Dangerous love in mythical narratives and formula tales

Abstract

The theme of love has long been neglected in studies on African myths. The often-heard explanation is that African myths and folktales do not tell stories about love because they primarily express social interests and obligations while love – intended as both emotional imperative and biological drive – is an individual need and feeling. This latter definition relies on a very specific understanding of ‘love’: the Romantic love of 19th century European novels. This paper argues that when love means attraction, affection, passion, and necessity, it turns up as liaisons dangereuses in many African narratives. Love becomes a driving force that generates gender constructions by reinforcing the unity of the couple or by fuelling the struggle between partners. In the case of Kabyle narratives (Algeria), 1 1 Kabylia is a mountainous area in the north-west of Algeria. Linguistically and culturally it is a rather homogeneous area: Kabyles are Muslim and speak Taqbaylit, one of the several local forms of Tamazight, the Berber language, spoken in Algeria, Libya, Mali, Morocco, Niger, and Tunisia. In Algeria approximately 20–25 percent of the population speaks Berber, while the majority of the population speaks Arabic, the official language. Islam was adopted in North Africa starting from the latter half of the seventh century. conceptualisations of love as well as the relationships between myths and folktales are explored by analyzing formula tales 2 2 The genre usually translated into English as ‘folktale’ or ‘legend’ and in French as conte, conte merveilleux, or légende takes in Berber different names depending on the local language, for example tamacahuţ in Kabylia (Algeria) and tanfus in the Rif (Morocco). The presence of formulas of beginning and ending is characteristic, for example the expression macahu! (‘a story!’) which gives the name to this type of tale in Kabylia. I therefore use the denomination ‘formula tales’ ( Merolla, 2006, pp. 104–118). and the only known collection of Kabyle Berber myths: those collected by Leo Frobenius, ethnologist and historian of religion, at the beginning of the 20th century and published in the first volume of his Volksmärchen der Kabylen in 1921. The discussion of the relationship between Kabyle myths and folktales touches upon a well-known interpretative problem in the study of religion: the articulation of myth and ritual with history as communities respond to sweeping social, political, and religious changes, such as the coming of Islam, colonization, decolonization, and globalization.