A Thank You Message From Global Minnesota

On July 10, I mentioned on this blog that I had been invited to speak at Global Minnesota. I did make the presentation and described it on my Swahili blog. Subsequently, I have received a letter of appreciation from Global Minnesota, which says:

Dear Dr. Mbele,

On behalf of Global Minnesota, I would like to thank you for speaking at the Global Conversations program on "African Folktales to Contemporary Authors" at the Minneapolis Central Library on July 12.

Your extensive knowledge and skillful storytelling captured and kept our audience's attention throughout the program. The program was both informative and entertaining, and the feedback we received from the attendees and our partners was extremely positive.

We were also so pleased that you brought your daughters to the program and rekindled an old MIC/Global Minnesota connection.

Thank you for partnering with us on this program and helping us in our mission to bring greater awareness and appreciation of African culture to the general public in Minnesota. We look forward to engaging with you again on future Global Minnesota programs!

I can only say that I am always ready and happy to share whatever knowledge I have that people want me to share with them. I have a high regard for Global Minnesota. I got to know about it when my daughter Assumpta worked there as alluded to in the letter above. I look forward to future collaboration.

My Forthcoming Presentation to Global Minnesota

I have been invited by Global Minnesota to give a presentation on African verbal art on July 12.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Global Conversations: African Folktales to Contemporary Authors

JULY 12 @ 6:00 PM CDT / Free

From ancient oral traditions to contemporary literature, African stories reflect wisdom, cultural identities, and social values developed over countless generations. Join us, St. Olaf College Associate Professor Joseph Mbele, and Augsburg College Associate Professor Mzenga Wanyama for an exploration of how these stories find expression today, both in Africa and in the African diaspora.

Speakers
Joseph Mbele, Associate Professor of English at St. Olaf College, is a folklorist and author. His writings, including Matengo Folktales, illuminate the underlying values that shape cultures. Dr. Mbele has done fieldwork in Kenya, Tanzania, and the U.S., and has given lectures and presented conference papers in Canada, Finland, India, Israel, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and the U.S. After earning a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin and before coming to St. Olaf in 1990 to teach post-colonial and third-world literature, he taught in the Literature Department at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Over the years, he has taught courses such as Swahili Literature, Theory of Literature, African Literature, Sociology of Literature, Postcolonial and Third World Literature, The Epic, and African-American Literature.

Mzenga Aggrey Wanyama, Associate Professor of English at Augsburg College, was born and raised in Kenya where he received his bachelor’s of education and master’s degrees from the University of Nairobi and then taught English language and literature in Kenyan High schools and at Kenyatta University. In the United States, he had a two-year stint in the graduate program at Howard University in Washington, D.C. before attending the University of Minnesota where he earned a Ph.D. in English. Mzenga also worked as an Assistant Professor of English at St. Cloud State University where he taught courses in literature and writing. His areas of focus are Postcolonial theory and literature and African American literary history.

Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Minneapolis Central Library.

Global Conversations: African Folktales to Contemporary Authors
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
6:00 PM

African Storytelling at St. Olaf College

This evening, following an invitation by Karibu, a St. Olaf College student organization, I made a presentation on African storytelling. I am passionate about sharing the heritage of the African people of which I am deeply proud. I have done this in the past, at St. Olaf College and other places.

This evening, as usual, I began by highlighting the central significance of Africa as the cradle of the human race. This has important implications, including the fact that Africa is where language and storytelling originated. I went on to briefly explain the functions of storytelling, such as mediating the human endeavour to interpret and understand the world and the human condition.

In order to illustrate the African way of philosophizing about life, I discussed three proverbs: i) Before you cross the river, don't insult the crocodile's mouth. 2) Even though you may be taller than your father, you still are not his equal. 3) It is because of man that the blacksmith makes weapons. The last two proverbs, from the Ashanti, are published in Harold Courlander's A Treasury of African Folklore.

After this, I told two folktales: "The Chief's Daughter," from the Gurensi people of Burkina Faso, which is published in Steven H. Gale's West African Folktales, and "The Coming of the Yams," an Ashanti tale published in Harold Courlander's A Treasury of African Folklore. Both tales are complex and profound meditations on the dilemmas of life.

In my evolution as a folklorist, I have come to believe that when I am invited to perform folktales, I should never read them to the audience. If I do not know the tale, I read it in advance, and then perform it in front of the audience. That way, I feel I am staying true to the reality of oral performance. The Ashanti tale I told today is one I did not know before. I read it a short while before performing it.

Another St. Olaf Storytelling Event

I received an invitation from Karibu, a student organization at St. Olaf College, to tell African folktales as part of the Africa Week celebration. I have done so in the past and will do it again, any time. How can I decline an opportunity to showcase African creativity and the African contribution to the universal culture of storytelling and all it stands for?

As the cradle of the human race, Africa is the birthplace of language, storytelling and civilization. Together with other folklore forms such as proverbs and songs, stories reflect upon life and the human condition and the world in general. They project man's joys, sorrows, successes, failures, and above all the human desire and capacity to thrive against any odds.

