I Gave My Stories a Title but... An Author's Dilemma
Posted: Sunday, November 16, 2008
by Dzagbe Cudjoe
Dance to Health
"Tales My Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me" was the title I chose for my book of children's stories. No other title had occurred to me which unified four different tales. I did think at the time that this title might be misleading. So I included a Preface for my young readers in which I made it clear that the stories were not traditional tales retold but my own original creations. But in reality who reads a Preface!
The Anansi traditional tales were taken by Slaves from Ghana to the southern United States of America and to the Caribbean. Anansi, who is a spider, symbolizes the Trickster and amorality. He can be both a hero and a villain. He does what is necessary in each situation in life.
The Brer Rabbit tales would also seem to have an African origin as the hare appears in stories from many parts of Africa.
And yet I could still feel a question trying to form itself at the back of my mind. The question when it finally presented itself was "are my stories really in the format of traditional African tales. The answer I decided is both "yes" and "no".
My primary aim in writing "Tales My Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me" was that children enjoy the stories and learn about another culture. I know that to them, it really does not matter an iota, whether they are truly traditional or not.
Like traditional stories they are set in times past and encompas and emphasis morality and a belief in Universal Spiritual Truths. There is a difficult quest to be undertaken to ensure a positive outcome of the situation. As in traditional tales the origin of an invention is explained. "Journey to the Chest of Gold" involves both fact and fantasy in explaining the use of gold dust as currency in the Akan region of Ghana. "Fingers of Fire" provides an accuate account of a manufacturing process as well as incorporating a fantasy element. In "Akua's Foolish Wish" inanimate objects speak."The Wicked Curse of Nibobobo" deals with the consequences of a witch's curse.
Like countless traditional tales my stories portray a simpler society with its emphasis on maintaining good community relations rather than upholding individual freedom. The attitude toward authority and age is another important element.
However, any adult who understands the genre will immediately realize that mine are contemporary stories written in a traditional style. My stories are meant for children which was not the case in times past when both adults and children formed the audience. No African traditional stories that I know of portray children as the hero's and heroines. Nor are they assigned the role of innovators and instigators of momentous change.
In "Fingers of Fire" the Kulturbringer is a teenage boy. Also the girls in my story are allowed to or insist on doing everything a boy can do.
When I was doing research in Northern Ghana I enquired whether women were allowed to become blacksmiths. I expected the answer to be "no". To my utter astonishment the reply was that a woman could indeed be a blacksmith but why would a woman want to undertake such hard, dangerous work?
In days passed people sat outdoors at night and listened to the Story Teller. Those stories were passed on orally and certain individuals were acknowledged as being especially skilled in the art. I fervently hope that my stories will sometimes be read out loud.
In present day Africa the Story Telling tradition is in danger of dying out as languages disappear and everyone wants to be part of the wider world as exemplified by access to the internet and TV. This looking outside is not necessarily a bad thing. We just need to be highly selective about the attitudes, beliefs and material possessions we adopt from the industrialized world.
At long last the industrialized world is beginning to value what we in Africa are in the process of loosing.
Dzagbe Cudjoe is a Dance and Movement Therapist, Intuitive Counselor, Healer and Ethnologist. She is the author of the children's book Tales My Ghanaian Grandmother Told Me
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