt in a Hole
By Jheri St. James
 The
preacher bowed and turned to go
He threw some dirt into a hole
He wasn't needed anymore
He shrugged and cast away the cold
He rearranged his preachers clothes
The word of god is all he knows
Precious
boy so young and fair
Guarding castles in the air
Pretty flowers in sweet array
Picked to die and fade away
Message
from heaven
Sun in the sky
Message from heaven
News from on high*
Even
though Bamako is the capital city, it is Timbuktu in Mali
that captures the imagination. Populated by Songhay, Tuareg,
Fulani, and Moorish people, Timbuktu is located 15 km north
of the River Niger. It is an intersection of an east/west
and a north/south Trans-Saharan trade route across the Sahara.
Important historically as a source for rock-salt from Taoudenni,
its geographical setting made it a natural meeting point for
nearby African populations and nomadic Berber and Arab peoples
from the north. The name of this famous city is said to have
come from a Tuareg woman named Bukto who dug a well in the
area where the city stands today, thus “Timbuktu”
which means “Buktu’s well”.
 Its
long history as a trading outpost that linked west Africa
with Berber, Arab, and Jewish traders throughout north Africa,
and thereby indirectly with traders from Europe, has given
it a fabled status, and in the West it is a metaphor for exotic,
distant lands: "from here to Timbuktu." Timbuktu’s
long-lasting contribution to Islamic and world civilization
is scholarship.
A
student of European history would be unaware of the golden
age of learning centered in Africa's Mali Empire. In the 12th
century, the greatest centers of learning in the world were
the cities of Timbuktu and Djenne. By that time, the city
of Djenne was larger than Medieval London. By the 16th century,
the university city of Timbuktu had grown to a population
of 40,000-50,000. These African cities controlled two-thirds
of the world's gold supply. The Mali Empire launched a vast
armada of ships on a voyage of discovery to the new world,
a voyage which took place 200 years before Columbus. Books
were prized above all else in these African cities. The symbols
of wealth were the number of books that one owned. At this
point in time, scholars were given the adulation and awe our
modern culture showers on movie, television or music industry
stars. In the cities of Djenne and Timbuktu, scholars and
students were afforded the comfort of scholarship sources
for their studies and research. The African funding system
was far more generous than its modern grant counterparts.
Djenne and Timbuktu were world-class centers of learning.
This was the Mali and Songhai Empires. The Ghana Empire, the
Mali Empire, and the Songhai Empire were settled by the Mande
peoples. Timbuktu was a key city in these empires. The Songhai
Empire declined under a Moroccan invasion in 1591.
Timbuktu
scene today
Starting in 1880, France invaded
Mali and organized it as an overseas territory. The Sudanese
Republic and Senegal became independent of France in 1960
as the Mali Federation. When Senegal withdrew after only a
few months, what formerly made up the Sudanese Republic was
renamed Mali. Rule by dictatorship was brought to a close
in 1991 by a coup that ushered in democratic government. In
keeping with Mali’s two-term constitutional limit, Alpha
Konare stepped down as President in 2002 and was succeeded
by Amadou Toure.
God bless the solder and his
gun
Small sacrifice then justice done
He's every broken mothers son
Pretty flowers in sweet array
Picked to die and fade away
Message from heaven
Sun in the sky
Message from heaven
News from on High
Message from heaven
Sun in the sky
Message from heaven*
The
Republic of Mali is a landlocked nation in Western Africa,
the seventh largest country in Africa and these days one of
the poorest nations in the world. It borders Algeria north,
Niger east, Burkina Faso/the Cote d’Ivoire south, Guinea
southwest, and Senegal/Mauritania west. Its straight borders
on the north stretch into the center of the Sahara, while
the country’s south, where the majority of inhabitants
live, features the Niger and Senegal rivers. The name of the
country comes from the Bambara word for hippopotamus (with
the animal appearing on the five franc coin). The name of
its capital city, Bamako, comes from the Bambara word meaning
‘crocodile swamp’.
