US History through the African American Experience

Revised Slavery-and-Abolition-syllabus  

Quotes from Mr. Mama’s presentation on Thursday, October 8, 2009:

The road to success is full of tempting parking places.

A mind is like a parachute.  It only works when it is open.

I have a determination to pursue a dream even to the ends of the earth.  (Yoruba)

 

No power on earth can hold a person down.

We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.

You must always strive to be inspired. You must feed your imagination and listen to your heart.

In each person is two beasts:  one is full of love, joy and peace.  The other is full of anger, self-pity, and desolation.  You are whatever beast you feed.

You have to keep swimming or be swept away by the tide. 

In the garden of human nature, that which is not growing is dying.

Read the interview with Raouf Mama. He will be at Conard on Thursday to speak with our class during periods 1 and 5.  He will also present an assembly during period 2.  You are all invited.

After you read his interview, please reflect on the role of storytelling to Mr. Mama.  Why does he think it is so important?  What does it make you wonder about?  Why will his presentation be interesting?  In your comment, you should also comment on someone else’s comment.

http://www.curbstone.org/ainterview.cfm?AuthID=164

An Interview with Raouf Mama

by Robin D’Oyen, transcribed by Michael Benedetto

Tell us about Benin.

Benin is a small country, geographically speaking, it is a former French colony which gained its independence in 1960. The French system of education was very competitive and didn’t allow for development of my native culture. I wasn’t allowed to speak my mother tongue. I was raised by my mother and elder mother, who spoke Yoruba, and I learned French at age six. Benin has a strong oral tradition and as a boy I would listen to stories told by my stepfather, my elder mother, and even visiting guests. These stories always had a moral, and when these stories were told we children had to be very quiet and listen.

Do you feel that Benin’s native cultures were subsumed by colonial experience?

Yes, the French education system strove to turn us into black French boys and girls. The schools created in us a sense of inferiority when we were told our worth was based on our grasp of French and French literature. But I truly enjoyed the stories I was told as a child and in Graduate School I decided to record these stories to save them from disappearing permanently.

Is it still a problem for Benin to revive this oral tradition?

It is not as vibrant as it once was, but it is not dead yet. There are still many native singers in Benin that keep this tradition alive. Although, there are many fifty year olds in Benin now who don’t know any native stories.

You were educated at the University of Michigan. Why did you choose to become a professor of English and a storyteller?

I consider myself to be a teacher of language, my goal as an English professor is to communicate ideas and talk about great works of literature and art. I believe I would make a lesser impact on students if I were not also a storyteller. My true goal as a professor and a storyteller is to instruct, entertain, and inspire.

As an oral storyteller, do you find any problem with putting your stories on paper?

Well, the brothers Grimm recorded old German stories and saved them from being lost. This is important because memory can fade and you need to put these stories in writing to save them. Recorded stories are like frozen food, they need to be cooked, or read aloud, to make them palatable. Other forms of literature, like poetry, are meant to be read aloud, but these oral stories are meant to be told aloud.

What do you say to critics who claim you have changed the endings to certain stories, which used to be darker, to suit western audiences?

I consider myself to be a moralist when it comes to storytelling. I want to make a difference with my stories, and literature does nothing unless it enlarges human sympathy. I will only make changes to the end of a story if I think it will become more powerful, and I always point out what changes I have made and why. In the oral tradition there can be many different versions of the same story as it is told by different people and passed on from one person to the next.

Do you believe globalization hurts storytelling?

Well, it can be a blessing and a curse. It can make people closer and work together. We no longer have the excuse of ‘I didn’t know.’ We know of human rights violations that are going on around the world and we can chose to take action or ignore these events.

Will globalization, like computers and other technology, drown out storytelling?

I hope not.

What satisfaction do you get out of being a storyteller and teacher?

I get a real sense of joy and self-fulfillment when I manage to engage the listener and they really immerse themselves in a story. I don’t pay much attention to what adults say because they are not always honest, but children are always honest and straight forward. A child will tell you if they really liked a story and which parts were their favorites. Like I said before, my goal as a storyteller and a teacher is to instruct, entertain, and inspire.

What plans do you have for the future?

I have many more stories to tell and books to write. Now I am writing my memoir, though I am still young. I met my father at age twenty which changed my life. I became very ill and was taken to a healer who said I should be brought to my father. At this point in my life I did not realize that my stepfather was not my real father, though I always had a feeling this was true because we were so distant. According to this healer I suffered an ‘ailment of the spirit,’ I had pounding headaches and trouble remembering things. Doctors told me I should stop teaching and leave school, but this would be the death of my dream and I couldn’t do it. Weeks later I met my real father and learned from him my history as a baby. My father and mother had a long custody battle over me after I was born, and the king threatened to have me killed. The king’s wife stepped in and saved me, she stopped them from killing me because she believed I was fortune’s child.

What was it like getting a chance to go to school in the west?

It was a blessing, I felt like I had been touched by an angel. When I came to school though I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it because I had to read twice as many books in a semester as I had to read in a whole year. I thought that I would fail, but when I came to the airport I met a very interesting man. An immigration officer was asking me questions when I arrived, and at first he was being very rude. He asked me my name and where I was from, when he asked me why I had come here I told him I was going to study English at the University of Michigan and he suddenly changed. He said that I would do well in school and become a great writer, which was shocking to me. I don’t know how this man knew so much about me, this immigration officer may well have been an angel.

Now and in the future do you see yourself as the standard bearer of the Beninise oral tradition?

I am championing the cause but I do not consider myself the standard bearer because many others help in their own way. I have taught a storytelling course for the past five years now, I speak at international conferences, I tell stories internationally and work with children. These are all important things to me, but they do not make me the standard bearer of the oral tradition.