The lecture entitled "Anansesem legacy in the Caribbean: a chronotope voyage of Anansesem: Ghana-Caribbean-Europe-Ghana" will be held on Wednesday, February 29, at the University of St. Martin Lecture Hall at 7pm.
The Lecture will be given by Drs. Mirto Laclé who is not only a well known lecturer at the Instituto Pedagogico Arubana ( IPA), the teacher training institute of Aruba, but he is also a linguist, researcher and expert on Anansi stories.
According to Mr. Laclé the historical and cultural impact of these folktales should not be underestimated. The stories about spider Anansi are historical marking points of the oral storytelling culture in our region.
"The stories would never have reached the Caribbean if the slave trade had not taken place. It is only two hundred years ago that hundreds of thousands of Africans were traded en transported under miserable circumstances to a foreign region and were forced to work on plantations," says Mr. Laclé.
He adds that the telling of Anansi stories was not only entertainment for these slaves but was also a source of consolation, encouragement and resistance. For centuries the stories of the spider Anansi have traveled from West Africa to the Caribbean and America, and even to Europe.
"Any place where the European black history page of slavery has left its traces, the stories can be found. Writers have written them down, actors have put them on stage and television makers used them to enrich their programs," Laclé adds.
The spiders is known under the name Anansi as Kwaku Ananse, as Compa Nanzi or even as Aunt Nancy in different parts of the world. In our modern societies many young people are not familiar anymore with Anansi stories. Storytelling culture is threatened by modern communication tools. Projects like the Anansimasters project use this modern technology to honor Anansi and put him on top of the cultural agenda.
The lecture is free and open to the general public. The University of St. Martin Lecture Hall has a seating capacity for 200 persons.
