|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-Cultural Analysis
Northwestern University Press, 1998 Paper: 978-0-8101-1650-4 Library of Congress Classification GR351.4.D35 1998 Dewey Decimal Classification 398.2096683
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
This new edition brings back into print one of the classics in scholarly analysis and translation, written by one of the luminaries of American cultural anthropology. Melville Herskovits and his wife and collaborator Frances spent over twenty years studying the social networks, religion, music, and oral traditions of the peoples of West Africa and their descendants in the New World. Dahomey, the site of their major African work, is in the country now known as Benin.
Published as a companion piece to Northwestern University Press's West African Folktales, Dahomean Narrative provides the basic texts of material collected in the field, and shows how they were collected, analyzed, and theorized in the anthropological and folklore disciplinary traditions of Herskovits's day. The result is a wide-ranging collection, culled from an entire narrative tradition, that remains unique among anthropological publications. See other books on: African | Benin | Cross - Cultural Analysis | Oral tradition | Tales See other titles from Northwestern University Press |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Nearby on shelf for Folklore / By region or country:
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![](https://www.bibliovault.org/thumbs/978-1-912808-31-1-thumb.jpg "Of Humans, Pigs, and Souls: An Essay on the Yagwoia "Womba" Complex")
Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-Cultural Analysis
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
by Melville J. Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits
foreword by Jane Guyer
foreword by Jane Guyer
Northwestern University Press, 1998
Paper: 978-0-8101-1650-4
Paper: 978-0-8101-1650-4
This new edition brings back into print one of the classics in scholarly analysis and translation, written by one of the luminaries of American cultural anthropology. Melville Herskovits and his wife and collaborator Frances spent over twenty years studying the social networks, religion, music, and oral traditions of the peoples of West Africa and their descendants in the New World. Dahomey, the site of their major African work, is in the country now known as Benin.
Published as a companion piece to Northwestern University Press's West African Folktales, Dahomean Narrative provides the basic texts of material collected in the field, and shows how they were collected, analyzed, and theorized in the anthropological and folklore disciplinary traditions of Herskovits's day. The result is a wide-ranging collection, culled from an entire narrative tradition, that remains unique among anthropological publications.
Published as a companion piece to Northwestern University Press's West African Folktales, Dahomean Narrative provides the basic texts of material collected in the field, and shows how they were collected, analyzed, and theorized in the anthropological and folklore disciplinary traditions of Herskovits's day. The result is a wide-ranging collection, culled from an entire narrative tradition, that remains unique among anthropological publications.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Melville Jean Herskovits (1895-1963) taught at Northwestern University from 1927 until his death. In 1951 he was named to the first academic chair of African studies in the United States. His major works include The Myth of the Negro Past (1941), Man and His Works (1948), The Human Factor in Changing Africa (1962), and with his wife and collaborator, Frances Shapiro Herskovits (1897-1972), Rebel Destiny (1934) and Trinidad Village (1947).
Jane I. Guyer is director of the Program of African Studies, and David L. Easterbrook is curator of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, both at Northwestern University.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Contents
- Foreword to the 1998 Edition
- Preface
- INTRODUCTORY
- I
- DAHOMEAN NARRATIVE FORMS
- 1
- Some general considerations
- 2
- Methodology
- 3
- The problem of classification
- 4
- The hwenoho
- 5
- The heho
- 6
- The narrative form
- 7
- Riddle, proverb, and verse
- 8
- Narrative and the changing culture
- 9
- The system of values as revealed in narrative forms
- II
- A CROSS-CULTURAL APPROACH TO MYTH
- 1
- Some problems in the study of myth
- 2
- Sibling rivalry and the Oedipus theorem
- 3
- The mystique of the archetype
- 4
- Functional and ritualistic approaches to myth
- 5
- Toward a general theory of myth
- THE NARRATIVES
- I
- Exploits of the Gods
- Dramatis personæ
- 1
- To each is given his dominion
- 2
- The rule of sky and earth delimited
- 3
- Sogbo becomes master of the Universe
