The Ruler Archetype in African Myth and Folklore

About this episode

This episode explores the rulership archetype in African mythology through a story about a Malinke boy's dream.

Hello Friends! This week’s episode is a bit experimental. We tell a story. Not a folktale, legend or myth. Just a story about a Malinke boy who has a very interesting dream. Then, we talk about the dream and tease out some archetypal images, patterns and symbols which, in the context of West Africa’s Mande-speaking people, might allude to the rulership archetype. I hope you like it! References * Jung on Dreams: Part I - Definitions, Components, Functions and Features * Sundiata : an epic of old Mali by Djibril Tamsir Niane * The Epic of Son Jara by John W. Johnson * The Collected Works of Carl Jung * Dreams as Portals to the Soul: Dreamwork and Analysis Across Freudian, Jungian, Indigenous, and African Perspectives * McCall, Daniel F. “The Prevalence of Lions: Kings, Deities and Feline Symbolism in Africa and Elsewhere.” Paideuma , vol. 19/20, 1973, pp. 130–45. JSTOR , http://www.jstor.org/stable/40341534. Accessed 1 Mar. 2026. * Manzon, Agnes Kedzierska. "Humans and Things: Mande" Fetishes" as Subjects." Anthropological Quarterly 86.4 (2013): 1119-1151. * Chidester, David. “Dreaming in the Contact Zone: Zulu Dreams, Visions, and Religion in Nineteenth-Century South Africa.”…

People in this episode

Host: Mythological Africans

Topics covered

• rulership archetype
• African mythology
• dream analysis
• Mande culture
• storytelling
• archetypal images

Keywords

• African mythology
• rulership archetype
• dream analysis
• Mande culture
• storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Sundiata : an epic of old Mali, The Epic of Son Jara, The Collected Works of Carl Jung, Dreams as Portals to the Soul: Dreamwork and Analysis Across Freudian, Jungian, Indigenous, and African Perspectives, Humans and Things: Mande Fetishes as Subjects, Dreaming in the Contact Zone: Zulu Dreams, Visions, and Religion in Nineteenth-Century South Africa

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