Center for Global Studies University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ISRL Èwè (Ghana) Storytelling Songs Elder, D. Rose, Ohio State-ATI July-August 2017 ÈWÈ (GHANA) STORYTELLING SONGS AND INTERNATIONALIZING UNDERGRADUATE CURRICULUM D. Rose Elder, D.M.A., Associate Professor Humanities and Social Sciences, Coordinator Ghana Research and Education Abroad, Coordinator Community Tutors at Cornerstone Elementary School, Coordinator The Ohio State University ATI, Wooster OH
[email protected] ABSTRACT Since time immemorial the Èwè of Ghana’s Volta Region have relied on storytelling to teach and rehearse their community values. (See Figure 1) Within the framework of the storytelling performance, audience members interrupt the story with songs that lead to dancing, enliven sleepy listeners, and add each song leader’s interpretive ‘take’ on the story. Singing figures prominently because it allows community participation and, Figure 1: Ghana’s Volta indeed, reverses the artist-audience roles. During the 2016 Ohio Region Map State ATI Ghana Research and Education Abroad tour, undergraduate and faculty researchers interviewed storytellers about the current role of storytelling in Èwè communities in the regional capital Ho and surrounding towns. Because of their liveliness, the group quickly learned a half- dozen storytelling interludes, which increased their ability to participate in later storytelling events and their understanding of the Èwè language. This white paper for the Center for Global Studies at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana briefly discusses the Ghana Research and Education Abroad, aspects of the storytelling songs we collected, available resources for studying 1 Center for Global Studies University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ISRL Èwè (Ghana) Storytelling Songs Elder, D.