Emerging from the land of the African Francophonie, come timeless folktales from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Algeria, Morocco and Caribbean-Haiti, echoing the music of simple lives... countries with superbly rich treasures of narratives and having shared a past of French colonial occupation. Imbued with nuanced and complex depths typical of African myths and legends, the ancient folktales are woven around local customs, history, institutional beliefs and a splendidly indigenous sonority of form and rhythm. Handed down generations much like most world folk literature and cultures, these shared narratives have remained rooted in oral tradition over centuries, spreading out only much later through publications in other world languages. Translated frequently into French from the wide network of local languages and dialects across the vibrant continent and steeped into the wisdom of ancient customs and timeless values, each story brings out effortlessly universal respect for humanity, ecology, nature and wildlife. This carefully selected collection attempts to present through its stories, Francophone Africa to readers across the world belonging to different cultures and age groups.
Dr. Deepanwita Srivastava is faculty and heading the Discipline of French at the School of Foreign Languages, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. Her specializations include didactics of French language, Translation and Mobility studies. She has a long experience of teaching French at Universities and Institutions of Higher Education in India and is counted among the pioneers of French Studies in Open and Distance Learning. Involved in academic projects with the Embassy of France, The India-Africa Virtual University-IAVU (Ministry of External Affairs, Govt of India), Commonwealth of Learning (COL/ CEMCA), ICSSR, UNESCO and the Shastri Indo Canadian Institute, she was appointed as Lexicographer/Language Expert by the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India where she is currently heading the project on the Hindi-French Dictionary under the Central Hindi Directorate. Widely published and Invited/Visiting scholar at several universities internationally, she has guided numerous doctoral studies contributing to innovation and knowledge creation in domains of her specialization.
Emerging from the soil of the African Francophonie - come timeless folktales from Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, Algeria, Morocco and Caribbean-Haiti, echoing the music of simple lives... from countries with superbly rich treasures of narratives that have shared a past of French colonial occupation. Imbued with nuanced and complex layers of meaning and symbolism so typical of African myths and legends, these ancient folktales are woven around local customs, history, institutional beliefs and a splendidly indigenous sonority of form and rhythm. Handed down the generations, much like most world folk literature and culture, these shared narratives have remained rooted in oral tradition over centuries spreading out only much later through publications in other world languages. In fact, as part of its expression the folklore, this oral culture long preceded emergence of written literature in French Africa. It would interest our readers to know that colonial conquests brought in French schools to the African colonies and were followed by establishment of educational institutions with a primary aim of what is referred to as the "mission civilisatrice" (the mission of civilizing the 'dark continent'). The educated class and members from the intellectual elite in the process took up publishing of writings on local cultures, customs and history, simultaneously translating many indigenous folktales and legends from local African languages into French. These translations were happening frequently into the French language from a wide network of local languages and dialects such as the Wolof, Bambara, Algerian and Moroccan Arabic, Haitian Creole, Ndyuka, Kali'na, Serere, Tongo, Teko and many others spread across the vibrant continent from Ivory Coast, to Senegal, to Mali, Algeria, Morocco and to even the Caribbean creole in Haiti across the Atlantic. Steeped into the wisdom of ancient customs and timeless values, the stories bring out effortlessly the universal respect for humanity, ecology, nature and wildlife. One finds frequently a moral lesson as well that involves even an element of the supernatural. The latent, unspoken focus within these apparently "simple tales", reflects clearly a continuity and change in cultural representations and derivatives, reflecting in texts, in line with the varied topography of the countries - from dense forests to hills to deserts to oceans and to the wild grasslands of the Savannah-- spanning diverse institutional contexts and religious norms. It will be obvious to the reader that in most cases, textual representation and imagery associated with animals, nature as well as humans, seems laden with a fine tenacity that in its own way has ensured pertinence and seamless survival of the stories through the ages.
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