- 4
- Sagbata's control of earth stabilized
- 5
- Sun god brings iron to man
- 6
- Serpent as head-rest for an overburdened earth: Why mountains hold riches: Reason for earthquakes
- 7
- The first human family: The people who descended from the sky
- 8
- Origin of the people of the Agblo quarter
- 9
- How Legba became chief of the gods: How magic became a human skill: Man against creator: How magic spread
- 10
- How Legba became guardian of men and gods: Why the dog is respected
- 11
- Why Legba may take all women
- 12
- Why trickster has a bad name: Creator tricked: Why the sky is high
- 13
- The first humans: Missionary version of Legba rejected
- 14
- Why monkey did not become man
- 15
- Mawu's ways are just
- 16
- The son who surpassed his father: Why a faint rumble succeeds loud thunder
- 17
- Stealing fire from the Creator: Why Chameleon and Tortoise are respected
- 18
- The good child: The tail that talked: Changing to stone: From animal to thunder-god
- 19
- Why a promise to the vodun must be kept
- 20
- How the vodum came to Dahomey
- 21
- Cult Separatism and the Great Gods
- II
- Divination
- Dramatis personæ
- 22
- The origin of Fa
- 23
- The coming of Fa
- 24
- Introduction of the Fa cult
- 25
- How divination became the voice of the gods
- 26
- The good child and the bad: The magic gourds: Punishment for revealing secret
- 27
- Flight up the tree: Diviner saves hunter
- 28
- Tortoise as diviner for animals
- 29
- How Tortoise got his shell: Tortoise becomes diviner
- 30
- Monkey's ingratitude: Why one does not deceive the diviner
- 31
- Why one does not displease the diviner
- 32
- The dove that sacrificed and the one that failed to sacrifice
- 33
- The boxing contest: Bird outwits Elephant: Why Titagweti is honored at death
- 34
- Goat's life saved by sacrifice: Why goats avoid rain
- 35
- Outwitting creditors: The diviner's parable
- 36
- Outwitting creditors: Rabbit tricks Death
- 37
- Legba's wives reconciled: Why Rabbit is head of the animals and Leopard their king: Why Agbè is spotted
- 38
- Why the king of the beasts, the king of the birds, and the king of the fish prey on their subjects
- 39
- Seeking poverty
- 40
- How Pig came to live with Man
- III
- Hunter Stories
- Dramatis personæ
- 41
- Origin of medicine: Little folk of the forest give men their gods
- 42
- Hunters bring vodun from the forest
- 43
- Why some animals may not be killed without a sacrifice
- 44
- False friendship: Hunter betrays Rabbit
- 45
- False friendship: Why lions kill hunters
- 46
- Serpent gives riches: Why women are not told secrets
- 47
- Hunter's magic powers: The password: Luwe and Serpent give riches: Why one never tells women the truth
- 48
- Revealing secret identity: Animal ancestry taunted: Understanding bird language: Why one never tells a woman the truth
- 49
- Revealing secret identity: Why animals no longer change into women
- 50
- Why human beings are no longer sacrificed to bring rain
- 51
- The flight up the tree
- 52
- Why Dog must be fed
- 53
- The chosen suitor
- 54
- Hunter's magic brings to life Girl-born-to-die
- 55
- When animals were men: Hunter is entitled to his kill
- 56
- Hunter cures boastfulness
- 57
- Hyena into suitor: Why women do not travel great distances alone
- 58
- Tell-tale grease: Why Cat goes on all fours
- 59
- Mock funeral: Hyena plays dead
- IV
- Enfant Terrible Tales: twins, orphans and the abnormally born
- Dramatis personæ
- 60
- Strife amongst royal abnormally born: Royal seducer must not be named: Why Tohosu have separate houses
- 61
- Contest between Tohosu and twins: Substitute victim: Changing into stone
- 62
- Contest between Tohosu and twins: Substitute victim: Changing into stone
- 63
- Flight up the tree: Why hunters do not tell what they see in the forest
- 64
- Twins seek riches: Why fathers must be obeyed
- 65
- Flight up the tree: Why the Abiku are worshipped in the bush
- 66
- Flight up the tree: Why there are yehwe
- 67
- Market of the dead: Why those who die do not return to life
- 68
- Orphaned twins visit dead mother: Market of the dead: Mistreatment avenged
- 69
- The good child and the bad
- 70
- Orphan outwits trickster: Why orphans are not mistreated
- 71
- Slandering co-wives: Death befriends victim: Public contest: Abiku avenged
- 72
- Identity revealed: Outwitting the Abiku
- 73
- How the Tohosu cult was established
- 74
- The Tohosu appear on the battlefield and win a bloodless victory
- V
- Yo Stories
- Dramatis personæ
- 75
- Profitable amends: A wife for one cowry
- 76
- Profitable amends: A wife for one cowry
- 77
- Tie me: Elephant no scapegoat
- 78
- Tie me: How kings keep promises
- 79
- Tree into woman: The king must not take the wife of a poor man
- 80
- False friendship: The killing fire: Why Lizard does not talk
- 81
- False friendship: Tar drum: Guessing names: Why dogs are killed
