Story-Telling: A Memory and Remembrance Activity in the Akan Tradition of Ghana, in West Africa

Story-telling in the Akan tradition of Ghana, West Africa, is an oral literature genre handed over orally from generation to generation. It is as old as the Akan state, and occurred usually under the moonlight, but today, it is also found in the afternoon, especially in the schools. Story-telling is best enjoyed when performed. A story-teller needs an audience to perform a great story, normally, since the democratic audience participation system embedded in the performance process, motivates the teller and also enhances the process for all present at the event. The story-teller and the members of the audience are delighted and they leave the event with lessons for life. The stories have a way of delighting, informing and teaching, being sometimes “parables”, or reflections of what goes on in the society, or even historical allusions concerning what went on in the past. In the Akan tradition, these stories are thus folk stories, also called folktales, because they belong to the ethnic group or community; they are publicly-owned. However, a story-teller has to rely on his or her memory to deliver a good story. Yet, a teller recreates the people’s “old” story, by reproducing the internalised skeletal formula, and may bring some transformations, modifications or innovations to bear on an existing publicly-owned story, thereby individualising it. The creative genius of this teller is then called into question. Therefore, story-telling becomes a memory and remembrance affair. This paper uses two Akan folktales from Ghana to demonstrate the use of memory and remembrance in story-telling in Africa. It examines the narrator; narrative-patterns and techniques of narration; performers and performance; and the role of the audience in oral performance.