St Bathan's Library
Malidoma Somé
Malidoma Somé
"In the culture of my people, the Dagara, we have no word for the supernatural. The closest we come to this concept is Yielbongura, "the thing that knowledge can’t eat."
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St Bathan's Library Malidoma Somé
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| MALIDOMA SOMÉ was born into a traditional village of the Dagara tribe in Burkina Faso in West Africa. The seeds of his destiny were nurtured in the first few years of his life by his shaman grandfather, Bakhyé. At the age of 4 he was kidnapped by French Jesuits and ‘educated’ in a seminary for the next 15 years in order to become a Roman Catholic priest. A dramatic incident of confrontation with a teacher resulted in Malidoma running away and finding his way back to his own village. There he was recognised by his mother. He now had to relearn his own language, and then the decision had to be made as to whether he should undergo the traditional initiation into adulthood after already being ‘initiated’- i.e. taught to read and write- into a different culture. He underwent, and survived, the initiation. At last able to feel at home and to be at home in his own village, the elders decided that he should leave to pursue studies at University. This he did in Africa, then in Paris, and in the U.S. Now living both in the modern Western world and in his indigenous tradition, his life is a reconciling bridge between two sides of human evolution at this critical time of change. |
Malidoma Somé |
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"In the culture of my people, the Dagara, we have no word for the supernatural. The closest we come to this concept is Yielbongura, "the thing that knowledge can’t eat." |
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| To visit Malidoma's website click here: http://www.malidoma.org | ||
| To contact us: phone 44 (0)1361 840 230 | ||