FOLKTALES AND GENDER AMONG THE BIKPAKPAAM ‘KONKOMBA’ OF GHANA

Abstract

Many researchers, writing on the folkloric traditions of Africa, have attested, in no uncertain terms, to the profound needs that these oral genres serve in communities and societies in Africa. For instance, in a study on Kasena riddles, Tangwam (2012:150) indicates that riddles constitute a nucleic aspect of the education system in the Kasena milieu. He goes further to specify that this oral gnomic genre is not only a means of sharpening the reasoning skills of the young ones and providing recreation to participants, but also to orientating them on their culture and beliefs. Similarly, Agozie (2000:6) notes that proverbs serve to reflect the thoughts and insights of people into the realities of life. Indeed, several researchers have sought to inquire into various aspects of societies and cultures through oral traditions. A classic example can be the study of parental preferences and racial inequality as an ideological theme in African Oral Literature by Gorog-Karady (1997). Apparently, folktales is one of the oral genres that have greatly attracted the interest of innumerable scholars across the globe. Finnegan (1967), Philip (1992), Acquaye (1987), Ukala (1992), Ofori-Mankata (1995) and Winston (1998) etc. are examples of such works devoted to the subject of tales. In particular, African trickster tales, (popularly known by the Akan of Ghana as anansesem 'spider tales/stories'), an allotrope of folktales have received systematic scholarly studies by many prolific academics on the continent. Mention can be made of Tekpetey (1979), Yankah (1983), Sutherland (1995), Ryan (1999), Terkper (2008), Mireku-Gyimah (2012) and Adjei (2012) among others. The afore-listed works all engage in analysing one aspect or the other of the trickster tale.