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Keywords: Chérif Keïta; Massa Makan Diabaté; Mande; hermeneutics; multi-modality; orality; dozos; Manding; Mandé; herméneutique; multimodalité; oralité; mandingue EN Chérif Keïta Massa Makan Diabaté Mande hermeneutics multi-modality orality dozos Manding Mandé herméneutique multimodalité oralité mandingue 181 191 11 05/27/21 20200101 NES 200101 Re-Encountering Chérif In October of 2010, standing outside a conference center (Point Sud) in Bamako, Mali, with other participants, I heard a familiar voice from across the grounds. Instead of claiming this perspective as the result of his own scholarly insight, Chérif documents it as the self-conscious position of griots themselves, such as Banzumana Sissoko and, in particular, Massa Makan Diabaté, "who always proclaimed himself to be a griot" (Keïta 1995b: 188). The genius of Chérif's approach to the work of Massa Makan Diabaté lies in Cherif's use of the supposedly "oral" aesthetics of Mande griots - I jaliw i or I jeliw i in the Bamanankan of Mali - as a hermeneutic with which to interpret Diabaté's writing. Chérif has also produced three films about two pivotal couples who played key roles in the genesis of South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle: Nokutela and John Dube of South Africa, and William and Ida Belle Wilcox of Northfield, Minnesota (Keïta 2005, 2009b, 2013; see also Hughes & Keïta 2013). [Extracted from the article]