African Folk and Fairy Tales
In class on Tuesday, we had the pleasure of having guest
speaker Dr. Ochieng’ K’Olewe! I was very excited when I realized he was going
to be telling us stories from his own culture. My favorite story he told
happened to be the one where the monkey was throwing the mangoes and coconuts
in the water only to make friends with a shark. Kenyan folk and fairy tales are
unique because they all (at least the ones he told) were surrounded by nature and
animals) instead of princesses and other royalty. Furthermore, the different types
of nature and animals were used to teach lessons to the people listening—a lot
of times regarding being selfless, kind, and accepting.
Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe said that African orature is a part of
people’s ecology, which conveys their communities, origin, and social foundation.
He compared folklores/tales to a “fabric” because you cannot unweave the
folktale from the culture’s history, geography, music, and religion; they are
all intertwined and connected. African folk and fairy tales teach people values
and how everything is interconnected between people and people and people and
nature. A special detail he stated was that the African environment celebrates
wit and quick thinking—he said you can solve many of your problems with it! For
example, the monkey and the shark story: the monkey had to think very quickly
on its’ toes and lie to the shark, saying its heart was still on the land
because monkeys don’t carry their hearts around with them during the day.
Lastly, Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe stated that African folk and
fairy tales provide a common understanding of a shared phenomenon; sustain the
history of a people/community; share experiences; and try to explain the unexplainable.
Written stories are done the moment they are finished, there is no room for
them to expand, grow, and adapt like oral stories can. In our society, I believe
it is something we are heavily losing, and quickly. Technology is taking over
print, which took over oral. I believe that we need to bring back the phenomenon
of oral stories, so that it evokes more interconnectedness between family and
friends, but also allows for all of the benefits Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe stated in
his great presentation.
(below I've provided pictures of Kenyan folk and fairy tales!)
Comments
Post a Comment