Matengo Folktales Featured on "Jeopardy"

 I will always remember 23 November, 2017. First it was Thanksgiving Day, a major American holiday. That is not a unique event, since it occurs every year. What was special, about that particular Thanksgiving Day, however, was that my book, Matengo Folktales, was mentioned on the "Jeopardy" television show which many Americans watch. I don't know how I ended up on this show.

I didn't know much about "Jeopardy," but the appearance of my book on the show has opened my eyes as I witness the reactions of people around the country. The chairman of my Department at St. Olaf College wrote to faculty and majors: Congratulations to Joseph Mbele for an honor that few of us will ever achieve--being mentioned in a clue on Jeopardy! See the image below, referencing Joseph's "Matengo Folktales" book....


In the YouTube recording below, my book is mentioned starting at the 15:29 minute point.

Teaching "The Trickster and the Hero"

For the last three weeks, I have been teaching a January course titled "The Trickster and the Hero." I designed this course in 1990, when I was teaching at the University of Dar es Salaam. I had just been hired by the English Department at St. Olaf College to introduce Post colonial literature and the department chair asked me if I would like to design and teach a January course.

I knew right away that I would like to teach a course on the hero and the trickster. I had done my graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1980-86 and had written my doctoral dissertation on The Hero in the African Epic. Professor Harold Scheub, one of my professors and my main dissertation advisor, had sparked my interest in the hero and the trickster. 

Almost every year, for the twenty five years I have taught at St. Olaf College, I have taught my hero and trickster course. I start with Paul Radin's The Trickster: A Study in North American Indian Mythology. After that, I usually teach some more trickster tales from other traditions, drawn from various traditions, such as Anansi, Gizo, Nasreddin Hodja, and Hare, the ubiquitous trickster of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. I often incorporate trickster tales from my own collection, Matengo Folktales.

After exploring oral traditional trickster tales, I move on to epics. Over the years, I have used The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Book of Dede Korkut, Gassire's Lute, Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali, and Ibonia. I then move on to works of fiction. I have used novels such as Things Fall Apart, The Guide, and The Lonely Londoners, which afford further opportunity to explore the figure of the trickster and the hero in written literature. Then we read Things Fall Apart, and we are now reading The Guide. I hope to conclude with theoretical works which deal with the hero from the perspective of formalism, psychoanalysis, and feminism.

This January, we started with Paul Radin's The Trickster, watched a recording of comedian Louis CK, went on to The Epic of Gilgamesh, Ibonia, Things Fall Apart, and The Guide. With only three days to go, I am in the process of concluding with theoretical perspectives as I have noted above.

Studying the trickster is an opportunity to reflect on a major figure in folklore and literature. So is studying the hero. I say as much in my course description:

The figure of the trickster is one of the most enduring of all the characters we encounter in literature and folklore, from the earliest times to the present. The figure of the hero is equally prevalent and engaging. In this course, we will study manifestations of these figures in the folklore and literature of various cultures and epochs. Our focus, though, will be Middle Eastern, African and Caribbean traditions. We will try to understand the social origins and functions of hero and trickster tales, using theories such as those of Paul Radin, Carl Jung, Otto Rank, Lord Raglan, and Alan Dundes. We will try also to explore the manifestations and influences of the hero and trickster archetypes in our lives. In addition to folklore stories, we will study selected literary texts, in order to understand how they appropriate the motifs and patterns of trickster and hero narratives. This is a great way to understand an important dimension of the making of literature.

"Nyang'au:" A Swahili Poem by Haji Gora Haji

For a number of days, I have been reading Kimbunga, an anthology of Swahili poems by Haji Gora Haji of Zanzibar. I have also been drawn to translating some of them. Having translated "Kimbunga," I decided to translate "Nyang'au," a poem that draws from the oral tradition of story telling as do a number of other poems by Haji Gora Haji.

"Nyang'au" is built around two characters: a human being and a hyena. Interestingly, if not paradoxically, throughout the drama involving the two, we learn about the hyena's feelings and motivations, but not those of the man. This, I can say, is because the man is oblivious to the presence of the hyena. The fact that we, as witnesses, know everything that is going on affords the action a certain dramatic irony.

As an animal, the hyena carries sinister associations in the cultures of many parts of Africa and elsewhere. From ancient times, the hyena has been featured in paintings, sculpture and other art forms. In his Green Hills of Africa, in which he describes various East African animals, Ernest Hemingway expresses his dislike of the hyena.

