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Canadiana – Canadian Writers

In this Module you will learn about three great writers who call Canada home: Lawrence Hill, Tololwa Mollel and Maxine Tynes.

Here is a list of activities you will work on:

- KWL Chart - Reading Activity - Mapping Activity - Video Activity

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KWL CHART

Look at the KWL Chart below. Think about what you already know about these three Canadian authors. Write it down in the “K” column. What do you want to know about them? Write it down in the “W” column.

K W L What I know about What I want to know What I learned about Lawrence Hill, Tololwa about Lawrence Hill, Lawrence Hill, Tololwa Mollel, and Maxine Tynes? Tololwa Mollel, and Maxine Mollel, and Maxine Tynes? Tynes?

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READING ACTIVITY

LAWRENCE HILL

http://lawrencehill.com/about-lawrence/

Lawrence Hill is the son of American immigrants — a black father and a white mother — who came to Canada the day after they married in 1953 in Washington, D.C. On his father’s side, Hill’s grandfather and great grandfather were university- educated, ordained ministers of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. His mother came from a Republican family in Oak Park, Illinois, graduated from Oberlin College and went on to become a civil rights activist in D.C. Growing up in the predominantly white suburb of Don Mills, Ontario in the sixties, Hill was greatly influenced by his parents’ work in the human rights movement. Much of Hill’s writing touches on issues of identity and belonging.

Hill’s first passion was running, and as a boy he dreamed of winning an Olympic gold medal in the 5,000 meters. But despite years of intense training and thousands of kilometers, he never managed to run quite fast enough. As a teenager, he consoled himself by deciding to become a writer instead, and at 14 he wrote his first story on his mother’s L.C. Smith typewriter. It was a bad story, and a good beginning.

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Hill is the author of ten books of fiction and non-fiction. In 2005, he won his first honour for his work, a National Magazine Award for the article “Is Africa’s Pain Black America’s Burden?” published in The Walrus. But it was his third novel, The Book of Negroes (HarperCollins Canada, 2007) — published in some countries as Someone Knows My Name and in French as Aminata — that brought his writing to broad public attention. The novel won several awards, including: • The Rogers/Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, • both CBC Radio’s Canada Reads and Radio Canada’s Le Combat des livres, and • The Commonwealth Prize for Best Book, which came with a private audience with Queen Elizabeth II. The Book of Negroes television miniseries, which Lawrence Hill co-wrote with director Clement Virgo, was filmed in South Africa and Canada and aired on CBC in Canada and on BET in the United States in early 2015. Lawrence Hill’s non-fiction book, Blood: The Stuff of Life was published in September 2013 by House of Anansi Press. Blood is a personal consideration of the physical, social, cultural and psychological aspects of blood, and how it defines, unites and divides us. Hill drew from the book to deliver the 2013 Massey Lectures across Canada. The lectures were broadcast on the CBC Radio “Ideas” program. Blood: The Stuff of Life won the Hamilton Literary Award for non-fiction. In 2013, Hill published the essay Dear Sir, I Intend to Burn Your Book: An Anatomy of a Book Burning (University of Alberta Press). His fourth novel, The Illegal, will be published by HarperCollins Canada in September, 2015 and by WW Norton in the USA in January 2016. Formerly a reporter with The Globe and Mail and parliamentary correspondent for The Winnipeg Free Press, Hill also speaks French and Spanish. He has lived and worked across Canada, in Baltimore, and in Spain and France. He is an honorary patron of Crossroads International, for which he travelled as a volunteer to the West African countries Niger, Cameroon and Mali, and to which he lends the name of his best-known character for the Aminata Fund, which supports programs for

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Afro-Quiz Study Material (16-18) !"#$ girls and women in Africa. Hill is also a member of the Council of Patrons of the Black Loyalist Heritage Society, and of the Advisory Council of Book Clubs for Inmates and is an honorary patron of Project Bookmark Canada. He has a B.A. in economics from Laval University in Quebec City and an M.A. in writing from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He has received five honorary doctorates from Canadian universities, and in 2015 was appointed to the Order of Canada. Hill lives in Hamilton, Ontario and in Woody Point, Newfoundland with his family.

Body of Work

• The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (written with Joshua Key) was released in Canada and the United States in 2007. It was later published in numerous countries including France, Germany, Norway, Australia and Japan.

• The Book of Negroes was released in Canada in 2007, and published as Someone Knows My Name in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

• Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada (HarperCollins Canada, 2001).

• Any Known Blood (William Morrow, New York, 1999; HarperCollins Canada, 1997).

• Some Great Thing (HarperCollins Canada, 2009; originally published by Turnstone Press, Winnipeg, 1992).

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Awards and Accolades for The Book of Negroes

• Winner of CBC Radio’s Canada Reads, 2009

• Longlisted for the 2009 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

• Winner of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Overall Best Book

• Winner of the 2008 Ontario Library Association’s Evergreen Award The Book of Negroes Reading Guide 4

• Finalist for the 2008 Hurston/Wright Legacy Award

• Longlisted for the 2007 Giller Prize

• Winner of the 2007 Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

Watch and Listen http://lawrencehill.com/watch-and-listen/

1. Listen to Lawrence Hill read from the first chapter of The Book of Negroes/ Someone Knows My Name http://lawrencehill.com/TBON_chapter1.mp3 2. Watch Lawrence Hill give a reading from the opening of Blood: The Stuff of Life on the Maclean’s magazine website http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/lawrence-hill-the-power-of-blood/ 3. Click on this link http://www.cbc.ca/bookofnegroes/ to watch video clips of the series based on The Book of Negroes.

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TOLOLWA MOLLEL

http://www.tololwamollel.com/biography/

Tololwa Mollel is a children’s author, dramatist and storyteller, who has written seventeen internationally published books, and several plays as well as stories that he created or adapted for performance. His books, which include award winning titles such as Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper, Big Boy, and My Rows and Piles of Coins have been published in Canada, the U.S., Australia, England and Tanzania where he was born. His work has been translated into various South African languages, into Korean, Spanish, Serbian, Norwegian and Finnish, and of course his native Kiswahili, Tanzania’s national language.

In Tanzania, his country of birth, Mollel was a University lecturer and an actor and performer in a touring company that performed as far as Germany and Sweden. He continued performing in Canada but came to devote himself to writing and to the literary scene in Edmonton, serving as President of the Writers Guild of Alberta in the late 1990s.

He does extensive work with schools and libraries, with literacy, arts and educational bodies, and with community organizations. In all this work, Mollel has presented, performed and conducted writing, storytelling and dramatic workshops and writer-in-residence programs in schools, libraries and communities across Canada and the U.S., as well as in England, Australia and Tanzania. Of his presentations and his work with schools, libraries and communities, Mollel says, “I aim to provide a feast of words – written and spoken – for the eye, the ear and the mind; as well as for the creative imagination, and for performance.” Through writing, storytelling and drama, Mollel hopes to empower the young, and others, with the gift of story — to write, tell, share and enjoy stories; to mentor them as

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Afro-Quiz Study Material (16-18) !"#$ he was mentored. Mollel has increasingly come to combine the arts of storytelling, story making and theater into story performance with music with collaborating musicians and artists.

Tololwa Mollel has written sixteen children’s books, among them award winning titles such as The Orphan Boy, Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper!, Big Boy and My Rows and Piles of Coins. His books have been published in Canada, the U.S., England, Australia and Tanzania, and they have been translated into various Southern African languages and into Korean. Mollel’s passion for writing grew out of his love of books and the written word early in his childhood. His love of the written word, and later performance, grew out of his life with his grandparents in Tanzania where words were and are still all important.

