Une etude thematique sur le personnage de l'enfant dans quelques contes africains francophones
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Authors
Were, Otaba Vincent
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Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The Study is based on themes and values in some African folktales of French
expression in which the child is the main character. It also looks at the depiction
of boy and girl characters in folktales. The data is collected from sixteen African
francophone folktales from different African francophone countries. The rarity of
folktales about children limited our study to sixteen.
In our study, we pointed out major themes in folktales with a view to
bringing out values that are imparted to the modern society. By cutting across
gender boundaries, we looked at how boy and girl characters are depicted in
folktales.
The study is justifiable in that there seems to be a gap in the study of
children's literature of French expression. While a lot seems to have been done
on folktales of English expression, very little attention has been given to folktales
about the child of French expression. Most analyses on folktales have been done
in a general manner without specific reference to the child character.
We adopted two approaches, the psychoanalytic and the gender ones. The
former examines the psychic and the deeper meaning of a literary work. In
psychoanalysis, we used the Oedipus complex, which is the identification or the
first manifestation of affective attachment to the parent of the opposite sex. The
Oedipus complex was helpful in analyzing the child character's behaviour and the
reasons for such behaviour in relation to other beings and the resultant feelings.
However, psychoanalysis does not explain the male-female relationships in
the society at large. Thus we also used the gender approach which examines
gender relations in the Society. It is noteworthy that gender determines values
and attitudes in the society.
We sampled sixteen folktales as our point of departure. Although this is not
a comparative study, these folktales were compared with other folktales or similar
version. Our study was a library research in which we used the method of textual
analysis.This method was important in understanding the deeper meaning of
content and the intention of the author vis-a-vis the readers.
The study consists of five chapters; the first being on the context of the
study; the second and the third, the discussion of themes and values
respectively.The discussed themes indicated the values that are imparted/to the
modern society. We noted that although the traditional society is changing
towards modernism, folktales in the written form still transmit desired values. In
chapter four, we discussed the depiction of boy and girl characters in folktales.
Chapter five is the general conclusion
In conclusion, we noted that folktales are not only for entertainment but
also clarify a people's perception of the world and the social organization of the
African traditional society. That is, folktales impart virtues which are necessary
for moral development in both traditional and modern societies. It was noted that
African traditional society confined girls and restricted them from doing certain
duties. Boys characters were depicted as being more intelligent and braver than
girl characters. In cases where girls proved their bravery and intelligence, they
ended up being barred and reprimanded.
The study showed us the possibility of applying the psychoanalytic and
gender approaches in analyzing folktales. We suggested that folktales should not
be gender biased. Both boy and girl characters should be seen as capable of doing
the same duties. The approaches that we used in our study were limiting in the
sense that they are foreign to the social set lip of the traditional African society.
This is because they are of European origin. However, we can not say that we
have exhausted the study on folktales about the child. One may also analyze
folktales linguistically, typologically, ethnographically or ethnologically, among
others.