There are several artisan castes among the Fulani people, including the Maboube, hereditary weavers. Their most important traditional products are blankets, known as khasa, which are woven from hand-spun sheep’s wool. They are six to eight feet long, made up of narrow strips sewn together, often with stripes and patterns in red and black on white. Khasa are woven to order and used by men who camp out in the desert with their herds of cattle.

Bogolan is the name of another Malian cloth which has recently become popular in the international fashion industry, since its production was revived by Chris Seydou, a Malian designer. Bogo means ‘mud’, and lan means ‘traces of’. Natural dyes are used to make the distinctive, bold patterns in shades of black, brown, and tan. The Bamanan people have been making the cloth for many hundreds of years, using locally grown cotton.

Wood carving

Masks and figures associated with initiation and funeral practices are widespread among the animist Bamana and Dogon cultures. In some Bamana communities, farmers dance with carved wooden head-dresses at planting time, in honour of the Chi-Wara. The Chi-Wara is a mythical animal, like an antelope, that is believed to have taught farming to the Bamana people’s ancestors.

Cinema

Mali has produced a number of important films. For example, the films directed by Cheik Oumar Sissoko and Soulemane Cisse, tell stories denouncing injustice and poverty. They have won awards in most of the international film festivals, including Cannes, where Yeelen was the first African film ever to do so, in 1987.

The French language was introduced into Mali when French troops invaded in the second half of the 19th century, but until the 1950s the only people who wrote in French were explorers and military people. Malian authors preferred to write in Arabic. In 1950, Amadou Hampaté Bâ published his Peul poetry in French, and La Passion de Djimé by Fily Dabo Sissoko, one of Mali’s first novels, was published in 1955.