An African Storytelling Night at St. Olaf College

Yesterday evening, I made a presentation on African storytelling hosted by Karibu, a St. Olaf College student organization. I have done this a number of times over the years.

It is always a pleasure to share the story of the great significance of Africa in human history and civilization, and to illustrate this with evidence from folklore.

I demonstrated the wisdom and creativity of our African ancestors with several proverbs which we reflected upon. Then I told an Ethiopian tale, "The Donkey Who Sinned," from Harold C. Courlander's A Treasury of African Folklore, which made us think about the odious tradition of "might is right" and related social evils.

An African Storytelling Event in Red Wing, Minnesota

On February 17, I went to Red Wing, Minnesota, to make a presentation on African Storytelling. The event, organized by the Red Wing Public Library and the Goodhue County Historical Society, was well publicized.

I highlighted the significance of Africa as the cradle of the human race, where language and storytelling began, together with other forms of folklore. The evolution of human consciousness and the capacity to reflect on life, the world, relationships, and values found expression in folklore. I shared several proverbs to illustrate this point.

Then I told the tale of "Spider and the Calabash of Knowledge" and "The Lion's Advice," both from West African Folktales by Jack Berry, as well as "The Chief's Daughter," from West African Folktales by Steven H. Gale. We spent the last ten minutes on questions and answers.

Although I had visited Red Wing several times, over the years, this was my first presentation there. Lindsey, Education & Outreach Coordinator at the Goodhue County Historical Society, planned my visit well. At her suggestion, I brought copies of Matengo Folktales and Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences and people were able to buy them. That makes me feel that I left a legacy beyond my one hour presentation.

An Evening of African Food and Folklore

In the evening of February 28, a number of people gathered in Brooklyn Center to share African folklore. The event was a joint initiative of the Kofa Foundation and me, as founder and owner of Africonexion: Cultural Consultants. We wanted to mark the last day of Black History Month and to recognize the work of the Kofa Foundation.

The Kofa Foundation was started to support victims of the ebola crisis in West Africa. Africonexion promotes cultural awareness, helping individuals, institutions, and organizations understand and deal with issues stemming from cultural differences.



We started the evening with delicious food prepared by the Kofa Foundation. Then, I stood up to make my presentation.

As I have been doing in my recent presentations, I gave a preview of Africa as the cradle of the human race and civilization. I emphasized the significance of oral culture and its implications, to foster an appreciation of the ingenuity of non-literate people.





I illustrated African traditional wisdom through proverbs and two tales: the Haitian tale of Frog and the well featured in  Harold Courlander's A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore and "The Monster in the Rice Field," featured in my Matengo Folktales.





















Decontee Kofa, founder and director of the Kofa Foundation, seen in the photo on the left, hosted the event and announced that she would soon host a similar event. Lori, the lady in the middle, told me about the Transformative Circle, an organization that involves "diverse people coming together to foster greater understanding and appreciation for our community, cultural differences, and customs." She said she would like me to make a presentation to them.

I had brought copies of my books--Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences and Matengo Folktales--and people were able to see and buy them, with proceeds going to the Kofa Foundation.

African and African Diaspora Storytelling: February 9

Countee Cullen, a major poet of the Harlem Renaissance, wrote a famous poem titled "Heritage," which began thus:

What is Africa to me:
Copper sun or scarlet sea,
Jungle star or jungle track,
Strong bronzed men, or regal black
Women from whose loins I sprang
When the birds of Eden sang?

Countee Cullen directed our attention to Africa, the birthplace of not only Black people, but the entire human race. As a folklorist and literary scholar, I highlight the fact that Africa is the birthplace of language and storytelling.

In the last few days, I have had great opportunities to share my views in different settings, such as the Nu Skool of African American Thought, and the African Roots Connection show of KMOJ Radio.
I have been talking about the role of Africa and people of African descent in world culture.

Along the same lines, on February 9, I will make a presentation on the evolution of story telling in Africa and its continuation in the African Diaspora, particularly the Americas. Come and experience the wisdom of our ancestors, how they reflected on the world, on life, human nature, and the lessons they bequeathed to us, which can help heal our broken world and reorient us along the right path.

Copies of my books, such as the popular Africans and Americans: Embracing Cultural Differences, will be available for purchase, with proceeds going towards the Afrifest Foundation. Donations for the same purpose will also be welcome. The event will be held at 5701 Shingle Creek Parkway, Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, 4th floor conference room, from 6:00 to 8:00pm

For more information about me, visit Africonexion: Cultural Consultants or call 507 403-9756

Summer School Started Today

Today, the second term of summer school started here at St. Olaf College. I did not teach the first term. Instead, I pursued my interests in Ernest Hemingway. I went to the J.F. Kennedy Library to do research in the Hemingway Collection, and, upon my return, read Hemingway's A Moveable Feast, The Sun Also Rises, and a few of his letters and stories.

Returning to the classroom today felt like embarking on a new adventure, even though the course I am teaching this time, African Literature, is familiar territory. I met my students and talked about myself and my teaching philosophy, and about basic issues of the course, starting with the significance of Africa as the cradle of humanity, language and story telling, which evolved as an oral tradition and later embraced writing.

Before we dispersed, I told the class that I would continue my introduction during our second meeting. I want to reflect on the evolution of written African literature, starting from ancient Egypt and moving into the colonial era, which created the conditions for the emergence of African literature in European languages.

