African Folktales

by Roger D. Abrahams

Abrahams renders nearly 100 stories which reveal the exotic, universal concerns of the African peoples, while vividly evoking their unique, dramatic roots in the song, dance, and ritual performances of the African world. Illustrations.

Genres: Folklore, Africa, Mythology, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Folk Tales

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 12, 1983

Reviews

[Doria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tales are varied and interesting, but they are here organized and presented (and edited) with an eye towards western taste. The book as a whole has a distinctly colonial structure and attitude; everything is centered in terms of its value and potential appeal to non-Africans. I have serious reservations about the authenticity of the presentation and translation of the stories, most of which are excerpted from early twentieth century European and American anthropological and folkloric collections, which represent a distinct arm of the colonial impact upon Africa. I also found it difficult to connect individual stories in the collection with their listed sources in the back, due to the book’s convoluted and imprecise citation system. Anyone who wants to learn more about specific tales would do well to research them by way of their individual cultural context, alongside other tales from that same culture.

By pulling stories from all over the continent of Africa and rearranging them according to western notions of preferred narrative types, we as readers lose the stories’ deeper roots and authentic, legitimate cultural meaning. Ultimately, searching African folklore collections for an equivalent to Cinderella or Jack in the Beanstalk is a rather pointless task, despite its trendiness in some circles. We could instead explore how Kikuyu (or Fipa, or Bantu) narratives illustrate the unique values, goals and gifts of the people who created them, reflecting their own cultural values and socio-political spheres of interest. We might discover that European preoccupations are not as universal as was once assumed.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

African Folktales is what I would define as an interesting book, but not a pleasant read. While I understand that this is a different culture in a different time, the sexism that washes over most of these stories are problematic for me and the structure of the stories are often a bit too out of my comfort zone to really appreciate. It was fascinating to read about, but not quite my thing.

I'd recommend it to people who are able to accept a more, by western standards, unfamiliar approach to storytelling and who are more fascinated in African culture than they are sensitive to sexism.

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I usually shelve myths-folklore as fiction, I'm labeling this one non-fiction because of the introductory material about collection and transcription of oral traditions.

I read this in college for a course on myths and folklore, and I enjoyed most of it even while noting that it could have used a lot more authentic input and a lot less Ivy Tower attitude. The professor for the course was very critical of it, but thought it was worth reading because of the information in the introduction and, as she said with some chagrin, it was one of the few books on the topic at that time that was widely available and didn't cost more than a semester's tuition.

It's worth a read if one is interested in non-European folklore, but it's definitely from a white western perspective. I would hope there is something out there by now that represents the material better.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outstanding collection of African folktales. Wonderfully organized and the structure and organization is clear. I'm especially drawn to the trickster tales section as well as the section regarding tales worth arguing about and discussing. An excellent and insightful read!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author is a renowned scholar who does use some colonial sources, but acknowledges their biases and tries to compensate for it. This is still a collection put together by a white American scholar, so it will still be somewhat Western centric. He does record which African culture each tale comes from and does not try to harmonize styles to make the tales sound more similar than they are.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is as much an anthropological treatise as a collection of folk tales, so I'm afraid I skipped a lot of the introduction, which may be very interesting to someone who wants to know how these tales were collected and transcribed.

[Alanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been reading these stories to myself, aloud to family members, and pressing stories onto other people. These stories supply historical and cultural context, and most of all, you are always left with something to think about. In some of these reviews for this book, people mention the blatant sexism and political incorrectness of the tales. These stories are old and adapted over time. Political correctness of today is absolutely irrelevant to the social norms of older times in this case. Sexism is rampant in old folktales all over the world, that’s just part of the culture. In Africa sexism is worth examining because women are oppressed because they are believed to be incredibly powerful in their own right. In the Leopard Woman, hunting is established as men’s work because women don’t *need* to hunt for food. Men serve their women, because women are powerful enough to eat their husbands in the form of a leopard. At the same time, women were given housework and “softer” tasks, because women are given more comfortable lives indoors. It is almost implausible to apply current social standards to cultures from another time and place.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading a lot of European folktales recently, so it was nice to have a change. I noticed a few motifs common in fairy tales appearing in these as well. I love the way folktales, even from very different regions, often have these commonalities, and it's always interesting to see the different ways they're used.

