Mythological Africans Podcast

Hello friends, In the final episode of the MA Podcast series on cross dressing in the African context, we talk about cross dressing as an expression of sexual orientation and even sexual availability among African peoples. We look at examples from scholarly work and folklore across the continent, and read a sample from “Ainichthem” or “What He Has Done” a folktale from German ethnologist and archa...

Hello Friends! In this episode, we continue our inquiry into how cross dressing shows up across the African continent with a focus on theatrical performances. There is definitely European/Western influence…just not in the way you might think. As Nigerian poet, playwright, actor and academic Esiaba Irobi puts it: Whereas the Europeans constructed their putative images of Africans as inferior beings...

Hello Friends, We continue this week with three versions of the story of how the Bamaya Dance of the Dagomba came into being. The Bamaya is a popular Dagomba dance which features men dressed as women, performing a dance which, depending on the origin story you believe, started as a desperate bid to appease angry gods, or emerged from the mockery of an unfortunate thief. The word Bamaya means, “The...

Hello Friends! For the month of July, we'll spend time looking at the different ways in which crossdressing shows up in African culture and folklore. If you remember from the MA June Newsletter, last month, I got to chat about African Folklore and the Dynamics of Culture with my fellow Cameroonians Bee Lola and B.E. Lyonga who host the phenomenal Two Bees in a Pod podcast. There is a point in my c...

Hello Friends! First, welcome to everyone who subscribed in the last 24 hours! I am thrilled to have you here and I’ll introduce myself properly in the upcoming June newsletter. We’ve spent the past month savoring the tastes and aromas of food-related folklore mentioned in some works from modern African literature. We started in the world of Libyan writer Ibrahim al-Koni’s “El Majus or The Animist...

The Mythological Africans AFRI Grant is still accepting applications from unpublished African writers aged 55 and over. AFRI fellows will receive up to $300 to review and retell 2-3 folktales from their people. The results will be published in an anthology. Applications close June 30th! In this week’s episode, we go digging for yams as we sample more food related folklore in modern African literat...

The Mythological Africans AFRI Grant is still accepting applications from unpublished African writers aged 55 and over. AFRI fellows will receive up to $300 to review and retell 2-3 folktales from their people. The results will be published in an anthology. Applications close June 30th! In this week’s episode, we get a mouthful of Àkàrà -related folklore starting with Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole...

We continue to enjoy the best of both food folklore and folklore in modern African literature with this week’s episode. We start with the rice harvest as depicted in Camara Laye’s “The African Child” and savor some rice-related folklore from West Africa’s rice-growing peoples. Can’t Get Enough? * Friendly, Delicious Rivalry Surrounding Jollof Rice * The World Wide World of Jollof Rice * Jollof War...

Among the Tuareg and many people of the Sahelian region of Africa, tea is more than a beverage. It is a way of life. But how did this come to be, and what has it got to do with the legendary Lost Oasis of Waw in Tuareg folklore ? Listen on for some Tuareg Tea folklore and more… Mythological Africans is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a fr...

This week, we continue our foray into Ibrahim al-Koni’s Al Majus or The Animists, this time visiting the Oasis of Waw, a legendary oasis from Tuareg folklore. Waw is a lost paradise, one of those place mentioned in folklore as accessible only to those it chooses to reveal itself to. In Tuareg philosophy, as described by the author, there are two Waws – the Terrestrial Waw and the Celestial Waw. Th...

In this week’s episode, we turn towards folkloric beliefs about the different ways people can percieve the world around them and what western models of mental health can learn from elsewhere. There are so many ways of knowing. The West has imposed a cerebral way of knowing onto the world and will not accept other ways of knowing, things like intuition, premonition, dreams, that kind of thing has b...

In this week’s episode, we witness the beautifully complex relationship between the sun and the Sahara desert as portrayed by celebrated Libyan author Ibrahim al-Koni in Al Majus (AKA The Animists, The Fetishists, or Through the Labyrinth) , a book considered by many to be his magnum opus. The desert is a nature stripped bare, the desert is a nature that vanished and turned into a spirit. — Ibrahi...

