Segu Theme
Three most important themes in Segu are: the spread of Islam, the Atlantic Slave Trade and the coming of European Colonial Rule. Segu is based on these three themes and shows how these influence in Africa’s life and people.
Maryse Conde clarifies that these three themes states in this novel has a big impact in Africa social life, economy and politic. She clarify that the spread of Islam separated people from each other. Also, the spread of Islam caused war between kingdoms because some of kingdoms did not accepted Islam and did not want to give up on their gods. Most of the people saw Islam as a hypocrisy and people who supported Islam as hypocrite. For example, Tiekoro was the African who came from a wealthy family and supported Islam. In the novel, he wanted the spread of Islam in Segu and also made friendship with Segu’s enemy but sometimes he did not act as a person of Islam. As we know from the novel, Islam spread “jihad” called holy war. They saw Jihad as a good mission because for them Islam was the benefit for the whole world, but all that Islam brought in Africa was war and division between people of the same kingdom.
The other theme of Segu is the Antlantic Slave Trade which brought a lot of misfortune in Africa. Millions of Africans from West Africa had experienced this plague. A lot of people were kidnapped and then transported to ships so they can transported the new lands of America to work as slave in sugar plantations. They were separated from their families, converted to slave and forced to work for hours in misery conditions. One of them that experienced this was Naba. As we know from the novel, he was Dausika’s son and came from a wealthy family but unfortunately he become victim of Antlantic Slave Trade and shipped to the Island. He became a slave there and worked for the rich family. But like Naba were million of Western African. They were separated from their families, leave their countries and forced to work for hours in slavery.
Maryse Conde clarifies that these three themes states in this novel has a big impact in Africa social life, economy and politic. She clarify that the spread of Islam separated people from each other. Also, the spread of Islam caused war between kingdoms because some of kingdoms did not accepted Islam and did not want to give up on their gods. Most of the people saw Islam as a hypocrisy and people who supported Islam as hypocrite. For example, Tiekoro was the African who came from a wealthy family and supported Islam. In the novel, he wanted the spread of Islam in Segu and also made friendship with Segu’s enemy but sometimes he did not act as a person of Islam. As we know from the novel, Islam spread “jihad” called holy war. They saw Jihad as a good mission because for them Islam was the benefit for the whole world, but all that Islam brought in Africa was war and division between people of the same kingdom.
The other theme of Segu is the Antlantic Slave Trade which brought a lot of misfortune in Africa. Millions of Africans from West Africa had experienced this plague. A lot of people were kidnapped and then transported to ships so they can transported the new lands of America to work as slave in sugar plantations. They were separated from their families, converted to slave and forced to work for hours in misery conditions. One of them that experienced this was Naba. As we know from the novel, he was Dausika’s son and came from a wealthy family but unfortunately he become victim of Antlantic Slave Trade and shipped to the Island. He became a slave there and worked for the rich family. But like Naba were million of Western African. They were separated from their families, leave their countries and forced to work for hours in slavery.