- 82
- False friendship: Killing Leopard and his children
- 83
- The young are more cunning
- 84
- Yo visits Thunder-god: Why axe strokes make echoes
- 85
- Take my place: False friendship
- 86
- Yo as cicatrizer: Killing boatman's children: Why Yo does not live with the gods
- 87
- Bargain with death: Substitute victims: Boxing contest: Rabbit as king of the bush
- 88
- The greed test: Dog's head in the path
- 89
- The greed test: Why Yo is an unwelcome companion
- 90
- Tables turned: Diviner saves goat from Yo's greed
- 91
- Mock sunrise: Tables turned
- VI
- “Historical Tales”: exploits of the Aladahonu dynasty
- Dramatis personæ
- 92
- Origin of the royal sib: Magic flight
- 93
- Origin of the royal sib
- 94
- Origin of the royal sib
- 95
- How the Aladahonu dynasty came to rule the plateau of Abomey
- 96
- Early days of the Aladahonu dynasty
- 97
- War by ruse: Why women must not be told secrets
- 98
- How tribute to the King of Ayo was ended
- 99
- Death as raider of the king's sons: The wilful heir-apparent
- 100
- Royal exiles: Royal daughter as trickster
- 101
- King as spurned suitor: Poor stranger as king's conscience: King above morality
- 102
- How Behanzin fought against the whites
- VII
- Tales of Women: love, intrigue, and betrayal
- Dramatis personæ
- 103
- Woman tempts cult initiate: Lover makes supreme sacrifice: Initiation period reduced
- 104
- The faithless wife: Love knows no fear: Creator moved to pity
- 105
- The faithless wife: Death as a moralist
- 106
- Fate of a faithless royal wife
- 107
- Slandering co-wife: Why there are several attendants at childbirth
- 108
- Wives cure boastfulness
- 109
- Guessing a hair-tying conundrum: Wife as Informer
- VIII
- Explanatory and Moralizing Tales
- Dramatis personæ
- 110
- Human ingratitude: Why the races of man differ in color
- 111
- Why there are liars, adulterers, and thieves
- 112
- Outwitting creditors: Why the Ado birds circle about cattle
- 113
- Elephant is no riding horse: Why Hetablè cries, “Take him away”
- 114
- Magic to overcome anxiety: Turtledove cannot change its nature: What Turtledove says
- 115
- How Parakeet came to speak
- 116
- Field-clearing contest: Dilemma of conflicting tasks: Why the woodpecker pecks
- 117
- Hen goes to live among men: Why chickens and hawks are enemies
- 118
- Strained friendship: Friend as hostage: Why Frog is in the water and Tortoise gives fire
- 119
- Why Tortoise lives in the bush
- 120
- Why animals do not talk
- 121
- Rivalry for power: Why the Gha monkey has red buttocks
- 122
- Unnatural mother: Why Monkey's mouth is black and her buttocks are red
- 123
- Unnatural mother: Why the Monkey has red buttocks, a large chest, and flat belly
- 124
- Outwitting an enemy: Goat as trickster: Why one must have cunning
- 125
- How the hyenas forfeited their office as burial chiefs: Why there is the Dokpwegan
- 126
- Why Hyena has no friends
- 127
- Mock funeral: Hyena plays dead: Why Hyena lives alone
- 128
- The youngest is most cunning
- 129
- False friendship: The youngest is the most cunning
- 130
- False friendship: The youngest is the most cunning: Why Leopard meets his enemy face-to-face
- 131
- The corrupt seek to spread corruption: The young are cunning
- 132
- Sweet potato transformed into man: Origin taunted: Why one does not say what is forbidden
- 133
- Testing loyalties: The dilemma of conflicting tasks: Why a man's best friend is first
- 134
- Why a brother may not take a brother's wife
- 135
- A man does not take a king's wife
- 136
- Outwitting an enemy: The killing wheel: Why children are never left alone
- 137
- Why sacrifices are made to the ancestors: Why man should not learn animal speech
- 138
- Strife among brothers: Firefly wins over fire: Why the improvident son does not succeed his father
- 139
- The relay race: Why a man without family holds his peace
- 140
- The parakeet as master linguist: Superficiality ridiculed
- 141
- The sad turtledove learns how to have a family: Sexual knowledge should not be exchanged
- 142
- Appearances are deceiving
- 143
- Revolt against pretender
- 144
- A challenging task to gain a wife: Ancestral gods must be propitiated
- IX
- Miscellaneous Tales
- Dramatis personæ
- 145
- Origin of Lake Nohwè
- 146
- Origin of Lake Nohwè
- 147
- Twin becomes river-spirit: Taboo against pork
- 148
- The origin of the Kolo Zogbanu clan
- 149
- Origin of the Aganavi Mulanu clan
- 150
- Why the Ayatovi Gamenu do not eat ram
- 151
- Visit to the world of the dead
- 152
- Confirmation of a chief
- 153
- Dangerous hospitality: Outwitting giants: Lion brought to judgment: Powerful escape vengeance: How kings profited from the law of collective responsibility
- 154
- Punishment by indirection: Outwitting justice by solving a riddle
- 155
- The password: Outwitting thieves
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
