A Case for Teaching African Folklore through Indigenous African Speculative Fiction in Virginia Public Schools
(This post is the formal paper section of my grad school advocacy project on African Folklore that seeks to answer the question “Why Folklore Matters”. The website portion of this project can be found here
Folklore is, in simplest terms, the story of people. Not the individual person, but all the people that make up a social group. This could be a family, a school, or even an entire community. When people think of folklore they generally think of myths, tales, legends, proverbs, those stories of superstition about black cats bringing bad luck, or folk remedies like eating a spoonful of sugar to cure hiccups. Folklore is much more than this. It is customs and traditions that include holidays, marriage ceremonies, and how we celebrate birthdays. It is the food we eat and when we eat it. It is material culture like books, clothes, tools, and monuments. It is conspiracy theories and urban legends, music and dance, religion, jokes, and internet memes. It is those unwritten rules governing acceptable social behavior. Folklore is informal, passed from person to person, it experiences continuity and change, meaning it changes with the people involved as people and groups change, and it exists across time and space within a defined group meaning it is passed down through generations of people.
I want to talk about including African folklore through indigenous African speculative fiction as part of the literature program here in the state of Virginia. The standards of learning for Virginia public schools for 10th grade English state the following:
“There is a sustained emphasis on reading comprehension by comparing fiction and nonfiction texts. Students will analyze the cultural and social function and universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures.”
While the 11th grade English standards of learning state:
“The students will examine and analyze fiction texts by American authors describing the contributions of other cultures and identifying prevalent themes and characterizations, which are reflective of American history and culture.”
These standards of learning imply teaching students to think critically, and yet, how teachers are currently being made to teach, they do not allow for the development of these critical thinking skills. Karen Keys-Gamarra, member of the Fairfax County School Board, wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post, “The very essence of education requires free discussion. It requires our willingness to explore, research, discover, discuss and challenge current thought. It also allows us to disagree.”
I have looked through the table of contents in the approved literature books for the state, and there is next to no material on cultures outside of the United States, and limited African American representation among the readings. The inclusion of an expert from James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time does not constitute teaching African American literature when the other selections talk about other cultures from a white Eurocentric perspective. “The cultural and social function” of a society is what folklore is about and it cannot be taught without including the people from those cultures.
“American culture” is not homogenous. There is no one “American culture,” unless this is another way of claiming a civil religion in a veiled attempt not to evoke religion in schools despite the many ways policies are shaped by religion, including what books are removed or banned from school classrooms and libraries, and in many districts, prevent teachers from discussing gender or acknowledging transgender students. There are many cultures found within America, each one a product of the diversity of the country. A country where Juneteeth is now a recognized holiday, and yet teachers risk their jobs by teaching black history because it is ”inherently divisive.” A country that recognizes the Chinese New Year yet glosses over Asian histories. A country where Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated and yet the Irish were not considered “white” until sometime in the 20th century. It is apparent that “American culture” is to play lip service to other cultures that have, despite being wronged by our government and laws, made important contributions to the growth of the nation.
While I am focusing on the English curriculum, the history curriculum suffers the same problem. The EdEquityVa initiative under Governor Northam, a Virginia Department of Education initiative to close achievement and opportunity gaps has been dismantled under Governor Youngkin and his Superintendent of Public Education, Jillian Barlow. EdEquity was designed with the purpose of closing racial gaps in student discipline, college readiness, educator diversity, and resource allocation. Barlow claims EdEquity “promotes discriminatory and divisive concepts” (Barlow). Barlow’s February 23, 2021 report titled Interim 30-day Report on Inherently Divisive Concepts no longer appears on the Virginia Board of Education website and can only be accessed through the Internet Archive. Likewise, the EdEquity resources and training materials have been removed from the VDOE website.
The “cultural and social function and universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures” does not exist within the Virginia Standards of Learning. Furthermore, “fiction texts by American authors describing the contributions of other cultures” is just that, fiction and not unbiased representation of other cultures. It is other cultures filtered through a white American lens. This, in turn, ensures the continuation of bias against others while promoting a type of white nationalism. Cultures within the United States are being erased in an effort to eliminate non-white history from the schools while cultures outside of the United States focus on predominantly white European countries and their quest to colonize, “civilize,” and erase those cultures and their people. How is this not “inherently divisive?” It puts white Europeans above others and teaches a worldwide social and cultural hierarchy that puts the West as the center of the known world instead of as equals.