From Lands of Night Subira Subira

Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper

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Map Activity

Can you mark the country of Tololwa’s birth on the map below?

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MAXINE TYNES

Below is an article taken from the Globe and Mail about Ms. Tynes. Read though the article in order to gain more knowledge of this celebrated poet. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/new/national/nova-scotian-poet-maxine-tynes-celebrated-her- life-as-a-black-woman/article556560/

Nova Scotian poet Maxine Tynes celebrated her life as a black woman

ALLISON LAWLOR Special to The Globe and Mail Published Sunday, Oct. 09, 2011 10:21PM EDT

A celebrated Nova Scotian poet, whose roots date back to the black Loyalists’ migration to the province in the late 1700s, Maxine Tynes published her first book of poetry in 1987 to critical acclaim.

Borrowed Beauty, which received the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Award, was an anthology of her many different voices. In the opening piece, Tynes, who died in Halifax on Sept. 12, writes passionately about the role that poetry, race and womanhood played in both her life and work. “Women are always looking into mirrors, looking for a mirror to look into, or thinking about, regretting, sighing over or not quite believing what they’ve seen in the mirror.

“We’re looking at ourselves; looking for ourselves. The girls we were, the women we are, and what we will become. Searching, always searching in mirrors.

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“For people of colour, for Black people, for this Black woman in particular, the search is the same, but different. We are constantly looking for who we are. So many of the signals have been lost, historically and culturally, along the way. … My poems, my poetry, are like mirrors reflecting back in great or subtle beams and shafts of light and words and images that are womanly and Black and brown and tan and full of the joy and pride in femaleness and in Black womanhood that I am.”

Born in Halifax on June 30, 1949, Tynes was one of 12 children raised by her parents, Joseph, a shipyard worker, and Ada, a homemaker, in a small house in Dartmouth, across the harbour from Halifax. At the age of 4 she contracted polio. The disease left her paralyzed from the hip down on her right leg and both feet deformed. She walked with a cane. In her poem The Woman I Am In My Dreams she writes about her physical challenges:

“The woman I am in my dreams is taller than I am and sees the world as she walks unlike me with eyes on every step with eyes ever and always on the ground … The woman I am in my dreams breaks all the rules about shoes wears them high and red with killer spike heels moves from Nikes to spikes and the kind of pumps that go with a dress and having your hair done…”

In high school, Tynes started to write poetry, expressing the rebellious time of the 1960s. She told Dalhousie University’s alumni magazine in 1988 that she was “Dartmouth’s resident flower child.” She got her education degree from Dalhousie in 1975 and while there won the Dennis Memorial Poetry Prize. In 1986, she became the first African-Canadian woman to sit on Dalhousie’s Board of Governors, serving until 1994.

Describing the 1980s as a bit of black cultural renaissance in Nova Scotia, Lesley Choyce, the publisher of Pottersfield Press, contacted Tynes to ask if he could

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Afro-Quiz Study Material (16-18) !"#$ publish her work in an anthology of black writers. She agreed, marking the beginning of their publishing relationship.

“Her poems resonated with people. Her poems were very powerful and personal,” said Choyce. “She had a raw honesty in her poetry.”

Other collections of her poetry include Woman Talking Woman, The Door of My Heart and Save the World For Me, a collection of poetry and fiction for young people. “Maxine’s poems were not elitist,” said Choyce. “She used simple language in an evocative way.”

Her books sold steadily and had a wide appeal, he said. “It’s generally hard to sell poetry books, but Maxine was the exception.”

When not writing poetry, Tynes was an English teacher at Cole Harbour High and Auburn Drive High schools for 31 years. She was also one of Peter Gzowski’s favourite poets on his popular CBC radio show Morningside and frequently appeared on CTV’s Canada AM, where she would talk about popular television shows and other media. “She looked like a performer. She thrived on performing,” said her friend Wayne Thompson.

Dressed in colourful, long skirts, bright hats and lots of jewellery, she wasn’t afraid to wear matching makeup around her beautiful, dark eyes. “I see the lights in the bathroom aren’t working again,” Thompson teased his friend referring to her colourful choices.

Tynes loved to give readings and to appear at book signings. “The remarkable thing about her poetry was that it sounded best when read by her,” said former teaching colleague Ray MacLeod. “She had a fantastic reading voice.”

Choyce remembers her almost magnetic draw at public events. “She had this connection with people and made people light up.

“You looked at Maxine’s eyes and you saw this tremendous energy and passion for life,” he said. “She really was the people’s poet.”

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After the 1990s, she stopped publishing poetry and moved out of the public eye. As her health deteriorated, she focused on teaching and writing for school textbooks. She continued to write almost until the end of her life. As a teacher, she encouraged her students to write poetry of their own and would read her poetry in class on occasion. She also liked to share her love of poets like Maya Angelou with students.

“She always insisted that the material she read in class was multicultural. She made sure the kids didn’t just read old, dead white men,” said MacLeod.

A dedicated teacher, she was adored by many of her students, but had little time for those who didn’t want to work or weren’t interested in literature. “You never saw her alone in her classroom. She always had a group of kids around her,” said MacLeod.

She wrote passionately not only about her own life and concerns, but about social issues such as the racism experienced by earlier generations of black women, famine in Africa and the prostitutes working at night in Halifax. She communicated a sense of hope and the beauty of the human spirit.

“My poems are great shouts of the joy that I feel and share; the deep passion that rocks and caresses and embraces me and all that is part of my world and my life. The laments for lost heritage are there; but, then, so are the feelings of having found a centre and a self-acceptance and an identity in this Black and woman’s skin that I so joyfully wear.

“I wear it joyfully. I wear it big. I wear it womanly. And I wear it Black. Black. Black. As night, deep and soft and endless with no moon. Just black and perfect splendour in life and in being a woman in this world,” she wrote in Mirrors. Tynes, who had been diagnosed with post-polio syndrome, leaves siblings Josephine, Joan, Margaret, Lynda, Patsy, Dianne, David, Charles, Andrew and Timothy, as well as several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her brother Douglas.

Special to The Globe and Mail

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Complete the L portion of the KWL chart. What did you learn about these three Canadian writers?

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Chinua Achebe and Things Fall Apart

In this module, you are going to learn about the renowned Nigerian author, Chinua Achebe. You will also acquire knowledge on his famous book, Things Fall Apart.

Here is a list of activities you will work on:

- KWL Chart - Biography of Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart and discussion - Videos on Achebe and Things Fall Apart - Map activity

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KWL CHART

Look at the KWL Chart below. Think about what you already know about Chinua Achebe. Write it down in the “K” column. What do you want to know about Mr. Achebe? Write it down in the “W” column.

