World history in 5th grade took an (even more) exiting turn prior to leaving for spring break.  Having just finished our Egypt research papers, we decided to travel to countries in East and West Africa as well as to the Carribean and Southern United States to explore how and why histories intersect through folktales.  I thought this connection would be appropriate given that Egypt is in Africa, and many students forget that fact.  I decided that we would read on tale featuring Anansi the Spider (West Africa//Mali), one featuring Wakaima (East Africa//Uganda), and one featuring Brer Rabbit (Carribean/Southern U.S.).  Each story had similar features and similar lessons.  All three characters are “tricksters” who are deceptive for different reasons.

First, students reflected on their own backgrounds.  I asked them to think of a tradition or story that they have in their families that has been passed on through generations.  Some spoke of wearing kilts at special occasions, many brought up recipes that their families have, I spoke about the Italian folktale Strega Nona.  We also discussed why these things were passed down.  Students came up with several reasons (besides “yumminess!” in the case of the recipes!)- to teach lessons, to retain culture, and to help families remember where they came from.  Then we talked about how African folktales serve a similar function.

In order to make sure students knew where each story originated, I used a large map and had different students pin the places where the folktales we were reading came from as we traveled geographically and through time.  We did not use any Egyptian ‘folktales,’ but I had students pin Egypt so they could remember where in the world we had just finished studying.

The first folktale we read was Anansi Brings Stories to the World, where, among other tasks, Anansi had to trick a fairy in order to bring stories to humanity.  Anansi, who is a spider or is sometimes depicted as half man/half spider, used a sap baby to get a rise out of the fairy and her anger ultimately leads to entrapment in the sap.  Then, we read Wakaima and the Clay Man, in which the rabbit Wakaima is lazy and steals from his elephant friend Wanjovu’s garden.  Wanjovu uses a clay man to try to catch the thief, and Wakaima’s anger ultimately makes him get stuck in the clay and Wanjovu learns that he is the theif.  Wakaima then tricks Wanjovu in order to save his own life.  Thirdly, we read Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox.  Brer Fox simply doesn’t like Brer Rabbit and wants to catch and eat him.  Brer Rabbit uses his cunning to trick Brer Fox into letting him go.  As we read, we kept track of the characters and the lessons being taught in a chart (see below).

We also filled out a triple Venn Diagram to record similarities and differences:

Students were very interested in Brer Rabbit and the Fox.  We had a long discussion about how this very familiar folktale traveled from the continent of Africa across the ocean to the United States and the Carribean.  In order to explain this phenomenon, I used the animated Slave Voyages map .  Students were already familiar with American slavery, but this visual gave them a clearer picture of how often people were forced to leave Africa and where they were taken geographically.  Being able to use as many senses as possible in a lesson helps lock in memory, and it was powerful for them to see the forced movement of human beings.  Keeping in mind that these are 5th grade students, I went into developmentally appropriate detail about the horrid conditions of the slave ship, the way human beings were piled in upon one another, and the sadness, anger, and confusion of those who were taken from their homes never to go back only to have their labor and skills stolen.  Students made the connection about why folktales are so important: it was one way for people to preserve part of their humanity in the most inhumane conditions and it was a way to remember something they’d never see again.

The students took Brer Rabbit even deeper.  They recognized that both Anansi and Wakaima used their “trickiness” to get something; Brer Rabbit used being clever to save himself from someone who didn’t like him simply because he existed.  They asked if this was the lesson a person who was enslaved would need: be clever and use your wits to survive in a world full of people who hate you just because you exist.  In this instance, they identified Brer Rabbit not as a “trickster” but as someone who used his natural intelligence for survival.  Students identified that the types of characters and the sticky “baby” from the African folktales traveled across the ocean, but the moral of the story evolved due to different circumstances for the people who owned the story.