In short, the education system is being castrated in an effort to covertly promote white supremacy by white washing it. This does little to teach children about the world and its people. As the world becomes smaller due to technology, it is important for children to become global citizens. This cannot be done through a white Eurocentric view. In the words of literary theorist M. Keith Booker:
“It is valuable for Western readers to study African literature because a sensitive reading of that literature makes it quite obvious that the different social and historical background of African literature leads to artistic criteria and conventions that differ from those of Europe or America” (Booker, 6).
White Eurocentric education is prevailing doing a disservice to all students. This is also reflected through the literature taught. If any Black literature is taught, it comes in the form of books like Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. While this is an important piece of literature being the first piece of literature about African written by an African, earning Achebe the title of “the founding father of the modern African Novel”, it has also become the “archetypal modern African novel” (Sickles). In short, while told from a Black perspective, it is still a book focusing on colonization, the history of white people in Africa, and black trauma. It does not focus on “cultural and social function” of anyone but European colonizers and their function to disrupt different cultures.
German Philosopher George William Frederick Hegel said Africa “has no historical part of the world; it has no movement or development to exhibit” (Kuykendall). The backbone of this idea was the absence of Europeans in Africa to write down African history prior to colonization. According to Hegel, history starts with writing by Europeans. He never considered or acknowledged the existence of oral history or tradition. This idea, this folklore, that history starts with Europeans writing it down, complete with their biases presented as fact, has created a wealth of stereotypes about Africa, its people, and by extension African Americans.
Speaking of stereotypes, they are another form of folklore, albeit a negative one. The education system allows these stereotypes to persist instead of waging a war on stereotypes. Americans wage war on everything: crime, drugs, poverty, terror, abortion, heart disease. Why not a war against stereotypes? Teaching “cultural and social function and universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures” from the actual viewpoint of those cultures can help combat stereotypes by teaching cultures accurately. All students benefit from reading stories from cultures with characters different than theirs. It helps broaden their world view, it helps combat these stereotypes and the subsequent racism spawned. It teaches there are other world views outside of the white Western one pushed in America. It teaches empathy for others by viewing the world through their eyes. The end result is creating better global citizens.
Speculative fiction consists of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and supernatural fiction as well as all of the sub-genres. Genre fiction as a whole is often overlooked or dismissed by English departments, both in public school and higher education, as “non-literary” because these genres deal in imagined technology to solve problems, lack of reality, escapism, and in the case of science fiction, it was originally seen as works targeting specifically young men and overly technical and used to promote science and new technology. Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles is a perfect example of this. One wonders why an advanced moon colony would be anachronistic and still rely on answering machines. It was the new technology of the time.
Speculative fiction has been called “a thought experiment” by Ursula K. Le Guinn as it imagines “what if” scenarios. It also delves into real world issues such as racism. One only has to look as far as the 1969 Star Trek episode “Let This Be Your Last Battlefield” for commentary on racism. The Enterprise crew encounter two Cheron males, Lokai and Bele, who hate each other over a physical variation. Both have skin that is white on one half of their body and black on the other half. Bele is black on the right side and white on the left, Lokai is opposite this, white on the right and black on the left. This variation of their people has completely decimated their homeworld, leaving Lokai and Bele the last two remaining members of the Cherons. This episode was obviously a commentary on the Civil Rights movement of the time. This kind of commentary, showing a reflection and interpretation of the society we live in, is an open door to history, both in the sense of historical happenings and of the culture of the time.
Indigenous African Speculative fiction does the same for African countries. I use the term indigenous African Speculative fiction to insure it is not mistaken for the African American literary genre and cultural movement of Afrofuturism. In 1993 Mark Dery, in an interview with African American science fiction writer Samuel Delany, coined the term Afrofuturism:
“Speculative fiction that treats African American themes and addresses African American concerns in the context of the twentieth century technoculture—and, more generally, African American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future" (Dery).
Dery’s dated definition is problematic and, many have argued, racist. African American authors, musicians and artists would later redefine the term to reflect and align with their works and what they thought Afrofuturism to mean.