Stories are a rich blend of aspects ranging from philosophical reflections, moral lessons and entertainment. They constitute a dynamic system that adapts itself all the time to changing circumstances, thereby remaining always relevant. Having originated and evolved as an oral tradition, storytelling thrives in written and other modes, including film.

This evening as I was speaking to my Karibu audience, I mentioned some of these things and then told two tales: "The Chief's Daughter" and "How the Ashanti Became Debtors," both from West African Folktales by Steven H. Gale.

African Storytelling at a Birthday Party

This evening I did something I have never done before--performing African folktales at a birthday party. The event took place at the Community Center in Maple Grove, Minnesota. A West African woman and children who had witnessed my storytelling during Afrifest wanted me to do something similar at the birthday party.

I drove from Northfield to Maple Grove and got there around 7pm, the time I was expected, The party was over half way through, and the room was alive with children of different ages as well as adults. The only people I knew were the woman who invited me and her daughter who had attended my Afrifest folktale performance.

I was promptly invited to take the floor and after briefly introducing myself and acknowledging the one girl I had met before, proceeded to tell two West African tales: one about Frog and Spider and one about a character called Money. After the first tale, I asked the children some questions about what they learned from it. As I have always noted when telling tales to children, they have good ideas and speak freely.

I deliberately chose tales that did not involve monsters, violence, or death. This is not because I worry about the children. I have noted over the years, and in different parts of the USA, that children take such tales in stride. It is the adults who have worries and misgivings. I have always been intrigued by this. In fact, today, I asked the girl who attended my Afrifest storytelling whether she thought the tales I told that day were scary. She said no, emphatically.

I concluded my presentation with a few remarks about my work of recording African tales and I held up a copy of Matengo Folktales. Someone asked if the book was for sale, and I said it was, adding that I had brought a few copies. Several people stepped forward to buy them, and I hope they will appreciate the tales as well as my commentaries on them.

Teaching "The Kalevala," Spring 2015

In the coming Spring semester, I will be teaching Post-colonial Literature and Folklore, courses I have taught many times over the years. I regularly introduce new or different texts, especially in the Post-colonial Literature course.

For the first time, I am going to teach The Kalevala, the national epic of Finland, in my Folklore course this Spring. The other texts are The Epic of Gilgamesh, Gassire's Lute, African Folktales, and The Vanishing Hitchhiker. I also always include recordings of folktales and the video documentary "Angano Angano," which presents Malagasy storytelling in its socio-cultural context.

Here I want to say a few words about The Kalevala, which I have known about for decades and regularly mention in my publications and conference presentations. Even though I have never read it, I know much about it and, for a long time, thought about teaching it. Now, having made the decision to do so, I am excited.

I look forward to sharing with my students the fascinating history of the making of The Kalevala as we know it, thanks to the research of Elias Lönnrot in the early part of the nineteenth century, not to mention the work of translators, especially Keith Bosley, whose translation we are going to use. I look forward to talking about the political and ideological significance of The Kalevala as an expression and vehicle of Finnish nationalism.

Equally exciting is the prospect of placing The Kalevala within the context of the epic as a genre with a history stretching as far back as the Sumerian empire--if not earlier--with all the debates and controversies regarding issues such as definition, structure, performance, and concepts of heroism. Such are the issues that make the epic one of the most challenging and also most interesting genres of Folklore.

African Storytelling at St. Olaf College

On November 7, I made a presentation at St. Olaf College on African storytelling. This was part of what is called "Africa Weeks," a series of displays, performances, lectures and other events organized by Karibu, a student organization. Africa Weeks is held once a year.  It seeks to foster understanding and appreciation of Africa. Karibu was formed over ten years ago by a Congolese student. Karibu is a very significant Swahili word which means "Welcome."

 
I regularly get invited to participate in Africa Weeks, talking about African culture, especially the art, meaning and social functions of story telling. In the process, I perform some folktales and invite the audience to talk about them, through questions and observations.









On this occasion, I started with the idea of Africa as the place where humans originated, the place where technology, culture, language and storytelling originated. Humans began to name, describe, and reflect on their environment and on society, encoding their thoughts, sentiments, anxieties, hopes and dreams in proverbs, songs, tales, dances, rock paintings, and other expressive forms.




Storytelling is not just for entertainment; it is also a repository of thoughts and knowledge of different kinds. I offered several African proverbs, as examples, such as "Don't insult the crocodile's mouth before you cross the river."

To illustrate the richness of African tales as philosophical, ethical, and other kinds of reflection, I told three tales: the Maasai tale titled "The Woman and the Children of the Sycamore Tree," published in Paul Radin's African Folktales; "The Monster in the Rice Field" and "Nokamboka and the Baby Monster" both published in my book, Matengo Folktales.

At the end of the event, it was clear that we had all gained much, through thinking together about African storytelling.












It was time to go














Yet, even as we were heading out of the meeting room, the conversation continued.




(All the photos in which I appear were taken by Pumla Maswanganyi. I wish to thank her)