{"id":320,"date":"2018-05-07T18:18:56","date_gmt":"2018-05-07T22:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/?p=320"},"modified":"2018-05-14T13:46:03","modified_gmt":"2018-05-14T17:46:03","slug":"4-african-traditions-and-storytelling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/2018\/05\/4-african-traditions-and-storytelling\/","title":{"rendered":"4. African Traditions and Storytelling"},"content":{"rendered":"

African-American literature is essentially a synthesis of\u00a0values and rituals rooted in African and American society.\u00a0Recognizing African oral storytelling as the origin of\u00a0African-American children\u2019s literature is crucial to further\u00a0discussions. Oral storytelling is a communal, participatory\u00a0experience that is regarded as a shared event. People\u00a0actively participate along with the performances of griots, a\u00a0spiritually enlightened group of storytellers.<\/p>\n

The subjects of the stories including past deeds, beliefs,\u00a0taboos and myths, are embedded with moral messages in\u00a0order to nurture the spirit-self of children on their way to\u00a0initiation into full adulthood and becoming members of the\u00a0community. In the context of African-American storytelling,\u00a0African stories serve as a touchstone, a shared mentality\u00a0during evolution of a people in response to societal\u00a0changes in America. Stories help make sense of the world in\u00a0which people live, and explain phenomena that are difficult\u00a0to comprehend, let alone explain. As African-Americans,\u00a0living on a different continent from their ancestors, the\u00a0inherited guiding principle and values remain constant.\u00a0Thus the narratives of African-American children\u2019s literature\u00a0could be seen as an ongoing commitment to nurture a\u00a0unique culture based on spirituality in the midst of an\u00a0oppressive environment.<\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

African-American literature is essentially a synthesis of\u00a0values and rituals rooted in African and American society.\u00a0Recognizing African oral storytelling as the origin of\u00a0African-American children\u2019s literature is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2408,"featured_media":419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[19,18],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online-exhibition","tag-storytelling","tag-traditions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/tellingapeoplesstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}