AFR 1130 Africana Folklore, FA2023 Toggle navigation

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.

Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course, students should be able to,
• Describe the various forms of folklore in the African diaspora;
• Trace the folklore of specific West African peoples to specific peoples in the New World;
• Locate the historical and contemporary locations of foundational cultures on a map of Africa;
• Identify and describe African, South American and Caribbean and African-American folk characters and traditions;
• Explain how the various human migrations have spread Africana lore through the African diaspora;
• Write brief answers using correct Standard English grammar.