The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore

This handbook offers the most comprehensive, analytic, and multidisciplinary study of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the African Diaspora to date. Preeminent scholars Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola assemble a team of leading and rising stars across African Studies research to retrieve and renew the scholarship of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the Diaspora just as critical concerns about their survival are pushed to the forefront of the field. With five sections on the central themes within orality and folklore – including engagement ranging from popular culture to technology, methods to pedagogy – this handbook is an indispensable resource to scholars, students, and practitioners of oral traditions and folklore preservation alike. This definitive reference is the first to provide detailed, systematic discussion, and up-to-date analysis of African oral traditions and folklore.

Editors:

Akintunde Akinyemi is Professor and Chair in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University of Florida, USA.

Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA.

Partial Listing of Contributors:

Julius Adekunle, Monmouth University

Simeon Ibigbolade Aderibigbe, University of Georgia at Athens, USA 

Chiji Akoma, Villanova University, USA 

Adetayo Alabi, University of Mississippi, USA

Joyce Ashuntantang, University of Hartford, USA

Karin Barber, University of Birmingham, UK

Ragi Bashonga, Human Sciences Research Council, South Africa

Robert Cancel, University of California, San Diego, USA

Raphael d’Abdon, University of South Africa

Ernest N. Emenyonu, University of Michigan–Flint, USA 

Olawole Famule, University of Wisconsin at Superior, USA

Artisia Green, College of William and Mary, USA

Marame Gueye, East Carolina University, USA

Lee Haring, Brooklyn College, CUNY, USA

Kathryn Jones, Swansea University, UK

Kasongo M. Kapanga, University of Richmond, USA

Russell H. Kaschula, Rhodes University, South Africa

Cécile Leguy, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3, France

Joseph McLaren, Hofstra University, USA

Patricia Beatrice Mireku-Gyimah, University of Mines and Technology, Ghana

Mustafa Kemal Mirzeler, Western Michigan University, USA

Besi Brillian Muhonja, James Madison University, USA

Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi, North Carolina State University, USA

Jacomien van Niekerk, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Felicia Ohwovoriole, University of Lagos, Nigeria

Rose Opondo, Moi University, Kenya

Félix Ayoh'Omidire, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

Gail Presbey, University of Detroit Mercy, USA

Lesibana Rafapa, University of South Africa

Relfiwe M. Ramagoshi, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Angela M. Farr Schiller, Kennesaw State University, USA

Enongene Mirabeau Sone, Walter Sisulu University, Cameroon

Mobolanle Sotunsa, Babcock University, Nigeria

Rémi Armand Tchokothe, University of Bayreuth, Germany

Antoinette Tidjani Alaou, Niamey University, Niger

Karim Traoré, University of Georgia, USA

Hanétha Vété-Congolo, Bowdoin College, USA

Hein Willemse, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Felicity Wood, University of Fort Hare, South Africa