K W L What I know about Chinua What I want to know What I learned about Achebe and Things Fall about Chinua Achebe and Chinua Achebe and Things Apart Things Fall Apart Fall Apart

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CHINUA ACHEBE

http://www.brainpickings.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/chinuaachebe.jpg

Chinua Achebe was born Albert Chinualumogu Achebe on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria. He died on March 21, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He is a Nigerian novelist who is acclaimed for his unsentimental depictions of the social and psychological disorientation accompanying the imposition of Western customs and values upon traditional African society. His particular concern was with emergent Africa at its moments of crisis. His novels range in subject matter from the first contact of an African village with the white man to the educated African’s attempt to create a firm moral order out of the changing values in a large city. Achebe grew up in the Igbo (Ibo) town of Ogidi, Nigeria. After studying English and literature at University College (now the University of Ibadan), Achebe taught for a short time before joining the staff of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos, where he served as director of external broadcasting in 1961–66. In 1967 he cofounded a publishing company at Enugu with the poet Christopher Okigbo, who died shortly thereafter in the Nigerian civil war for Biafran independence, which Achebe openly supported. In 1969 Achebe toured the United States with fellow writers Gabriel Okara and Cyprian Ekwensi, lecturing at universities. Upon his return to Nigeria he was appointed research fellow at the University of Nigeria

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Afro-Quiz Study Materials (16-18) !"#$ and became professor of English, a position he held from 1976 until 1981 (professor emeritus from 1985). He was director (from 1970) of two Nigerian publishers, Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. and Nwankwo-Ifejika Ltd. After an automobile accident in Nigeria in 1990 that left him partially paralyzed, he moved to the United States, where he taught at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. In 2009 Achebe left Bard to join the faculty of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Things Fall Apart (1958), Achebe’s first novel, concerns traditional Igbo life at the time of the advent of missionaries and colonial government in his homeland. His principal character cannot accept the new order, even though the old has already collapsed. In the sequel No Longer at Ease (1960) he portrayed a newly appointed civil servant, recently returned from university study in England, who is unable to sustain the moral values he believes to be correct in the face of the obligations and temptations of his new position. In Arrow of God (1964), set in the 1920s in a village under British administration, the principal character, the chief priest of the village, whose son becomes a zealous Christian, turns his resentment at the position he is placed in by the white man against his own people. A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah (1987) deal with corruption and other aspects of postcolonial African life. Achebe also published several collections of short stories and children’s books, including How the Leopard Got His Claws (1973; with John Iroaganachi). Beware, Soul-Brother (1971) and Christmas in Biafra (1973) are collections of poetry. Another Africa (1998) combines an essay and poems by Achebe with photographs by Robert Lyons. Achebe’s books of essays include Morning Yet on Creation Day (1975), Hopes and Impediments (1988), Home and Exile (2000), The Education of a British-Protected Child (2009), and the autobiographical There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012). In 2007 he won the Man Booker International Prize. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Chinua-Achebe

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Quotes by Mr. Achebe……

“I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of my African experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its ancestral home but altered to suit its new African surroundings.” — Chinua Achebe http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/new-english-chinua-achebes-things-fall-apart-common-core-exemplar#sect- background

“The last four or five hundred years of European contact with Africa produced a body of literature that presented Africa in a very bad light and Africans in very lurid terms. The reason for this had to do with the need to justify the slave trade and slavery. … This continued until the Africans themselves, in the middle of the twentieth century, took into their own hands the telling of their story.” -- Chinua Achebe

http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/chinua-achebes-things-fall-apart-teaching-through-novel

About Things Fall Apart

Book Cover- https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/ThingsFallApart.jpg

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Plot Overview taken from: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/things/summary.html

Okonkwo is a wealthy and respected warrior of the Umuofia clan, a lower Nigerian tribe that is part of a consortium of nine connected villages. He is haunted by the actions of Unoka, his cowardly and spendthrift father, who died in disrepute, leaving many village debts unsettled. In response, Okonkwo became a clansman, warrior, farmer, and family provider extraordinaire. He has a twelve-year-old son named Nwoye whom he finds lazy; Okonkwo worries that Nwoye will end up a failure like Unoka.

In a settlement with a neighboring tribe, Umuofia wins a virgin and a fifteen-year- old boy. Okonkwo takes charge of the boy, Ikemefuna, and finds an ideal son in him. Nwoye likewise forms a strong attachment to the newcomer. Despite his fondness for Ikemefuna and despite the fact that the boy begins to call him “father,” Okonkwo does not let himself show any affection for him.

During the Week of Peace, Okonkwo accuses his youngest wife, Ojiugo, of negligence. He severely beats her, breaking the peace of the sacred week. He makes some sacrifices to show his repentance, but he has shocked his community irreparably.

Ikemefuna stays with Okonkwo’s family for three years. Nwoye looks up to him as an older brother and, much to Okonkwo’s pleasure, develops a more masculine attitude. One day, the locusts come to Umuofia—they will come every year for seven years before disappearing for another generation. The village excitedly collects them because they are good to eat when cooked.

Ogbuefi Ezeudu, a respected village elder, informs Okonkwo in private that the Oracle has said that Ikemefuna must be killed. He tells Okonkwo that because Ikemefuna calls him “father,” Okonkwo should not take part in the boy’s death. Okonkwo lies to Ikemefuna, telling him that they must return him to his home village. Nwoye bursts into tears.

As he walks with the men of Umuofia, Ikemefuna thinks about seeing his mother. After several hours of walking, some of Okonkwo’s clansmen attack the boy with machetes. Ikemefuna runs to Okonkwo for help. But Okonkwo, who doesn’t wish to look weak in front of his fellow tribesmen, cuts the boy down despite the Oracle’s

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Okonkwo sinks into a depression, neither able to sleep nor eat. He visits his friend Obierika and begins to feel revived a bit. Okonkwo’s daughter Ezinma falls ill, but she recovers after Okonkwo gathers leaves for her medicine.

The death of Ogbuefi Ezeudu is announced to the surrounding villages by means of the ekwe, a musical instrument. Okonkwo feels guilty because the last time Ezeudu visited him was to warn him against taking part in Ikemefuna’s death. At Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s large and elaborate funeral, the men beat drums and fire their guns. Tragedy compounds upon itself when Okonkwo’s gun explodes and kills Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s sixteen-year-old son.

Because killing a clansman is a crime against the earth goddess, Okonkwo must take his family into exile for seven years in order to atone. He gathers his most valuable belongings and takes his family to his mother’s natal village, Mbanta. The men from Ogbuefi Ezeudu’s quarter burn Okonkwo’s buildings and kill his animals to cleanse the village of his sin.

Okonkwo’s kinsmen, especially his uncle, Uchendu, receive him warmly. They help him build a new compound of huts and lend him yam seeds to start a farm. Although he is bitterly disappointed at his misfortune, Okonkwo reconciles himself to life in his motherland.

During the second year of Okonkwo’s exile, Obierika brings several bags of cowries (shells used as currency) that he has made by selling Okonkwo’s yams. Obierika plans to continue to do so until Okonkwo returns to the village. Obierika also brings the bad news that Abame, another village, has been destroyed by the white man.

Soon afterward, six missionaries travel to Mbanta. Through an interpreter named Mr. Kiaga, the missionaries’ leader, Mr. Brown, speaks to the villagers. He tells them that their gods are false and that worshipping more than one God is idolatrous. But the villagers do not understand how the Holy Trinity can be accepted as one God. Although his aim is to convert the residents of Umuofia to Christianity, Mr. Brown does not allow his followers to antagonize the clan.

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Mr. Brown grows ill and is soon replaced by Reverend James Smith, an intolerant and strict man. The more zealous converts are relieved to be free of Mr. Brown’s policy of restraint. One such convert, Enoch, dares to unmask an egwugwu during the annual ceremony to honor the earth deity, an act equivalent to killing an ancestral spirit. The next day, the egwugwu burn Enoch’s compound and Reverend Smith’s church to the ground.

