The role of folk media in peacebuilding

Abstract

This chapter is situated within the context of folk media and underscores the importance of folk media in peacebuilding and in creating harmony within the African families and society. It operates from the premise that folk media is an effective means of communication and peacebuilding in today’s world. Folk media, among other things, helps children find meaning in life and connects the folk to their cultures. It also imparts values of peace, unity and humanistic coexistence. Specifically, this chapter will attempt to identify and problematize folk storytelling tradition within the African context but specifically among the Maragoli of Western Kenya. It argues that women, as story-tellers, turn the patriarchal notions upside down and subvert patriarchy as they speak back to it. They deconstruct the concerns of the tales and satirize misogyny without offending the men in society. The tales are perceived, in this chapter, as sites for contesting patriarchy and for release of pent up emotions that would have otherwise been harmful. The chapter, thus, presents a psychoanalytic reading of the tales that women tell as folk media that have cathartic effect on their audience and themselves. It utilizes a few examples of folk stories from the Maragoli community to illustrate this.