Scrofulous Sogolon 101 father, Naré Maghan; his head was so big he seemed unable to hold it up; he had huge eyes that he opened wide whenever someone came into his mother’s hut.62 At seven, Sunjata was still not walking63 and, in some versions, that was yet the case when the lad was nine,64 fourteen,65 and seventeen.66 He was “crippled,” “always on the ground.”67 Three sculptures (fig. 17, 19, and 21) of a disabled man moving about on his knees, supporting himself with semi-circular crutches in his hands, spring to mind.68 Two of these figures have a hump on the back (figs. 17 and 19), and of these, one also has a pigeon chest (fig. 17). A humpback and a pigeon chest are clearly reminiscent of Sunjata’s mother, Sogolon, as discussed above (figs. 1, 10, and 12). All three male figures are decorated with snakes. Despite his disabilities, Sunjata was a conqueror and an impressive strategist. He was protected by his mother’s clan, the buffalo clan, whose symbolic sign he bears—if we accept the protruding sternum as the reference to a supernatural event in the epic; what this apparent deformity may lack in grace, it makes up for in fearsome effectiveness (see above p. 98). This matrilineal kinship through the buffalo is often mentioned in a positive light: “Listen to the story of the son of the Buffalo, the son of the Lion. I am going to tell you of Maghan Sunjata, Mari- Diata, Sogolon Diata, Nare Maghan Diata: The man with many names whom sorcery could not touch.”69 Apart from the kneeling position with ring crutches signaling disablement, another interesting feature is that almost all visual details in these sculptures suggest a man who will later stand up on his own. His power is immanent and the figures seem filled with determination. The hump and pigeon breast deformity may serve as a symbolic “charge” linking the figures of the son to those of the mother and transferring her potential for action. This association may also transform these elements into a charge in the literal sense, akin to the bundles of magical substances inserted into many so-called “fetishes” from other parts of Africa.70 A number of observations speak to this point: Though these portraits are inspired by individuals who lived in the IND region FIG. 17 (left): Figure representing a disabled person. IND region, Mali. 13th–17th century. Terracotta with ochre/red slip. H: 48 cm. Ex Baudouin de Grunne. Private collection. © Dr. Marc Ghysels, Brussels. Photo: Frédéric Dehaen, Roger Asselberghs Studio, Brussels. . FIG. 18 (above): CT scans of figure 17, opaque 3D views from three angles. © Dr. Marc Ghysels, Brussels. FIG. 19 (right): Figure representing a disabled person. IND region, Mali. 11th–17th century. Terracotta with ochre/red slip. H: 47.9 cm. Ex Philippe Guimiot. The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, inv. 81-056 DJ. © The Menil Collection, Houston. Photo: Hickey-Robertson, Houston. FIG. 20 (far right): CT scans of figure 19, opaque 3D views from two angles. © Dr. Marc Ghysels, Brussels.
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