We start our May exploration of folklore in African literature with Jennifer Makumbi’s Kintu and a question: How deep does the connection between folklore and place go? Lwera is a stretch of land with a starring role in Kintu. As you will find out in the episode, how a people feel about the places in which they anchor their lives, whether in the past or in the present, is essential to how they vie...

Bashir Abbas was known for many things. He was a scholar, an engineer, an accountant, a father, a friend, a mentor and much more. But above all, he was a lover and composer of exquisite music steeped in the soundscape of his beloved country, Sudan. In this episode, we touch briefly on his prolific musical career. Mythological Africans is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and sup...

In this episode, we take a camel-back trip across the Sahara and discover how the Tuareg have immortalized their most beloved animal companion in word and song. Tuareg camel names reflect their colorful variety and unique characteristics! I hope you enjoy the episode! Can’t get enough? Watch * Camel Dance * Double Bell Music by Tuareg camel caravan drivers in Ténéré desert, Niger, Africa Reference...

In this week’s episode, we visit with the Venda and Shona of southern Africa to talk about Ngano - folktales with a musical component. The musical samples used in this episode showcase the ground bow, one of the many single string instruments popular across the African continent (and Evidence No. Seventy Hundred and Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Five of African people’s ability to make musical i...

[Correction: In the previous version, when I talk about the Mvet from 17:01 - 17:10, I stated that the Mwindo Epic and the Epic of Lianja were the performed with the Mvet. That is incorrect. Mvets are used in mainly by Fang performers .] Hello Friends! It is so lovely to be back with you all. If you just joined the crew, welcome! I’m honored by your interest and I hope you find Mythological Africa...

We’re in the last week of Librivox Magic. If you don’t know what that is, well, all this month, we’ve been digging into the LibriVox archive of African folktales . This week, we’re going to hear three stories that feature plants!  “How Mushrooms First Grew” is a delightful chain tale from the Ashanti people of Ghana. (Source: West African Folktales by William Henry Barker ). “The Crimson-striped L...

We’re going back to Zanzibar! In today’s episode we’ll hear two stories from George Bateman’s “Zanzibar Tales Told by Natives of the East Coast of Africa ” which was published in 1901: -        The Hare and the Lion -        The Lion, the Hyena and The Rabbit. Zanzibari folktales are some of the most entertaining I have come across in African folklore and this might have something to do with the p...

This week, we take it all the way back to Ancient Egypt which cannot be excluded from the cultural brilliance that has come from the African continent. Today’s story, “ The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor ” was written during the time of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom, so almost 2000 years before Christ. This means almost as much time has passed since the writing of this story and Christ’s time as has pass...

For the month of February, we’ll be delving into what Librivox has to offer on African folklore. In this week’s episode, we’ll listen to three stories from the sky lore of different southeastern Nigerian peoples:  “Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky.” “The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder.” “Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes.” The stories come from Elphinstone Dayrell's Folk stories from Southe...

We wrap up this month’s focus on folktales in modern African literature with Queen Pokou Concerto For A Sacrifice , Veronique Tadjo ’s award winning retelling and analysis of the story of Abraha Pokou, Princess of the Ashanti (Ghana) and founding mother of the Baoule (Ivory Coast). We will definitely revisit this topic again because I want to talk about folklore in Kintu by Jennifer Makumbi, The F...

Hello friends, We are continuing our exploration of folklore in modern African literature and celebrating the one year anniversary of the publication of The Runaway Princess and Other Stories in this week’s episode. We read an excerpt from the book focused on the titular character: Yennenga. Yennenga’s story is a fascinating glimpse at the contradictions and complexities of African womanhood. Yenn...

Hello friends! Welcome to the MA Podcast 2024 Edition! As I explained in the intro episode (which was an opportunity to vibe to the MA theme song composed by yours truly ), we’ll spend this year exploring how to make MA happen without the winds of X/Twitter filling the sails. What that means is that these weekly podcast episodes, the monthly YouTube episodes, and quarterly blog posts will be the m...

Hello friends! 2024 is going to be an interesting year for MA because I am going in without a defined plan for what I want the year to look like. I spent most of 2023 working on writing projects and navigating the turbulence of life on and away from social media. This solidified into a resolve to spend less time actively engaging on X/Twitter and other social media, and more time focused on long t...