*
* *
Mali
is shaped like a ribbon bow on a gift, and the gift of her
soil came through a member of the U.S. Embassy in Bamako,
Mali. It is the collection stories that describe the human
aspects of Common Ground 191: collectors who ignored any further
communication with us once the soil was sent; collectors who
wrote at length and sent pictures to explain the cultural
importance of their collection; collectors who have gone to
more than one country and sent back this important art medium.
John A. Cushing of the U.S. Embassy in Benin, is one of those
who have networked soil collections—from Mali and also
a possible connection in Cote D’Ivoire. (Once we have
those soils and Guinea Bissau and Equatorial Guinea, the west
coast of Africa will be completed, so these last few countries
are important to Gary Simpson, conceptual artist.) At this
point, six years into the project, we are under no illusions
as to how the soil comes, or how the collector communicates
with us. We just want that dirt. “I thought I can collect
soil anywhere and that is why I volunteer to help. I don’t
think I will go to any historical place to collect the soil.
This is not easy to me. Let me know what to do next,”
wrote this collector, who wishes to remain anonymous.
Gary replied, “Please feel free to gather
the soil from any place that is convenient. Let me know when
you turn it over to DHL. Thanks for participating—“
At first, people think that they can just
pick up some earth and bring it to us, but no. The shipment
must be documented. Otherwise, Gary could just take soil from
his own backyard and call it Malian soil. With all that paperwork,
and the USDA sterilization process that the dirt must undergo,
there’s a great deal more to the process than that.
So Mali’s soil came from where there
is a “…nice view of the [Niger] river from my
house.” No historical exclamations; no soil being used
in architecture or art. Just some dirt from a hole near the
river.
Mali, as one of the poorest countries in the
world, maintains economic activity in the area irrigated by
the Niger River. About 10% of the population is nomadic and
80% of the labor force is engaged in farming and fishing.
With 65% of its land area desert or semi-desert, and several
prolonged periods of drought over the last century, subsistence
farming is very difficult. Pottery is produced by women for
international shipment and local markets for foreign tourists.
Mali is heavily dependent on foreign aid and vulnerable to
fluctuations in world prices for cotton, its main export.
In 1997, the government continued its implementation of an
IMF-recommended structural adjustment program. Several multinational
corporations increased gold mining operations in 1996-1998,
and the government anticipates that Mali will become a major
sub-Saharan gold exporter in the next few years.
One more
small miracle of the project that some kind-hearted person
was willing to take the time from their life to make sure
we got Mali soil for the project. Thank you to all our collectors
and thank you, John Cushing, for your ongoing participation.
*
* *
Djingareyber
Mosque
Precious
boy so young and fair
Guarding castles in the air
Pretty flowers in sweet array
Picked to die and fade away
A
typical Mali bread oven with boy passing by
*
* *
The music of Mali is best known outside of
Africa for kora virtuoso Toumani Diabate, the late roots and
blues guitarist Ali Farga Toure and his successors Afel Bocoum
and Vieux Farga Toure, the Toureg band Tinariwen and several
Afro-pop artists such as Salif Keita, the duo Amadou et Mariam,
and Oumou Sangare. A huge festival is held every year in Essaskane,
the Festival in the Desert.
He threw some words into the air
He spoke the pain we all must share
How we will meet again out there
Precious boy so young and fair
Guarding castles in the air
Pretty flowers in sweet array,
Picked to die and fade away
Singer
Robert Plant at the Festival in the Desert in Mali
Even
as civilizations rise and fall in economic, political and
military might, we see that the soil remains. Timbuktu, once
a revered center of scholarship, is now the name of a fable.
How many empires have come and gone on the soil of the earth?
And the human beings who initiate and facilitate the ends
all finally nestle into the arms of the great Mother Earth,
in a hole in the dirt. The word for peace in Mali is unknown
at this time. When we get it, we will add it to this journal
entry.
*All
lyrics from “Dirt in a Hole”, from the album “66
to Timbuktu”,
written by Robert Plant with associates Adams/Deamer/Baggott/Jones/Thompson)
|