The District Commissioner is upset by the burning of the church and requests that the leaders of Umuofia meet with him. Once they are gathered, however, the leaders are handcuffed and thrown in jail, where they suffer insults and physical abuse.

After the prisoners are released, the clansmen hold a meeting, during which five court messengers approach and order the clansmen to desist. Expecting his fellow clan members to join him in uprising, Okonkwo kills their leader with his machete. When the crowd allows the other messengers to escape, Okonkwo realizes that his clan is not willing to go to war.

When the District Commissioner arrives at Okonkwo’s compound, he finds that Okonkwo has hanged himself. Obierika and his friends lead the commissioner to the body. Obierika explains that suicide is a grave sin; thus, according to custom, none of Okonkwo’s clansmen may touch his body. The commissioner, who is writing a book about Africa, believes that the story of Okonkwo’s rebellion and death will make for an interesting paragraph or two. He has already chosen the book’s title: The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger

Discussion on Things Fall Apart

Chinua Achebe is one of Africa's most well-known and influential contemporary writers. His first novel, Things Fall Apart, is an early narrative about the European colonization of Africa told from the point of view of the colonized people. Published in 1958, the novel recounts the life of the warrior and village hero Okonkwo, and describes the arrival of white missionaries to his Igbo village and their impact on African life and society at the end of the nineteenth century. Through his writing, Achebe counters images of African societies and peoples as they are represented within the Western literary tradition and reclaims his own and his people's history.

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Things Fall Apart, the first novel of Chinua Achebe, deals with the clash of cultures and the violent transitions in life and values brought about by British colonialism in Nigeria at the end of the 19th century. Published in 1958, just before Nigerian independence, the novel recounts the life of the village hero Okonkwo and describes the arrival of white missionaries in Nigeria during the late 1800s and their impact on traditional Igbo society.

In Things Fall Apart, the first method Achebe used to create “a new English” is the introduction of Igbo words and phrases directly into the text without translation. The meaning of each can be readily grasped from context, but Achebe also included a glossary of Igbo words at the end of the novel. The use of Igbo reminds the reader that certain concepts are unique to this culture and are not fully translatable. Achebe also used similes drawn from the daily life of the Igbo, each helping the reader to experience the particular time and place of the novel. The inclusion of proverbs in this novel was another means of cultural preservation for Achebe. Igbo conversation is studded with these nuggets of wisdom. In this text, proverbs serve to ease difficult conversations as “the palm oil with which words are eaten.” They preserve the wisdom of elder generations succinctly and help the reader understand the moods and attitudes of the novel’s characters.

Thirdly, Achebe used folktales to reinforce the more conventional elements of the novel and emphasize the values of the Igbo culture. Five different folk tales appear at various points in the story: Vulture and the Sky; Mosquito and Ear; Leaves and the Snake-lizard; How Tortoise Got His Bumpy Shell, and Mother Kite and Daughter Kite. Achebe’s placement of each folk tale in the text is intentional containing symbolic implications for the narrative. The Igbo traditionally tell folktales only at night, after the day’s work is done and preferably in the dry season. A session of storytelling may begin with proverbs and incorporate songs.

For more detail on the nature of storytelling among the Igbo, see “The Igbo Folktale: Performance Conditions and Internal Characteristics” by J. O. J Nwachukwu-Agbada. ------In an interview in the 1994-95 issue of The Paris Review, Chinua Achebe states that he became a writer in order to tell his story and the story of his people from his own viewpoint. He explains the danger of having one's story told only by others through the following proverb: "until the lions have their own historians, the

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Afro-Quiz Study Materials (16-18) !"#$ history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." Critics and Achebe's own essays have portrayed Things Fall Apart as a response to the ideologies and discursive strategies of colonial texts such as Joyce Cary's Mister Johnson and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.

VIDEO ACTIVITY

Watch a video on Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart http://study.com/academy/lesson/things-fall-apart-summary-characters- themes.html

Listening Activity

1. Watch a PBS video of Achebe discussing Africa 50 years after publishing “Things Fall Apart” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHF_w0gkyiI (The transcript of this PBS video is at the end of this module)

2. Watch a Chinua Achebe interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqeWAVlps0U

Question: Has the “African voice” developed 50 years after the publishing of Things Fall Apart?

MAP ACTIVITY

Below is a map of the continent of Africa taken from: https://studiesandsuch.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/blank-africa-map/

Locate, and colour in Chinua Achebe’s country of birth: Nigeria.

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What new things have you learned about Mr.Achebe and his famous book? Go back to the KWL chart and fill in the “L” column.

TRANSCRIPT of Achebe discusses Africa 50 years after “Things Fall Apart”- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment-jan-june08-achebe_05-27/

JEFFREY BROWN: For a long time, the story of Africa was told almost exclusively through the words of European writers. That began to change in the 1950s, as African countries achieved independence and African writers began to tell their own stories.

One book in particular, “Things Fall Apart,” published in 1958, has become a classic of world literature, translated into some 50 languages, selling 11 million copies.

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It was set in a village in what is now Nigeria, just as the Ibo people there had their first encounters with European Christian missionaries.

Chinua Achebe was just 28 when he wrote the book, his first novel. He’s since written numerous other works of fiction, mostly set in post-colonial Africa, as well as nonfiction and poetry, and last year was named winner of the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for Fiction.

Achebe was partly paralyzed in a car accident in Nigeria in 1990. For most of the years since then, he’s lived and taught at Bard College in New York.

In Washington recently, I asked him what he’d set out to do 50 years ago.

CHINUA ACHEBE, Author, “Things Fall Apart”: I knew that something needed to be done.

JEFFREY BROWN: Something needed to be done?

CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And what was that?

CHINUA ACHEBE: That was my place in the world, my story, the story of myself, the story of my people. I was already familiar with stories of different people.

JEFFREY BROWN: Because you grew up reading English literature…

CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes, and having an English education and encountering accounts of events of people. And, at some point, I began to miss my own. Think of it in terms of a gap in the bookshelf, you know, where a book has been taken out and the gap is there.

JEFFREY BROWN: And so you set this story, “Things Fall Apart,” at that moment in the 19th century, sort of the end of one time and the beginning of another?

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CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes, yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And why then?

CHINUA ACHEBE: I wanted that moment of change, in which one culture was in contact, in conflict, in conversation with another culture, and something was going to happen.

JEFFREY BROWN: Certainly, in the portrait of village life before the Europeans come, you don’t paint an idealized vision there. The main character, Okonkwo, is thoughtful, but violent.

Telling truth through fiction

CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes, I was doing that deliberately. Young as I was, I knew that I wanted the story to be true, true in the way fiction can be true.

JEFFREY BROWN: The way fiction can be true.

CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes, in...

JEFFREY BROWN: What do you mean by that?

CHINUA ACHEBE: In a very profound way, there is -- even as you're making up a story, you're making it up, but there's a way you do it, and it tells you, something rings in my ear, you know, this is wrong, this is true, this is false, and I wanted to avoid that.

I wanted it to be seen in all its grandeur and all its weakness. And that seemed to me very important.

JEFFREY BROWN: When that clash of civilizations comes, it's really over religion first.

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CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: And I was interested to read that your own parents were converts to Christianity...

CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes.

JEFFREY BROWN: ... and then missionaries traveling around the country.

CHINUA ACHEBE: That's right. That's right. I was steeped in religion, the religion of the foreigners, because I wasn't there when my father converted, and so that was one aspect of life.

