Comparative Literature Studies

Wise, Christopher, 1961-
Nyama and Heka: African Concepts of the Word
Comparative Literature Studies - Volume 43, Number 1-2, 2006, pp. 19-38

Penn State University Press

Christopher Wise - Nyama and Heka: African Concepts of the Word - Comparative Literature Studies 43:1-2 Comparative Literature Studies 43.1-2 (2006) 19-38 Nyama and Heka: African Concepts of the Word Christopher Wise Western Washington University "Speech is not in people's hands. People are in the hands of speech." --a Mande proverb Introduction Knowledge of the West African griot epic has advanced enormously in the last fifteen years with the publication of volumes by Thomas Hale, Scribe, Griot, Novelist: Narrative Interpreters of the Songhay Empire and Griots and Griottes: Masters of Words and Music; Stephen Belcher, Epic Traditions of Africa; and Barbara G. Hoffman, Griots At War: Conflict, Conciliation, and Caste in Mande. Despite the richness of these studies, the concept of nyama, the Mande word for occult "power" or "means," has remained a secondary concern of African cultural criticism. Fascination with the figure of the griot has tended to overshadow the problem of nyama, or, in some cases, generic considerations have taken precedence over matters of the occult. In the first instance, the critic risks subordinating nyama to a Western idealism, or a Platonic logic, in the second, to an old-fashioned essentialism, or an Aristotelian logic. However, the extent to which nyama may be construed as a force generative of both complexes remains unarticulated. By assuming that nyama flows from the abysmal no-place of the blood-filled receptacle, and not...