[Ruthie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories were awesome, the commentary? I was very eh about it. I definitely want to read more stories from Africa, but the next one I read I hope will be one written by someone from Africa.

[sardit · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admire that they included folktales that were written out exactly as they were told, but I have to admit I found them nigh unreadable. Oral storytelling and written storytelling are two very different beasts. The ones that were written out like that are not all of them, or even the majority, but the collection generally leans pretty hard in retaining as much of the oral qualities of the original stories. Which makes for an interesting collection, but not as entertaining of one.

[Sidik Fofana · Rating 4 out of 5]

SIX WORD REVIEW: Love the trading items type stories.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

For this one, I think there was just too much cultural context missing for it to be enjoyable by its own merit, but it is worth reading just to build that context and to learn.

I think a fundamental problem with the medium here is that, judging by the introduction, these stories are not just told orally, but also depend heavily on interaction with the audience - several of them seemed to have vestigial lines that probably reflected this, as well. Most of the stories are portrayed in verse as well, with common call-and-reply segments which ring fairly hollow when you're only reading them aloud to yourself.

The other issue of lacking the cultural context is that a lot of the stories are confusing or morally objectionable to me - frequently, the trickster wins, and generally causes widespread suffering of apparently innocent creatures in the process. They clearly aren't didactic tales, and this could probably be the sign of giving the reader (listener?) much more esteem than in a European folk tale, but the general outcome for me was that I wasn't able to make that decision for myself. Several other themes, like the village versus the wild, probably also come into it, and the characterisation of the 'wild' world of beasts and magic to be antagonistic to that of humans, but not in the same way as Europeans may see it (as something to be overcome).

I've definitely learned a lot of value from it, but it also frustrated me. As far as reading it as a single work, cover-to-cover, there is also a tremendous amount of repetition - to be expected, but it still started to wear on me after a while. Chances are a later reading, or further reading, will solve a lot of my misgivings.

[Helmut · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthropologie in Geschichtenform

Wer an diesen Band in Erwartung von afrikanischen Grimmschen Märchen herangeht, wird überrascht: Ein Großteil der Geschichten passt nicht in dieses Schema von "Gutenacht-Geschichten". Insgesamt ist die Lektüre nicht die allereinfachste, denn die erzählten Geschichten sind oft sprunghaft, ohne Fokus und nicht linear. Manchmal hat man den Eindruck, der Erzähler erfindet sie während er spricht. Man merkt die vielen unterschiedlichen Kulturen und auch Quellen, aus denen die Geschichten gezogen wurden - einige sind anthropologisch und literaturwissenschaftlich aufgearbeitet, andere nacherzählt oder von Tonaufzeichungen transkribiert.
Hin und wieder tauchen bekannte Ideen und Motive auf, doch insgesamt wirken die Geschichten allein durch ihre Erzählweise, die sehr stark auf mündlicher Weitergabe und sozialer Interaktion während des Erzählens beruht, stellenweise fremdartig. Die Geschichten dieses Bandes stammen von den Hausa, Swahili, Ewe und diversen anderen afrikanischen Volksstämmen und schwanken in der Länge zwischen wenigen Absätzen und mehreren Seiten.

Eine sehr interessante Lektüre, wenn man sich darauf einlassen kann; das ausführliche Vorwort hilft einem dabei. Kleinere Illustrationen lockern den Inhalt etwas auf.

[Amyem]

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3...

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abrahams lacked the cultural sensitivity I expect from a Pantheon folktale editor. Ignoring his commentary, this is a good collection, and is worth checking out for the Mwindo Epic alone.

[e b · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Folio Society edition, which eliminates the commentary many other readers here seem to find objectionable, so take the rating with a grain of salt unless you're reading the Folio as well.

[Tia]

worth adding to your library