As in other areas in the Sahel, scarcities and famines are recurrent in the land of the Soninke. Food crises are, however, experienced as failures and times of hardship, and can lead people to question the socio-political order. To survive, the members of noble families might adopt behaviours usually reserved for craftsmen or slaves and thus risk losing their social status, whence their reluctance, afterwards, to mention these trying times. Nonetheless, famines do figure in certain oral sources, such as songs and historical narratives. They might emphasize the relations between having food and holding religious or political power. In other cases, references to a famine, though partly true, might serve to cover up an unfavourable balance of power, whether during the pre-colonial period or at the start of the French conquest. By referring to problems of subsistence, these oral traditions voice social and political issues and express a relation to history.
