Caribbean Visions in Folktales: Roots of Transition in Schools

By Clement B. G. London

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Feb 5, 2002
• ISBN: 9781477163016

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Copyright © 2002 by Clement B. G. London, Ed.D..

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CONTENTS

AN INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

FOREWORD

INSPIRATION OF A FATHER

INTRODUCTION TO CARIBBEAN VISIONS

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

SOME CATEGORIES OF FOLKTALES

SOME CARIBBEAN FOLKLORE CHARACTERS

CARIBBEAN STORIES

DEPICTING MYSTERIES

AND MYSTERIOUS

ENCOUNTERS

1. THE HAUNTED HOUSE

2. SOUNDS OF THE NIGHT

3. THE BABY BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD

4. AQUA LIKITOE

5. THE BACCOO FROM ST. PHILLIPS

6. THREE DROPS OF BLOOD

7. YOU EVER SEE TEETH LIKE THESE?

8. PA BAMBA AND THE CALABASH MYSTERY

9. A GRANDFATHERS GHOST

10. MEDICINE MEN WHO FLY

11. THE SICK MAN AND THE HERBALIST

12. WHEN I WAS ALIVE I USED TO PLAY GUITAR

13. THE MAN WHO COULD TRANSFORM HIMSELF

STORIES DEPICTING

ANIMAL INVOLVEMENT

14). HOW THE CRAB GOT CRACKS ON ITS BACK

15). A TRICKSTER GETS TRICKED

16). A HAITIAN STORY

17). THE HORSE AND THE TORTOISE

18). THE MONKEY AND THE GRU-GRU TREE

19). THE SLY MONGOOSE

20). WHY MOSQUITOES ZING IN PEOPLE’S EARS

21). HOW THE PELICAN GOT ITS LARGE BEAK

22). HOW THE WASP GOT ITS STING

23). THE HUGE SOW WITH TOO MANY YOUNG ONES

OTHER FACTORS

ABOUT CARIBBEAN

FOLKTALES RELATED TO:

BURIED TREASURE

24). BURIED TREASURE

25). A GIFT IN A DREAM

THE TRICKSTER AT WORK

26). BRER ANANSI AND THE TALKING WATER MELON

27). WHY THE AGOUTI RUNS AWAY

28). SOME GO UP AND SOME GO DOWN

HUMAN ENDEAVOR

29). DEVIL’S BRIDGE:

30). THE BIRTHDAY GIFT

31). THE HUNTER AND THE CRAPAUD

32). BRER GOAT ‘S DISSATISFACTION

33). THE HORNBILL’S DILEMMA

34). TWO FRIENDS FROM THEIR CHILDHOOD

HUMOR

35). THE COW AND THE HONEY BEE

36). THE CASCADURA STORY

37). MORE LIGHT, BARBADIAN HUMOR

NOTES

GLOSSARY

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to all those persons who, in their effort to understand their own essence, will dare to return to the source, in order to rediscover and celebrate it.

It is also dedicated to my father, an unlettered man with unfettered wisdom, who told me many unending stories.

The book is also dedicated to my mother; my family (Pearl, my very dear wife and, my children, Mu’min, Chet, Sharon, Shawn, and Tamika); my friends at home and home away from home; and, to all Caribbean ancestors on whose shoulders we have climbed, carefully following their instructions as we heed their whispers, which resonate then anchor, in the deepest recesses of our consciousness.

And, finally, I am grateful for the Great One who quickens our perceptions and energizes our work, providing a sense of history and grist for productive futures.

Until rabbits have their own historians,

tales of the hunt will always glorify the hunter

Parody of an African Proverb

AN INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

African-derived Language, Literacy and Learning

Essentially, because of the incidents of slavery and its sequel, the African presence in the Caribbean and the Americas has historically been maximized. And, this presence has affected and is affected by the intricacies of the sequel of enslavement and colonialism.

Enslaved Africans were brought from areas of diverse cultures, and spoke a multiplicity of languages on their arrival in the Americas. Over time, despite the heinous, psychological vestiges of slavery, many persons of African descent became bilingual as well as trilingual, speaking two or more colonial or native continental languages, as well as their native tongues.

Run-away slave notices provide ample testimony of the linguistic proficiency of enslaved Africans, who triumphed over slavery. Of greatest cultural significance however, is the fact, that collectively, over a period of time, they created Creole versions of their respective colonial languages. In the cauldron of slavery, they created new languages in order to be able to communicate between and among themselves. In so doing, they fused aspects of their African linguistic heritages with the vocabulary of their colonizers’ languages.

Those Creole languages formed the foundation of languages, which African peoples speak in the Caribbean and the Americas today. In a linguistic sense, such languages are not bad versions of

English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, or Dutch. In fact, no reflections of black intellectual or linguistic deficiencies truly exist. Instead, these languages became the fundamental means of communication among diverse African peoples who made up the New World communities. They served the needs of their inventors, and continue to inform the language patterns of present-day practitioners.

Some enslaved Africans and their descendants mastered so-called standard versions of English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch. They became sufficiently proficient in them, so that they have been able to write and publish literary, theological, and artistic works in their standard idioms.

In the United States of America, enslaved Africans and former slaves as well as some of their descendants—subsequently fugitives—published books, papers, personal narratives, poetry, prose, essays, social commentaries, and newspapers. A larger number learned to read and write well enough to forge passes and other documents that were needed to escape or to move about freely.

