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.

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.

Interview on Writing and Publishing: Bukola Oriola and Joseph Mbele

My UMR Presentation on Ethics in Folklore

I have just returned from Rochester, Minnesota, where I gave a lecture on "Folklore as Expression of Ethics: European and African Examples." The lecture, which I mentioned on this blog,  was part of the University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR) Connects program.

I learned about the UMR Connects during a meeting of the board of Rochester International Association (RIA) of which I am a member. I offered to propose a topic to the UMR Connects for a presentation, in line with the request by the UMR Connect that the focus for April be ethics. As a folklorist, I chose to focus on "Folklore as Expression of Ethics: European and African Examples."

I was pleased to share with the audience how African and European folklore mediates ethical issues and concerns. I presented several African proverbs and two folktales, and discussed European folktales such as "Snow White" and "The Emperor's New Clothes." I also cited the Poetic Edda and The Kalevala. In regard to their concern with ethics, the similarities between the African and European folklore traditions were obvious.

After my talk, audience members asked questions. One of these was whether there were contradictory messages in proverbs. I said that was, indeed, the case, and I offered examples from the Swahili tradition. I explained that proverbs embody a deep understanding of social and other phenomena and are therefore used by the elders, because these are sophisticated enough to know which proverb applies to which situation.

I had a great time with the people of Rochester. I look forward to being there again on April 29, when I will be participating in the World Festival organized by the RIA. I will be participating as an author, talking about my books, and as a cultural consultant. I welcome everyone.

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.

"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.

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!"

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.

"Meet the Author" at Afrifest, August 2

Afrifest is an annual Minnesota summer festival which aims to foster awareness of the experience of people of African descent in Africa and the African Diaspora across the ages.

There are always vendors of different products and providers of various services. It is always a delight to be around them. As In the past, I will be there in my capacity as an educator, cultural consultant and author, and here are the books I will have on display.

This is a collection of ten tales from the oral tradition of the Matengo of Southern Tanzania. I recorded them in the mid-seventies, tranlated them into English, and wrote commentaries on them.
















This is a study guide to Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe's famous novel.


















I wrote this book to foster mutual understanding between Africans and Americans, with a focus on cultural differences which hinder or complicate relations between the two sides.

















This is a collection of short essays in Swahili, on economic, political, social, cultural, and educational issues, with a particular focus on the experience of Tanzania, but relevant to the rest of Africa as well.
















This pamphlet is a miniature version of ten posters I created for the first Afrifest, 2007. It highlights the African experience from the origins of the human race in Africa to the present, touching on such topics as the ancient African civilizations, slavery and the slave trade, colonialism, the struggle for independence, the arts, and pan Africanism.

For more information on the festival, check the Afrifest website.

Another Day at the School of Environmental Studies

Today, I went to the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley to talk with Mr. Todd Carlson's students. They are studying indigenous philosophy.

Over the years, starting in the early nineties, Mr. Carlson has invited me to speak in his class, my focus being traditional folklore.






In preparation for my visits, Mr. Carlson introduces the students to my book, Matengo Folktales. They read parts of it. As a result, they have many questions for me, which are thoughtful and engaging. They ask about such issues as recording and textualizing oral folklore, translation, folklore performance, and the meanings of the tales in Matengo Folktales.

During every visit, I tell a tale or two from Matengo Folktales. Today, as in the past, I told the "The Monster in the Rice Field," which everyone finds most intriguing.

A Visit to the School of Environmental Studies

Today I visited the School of Environmental Studies (SES) in Apple Valley, to talk about folklore and the environment. Although I have visited this school many times, each visit is a new and refreshing experience.

As in the past, Todd Carson, the class teacher, invited me. I told the students today that I love and respect their school so much that I would never decline an invitation to speak there.

I discussed the evolution of language and folklore as vehicles for human survival and development. I talked about how humans have used and continue to use myths, legends, folktales, and other folklore forms to make sense of the world around them. Through incantations, rituals and ceremonies, humans have sought to influence the world.

