Storytelling of Arabic Nations

Our class was lucky enough to have Professor Zaru attend and lecture about story telling in Arabic nations.    Something I really found helpful was her introduction in which she defined what the 'Arabic World' was in terms of geography, and man was my idea wrong! By clearing up this incorrect idea I had in my mind, it made the rest of the lecture run so much more smoothly, especially when she spoke about other nation's influences on the Arabic storytelling.


The one thing I did really grasp from the lecture was the frame story of 'One Thousand and One Nights' and the meaning of the title. Prior to Thursday's class, I watched the beginning of a comedic movie titled 'A Thousand and One Nights' and the opening credits led me to believe that the frame story was that a women  pushed off her execution for 1001 nights by telling a different story every night, and that was it.  It led me to believe nothing of love or happiness.  It led me to believe that on the 1,002 night, the girl was executed because she ran out of stories, but Professor Zaru taught our class different.  Basically, the it is titled in the way it is because a girl pushed off her execution for an infinite amount of nights and led the King to eventually find love in her and stop his violent acts of sexism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2awC8NuA8iw

(YouTube Video I Previously Mentioned)

From this, she reminded me of the effects of Hollywood and the idea that not everything can be trusted and/or assumed.  

The other aspect of her lecture that I greatly enjoyed was the intrigue left in one's mind by the mystical magic carpet.  I know the magic carpet from Disney's Aladdin but I realized it is much deeper than that.  The idea of it is magical and I wish I had a magic carpet!  It has so much meaning and depth and personality to it making what seems to be a basic carpet a personified, magical object. 

(http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/g/genie.asp)

This cartoon I found funny as it combined the mystical quality of the magic carpet with the present issues of our time, such as forms of transportation, especially with multiple children in the household.  From the lecture, Professor Zaru made clear to me that Arabic storytellers are sometimes creating current versions but, generally, the original stories passed down from as long as one can track down, old Arabic stories are culturally strong and these new stories, although entertaining and spark interest, it is the original tales that create the true bond among Arabic Nations.

Story Telling of Kenya

Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe's lecture on Kenyan storytelling was probably my favorite lecture to date in class. I think this is because the class was less about learning about folk tales but rather experiencing them.  I loved how the doctor turned off the lights and told the stories as they were told to him.  The incorporation of music was very interesting and, even though I do not sing because of my terrible ability, I did sing along and am so happy that I had the experience to sing in a foreign language and be part of the stories that he brought to class.


In particular, my favorite "Importance" of African folk tales is to explain phenomenons.  One of my favorite examples of this is the story of 'How the Ostrich Got His Long Neck."  I liked how there was a question about the neck of the ostrich and, with no real explanation, a folk tale was created to explain the unexplainable.  I prefer this reason behind a folk tale more that morals because it is original and the unexplainable is very interesting to me and something I research regularly in my free time.

http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/marciaimages.htm

The other thing I enjoyed about his lecture was his discussion on the use of riddles in African cultures to incorporate the importance of knowledge in every day activities.  The riddle he told in class had to do with three people crossing the river, but I did find a website with many riddles from Kenya, one in which I particularly liked: 

Riddle: My lamp illuminates the whole world.

Answer: The Moon

(http://www.blissites.com/kenya/culture/riddles.html) - Website of Kenyan Riddles

http://www.noao.edu/image_gallery/html/im0650.html

I particularly liked this riddle because it brings everything we have discussed in class back together.  The idea of folk tales being common the world around, story telling taking place at night, the presence of education in stories, and so on. 

Overall, the lecture opened my eyes to different cultures and their use of folk tales as I was able to experience it for myself as opposed to reading or hearing about it. Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe painted a clear picture of how stories were told in Kenya and allowed the class to experience first hand and get involved.  It almost made me feel like I was in a Kenyan village hearing and experiencing the story.  It brought all the stories we read into perspective and made me really think about the story telling habits of the various cultures of whose folk tales we read.

...and that is the end of my blog.

Dr. Johnson-Ross Presentation

In class on Thursday, Dr. Johnson-Ross presented on the African American Storytelling tradition but much of her focus landed on The Brownies Book, which I had never heard of before.  The concept of it reminded me of my beloved Highlights Magazine that I grew up with, and still look at whenever I go to a doctor's office and they are there. The concept of the book was intriguing to me as it not only incorporated African American pieces. It attempted to teach about a wide variety of cultures and people, bringing the world together.


By far, what I most enjoyed about The Brownies Book was that it contained a piece in each publication in which they highlighted a child in the community who achieved something great.  What I loved about this was that, in the reading Dr. Johnson-Ross gave us, it described that this achievement could have been something as simple as doing well in school or being polite to others.  I thought this was a great thing as I thought the editors brought achievement down to an attainable level and did not promote achievements that many of the readers could not achieve or are of monetary value.  For example, they did not highlight someone in the community that became independently wealthy and went on to buy great things but, they promoted average kids who did great things for themselves, even if it is something as simple as doing well on a test in school.


The stories that the professor had us read were interesting as well and I especially enjoyed the input of animals as opposed to people.  Something funny happened after class though... 


I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and ironically, he had a 'folk tale' type author on his program.  The author, David Sedaris said he decided to write his book after hearing South African orally told folk tales and thinking, 'I can do better.' Unfortunately, I have not been able to read his book but I doubt he told the stories better, but rather in a different manner. He most likely created more relevant stories for his audience and made them humorous. I think maybe he said he could do better more as a joke for the comedic news program, it is on Comedy Central anyway.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-november-4-2010/david-sedaris

(Interview Clip)

Back to Dr. Johnson-Ross' presentation... I genuinely enjoyed all she had to say. My favorite aspect was by far her description of the story "The People Could Fly" in which the moral is: If you believe, you can achieve.  I absolutely love this idea that anything is attainable, as it also goes along with the meaning behind The Brownie Book. 

http://www.audiobooksonline.com/The_People_Could_Fly_American_Black_Folktales_Virginia_Hamilton_unabridged_cassettes.html

The images from that story had so much expression as well, and this is another reason why I enjoyed the African American folk tales. Many of the written versions we read contained images, and these images expressed more than the written word ever could.  Generally, I learn visually and through images and therefore the images presented during the class left a strong impact on me making me enjoy the presentation that much more.