I wasn't questioning it. In fact, I thought that Christianity was very a good and a very valuable thing for us. But after a while, I began to feel that the story that I was told about this religion wasn't perhaps completely whole, that something was left out.

There was no attempt to understand what was behind the Ibo religion. It was simply dismissed as the worship of stones and, you know, not as good as Christianity.

Telling the human story

JEFFREY BROWN: I suppose it's ridiculous to ask you whether you were surprised by what happened to this book, "Things Fall Apart," that it would become read by so many people. How could you have known?

CHINUA ACHEBE: No, I couldn't have.

JEFFREY BROWN: But can you explain it?

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CHINUA ACHEBE: Well, I can guess. I think what it is -- I suspect, from some of the things readers from abroad say to me, that they find something in this book which resonates with their own history, people in different places.

An example is a school, a class in a women's college in Korea. This whole class wrote to me many years back, because they just read "Things Fall Apart," and what they said was, "It's our history, our," their own.

JEFFREY BROWN: Even Korean? These are Koreans?

CHINUA ACHEBE: Even Korean, yes, and went on to explain that they were colonized by the Japanese. And for them, that was enough.

And so there must be things that are universal in the human story which one can use, one can hit upon, in telling your own peculiar story, the local and the universal.

JEFFREY BROWN: And Africa's story, of course, had been told by European writers.

CHINUA ACHEBE: Yes. The whole tradition of storytelling was created simply to tell the story of Africa. And the reason for that is not very far from the reason for the slave trade, because it's as deep as that, to present a people's story in such a way as to make them look bad.

JEFFREY BROWN: Where is the balance now? Are you satisfied with the development of an authentic African voice?

CHINUA ACHEBE: Well, it's only the beginning. It will take more time. But more people must get into it, and they are getting into it.

In fact, after my novel, "Things Fall Apart," was published, it just looked as if people had been waiting everywhere, in Africa, in Nigeria, in Ibo-land, to tell their

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JEFFREY BROWN: The 50th anniversary of "Things Fall Apart," Chinua Achebe, thank you for talking to us.

CHINUA ACHEBE: Thank you.

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POETS AND POETRY

Have you ever recited a poem or listened to someone read a poem? Poems are a form of art that poets use to communicate their thoughts and ideas.

In this module you will get a chance to read some poems and learn about some famous North American poets. Activities in this module have been adapted from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/downloads/BHM_HighSchool.pdf

Here is a list of activities you will work on:

- KWL Chart - Reading Activity and comprehension questions - Listening Activity

KWL CHART

Look at the KWL Chart below. What do you already know about African American Poets? Write what you know in the column ‘K”. What do you want to know about them? Write down what you want to know about poetry in the “W” column.

What I Know about poetry What I Want to know What I Learned about written by African about poetry written by poetry written by African American poets. African American poets. American poets.

READING ACTIVITY

Poems on Heritage and History

Have you ever wondered about your grandfather’s childhood? Ever asked what kind of life your grandfather’s grandfather might have led? Have you ever spent time wondering how your own life has been shaped by the struggles and successes of those who lived before you? Such questions are central to the work of many African- American poets. Starting in the eighteenth century, poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Jupiter Hammond and George Moses Horton set a poetic tradition in motion characterized by the pursuit of liberation. Nineteenth century poets voiced the slaves’ complaint in the abolitionist struggle and rallied society in the cause of emancipation. In the 20th century, African-American writers continued to challenge the status quo and protested attitudes and institutions that stood to impede their access to the full rights of U.S. citizenship. Today’s African- American poets often look to the generations that came before them for models of strength, heroism and inspiration.

Daybreak in Alabama

When I get to be a composer I’m gonna write me some music about Daybreak in Alabama And I’m gonna put the purtiest songs in it Rising out of the ground like a swamp mist And falling out of heaven like soft dew. I’m gonna put some tall trees in it And the scent of pine needles And the smell of red clay after rain And long red necks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langston_Hugh And poppy colored faces es And big brown arms James Mercer Langston And the field daisy eyes Hughes (February 1, 1902 – May 22, Of black and white black white black 1967) was an American poet, social people activist, novelist, playwright, and And I’m gonna put white hands columnist from Joplin, Missouri. And black hands and brown and yellow hands He was one of the earliest innovators And red clay earth hands in it of the then-new literary art form Touching everybody with kind fingers called jazz poetry. And touching each other natural as dew He travelled to many countries in In that dawn of music when I Africa and Europe where he met many Get to be a composer other poets and writers. Hughes loved And write about daybreak listening to blues, jazz, and writing In Alabama. poetry. ------By Langston Hughes. From Collected Poems. Copyright ©1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/downloads/BHM_ HighSchool.pdf

Questions

You might have noticed that Langston Hughes is telling a creation story – not only of a song but of a world. Look at lines 7 -17. You will see that the images are about earth. Clay is mentioned in this creation story. In many creation stories, humans are created out of earth.

1. What will Hughes’ creation look like? ______

2. Will Hughes’ world be one of inclusion or exclusion? ______

3. How will Hughes’ world in the poem be different from the world he lived in? Look at his date of birth to help you think about what life was like during his time. ______

4. What colors are present in the new world Hughes imagines? Is it just black and white?

______

Below is another Heritage and History poem by Langston Hughes.

Mother to Son Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark Where there ain’t been no light. So, boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps. ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. ------From Collected Poems. Copyright ©1994 by The Estate of Langston Hughes. Used by permission of Harold Ober Associates Incorporated.

Questions

1. Who is the speaker in this poem? ______2. What is the speaker saying? What is the message? ______3. Has life been easy for this speaker? ______

Listening activity

Listen to the poem “Mother to Son” by clicking on this link below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX9tHuI7zVo

Quotes by Langston Hughes……

Here are some quotes by Langston Hughes.

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.”

“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun?... Or does it explode?”

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby”

What do you think is the meaning of each quote?

Poems on Love and Compassion

When people think of common themes for poetry they often think of love, and for good reason; quests for love, excitement or nostalgia about being loved, and sadness over lost love are subjects poets often write about. African-American poets are no exception. Love is about being in a relationship with another person, and compassion is the glue that holds the relationship together. In Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem “the sonnet-ballad,” a young woman laments when her lover goes off to war, and wonders what she will do with all of her feelings while he courts death on the battlefield. the sonnet-ballad Oh mother, mother, where is happiness? They took my lover’s tallness off to war, Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess What I can use an empty heart-cup for. He won’t be coming back here anymore. Someday the war will end, but, oh, I knew When he went walking grandly out that door That my sweet love would have to be untrue. Would have to be untrue. Would have to Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (June 7, court 1917 – December 2, 2000) was an Coquettish death, whose impudent and American poet and teacher. She was the strange first black person (the term she Possessive arms and beauty (of a sort) preferred to African-American) to win a Can make a hard man hesitate—and Pulitzer prize when she was awarded change. the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950 for And he will be the one to stammer, her second collection, Annie Allen. “Yes.” Throughout her career she received Oh mother, mother, where is happiness? many more honors. She was ------appointed Poet Laureate of Illinois in From Blacks by Gwendolyn Brooks. Third 1968, a position she held until her World Press, Chicago. Copyright ©1987 death, and Poet Laureate Consultant in by Gwendolyn Brooks. Poetry to the Library of Congress in http://www.poetryfoundation.org/downloads/BH 1985. M_HighSchool.pdf Questions

1. What is this poem about? 2. Look at the words in this poem – is death a man or a woman in this poem?

Summary

This poem appears traditional in both language and subject, with its story of a woman lamenting to her mother the fatal parting of her lover to war, and its somewhat formal expressions—”walking grandly,” “my sweet love.” But Brooks’ alterations of tradition are evident in such passages as: “impudent and strange / Possessive arms,” and “Can make a hard man hesitate.” With this combination of familiar form and innovative language, the poem offers a compelling image of the soldier’s death as if it were another woman tempting him away from his lover. Thus the speaker in the poem sees the imminent death as a betrayal, and can only ask at the end of such a situation a question often found in traditional ballads concerned with false love: “where is happiness?”

