Tradition and Literature (Culture of Laughter of Mali and Guinea)

This article continues the topic of the previous one [Zavyalova, Kutsenkov, 2020]. It reveals how great is the role of humor in the cultures of West Africa, where it manifests itself in various spheres of life of its peoples. The Kɔ̀tɛba Folk Theater in Mali and Guinea is another traditional aspect of humor based on satire. The secret society of Kɔ̀rɛduga “jesters” is characteristic of the traditional cultures of Manden. The Dogon have guardians of brussa, alamonyou, who play the role of clowns during the release of masks, and female jesters yayeré, who are wives of the inhabitants of a given village, originating from other villages. The Manden and Dogon humor permeates all spheres of the traditional way of life, and it plays one of fundamental roles in the manner of communication, in the theater and in oral literature. Thus, satire is aimed either at resolving possible conflicts in the absence of mutual understanding between representatives of various social, age and other groups, at resolving conflicts associated with violation of etiquette. All satirical folklore genres function on this basis. Fairy tales and anecdotes ridicule violations of the norms of etiquette inherent in this particular culture. The folk theater touches on topical, actual violations of traditional norms of behavior. In conclusion, the authors note that humor is one of the foundations of the “virtual” reality of the culture created by these societies. When such regulators are violated and their semantic content changes, the whole reality and even the very existence of these peoples will change.