Storytelling in Northern Zambia: Theory, Method, Practice and Other Necessary Fictions

Abstract

Cover image: mr. Chishele Chuulu explains the meaning of some royal implements at the court of tabwa Chief Kaputa (1983). Photo by robert Cancel. all paper used by open book Publishers is SFi (Sustainable Forestry initiative), and PeFC (Programme for the endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) Certified.

Developing African oral traditional storytelling as a framework for studying with African peoples

“…Many years ago, these gatherings would usually entail the telling of folktales, hunting stories, and other lived experiences of the time. Cancel (2013), Finnegan (2012), andOkpewho (2003;1992) all discuss the ways in which various African communities and cultures gather to share stories about their lives, cultures, and worldviews. More recently, such gatherings create an environment for sharing experiences and perspectives about life, politics, and any other events happening at the time, that is, family/friends gathering, traditional marriage, and naming ceremonies.…”

Reclaiming Inheritance: Enacting Leadership in African Storytelling Contexts

“…While it is easy to reductively consign modern instances of this storytelling practice to children's fables, these stories educate about ethics, values, and moral practice. Indeed, research around the continent reveals the use of typical children's tales, personal storytelling practices such as narrative counseling methodologies, and digital storytelling activities to address important contemporary social and health concerns, such as HIV/AIDS and depression (Cancel, 2013; Chibanda, Verhey, Munetsi, Cowan, & Lund, 2016; Chibanda, Weiss, & Verhey, 2016; Duveskog, 2014; Galavotti et al, 2005; Nuwer, 2020). In such cases, we see the central role of storytelling as a tool of instruction, values formation, and social change.…”

Some Long-Standing and Emerging Research Lines in Africa

“…Most African languages were first committed to writing in the 19th or 20th century by Christian missionaries, whose choice of orthographic conventions was strongly influenced by the spelling system of their original mother tongue and/or of the European language of colonial administration, giving rise in the post‐colonial era to many anomalies with respect to standardization, and to gratuitous impediments to mutual intelligibility among cognate local languages and dialects within the region (Banda, ). In Zambia, recent moves by the national government (GRZ, ) to intensify implementation of its 1996 decision to provide initial literacy instruction to all children in a familiar language point to the likelihood of a resurgence of writing and publication for children in the African languages, and with that a more effective mobilization of the widely acknowledged African cultural resource of narratives (Cancel, ). An African field of child development can contribute significant insights on (a) the manner in which imposed foreign languages affect children's development and learning and (b) the degree to which policies advancing the use of local languages in school might rectify challenges currently attributed to schooling in a predominantly foreign language learning context.…”