African Tricksters
The Trickster in African Mythology
Characteristics of African Tricksters:
Troublemakers skilled in deception, much like in other folklore traditions.
Humorous but often unscrupulous characters.
Lackadaisical yet inquisitive.
Selfish and unrestrained in their appetites.
Prone to doing the unexpected.
Capable of great shrewdness and silliness.
Cunning plans that backfire but are often able to capitalize on the chaos.
Roles and Interpretations:
Beloved figures who are inventive problem solvers and play critical roles in people's connection with the divine.
Represent basic human needs, drives, and weaknesses.
Their bad behavior allows us to see taboos broken without personal risk.
Provide explanations (or justifications) for calamities and injustices.
Demonstrate innovative solutions to difficult situations.
Acknowledge and celebrate life's vicissitudes.
Tricksters and Creation Myths:
Some traditions place tricksters at the time of world creation.
Like Ishu, the Yoruba trickster, they disrupt the plans of the creator god.
Explain why imperfection is widespread in creation and humankind.
Serve as champions of ordinary human beings by providing essential knowledge and tools for survival.
Animal Figures as Tricksters:
Animals are often assigned the role of trickster to distance humans from the forbidden behavior.
Some tricksters' behaviors seem depraved initially, requiring effort to find redeeming purpose.
Anansi the Spider:
Best-known trickster in African myth, particularly in West Africa.
Fabled for using intellect to outwit stronger creatures.
Often uses disguises to dupe others, including humans.
Popular among the Ashanti people of Ghana.
The Ashanti Kingdom:
Located in the heart of the West African tropical forest.
Was a powerful empire established in the late 17th century, lasting until 1896.
The King was defeated and exiled by the British.
Important trade partner of Britain, including supplying slaves.
Ashanti tradition endures, with Ashanti people comprising about 15% of Ghana's population.
Anansi as Culture Hero and Creator God:
Given the Ashanti Kingdom's precarious position, Anansi is a trickster, culture hero, and creator god.
Anansi and the World's Wisdom:
Anansi is portrayed as the source of all humanity's wisdom; people consult him for decisions.
Each piece of advice given reduces the sum total of wisdom he holds, so he doesn't give it out lightly.
He gets offended if people don't show him gratitude, and thus decides to take back all the wisdom he distributed.
Gathers wisdom into a giant pot and attempts to hang it in a high tree so no one can steal it.
Anansi ties the pot to his neck to hang the pot.
Anansi's son suggests hanging the pot behind him, angering Anansi who realizes his son withheld some wisdom.
The pot falls and shatters, scattering wisdom everywhere.
People grab what they can, resulting in some people being wiser than others.
Highlights the arbitrary nature of life; wisdom distribution wasn't planned but resulted from an accident.
Anansi, Wabari, and Blindness:
A story from the Kraci people (Volta region in Eastern Ghana).
The supreme god Wubari overhears Anansi boasting about being cleverer than him.
Wubari challenges Anansi to bring him something without specifying what.
Anansi adopts a peculiar strategy, taking a feather from every bird and covering himself in plumage.
Wubari spots the bird and wonders what it is. He asks other creatures and no one knows.
Wubari is challenged to ask Anansi what the bird is, but decides to capture the darkness, the moon, and the sun instead.
Anansi overhears of Wabari's desire and proceeds to capture the darkness, moon, and sun and return to Wabari.
Anansi pulls darkness out, plunging the world into blackness.
He then pulls out the moon and finally the sun.
Creatures staring at the sun are blinded, while those looking away lose sight in one eye or blink and remain sighted.
Anansi brings what Wubari wanted but also introduces blindness into the world; his cleverness has limits.
Tricksters rarely express remorse or regret for their actions, even when they cause widespread harm.
Anansi and the Ownership of Myths:
Anansi asks the Ashanti god Nyame for ownership of all the myths.
Nyame tasks Anansi with bringing him a swarm of hornets, the great python snake, and the stealthy spotted leopard.
Anansi captures the hornets safely in a leaf filled gourd.
He measures the Great Python with a bamboo reed, capturing him with vines.
He digs a hole disguised with sticks for the Leopard to fall in.
Anansi asks god Yame captures hornets, great python, and the wily leopard for ownership of Myths
In some versions, Anansi must also deliver a fairy to Nyame.
A Nazi carves a wooden doll covered in sticky resin and ladles yam mash into its hand.
The fairy asks the doll for some yam mash and becomes stuck to the doll.
With the fairy captured, Nyame is impressed and gives all his stories to Anansi, which become known as the spider stories.
Thereafter, anyone telling these tales must pay homage to Anansi.
Highlights Anansi's cunning and echoes the folktale of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby.
Anansi shows no remorse or sympathy for his captives; sharp wits rule the world.
Tricksters as Intermediaries:
Some tricksters connect the supreme God and humankind by conveying messages or fulfilling divine wishes.
Ishu (Yoruba) appears as Legba (Fon people of Benin), an attendant of the supreme god.
Legba's job is to inflict harm on humanity and gets all the blame.
Legba steals the god's sandals and steals the harvest from the Yam garden.
Legba implicates the high god and the high god gives instructions to Legba to visit him each night thereafter to report on the doings of humankind.
Illustrates the ingenuity of African tricksters and is willing to subject deities to irreverence.
The higher gods generally get the last laugh.
The Hare as Trickster:
Another popular trickster throughout Africa.
Enslaved Africans brought hare stories to the New World.
The hare challenges an elephant to a tug of war, then tricks a hippopotamus into pulling the other end of the rope.
The hare accomplishes goal of plowing their land.
The hare protects the village people by putting fireflies on his trousers, getting Dakeithi to move on.
Highlights the dangerousness of tricksters when cornered/defensive.
Yuthlakanana:
A trickster revered in the Zulu tradition.
Greedy and tricks family members out of food.
Takes the food from bird traps.
Feigning resignation, he is cooked for the ogre.
Youth Lakhanana fools the Ogre's mother into getting into the pot instead.
Yuthlakanana taunts the ogre, revealing what he has just fed him, and has to run for his life as the enraged ogre gives chase.
Not unlike the Greek Hero and trickster Odysseus.
Mekadek:
The Kabila (Berber people of Algeria) tell of Mekadek, a dwarf with seven brothers.
Mekadek tricks and sets the mother ogre on fire, marrying the ogre's daughter.
Mani Mambu:
From the Bacongo people of the Congo.
Eats stew with children, then eats the children.
Forces woman to accept his actions.
Lesson to choose words carefully.
Shoots the king's favorite wife, lizard, children, and snakes when told to shoot anything that moves.
Manimambu tricks another man into taking his place, delivering another lesson in precise communication while underscoring the risk of trying to kill a trickster.
If tricksters represent life's uncontrollable qualities, the lesson seems to be that that they need to be respected because they can't be defeated.
Dikithi (Bantu):
One-eyed, one-armed, one-legged monster who kills and eats an elephant without sharing.
Kills his mother-in-law for refusing to take her along and his father as well.
Subsequently becomes a culture hero by inviting a red bird to tear open his father's stomach, which leads to the founding of a new community.
Resembles Zeus overthrowing his father Kronos.
Conclusion:
Trickster myths, though full of humor and mischief, are engaged in serious business.
They teach important lessons, point out hypocrisies, and underscore the basis for societies.
Their shamelessness and wit inspire admiration.
Like stand-up comedians, they may amuse, stun, or scandalize, but they reveal truths about ourselves.