Here are the works I have decided to use this term:

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi, The Thing Around Your Neck.

Aidoo, Ama Ata. The Dilemma of a Ghost and Anowa.

Ba, Mariama. Scarlet Song.

Couto, Mia. The Tuner of Silences.

Fugard, Athol. Valley Song.

Mengestu, Dinaw. The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears.

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.

African Folktales Without Happy Endings

On August 2, 2015, during Afrifest 2015 in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, I performed African folktales as part of the festival program.  I chose two tales--"Hawk and Crow" and "The Monster in the Rice Field"--from my book Matengo Folktales. The photo on the left shows me as I was impersonating the monster in the second tale, who was snatching away members of a family, one after the other, as they were out in the field, away from home, watching over their rice.

Neither of the tales has a happy ending. The first ends in a bloody fight between Hawk and Crow in which Crow is killed. In the second tale, the monster takes away the entire family. With the disappearance of each member of the family, the tale builds suspense, the audience wondering with increasing anticipation what is going to happen next. The last member of the family is taken away by the monster, and that is the end of the tale.

When I declared to my Afrifest 2015 audience that the tale was over, I knew what to expect. There was spontaneous laughter mixed with disbelief and puzzlement, and at least one person exclaimed, "We want a happy ending!" I had told tales from Matengo Folktales to audiences across the United States and, again and again, the endings left the audiences puzzled or incredulous.

There is a general expectation in American society that tales should have a happy ending, as is underlined by the famous sentence, "And they lived happily thereafter." This expectation is related to the idea of the pursuit of happiness which is deeply ingrained in  the minds of Americans.

African folktales tend to emphasize that life consists of ups and downs, that it is a mixture of joy and sadness, good luck and misfortune, success and failure. In life, good is not always rewarded and evil is not always punished. This is not an anomaly in African cultures. Traditionally, African youths were brought up to face challenges and be brave, through practices such as initiation rites, which were difficult, to say the least, meant to prepare boys and girls for the responsibilities of adulthood, marriage and parenthood.

I was not surprised at Afrifest 2015 that people expected happy endings. I felt they have succumbed to the American fantasy of the pursuit of happiness. But I have to honour the African storytelling tradition. There are certain changes a storyteller can make in the telling of tales, and some changes are inevitable, because performers don't usually memorize a text or read from a book. In a way, they create in performance. Nevertheless, there are core aspects of the tale that must be kept intact.

As we explore different folktale traditions and the cultures they spring from or operate in, we will encounter surprising and even shocking aspects. Researchers have noted this from the earliest days of the tradition of recording folktales, exemplified by the German brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm since the early years of the nineteenth century. With the passing of time and the rise of such influences as Disney films, there have evolved expectations about folktales such as I have described, including happy endings.

African Storytelling at Afrifest 2015

Today, many roads led to Afrifest, which was held at the Northview Junior High School in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. As is to be expected, many of us texted, tweeted, or wrote about the festival on Facebook, to let friends and the world know what was happening. No doubt, the stories will continue to proliferate. Out of the many things that happened today, I just want to say a word about African storytelling in which I was involved.

As part of the planning for Afrifest 2015, the board of the Afrifest Foundation accepted my idea that we enrich children's experience of the festival with the addition of African storytelling. This was a new feature in the history of Afrifest, but I was eager to do it, given my years of experience as a folklorist and storyteller.

We had many children at the festival today, and when the announcement was made that I was ready to tell folktales, a number of them came with me and we sat under a big tree. The gathering started with three children and an adult woman, but the number quickly grew. By the end of the session, I was surrounded by children and adults.

I chose to start with the tale of "Hawk and Crow," which features in my book, Matengo Folktales. However, I never read folktales to an audience; I perform them ex tempore. Those who have read "Hawk and Crow" in my book will remember that it ends with Hawk fighting and killing Crow in a fit of anger following Crow's attempt to run away with Hawk's chicks. I chose not to tell the kids the bloody end of the story, but concluded with the somewhat mild observation that Crow was beaten in the fight. I worried somewhat about what the adults in the audience might feel about the bloody ending.

Concluding that tale, I thought that one tale was enough. The kids had come from playing games to join me under that tree, and I thought they would want to go back to their games. I was wrong; they wanted another tale. I had no choice but to think about another tale.

I told the tale of "The Monster in the Rice Field," which also features in Matengo Folktales. I chose this one partly because I wanted the kids to participate in singing the song that occurs again and again in the tale. This worked perfectly. Each time I sang the song, they clapped their hands together with me, and some made an effort to sing along.

I did my best to refrain from saying that it was a monster that, from day to day, snatched away the children and their parents as they were out in the fields watching over the rice. Instead of "monster," I said "a very big creature."

I don't remember ever having done what I did today. In telling folktales to audiences--including children-- in different parts of the U.S.A, I have always told the tales the way I recorded them, complete with monsters and killings.  When I asked the children whether they found the tales scary, they always said no.

I have found this intriguing, especially because I know that many modern parents tend to worry about such references in folktales. This is a complicated issue, which has bedeviled scholars from the very beginning of the discipline of folklore. Still, I did what I did today, and I don't know why.

Nevertheless, we all had a great time. After the storytelling was over, my daughter Zawadi asked a little girl how the storytelling went, and, with a thumbs up, the little girl said, "It was awesome!"

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)