Discussing stories of the origin of the world, I mentioned the Popol Vuh of the ancient Mayans, having just taught it in my folklore class at St. Olaf College. I also mentioned the widespread African story of how God separated himself from humans.

I talked about how story telling appropriates advances in technology, such as writing. Nowadays story telling goes on in newspapers, television, and social media such as blogs and Facebook and Twitter. In response to a question, I said that all disciplines are, essentially, forms of storytelling.


Since I visit the SES when the students are reading selections from Matengo Folktales, I always get to share some tales. Today, I told one tale from that book, "The Monster in the Rice Field."

My visits to the SES are always memorable. The students are different every year, but always delightful, brimming with intellectual curiosity. They ask great questions, and the two-hour session ends rather quickly. (Photos by Todd Carson).

My Arusha Readers

Visiting Arusha is always a treat. There are many people to meet, places to visit, and things to do. One of my joys is meeting my readers. There are quite a few: Americans, Europeans, Tanzanians, and others.

This summer, I spent several days in Arusha. I met my friend, Thomas Ratsim. He and J.M. Tours, the company he works for, have been steadfast fans of my Africans and Americans book. Many American travelers with J.M. Tours have heard about this book from Thomas.

The guys in the photo, taken in the Tarangire National Park during my Hemingway course, summer of 2008, were all with J.M. Tours. They had read Africans and Americans, and they regaled me with tales of how it helps them deal with tourists.

I visited the Arusha Times, which once carried an excerpt of my book. I met Linda, an American fan of the Africans and Americans book, whom I have known for some time, and who offers cultural orientation for foreigners in Arusha. Knowledgeable and experienced, she urged me to write a sequel. Thanks to readers like her, I am working on one.

I met Ingrid, a European teacher I did not know before. She works with school children and likes story telling. She was familiar with my Africans and Americans and Matengo Folktales, and she shared some interesting perspectives on both teaching children and cultural differences.

There are other places I would have liked to visit, and other people I would have liked to meet, if I had more time. One is the Peace House School, where I once gave a talk on the issues I raise in the Africans and Americans book. There, Africans and Americans work side by side. The director thought it would be a good idea for them to have on-going book discussions as a way of learning about their cultural differences.

I would have visited the office of the Global Service Corps, an American organization that sends volunteers to Tanzania and recommends Africans and Americans on its website. I have visited their office several times in the past and seen copies of the book there, for volunteers.

I wish to thank all my readers. Their continuing engagement with my work both inspires and sustains me.

The Monster in the Rice Field

On the fifth floor of the St. Olaf College Library, there is a statue titled "The Purple Dragon." It was made by Joanna Newell. I do not remember the first time I saw this statue, but in recent days I have been paying special attention to it. It reminds me of "The Monster in the Rice Field," one of the tales in my Matengo Folktales. This is a tale about a monster that takes away members of a family as they take turns watching over the rice in their field. No one knows what the monster in the tale looked like, and the Matengo tradition offers not a clue. I guess that is why I like the dragon in the St. Olaf Library. About seven foot high, this seems to me the kind of monster the Matengo tale describes. Of course, in creating this monster, the artist was not thinking about the Matengo tale.
Perhaps she was thinking about a monster in a different tale, but the monster she created works for the Matengo tale quite well. It is amazing what the human imagination can do to bridge cultures. There are monster tales in all human societies, and they seem to have been there from the dawn of story telling. We never tire of the stories, scary as they might be.

Folktales inspire the imagination of audiences everywhere. After reading the tales in Matengo Folktales, students at Colorado College decided to perform them. As their professor told me, "One group did the Monster in the Rice Field complete with puppets they had made to represent the children and parents and which made it all too vivid how people just kept disappearing." Art is a universal language, and the monster is part of that language. To paraphrase Carl Jung, the monster, just like the bogeyman, is a product and manifestation of our psychic experiences. We encounter monsters, typically, in our dreams. No wonder stories of monsters have such a hold on us.