by Gerti Wouters (Photographer), Inge Brinkman (Editor), James Wachira (Editor)

As a team of upcoming and established scholars from Kenya, Ethiopia and Belgium, we propose this book with oral folktales accompanied by strong visuals. Through performative learning procedures the book invites young people to meaningfully engage with living traditions of oral storytelling. The book aims to:

1) (re-)value the educational potential of popular storytelling in dealing with crisis situations;

2) (re)connect adolescent audiences with oral literatures;

As the interest in oral literatures is on the decline, especially among adolescents in Africa and elsewhere, we see a real need in offering folktales that are attractive and relevant to youthful audiences.

The book features 11 oral narratives in 5 languages from Kenya and Ethiopia, accompanied by high-quality images that will speak to young people.

Each chapter starts with a full transcription of the story in the original language, followed by a well-written and attractive translation to English. The visual section highlights the narrative's features in different manners, after which metadata on the narrative are offered, explaining the performance context, background of the narrator and audience. The final section of each chapter consists of a profound analysis with full educational guidelines for teachers/trainers to engage discussion with (African) youth.

Author Biography

Inge Brinkman, Ghent University; James Wachira & Peter Wasamba, University of Nairobi; Teshome Egere Mossissa, Jimma University.