Jeremy Robertson Dr.

Arnold Int 3111-001 21 February 2014

Microtheme IV The most persistent theme in the movie Keita: the Heritage of the Griot is tradition. It drives the story of the movie from beginning to end and is visible in nearly every scene, especially with Mabo, a young boy curious to learn of his heritage and derivation of his name. Mabo is initiated in his process of understanding his name and ancestry by a griot named Djeliba who traveled to the city Mabo and his parents live in specifically for this purpose. Every scene involving Mabo, his family, Djeliba, or the story they reminisce depicts tradition of their culture and people. The first tradition I noticed is that he griot Djeliba sleeps outdoors and even refuses to sleep indoors when he travels to Mabos home. He asks Mabos father for permission to sleep outside of their home as opposed to inside as the father was so kind to offer him. The fact Djeliba asks permission to sleep outside of the home seems to be a tradition of respect in declining Mabos fathers offering of hospitality. In western culture, we wouldnt have to ask permission to deny a hospitable offering. Another tradition depicted throughout the movie is greetings and offerings in interactions between people and passer byes. In the story Djeliba tells Mabo throughout the movie, the master hunter kills an antelope in the territory of a tribe he doesnt belong to. The master hunter follows tradition of that tribe by bringing them what he refers to as your share of the antelope killed. He could have simply taken all of the antelope for himself

and remained anonymous, but rather follows values and norms of this certain tribe as a sign of respect. The master hunter also asks permission to leave the tribe and be considered a passer-bye, when he simply could have left. Tradition plays such a major role in this story that this master hunter and Djeliba ask permission to do things we in the western culture would consider an infringement upon our autonomy, and could cause frustration or anger.