Hyena features predominantly as the dupe in the folktales of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. Driven by greed, he always lands in deep trouble, on account of either his own stupid decisions or the trickster's intrigues. Haji Gora Haji's "Nyang'au," which we can read as a fable, belongs in a vast, age-old tradition of representation.

                              
                               Nyang'au

1.        Fisi alikichakani, mtu kapita haraka
          Kwa vile yuko mbiyoni, mkono unakwepuka
          Ndipo akatumaini, karibu ya kuanguka
          Mate yakimdondoka, kwa tamaa ya mkono

2.       Kayanowa yake meno, tayari na kujiweka
          Ukidondoka mkono, afike na kuudaka
          Ajipatie vinono, ale na kufaidika
          Mate yakimdondoka, kwa tamaa ya mkono

3.       Kafata huku na kule, hakuwa mwenye kuchoka
          Fisi nyuma mtu mbele, endako ajipeleka
          Kungoja mkono ule, apate kunufaika
          Mate yakimdondoka, kwa tamaa ya mkono

4.       Hakujuwa kama vile, mkono kupeperuka
          Ndiyo yake maumbile, si kwa kuwa wakwanyuka
          Kafatia vile vile, kwa tamaa kumshika
          Mate yakimdondoka, kwa tamaa ya mkono

5.        Yule anayemfata, anakokwenda kafika
          Ndoto aliyoiota, ikakosa uhakika
          Mkono hakuupata, bure alihangaika
          Majuto yakamfika, hakuupata mkono


                                The Hyena

1.       The hyena was in the bush, when a man hurried past
          Speeding as he was, his arm flagged about
          Raising the hyena's hopes that soon it would fall off
          He kept salivating, hungering for the arm

2.       He sharpened his teeth, positioning himself properly
          So that when the arm fell off, he should promptly catch it
          And enjoy a tasty treat, eating to satisfaction
          He kept salivating, hungering for the arm

3.       He followed hither and thither, not one to tire of striving
          Coming behind with the man ahead, the hyena trailed the man
          Waiting for that arm, hoping to feast on it
          He kept salivating, hungering for the arm

4.       Little did he know, that for the arm to flap about
          Was its natural wont, no harbinger of dismemberment
          He nevertheless kept following, choking with desire
          He kept salivating, hungering for the arm

5.       The one he was following, reached his destination
          The dream he had been dreaming, ended in uncertainty
          The arm he failed to get, in vain had he striven
          Deep regrets assailed him, for failing to get the arm.

Skyping With a Mythologies Class

Yesterday morning, I held a Skype session with a Montana State University Mythologies class. Their instructor, Kristofer Olsen, had told me that the class would be reading my book, Matengo Folktales, and had wondered if I might be willing to talk with the class via Skype. I gladly accepted the request and asked my daughter Zawadi to show me, again, how to Skype.

The class started, as planned, at 10:30, and we covered much ground. As soon as the class got underway, I was asked to tell a tale, a short one. Noting that I always tell the tales instead of reading them, I told the tale of "Hawk and Crow."

I wanted the class to experience a live performance, even though I was telling the tale in English, as opposed to the original Matengo, my mother tongue. Above all, I wanted them to hear the song which features in the tale and is repeated a number of times.

The class knew that the songs in Matengo Folktales are available in Let Your Voice Be Heard, a CD by a group called Cantus, which was based at St. Olaf College. I briefly talked about how I had sung the songs for fellow St. Olaf College Professor Peter Hamlin, which he then arranged for Cantus.

I enjoyed the experience of Skyping, interacting with a class located more than 900 miles away, in Bozeman, Montana. Particularly memorable were the questions they asked me, about the process of recording and translating the tales, the nature of language and cultural groups, the prevalence of killings in the tales. Regarding what my favourite tale was, I stated that I saw each tale as special in its own way.

The subject of trickster came up, with a focus on Ananse. I broadened the scope by noting the variety of trickster figures, including those who appear in the form of animals, such as Ananse (Spider), Gizo (Spider), Ijapa (Tortoise), and Hare, as well as those who appear unambiguously as humans, such as  Nasreddin Hodja, and Abu Nuwas. I also mentioned Carl Jung as a valuable source of insights into the origins, meaning and function of the trickster figure.

As an advocate of cross-cultural learning and interactions, I salute any initiatives that advance that goal, such as the Cantus project I have mentioned and the Mythologies course I participated in.