“We were amused by an itinerant singing-man”: Print, Writing, and Orality in Mungo Park’s Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa

Abstract

This article draws on critical Indigenous theories to locate previously marginalized knowledge systems in Mungo Park’s Travels in The Interior Districts of Africa (1799). Park’s text abounds with descriptions of jilla keas, “singing-men,” and other examples of West African literary cultures (written and oral). I argue that an Indigenous-centered method of reading allows us to locate the Mande knowledges that not only informed Park’s mediations of orality but also attempted to resist and reimagine oral culture in the face of increasing colonial presence in West Africa. This article offers possibilities for the critical recovery of Indigenous knowledges within colonial texts. I find a possible reason for Park’s detailed engagement with West African oral cultures by locating Travels within a body of Scottish Romantic writing, highlighting the significance of his friendship with Walter Scott in shaping a strong interest in orality.