This course explores the oral, customary and material folklore of Africans and their descendants in the Americas and the Caribbean. We will use readings, and other mediums such as film, to examine various ways West African folklore was transmitted to and survived in the New World, and how Africans in the Americas created new oral, customary and material traditions.

We will compare and contrast fictional and historical folk characters and traditions from Africa, the Northern and Southern American hemispheres, with a special focus on the English, Spanish and French-speaking Caribbean. We will examine some of the customs and practices that continue to exist in these regions and how all have contributed to global culture.

This course is designed to help students to prepare for further academic study in general, and African, African-American and Caribbean studies, specifically. It will introduce students to the various disciplines that inform the study of people of African descent worldwide.

This site, by Javiela Evangelista, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. You are free to: share (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format) and adapt (remix, transform, and build upon the material for any non-commercial purpose). Under the following terms: you must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.