Study guide

“And now we all own

Our stories all the way around

And all the stories go

Round and round and round.”….from Ananse!
BACKGROUND INFORMATION


Storytelling
In all of West Africa the art of storytelling is a prominent part of village life, this oral tradition is a source of understanding, a way of recording history, and an entertainment all in one. No art form is left unused to perform stories. Movement, music, mask, puppetry, costume, dramatic oral interpretation stories, all combine to produce spectacular effects functioning simultaneously as celebration, ritual, and education. In some cultures only certain families are storytellers and are trained throughout generations on the story content and technique of delivery. The performers are called Griots or Jali and they have been preserving their cultures lore for more than 800 years.
Music
Instruments played during performances are made from indigenous materials usually from plant and animal sources and produce tonal qualities and subtleties that defy the scales of European instruments. The music in Ananse!…early in the day was performed by Ekpe Abioto, on West African instruments similar to those pictured on various pages of this study guide.
Masquerades
Carved wooden masks of exceptional beauty, costumes covered with raffia, grass, leaves or cloth and the astounding athletic and rhythmical ability of the performers give masquerades a powerful place in African celebration. They are symbolic representations of man’s need for connection to nature, each other, and to life. Used significantly at times of harvest or rites of passage, the performance of a masquerade, transforms the masks we only view hanging on a wall into vibrant forces. Their almost abstract style excites the imaginations of all who see, producing the entire spectrum of emotions, joy, fear, laughter, and always a sense of awe.
Trickster in Folklore
Trickster characters occur in folk tales the world over. Many are animals, representing aspects of human character traits, others are people. Generally the trickster proves very entertaining because of his tendency to alter perceptions and act as an agent of disorder in a world trying to establish order, rules and patterns. West African cultures vary their tricksters, for some it is a spider, for others a tortoise and still others a hare (Br’er Rabbit in Uncle Remus stories is an American descendant of that African ancestor).

While the tellers of trickster tales admire these characters’ resourcefulness, and resilience, they heatedly disapprove of their unwillingness to share and their treachery. In most West African tales nothing in or of itself is purely good or bad, but it must be considered in the context in which it occurs. The animal creatures stand for humans, and as they live and experience varied circumstances, these cultures recognize the need to improvise tactics to cope with them. These stories celebrate inventiveness even though it may be contrary to social conventions. They also have a dual function, commentary can be made of antisocial behavior or negative behavior, but in contrast it helps to illustrate that the small or insignificant members of the society can be clever enough to be victorious over stronger ones. It highlights the notion that in resourcefulness there is power.

Many times the trickster is himself outwitted in the course of an adventure. When a trick recoils on its perpetrator he learns that the creatures he thought so dull are not as simple as he imagined. In these scenarios the lesson learned is that you have to be aware and ahead of the mischief makers.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES
Lesson#1 Research Techniques, Reading, Practical Living, Geography

Objectives:

1. 
   Search for and catalog books from public and school libraries in search of stories about tricksters.
   
2. 
   Examine and compare how the characters want to affect each other in different stories and who are the characters that benefit in the end.
   

Lesson#2 Creative Writing, Language Arts, Oral Communication

1. 
   Create, as a group, an original story following the general outline that forms most tales.
   

2. 
   Identify the theme for the story: ideas come from special messages to be delivered in the form of a moral, unique characters, a special place, or unusual occurrence.
   
3. 
   Fill in the details of the story. If done orally in class, a couple of students could be appointed to write the ideas down.
   
4. 
   Decide the final medium for the story.
   

1. 
   Learn the varied processes of communicating a point of view using oral, visual, musical or physical modes of expression.
   
2. 
   Dramatize a story by acting out the action and turning narrative into dialogue.
   
3. 
   Follow the creative process in a group effort and create a puppet production in the classroom. A puppet is an object with moving parts used as a character to tell a story. (Puppets "disarm" any students who think they have stage fright and offer an externalization of emotions and focus).
   

1. 
   Research: classroom sources, libraries, newspapers, television, Internet, interviews, historical and cultural societies, museums
   
2. 
   Oral Communication: discussion in classroom before and after performances, presentation of researched information or original creations
   
3. 
   Writing: opinions, reports, fan letters, reviews, fictional stories, scripts, skits, international and/or local email
   
4. 
   Visual Arts: drawing, coloring, modeling in paper mache or clay, sculpting, collage in paper or found objects, puppet or mask making from objects such as socks, plastic jugs, cardboard, foam rubber, and craft items.
   
5. 
   Physical Communication: movement, dance, mime, theatre, puppetry
   

(self produced )1992

Capitol Records

_________________________________________ _________________________

_________________________________________ _________________________

_________________________________________ _________________________

COMMENTS:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________