Summary taken from: http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-2690900025/sonnet- ballad.html

Listening Activity

Listen to the recitals of other poems written by Langston Hughes at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnpItYHdP8Q

Write the titles of 5 of the poems you listened to here:

1. ______

______

2. ______

______

3. ______

______4. ______

______

5. ______

______

IN THE COMMUNITY

Go to your local library and look up poetry collections by Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. How many do you think you can find? Read as many of these poems as possible. Share them with your family and friends.

Complete the “L” portion of the KWL chart. What have you learned about poetry written by African American poets?

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Oral Literature - African Folktale

Oral literature is unwritten literature. This may seem like a paradox at first. However, for people of African origin and for the descendants of people of African heritage a lot of information was and continues to be passed down generations orally. According to definitions online, oral literature operates in many ways like written literature. Oral literature refers to the spoken word. The spoken word includes folk tales, proverbs, poems, life histories, songs, and legends among many more. Story telling is an important part of many countries around the world. You have probably read a lot of stories. Some stories are true and others are fiction. In this section, you are going to learn a lot about a form of oral literature, African folktale whose influence has gone beyond the borders of the African continent.

Here is a list of activities you will work on:

- KWL Chart - African Story Telling - The role of the African Storyteller - Form and content of tales - Gullah Tales - In your community

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KWL CHART

Look at the KWL Chart below. Think about what you already know about African Folktale. Write it down in the “K” column. What do you want to know about African Folktale? Write it down in the “W” column.

K W L What I know about What I want to know What I learned about African folktale about African folktale African folktale

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AFRICAN STORYTELLING

This excerpt has been adapted from the following instructor resource: http://teachers.yale.edu/curriculum/viewer/initiative_09.01.08_u

Africans are rooted in oral cultures and traditions; therefore they have admired good stories and storytellers. Since ancient times, storytelling in the African culture has been a way of passing on traditions, codes of behavior, as well as maintaining social order. Writing had not been developed in ancient Africa, but there were ways for Africans to transmit their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. Africans utilized various forms of art, myths and ceremonies. The tradition of African storytelling is one of the most ancient in African culture.

Emmanuel Matateyou, a scholar from Cameroon, contends that storytelling is an integral part of the cultural life of the African people in Cameroon. "Storytelling like rhetoric is the exercise of the mind. The words have great power." In Cameroon folktales keep the community united. They help reserve the knowledge, wisdom, and techniques which are part of the society. The narration of the tales takes place at night after the evening meal. The oral folktale can be recited, sung, and adapted to various circumstances. Taboos in many cultures of this area prevent people from engaging in any serious work at night. Each tale retold enlightens the consciousness of the audiences. In the western region and south of Cameroon, night-time gatherings provide an opportunity for the affairs of the land and family to be discussed or planned. Problems are resolved through recourse to folktales.

Matateyou describes the important elements of the storytelling events. The folktales are divided into three sections which include the opening formula, the body/expository section, and the conclusive formula. The storytelling session begins with an opening formula. Next there is an exchange of jokes and riddles. After engaging audience participation, the storytelling event sets in motion with a solemn beginning. After the opening formula, the storyteller starts the narration of the tale. The storyteller sets the scene, introduces the characters, and defines the conflict using all sorts of techniques. In many areas in Cameroon the people perform a real dramatic play. The storyteller sings, dances, shouts and invites the audience to dance or sing. The storyteller uses a language full of images and symbolism. The performer imitates many characters in the story. During the conclusive formula, the closure of the story is indicated by a moral or final statement about an issue that was indicated in the body/expository section. The

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Storytelling has been a ritual for the people of Ghana in the evening after a hard days work. Telling the Ananse folktales help the children grow up to be responsible members of the African society. "The psychological intent of exposing the children to storytelling justifies the reason for telling folktales in Ghana. Ananse folktales are usually told creatively by adults. The audience includes family members and children of the neighborhood. The serene nights and sitting around the fire set the tone for storytelling. The attention and enthusiastic response of the audience make the stories interesting. The Ananse folktales do not follow any sequential order. The stories are told subjectively once the description or theme of the story is decided. The narration of the Ananse stories are accompanied with music, singing, drumming, percussion instruments, clapping, and dancing. The proverbial songs are utilized to highlight the expression of the characters. The Anansi stories are intended to send a moral message to the audience, especially the children.

The Role of the African Storyteller

African storytellers are performers who entertain, inspire, and educate their audience. They know how to captivate the audience with more than just words. The storytellers use gestures, singing, facial expression, and impersonations to arouse the audience. It has been asserted that there are good storytellers and very poor ones too. The best add a sense of drama, careful timing, appropriate voices, and sustain a dynamic relationship with the audience. Experienced storytellers narrate the story using repetition, rhythm, imagery, proverbs, and similes. The use of repetition helps the audience remember the chorus and join in with the storyteller. Using short phrases makes the stories easier to understand and memorize. When the audience is familiar with the story, they actively participate.

In some regions in Africa there are professional storytellers. In Cameroon storytelling is not a professional activity. Although the people have the potential to tell stories, they only develop excellence in the art of storytelling with time, age, and experience. The age and sex of the storytellers in Cameroon determine the type of tale that will be told. Women and children generally tell animal stories dealing with the faults of man. Men narrate tales dealing with heroic characters, gods, and spirits. The storyteller uses the sense of foresight and insight to manipulate the audience and subject matter.

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In the Beti area of Cameroon, which is forest region, a storyteller usually tells his stories standing in the middle of the scene to dominate his audience. He moves from side to side, pointing at or inviting a participant to perform an action or repeat a refrain. The storyteller comments on the behavior of a character, explains a social phenomenon, or adds an expression to enhance the understanding of the plot. A successful storyteller is assessed by repetitions, rhythm, imagery, the use of proverbs, riddles, and similes.

Griots and Griottes

The Griots were originally counselors of Kings. They conserved the constitution of kings by memory and work alone. Each noble family had an appointed Griot to preserve traditions and tutor the prince. Although the Griots of West Africa begin from many ethical and linguistic traditions, they consider their roots to be tied to the thirteenth century Malian empire and its founder, Sundiata, Keita. The basic tale of Griot origins was used to explain taboos associated with Griots and why their caste is distinct from that of other West African villagers.

The Griots and female Griottes, who have remarkable memories, communicate the history of the society and the great deeds of ancestors. They are prominent in many African societies, particularly West African societies. Griots in Mali, Niger, Senegal, Gambia fulfill a lot of roles. Their roles include: historians, genealogists, musicians, advisors to nobility, storytellers, advocates, messengers, ambassadors, and praise singers. Griots are respected and feared by people in West Africa because there is a spiritual and ethical dimension to their performance. According to Joanna Lott, the Griots can sing your praises but doom your death. They sing praise songs and tell stories that last for an extended period of time.

