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Riddles and the reconstruction of reality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Steve Chimombo
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Extract

When David Livingstone, the missionary-explorer, pleaded in the Senate House in Cambridge on 4 December 1857:

I go back to Africa to try to make an open path for commerce and Christianity. Do you carry on the work which I have begun. I leave it with you. [Winspear, 1956: 11]

little did he realise that whereas his compatriots were busily engaged in commercial and evangelical enterprises the local folk artist in Central Africa was also constructing, refashioning or recreating riddles inspired by the white man, his culture and his other activities.

Résumé

Énigmes et la reconstitution de la réalité

Cet article examine l'emergence d'un certain nombre d'énigmes du Malawi (Chewa) qui semblent exister ou être reconstruites à partir d'anciennes contemporaines de l'avènement, de l'installation et des progrés de l'homme blanc dans le pays. Comme le démontre la discussion, la création ou la recréation de ces énigmes a dû se rattacher à la culture étrangère, son influence et sa pénétration dans la vie de la population locale et l'imagination des artistes populaires. En d'autres termes, si les énigmes sont construites à partir de la compréhension des gens de la réalité qui les entoure, aucune expression en dehors de leur expérience ne s'insérera dans leur folklore.

Type
Dreams and riddles
Information
Africa , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , July 1987 , pp. 297 - 320
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1987

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References

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