Nigerian American author Nnedi Okorafor took to her blog to talk about why the term Afrofuturism does not describe what African speculative fiction writers are doing. The difference is an important one as she explains. The difference between Afrofuturism and indigenous African speculative fiction, or what she calls Africanfuturism (African science fiction) and Africanjujuism (African fantasy):
“Africanjujuism is a subcategory of fantasy that respectfully acknowledges the seamless blend of true existing African spiritualities and cosmologies with the imaginative…The difference is that Africanfuturism [and Africanjujuism] is specifically and more and directly rooted in African culture, history, mythology and point-of-view as it then branches into the Black Diaspora, and it does not privilege or center the West…It is less concerned with “what could have been” and more concerned with “what is and can/will be”. It acknowledges, grapples with and carries “what has been.”” (Okorafor)
To give an example of how indigenous African speculative fiction differs from Afrofuturism consider Tade Thompson has taken Traditional African Spiritualism into the future to 2066 in Rosewater, Wole Talbi incorporates ancestor worship into future technology in his short story A Dream of Electric Mothers, T.L.Huchu has written about Chivanhu, the traditional Zimbabwe spiritual practice centering on communing with ones ancestors with the mbria, in The Library of the Dead. All of these things are “what has been” and are indictive of people holding onto their culture and folklore. Each of these works, with the exception of The Library of the Dead, which has juxtaposed Zimbabwe onto Edinburg, Scotland, takes place in Africa with little to no mention of the West. The West is not important to these stories. Meanwhile, books like Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, a book often taught in American schools, works to find a place for Black Americans in future America. There is no mention of African spirituality, culture, or folklore as the African American’s spirituality, culture, and folklore are essentially American.
Indigenous African Speculative fiction would come to be recognized as a subgenre of Afrofuturism, instead of a subgenres of science fiction and fantasy. The stereotypes perpetrated by the publishing industry has resulted in Black authors being viewed a homogeneous group with a single story rather than African Americans, Nigerians, South Africans, or Jamaicans.
It is not uncommon for Africa to be viewed, and taught, as a homogenous country rather than a continent with 54 different countries and one sovereign nation each with its own unique cultures, languages, religions, and folklore. Indigenous African Speculative fiction authors pay homage to their own country, and thus acknowledging the different cultures and folklores across Africa. Their “geographical location on the plant matters not in a political sense but rather an epistemological sense because they work from within a non-Eurocentric knowledge system and way of being in the world” (Prozesky, 110). Nigerian author Suyi Davies Okunbowa writes about the West African storytellers and their oral traditions, traditional African medicine, and Nigerian creatures of myth and legend. He also addresses the colorism seen across Africa and how people from different countries treat each other. Zimbabwe author T.L. Huchu has made the mbira, a musical instrument used in the Chivanhu religious ceremonies of the Shona people, central to the Edinburg Nights trilogy. Namina Forna addresses Bundu in Sierra Leone and the culture behind it. Indigenous African Speculative fiction allows these topics and many others to be explored by a wide audience without the judgement or othering that comes from the West. This is a true examination of “cultural and social function” of other cultures.
The folklore found in indigenous African speculative fiction introduces the reader to the different cultures and traditions across the African continent. It allows Africa to be seen as its different countries containing their individual cultures, folklore, religions, cosmologies, and languages. This opens the door for the study of Africa. Analyze the “cultural and social function and universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures” includes studying the difference between how colonizers and the colonized tell the same stories, it includes how culture and folklore has changed between pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial times as well as exploring alternatives to Western industrialization.
Folklore through indigenous African speculative fiction allows for the examination of certain aspects of Black culture, after all, African American culture is a pan-African amalgamation artifact of African cultures, that is devoid of any real or perceived teachings of Critical Race Theory. It does not introduce “inherently divisive concepts,” although those concepts have yet to be defined. It has to be assumed those concepts and ideas are somehow based in those things that make American racism unique. Uniquely American concepts and ideologies will not be found in indigenous African speculative fiction as the authors about futurisms rich with magical realism inherent to their native African country. These authors have not been indoctrinated into the Western way of thinking.
It needs to be mentioned when folktales are taught in public school, American folktales center around white people, such as Paul Bunion, Davey Crocket, and Calamity Jane. Black folklore stories, such as Br'er Rabbit have been appropriated and changed for white audiences. Indigenous African speculative fiction keeps African folklore intact and gives those in the diaspora a way to connect with their ancestors. This teaches Black youth early on that their people are unimportant to the history or the stories of America, that what is theirs will be appropriated by whites to use against them. If the idea is to teach students “cultural and social function and universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures” as well as not introducing any “inherently divisive concepts” why are Americanized, and racist, versions of African stories used?
By the same token, why are other racist texts being used where Black characters are referred to over and over by racial slurs and abused physically, emotionally, mentally, and/or verbally. Even the use of contemporary literature is problematic. The stories that African or African diasporic writers are allowed to tell, outside of speculative fiction, are predominantly “issue” books. Books that tell trauma stories in order to commodify Black pain under the guise of bringing awareness.
L.L. McKinny, author of A Blade so Black, wrote an informative essay for Tor.com about what makes a Black book the “right” kind of Black book.