The females, known as Griottes, usually play a lesser role. When a woman is married, a Griotte will sing to her to prepare her for her new life. West African women sing about a woman's role in the society and their relationships with husbands and in-laws. Griottes also use songs to express their independence and self-reliance. The songs offer comfort, encouragement, and empowerment to other women. .

The Griot profession is inherited and passed on from one generation to the next. The boys and girls learn from their parents who are Griots. They later attend formal Griot school and receive an apprenticeship with a master Griot. The Griottes have less freedom and time to attend formal Griotte schools because of

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Listening

Here is an example of a Zimbabwean folktale that you can watch on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwrffBpjiRY

-Who are the main characters in the story?

-What do you think is the moral of this story?

-What was the role of the story teller?

- What was the role of the audience?

Elements of a Folktale

Read the slides on the following to learn about the elements of African Folktale. (Slides were obtained from www.apponhigh.org).

West African Folktales Ms. Conti Ms. Payne

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What is a folktale?

! Story/legend handed down from generation to generation

! Usually by oral retelling

! Often convey a lesson about life

Elements of a Folktale

! Moral lesson (theme)- illustrates a moral belief. ! Human characteristics in animals, objects or gods (personification) Characters may be animals or gods and goddesses who deal with the same weaknesses humans have such as greed, kindness, vanity, wealth, poverty, etc. ! Contains a hero or heroine may contain a character who goes to extraordinary lengths to rescue another character. ! Explain some event in nature as in “Why” stories, explanations of events in nature such as rainbows, thunder, stripes on some animal, etc.

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More Elements ! A supernatural element usually explains some basic questions about the world such as creation, humanity conditions, or other natural occurrences. ! Good triumphs over evil- desirable human qualities are rewarded in the end. Foolish or dishonest characters are exposed. The story often teaches a lesson, and may state a moral outright. ! Tricks played on character - tricks are played on a character, frequently poking fun at human weaknesses. ! Stereotyped character (good, bad, foolish, tricky) one or more characters are stereotyped as the example of human qualities (greed, curiosity, kindness, etc.)

From:http://www.tip.sas.upenn.edu/curriculum/units/2007/05/07.05.04.pdf

Magical element?

Trickster traits?

Human characteristics? Title:

Repeated words or phrases?

Moral?

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List the elements of African Folktale

______

Reading Activity – Form and Content of African Folktales

The following excerpt has been adapted from the book “Oral Literature in Africa” which can be found and downloaded for free on http://www.openbookpublishers.com/htmlreader/OLIA/30_chapter13.html#c13-001

When we consider the many animal tales that have been collected from Africa, the main factor that has struck most observers is the great emphasis on animal tricksters—small, wily, and tricky animals who cheat and outdo the larger and more powerful beasts. They trick them in a pretended tug of war, cheat them in a race, deceive them into killing themselves or their own relations, gobble up their opponents’ food in pretended innocence, divert the punishment for their own misdeeds on to innocent parties, and perform a host of other ingenious tricks. The actual author of these exploits varies in different areas. Among most of the Bantu peoples it is the little hare, an animal that also occurs as a main character in some of the savannah areas of West Africa; as ‘Brer Rabbit’ he also appears in similar stories in the New World (countries where African slaves were taken such as the United States and the Caribbean). The spider is the main character in most of the forest regions of West Africa, particularly in the westerly parts including Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone; he also comes into Hausa stories to the north, Luo and Zande tales in Central Africa, and corresponds to ‘Annancy’ in the West Indies, a name that directly recalls the Ghanaian Ananse, the Akan spider. The tortoise predominates in the easterly regions of the west coast, in an area extending at least from the Yoruba of Nigeria across to the Fang and others of West Equatorial Africa. The tortoise also comes into other areas in a lesser way; among the Ila of Zambia, to give one example, the main cycle of tales are about Sulwe, the hare, but there are also a number about Fulwe, the tortoise. There are also a few other favourite trickster characters who occur often enough in stories

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Afro-Quiz Study Materials (16-18) !"#$ but without any clear-cut geographical domain: the little antelope, often portrayed as innocently ingenious; the squirrel (e.g. in many Limba, Kikuyu, and Luba stories); the wren (in Luba tales); and a few with more purely local reference: the small weasel who appears among the Zulu and Xhosa, most often apparently personified as a small boy; and the jackal trickster in Hottentot animal stories, as well as in some Zulu, Xhosa, and Sotho tales. Though all these trickster figures tend to get up to the same kinds of tricks in story after story, they cannot altogether be assimilated to each other. The spider, for instance, though often wily, is also, in some areas at least, depicted as stupid, gluttonous, boastful, and ineffective, not infrequently outdone by his own wife. There are also instances of the same image being applied to the tortoise. On the other hand, the sly effectiveness of the hare is what we notice in most Bantu tales. All these tricksters, however, are adaptable. They are able to turn any situation, old or new, to their advantage. The tortoise now aspires to white collar status in Southern Nigeria and attends adult education classes, while the spider Ananse referees football matches among the Ashanti in Ghana. Besides the leading animal figures, there are also many others who come into the tales in secondary roles. Some of the stock characters associated with them are common to many areas: the lion, strong and powerful but not particularly bright; the elephant, heavy, ponderous, and rather slow; the hyena, the type of brute force and stupidity, constantly duped by the little quick animals; the leopard, untrustworthy and vicious, often tricked in spite of his cunning; the little antelope, harmless and often clever; the larger deer, stupid and slow—and so on. (Not all these occur in all regions or all stories in exactly the same way.) Surprisingly, other animals—the zebra, buck, or crocodile—seldom occur, or, if they do, tend to come in just as animals and not as the personified characters presented by those already mentioned. One final and rather different animal character that must be mentioned is the mantis in tales from the Khoisan. He is the favourite hero in Khoisan narratives, and though he shares some of the qualities sometimes attributed to tricksters (powerful and foolish, mischievous and kind), his supernatural associations and the unusual type of action in these stories set him rather apart from leading animal characters in narratives elsewhere in Africa. Many of these stories are light-hearted, even satirical, and centre round the tricks and competitions of the hare, spider, or their friends, set in a wide range of adaptable and adapting situations. But there are also more serious themes. One common form is a story ending up with a kind of moral, sometimes in the form of a well-known proverb. The listeners are told that they can learn a lesson from the experiences of the animals in the tale.

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Another very common framework is that in which an explanation is given for some present behaviour seen in the world, or a known characteristic of some animal or bird. For example, to cite a few titles at random from one society (Ila of Zambia), we have stones about how the Ringdove came by its ring, how Ringdove got her name, how Squirrel robbed Coney of his tail, how Squirrel and Jackal became distinct, how Skunk came to be a helper of man, why Duiker has a fine coat and particoloured tail, why Zebra has no horns, why there are cracks in Tortoise’s shell—and so on.

