Collectors, curators, creators: West African folklore, and its colonial dislocation, present day decolonisation and contemporary reclamation

This thesis explores the curation, collection, dissemination, and reclamation of West African folktales, by focusing on Southern Nigerian folktales and the work of contemporary writers of Nigerian descent. Drawing on postcolonial folkloristics, the first chapter examines the methods and mindsets of Leonora and Andrew Lang who edited the Coloured Fairy Books (1889-1910), and coloniser folklorists, with a focus on Elphinstone Dayrell who edited Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria (1910) and Ikom Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria (1913). Chapter One argues that the acts of both curator and colonial collector dislocate the folktales included in their collections in more than one sense. The next chapter investigates the work of contemporary Igbo curators, Clifford N. Ugochukwu (Folktales from Igboland (2016)) and May Ikokwu (Folktales from Igboland (2021)), and their attempts to preserve the orality of the narratives whilst preparing them for the written form, arguing that whilst some dislocation is natural during this process, the efforts of the contemporary curators go a long way to remaining true to the stories’ oral nature. Drawing on Indigenous, and postcolonial and queer studies, Chapter Three examines the reclamation of Igbo cosmology, via the ogbanje narrative, in Akwaeke Emezi’s autobiographical novel, Freshwater (2018). Through exploring liminal spaces, embracing the old (Igbo cosmology) and rejecting the new (colonialism and Christianity), and the impact of this on the protagonist’s mental health, Emezi reclaims the ogbanje narrative in a way that is both cultural and personal. The final chapter explores how West African folklore is reclaimed through the work of Lesley Nneka Arimah (‘Who Will Greet You at Home’ (2017)), May Ikokwu (‘Lizard, Wall Gecko and the Leppers’ (2021) and ‘How the Tortoise was Taken Alive’ (2021)), Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death (2010) and The Book of Phoenix (2015)), and Bolu Babalola (‘Attem’ (2020)). With reference to postcolonial feminism, postcolonial folkloristics and African Womanism, this chapter demonstrates how these contemporary authors reclaim West African folklore by 5 invoking griotness, which allows the authors to rejuvenate traditional African storytelling, albeit in the written form. Ultimately, this thesis contributes to the decolonisation of folkloristics, and fairy and folk tale studies by treating these forms as integral to Anglophone literary history, particularly in making the connections between late nineteenth and early twentieth century folklore collection and contemporary literature explicit.

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