“In the industry, stories about police brutality, the struggle, poverty, etc. have been dubbed “issue” books, and it’s a not-so-secret secret that if your book doesn’t fall into this category, it won’t get any real push or marketing. These are the “right” Black books. Nearly all other Black books are treated as less important. They’re denied the time and resources needed to make them successful. They’re ignored by the industry, by librarians, by awards committees, by schools, and yes, even by certain readers.” (McKinny)
McKinny compares the highlighting of issue books over and over by teachers, schools, libraries, and bookstores, and the psychological and physical toll this takes on Black people to be reminded over and over again of the anti-Black rhetoric faced by black people and to see the publishing industry making money off their pain, to when people would make, sell and send each other lynching postcards as a form of entertainment.
This focus on trauma and issues including AIDS, political violence, police brutality, street children, pregnant children, child marriages, female genital mutilation, and rape leaves little room for the exploration of the rich culture of African and its countries. It leaves little room for hope and optimism and feeds the stereotype of Africa being “uncivilized” needing to Westernize. Nobody denies these things happen in Africa, in fact, most of these happen in America, and have been turned into “Black problems” despite facts that often point to the contrary. Why have they become the focus of African culture? Why are these the things we teach make up African society?
Positive representations of Black people show Black youth there is a place for them in the future, it gives them something to strive for. “Structural racism and lack of representation in schools often keep BIPOC students from experiencing the sense of belonging and recognition that every student deserves” (Beach).
To recap, the Virginia Standards of Learning for English state students, without being introduced to any “inherently divisive concepts,” should be able to, "analyze the cultural and social function and universal themes of fictional texts from different cultures” as well as “examine and analyze fiction texts by American authors describing the contributions of other cultures and identifying prevalent themes and characterizations, which are reflective of American history and culture.” It is my stance this can be done through introducing African folklore through indigenous African speculative fiction into the English curriculum of Virginia Public Schools. Folklore teaches us about people, their culture, their traditions, why they do what they do. Indigenous African speculative fiction, based in the rich folklore of African nations, promotes the teaching and understanding of folklore, thereby offering a better understanding of how communities of people interact and work together. It will help combat the predominantly white Eurocentric education by offering a wider and different view of the world while providing positive Black representation. It will help reverse stereotypes and curb racism while creating better global citizens. Finally, this opens the door to study the folklore of other underrepresented communities.
Works Cited
Barlow, Jillian. Interim 30-day Report on Inherently Divisive Concepts. 23 February 2021 https://tinyurl.com/5n8f84b3
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Beach, Hana. “Why Representation Matters to BIPOC Teachers and Their Students” Rethink Together. XQ Institute. 10 February 2022. https://tinyurl.com/ywdshkzw
Board of Education Commonwealth of Virginia. English Standards of Learning for Virginia Public Schools. 2017. https://tinyurl.com/yyjr2fe5
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Dery, Mark. Flame Wars : the Discourse by Cyberculture. Duke University Press, 1994.
Kuykendall, Ronald. “Hegel and Africa: An Evaluation of the Treatment of Africa in The Philosophy of History.” Journal of Black Studies, vol. 23, no. 4, 1993, pp. 571–81
Keys-Gamarra, Karen. “The war on critical race theory in Virginia is really a war on critical thinking.” The Washington Post. 4 March 2022. https://tinyurl.com/yv2b64yv
King, Martin Luther, Jr. “The Purpose of Education.” The Maroon Tiger: Morehouse College Student Paper. Morehouse College. Atlanta, Georgia. 1947
McKinney, L.L. “The Role Publishing Plays in the Commodification of Black Pain.” Tor.com 17 June 2020 https://tinyurl.com/2rk7wb43
Marshall, Emily Zobel. American Trickster: Trauma, Tradition, and Brer Rabbit. Roman & Littlefield. Maryland. 2021
Okorafor, Nnedi. “Africanfuturism Defined.” Nnedi’s Wahala Zone Blog. 19 October 2019. https://nnedi.blogspot.com/2019/10/africanfuturism-defined.html
Prozesky, Maria. “African Speculative fiction as indigenous remembering: Contrasting stories by Jonathan Dotse and Masima Musodza.” Tydskrif vir letterkund Vol. 58 No. 1 2022. pp 109-120
Rao, Sonia. “Virginia was primed to teach black history. Then the nation’s first anti-critical race theory governor took office.” Scalawag. 14 June 2022 https://tinyurl.com/2zts5rja
Sickles, Amy. Critical Insight: Things Fall Apart. “Critical Reception of Things Fall Apart” Ed. M. Keith Booker. Salem Press. Web 15 June 2012. Digital.
Stone, Alison. “Hegel and Colonialism.” Hegel bulletin 2020. Vol. 41 No. 2 pp. 247–270.