The Hyena, Wakahare, and the Crow

One day a Hyena went together with Wakahare to collect honey in the forest, where men used to hang their beehives from the trees. Wakahare climbed the tree, extracted big lumps of combs full of honey from a beehive, and when he was satiated, said to the Hyena: ‘Open your mouth and I will drop some honey into it.’ The Hyena did so and swallowed the honey with great pleasure several times, until she was also satisfied. Then Wakahare left the tree and returned to the ground. He asked the Hyena: ‘How did you enjoy the honey?’ ‘Very, very much, what bliss, my dear friend.’ ‘But remember,’ said Wakahare, ‘this is a kind of sweetness that must not be evacuated from your body.’ ‘Yes, I think it must be so; but how can one prevent it from going out?’ ‘I’ll tell you what to do. I will stitch your orifice together with your tail and you may be sure that no sweetness will come out.’ ‘Good, my friend, do it for me, please.’ Wakahare fetched a few sharp thorns and stitched the orifice with the tail of the Hyena and went off. After some time the Hyena felt a terrible urge to evacuate. She looked around for help, but nobody was to be found. At last a Jackal happened to pass thereat. ‘Oh, dear friend Jackal,’ said the Hyena, ‘come please, and help me.’ ‘What can I do for you, dear friend?’ ‘Please, release a little bit the stitches which are at the neck of my tail. I cannot bear it any longer.’ ‘Sorry, my friend, I am unable to do that. I know you have diarrhoea habitually, and don’t want to be splashed with a discharge of that kind.’ And so saying, he went on. After some time a Serval arrived on his way to the forest. The Hyena beseeched him for help. ‘Sorry, Mrs. Hyena, you are very prone to discharge violently,’ said the Serval, I don’t want to be buried under your excrements.’ He too went his way

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without looking back. Later on a Hare passed by. The Hyena asked again for help, but to no avail. ‘I am very sorry,’ the Hare said, ‘don’t you see how clean I am? I am going to a feast. I don’t want to soil my dress and get untidy for your dirty business.’ He too went his way leaving the Hyena groaning and tossing on the ground on account of the pain she was suffering. At last, a Crow perched on a tree nearby. Looking down at the Hyena lying still on the grass, he thought she was dead, and began to foretaste a good meal: but as he was planning what to do next, the Hyena opened her eyes and seeing the Crow on the tree, said: ‘Oh dear Crow, dear friend of mine, help! help! please.’ The Crow left the tree and approached the Hyena. ‘What is the matter with you?’ he asked. ‘Oh please, release a bit the stitches in my tail. I am dying of the urge of my body and I cannot evacuate.’ ‘You say dying; dying?’ ‘Yes, help me please.’ ‘But you see, I am only a bird with no paws. How can I help you with that business?’ ‘Oh dear, try as much as you can and you will succeed.’ ‘I doubt very much, and besides that I am very hungry. I have no strength to do any work.’ ‘O nonsense! My belly is full of meat. You will eat to-day, to-morrow, and the day after to-morrow and be satiated.’ On hearing that, the Crow set himself to think and after a little while decided to see what he could do. With his strong bill he succeeded in extracting the first thorn, and truly, two small pieces of meat fell on the ground. The bird devoured them very greedily, and encouraged by the success, began to tackle the job seriously. After great effort he succeeded in extracting the second thorn, but alas! a burst of white excrement gushed forth with such vehemence, that the poor Crow was cast back ten feet and was buried head and all under a heap of very unpleasant matter. The shock was so great, that he remained buried for two days, until a great shower of rain washed the ground, freeing the Crow of the burden. He remained a full day basking in the sun and regaining strength. He was so weak that he could not fly. The Crow was washed by the heavy rain, but his neck remained white. That is the reason why crows to-day have a white collar in their plumage. The Crow very much resented the alteration of his plumage and decided in his heart to take revenge. One day he heard that the hyenas had arranged for a great dance in a thicket he knew very well. He cleaned himself with great care in the morning

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dew, put on a beautiful string made of scented roots and proceeded to the meeting place. On his arrival he was greeted by the hyenas and several of them asked him to give them some of those little pieces of meat he wore around his body. They took his ornamental beads to be meat. He refused to give any of the beads away, but rising on his feet with an air of dignity, he said: ‘My dear friends, forgive me this time, I cannot give away this kind of meat, which is specially reserved for our kinship, but I promise you a great quantity of good meat and fat if you follow me to the place I am going to show you.’ ‘Where is it?’ they asked very anxiously. ‘You see, we birds fly in the air and our deposits of food are not on earth, but on high for safety’s sake. Look up at the sky and see how many white heaps of fat we usually store there. That’s where you will find meat and fat in great quantity.’ The hyenas gazed up to the sky and asked: ‘But how can we get there?’ ‘Will show you. You can reach there very easily. Now, let us make an appointment. The day after to-morrow we will meet here again. Tell your people, old and young, men and women to come here with baskets and bags; there will be meat and fat for all.’ On the day appointed the hyenas came in great numbers. I think the whole population was there. The Crow arrived in due time. He started by congratulating the crowd on their punctuality, and with great poise said: ‘My dear friends, listen now how we are going to perform the journey to the place of meat and plenty. You must grapple one another by the tail, so as to form a long chain. The first of the chain will hold fast to my tail.’ There was a general bustle among the hyenas, but after a few moments all were in order. At a given sign, the Crow began to fly, lifting the hyenas one by one till they looked like a long black chain waving in the air. After some time he asked: ‘Is there anybody still touching ground?’ The hyenas answered: ‘No, we are all in the air.’ He flew and flew up into the sky for a long time and asked again: ‘What do you see on earth? Do you see the trees, the huts, the rivers?’ ‘We see nothing but darkness’, they answered. He flew again for another while and then said to the hyenas nearby: ‘Now, release for a while, that I may readjust my ornaments.’ ‘But dear friend, how can we do it? We will surely fall down and die.’ ‘I can’t help it. If you don’t release me, I will let go my tail, I am sure the feathers will grow again.’ ‘Oh dear friend, don’t, please don’t for your mother’s sake, we would die, all of us.’ The Crow would not listen at all. He thought the time had come for his revenge. With a sharp jerk he turned to the right. The feathers of his tail

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tore out, and with them the long chain of hyenas. They fell heavily on the ground and died. One of them escaped with a broken leg. She was pregnant and so saved the kinship from total destruction. That is the reason why hyenas these days limp when they walk.

What is the moral of the story The Hyena, Wakahare, and the Crow? What does it teach us? ______

Gullah Tales

Have you heard about Gullah (guhl-uh)? The word Gullah refers to a specific group of African Americans who live in the Sea Islands and on the coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida. This group of African Americans speak their own language, Gullah. The Gullah language is a mixture of English and some African languages. It was developed by slaves that came from Africa. The language contains many words from African languages. The Gullah people have a lot of customs and practices similar to those found in some African countries such as Angola and Sierra Leone. One of these is story telling. The Gullah people have a rich storytelling tradition that is influenced by African oral traditions. Just like Anansi the spider stories crossed the ocean from Africa to North America and the Caribbean, so too did elements of the Gullah tales. The Gullah tales include animal trickster stories about the pranks and tricks of "Brer Rabbit", "Brer Fox" and "Brer Bear", "Brer Wolf", etc. The stories also include human trickster tales about clever and self-assertive slaves; and morality tales designed to impart moral teaching to children. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gullah_language)

Listen to some Gullah tales in English and in Gullah by clicking on the link below. Fill in the chart below as well, once you have identified the elements of any one of the tales that you listen to.

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http://www.knowitall.org/gullahtales/

Complete the L portion of the KWL chart. What did you learn about African folktale?

Summary:

Folktales are one of the ways that history is passed down the generations in African, Caribbean, African American and African Canadian communities. In fact, thanks to folktale characters like Anansi the Spider and thanks to the Gullah tales, we can see that the cultures in these parts of the world we have studied in this chapter are all closely related. Folktales are a fun way for us to learn lessons or morals that can help us every day. Lastly, folktales are great for bringing together all kinds of people in our community, young and old.

Thinking Question – How can we preserve African Folktale?

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