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A Dictionary of African Mythology: The Mythmaker as Storyteller

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Most people today are familar with the mythologies of Greece, Rome, Egypt and possibly the Norse, but how many people can name people or places from sub-Saharan African mythology? Despite the continuation of many indigenous religions in Africa, to say nothing of the proliferation of African religions in the New World (such as Voudon, Santeria and Candomble), few people know much about the gods, heros and legends of Africa.

Set up as a dictionary, with entries in alphabetical order, this book is starts to change some of that. After a short introduction that explains the background of African myths and the storytelling traditions, this book goes on to give hundreds of different African myths. Each entry explains the myth and gives a story, along with the culture group and what country or country the story comes from. Included are countless important stories from across the continent, taken from everyone from the Zulu of South Africa to the Berbers of Morocco. Tunisian stories of the Arab hero Abu Zayd are included, alongside the Khoi story of how Heitsi-Ebib parted the waters and how the Egyptian sun god Ra created the world. Yoruba stories about Shango, the Orisha of thunder and lightning, stand beside tales of the epic Swahili culture hero Liongo. There are entries about Abuk, the first woman to the Dinka of Sudan who caused the fall of man, and entries about the Mpaca forest spirit of the Nyanga from the Congo and the Hausa folklore about the bull who supports the world on his horns.

Hundreds of different stories from across Africa are included, mostly focusing on gods, spirits and culture heros. Scattered throughout the book are a couple of essays about African storytelling traditions, and some traditional African proverbs (both in the original languages and translated into English). There are also some pictures of African art, and a map. A very thorough work of scholarship, as could be seen from the bibliography (which includes sources for each story). Even better, the end includes an index which lets you search for myth by country and culture, so if you want to find something from, say Cameroon or perhaps the Tutsi people, you can easily find it by going to the index. There is another appendix which includes myths sorted by category, such as creation myths, myths of seperation between man and god, and myths of the origin of death. This is great if you ever want to do a cross-cultural survey of myths.

All in all, this is an essential book for anyone interested in mythology and storytelling, especially in the context of Africa. While it is far from being a comprehensive guide to African myth, if such a thing is even possible, it does give a very good survey of pan-African mythology, and it makes it easy to search myths by theme, culture/language group and country. That makes it a great starting point and source of reference, even if it doesn't incldue every single African myth. So do yourself a favor and check this book out. It will certainly expand your cultural knowledge, which is a good thing.

There are not many people who know a lot about African countries today, and there are far less who are aware of the immense mythology that exists on this ancient continent. A Dictionary of African Mythology changes this. In paperback form and being not that long, this edition serves as a handy reference tool, with a thorough index, for anyone writing papers on this subject. But it also serves as a most interesting book about a giant continent whose mythology is not really known about. In an easy-to-read dictionary form, you can either start at the beginning, or flip to a random page. Whatever you choose to do, it will ultimately open new worlds to, and tales of countries you were never even sure existed before.

Originally published on November 25th, 2002.

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