African Outreach Through the Arts

Abstract

“No, No, No! I won’t marry that ugly little spider! He’s gross!” shouted Christie, waving her hands dramatically. The rest of the fourth graders listened, spellbound. Christie’s version of an “Ananse” story she had seen another class dramatize kept the original story line, but it was clearly her own creation, with fanciful detours here and there. Face and body totally Involved, she was a true storyteller in the best African tradition. A few days later Christie produced an entirely original “Ananse” story, this time bringing the famous Ghana trickster to America to buy roller skates. Her story, accompanied by a picture of the spider on roller skates, involves a contest between Ananse and a kente cloth weaver. In the end, Ananse’s legs, all eight of them, become entangled and weave a “kente cloth.” The story ends with the traditional moral, “Sometimes when you brag about being better than anyone else, you come out the loser!”