Local and colonial officials passed laws prohibiting blacks from learning to read and write. Those laws further indicate and provide evidence that some enslaved Africans indeed, mastered those skills. Thus, after many years of emancipation, and colonial rule with all of its contradictions, peoples of African descent have continued to excel in all of these identified fields of literacy.

The Caribbean Experience

Over time, any careful evaluation of rules, regulations, and procedures that have been developed and continued to be emplaced by the powers that be, and which have been used traditionally against peoples of color, will identify parallels of historical importance. Indeed, these parallels have been also exacerbated by the dynamics of recent immigration legislation, which continues to affect immigrants from the standpoint of political decision-making.

The United States, Canada and the United Kingdom have historically been the areas of attraction for migrating persons from the English-speaking Caribbean. In the United States, New York City has historically been the crossroads for immigrant populations. This region has superceded the West Coast, in a variety of ways. Over the last several decades, students who hail from Caribbean countries in which English is the official language, have been arriving with their family traditions. Invariably, these traditions have been many and varied as the cultures of the islands are themselves.

Significant changes in the laws of the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1965, for example, also exacerbated the immigrant flow. However, Caribbean student life experiences, shaped by the dynamic blending of language, culture, and family traditions, are as varied as the islands from which they come.

Many of the students from the British Caribbean are generally literate in the local standard versions of English used in their society, but may be unfamiliar with Standard United States English; or, for that matter, that of Canada, or Europe. Similarly, others may not be proficient in United States English or even fluent in their own local or national Standard English.

Interestingly, these are students who primarily use Creole or some language other than English as their primary communication resource. In essence, they are thought of as not having achieved a level of Standard English proficiency that is considered necessary to negotiate new learning standard successfully.

Some students may not meet the criteria that are associated with limited English proficiency and therefore, it has been reasoned that they can benefit from specially designed programs which capitalize

on their native language and cultural heritage which is used as a basis for achieving new learning standards.

Based on these considerations, a document has been crafted by New York State Education Department. This publication, GUIDELINES FOR THE EDUCATION OF LIMITED PROFICIENT CARRIBBEAN CREOLE SPEAKING STUDENTS IN NEW YORK STATE, (June, 1997) represents a major advance for language as a facilitator of education. This document was developed with the advice and participation of an entourage of educators and advocates in the field of education and, more specifically, with particular expertise in the education of so-called Caribbean Creole Speaking students.

Those writers, editors, and advisors, who have participated in the design of that document, were drawn from a variety of eminent academic institutions. Such institutions included, although they were not limited to, the University of the West Indies, The New York City Board of Education, Fordham University Graduate School of Education, The City University of New York (CUNY), and the New York State Education Department, Office of Bilingual Education. Those institutions or agencies have worked in tandem with eminent academics, in producing the said document.

In this respect, The New York State Education Department has utilized the best available, contemporary knowledge on the nature of languages in the Caribbean. This has been accomplished in the effort to formulate a policy of education for those Caribbean students whose skill in formal English is considered insufficient for them to succeed in classrooms, without supportive intervention. In this sense, New York State has thus become one of the few jurisdictions in which the special linguistic and cultural backgrounds of such students have been incorporated into educational planning, curriculum structure and program delivery.

The manual provides a sensitively written and accurate overview of the backgrounds of Creole Speaking students from countries in which English is the official language. In particular, it focuses attention on the ways in which such issues as grammatical features of Creole languages may influence Caribbean students in their regional schools. As well it suggests accommodation for those students who leave the region for study at schools abroad, and therefore, require added support in their educational pursuits, as they confront and, try to address, many crucial issues, that are related to the dynamics of transition.

Additionally, the elements articulated in that manual allow educators to evaluate the educational prescriptions, and therefore to reconstruct according to individual, group, or institutional demands, procedures advanced for determining which students need special attention, and to recognize the value of the instructional strategies suggested.

Some Caribbean students from island-states, where English is the official language, have been designated as Caribbean Creole Speaking; that is, students of Limited English Proficiency (LEP). This document is partly crafted in response to this assessment. As a consequence, it is hoped, that readers who study this document, should gain insights into the designated strengths and weaknesses, which such Caribbean students are said to bring to classrooms. In light of such factors, this document should explain as well, the specific challenges that students face in their efforts to acquire preferred, advanced Caribbean English, or that of the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the wide world.

There are educational benefits to be derived from this document, as educators contemplate improvements in current and ensuing, related educational practices. It shows how educational change is reorganized, in order to meet the demands of industrial, as well as post-

industrial, high-tech, information-processing circumstances that now define the twenty-first century of the global human community.

Altogether, the document recognizes that Caribbean students speak separate distinct languages, which have been categorized by linguists as including, Caribbean Creole. This family of Caribbean Creole languages is seen as a critical means for communicating and, has been forged by and continues to reflect the cultural traditions and beliefs of Caribbean students who are entitled to the services of the Guidelines. The manuscript, Caribbean Visions in Folktales: Roots of Transitions In Schools has been crafted to assist this educational effort.

CARIBBEAN VISIONS … derives its figure and ground from the educational edict of incrementing knowledge by going from the metaphorical ‘simple to the complex, the concrete to the abstract and from the known to the unknown.’ Philosophically speaking, this implies making use of that which is already available in the educational environment as well as a basis for pursuing other dimensions of transition and acquisition.

The stories, which are presented in this collection, derive their origins in the Caribbean or, carry a strong Caribbean reference or application. They are essentially Caribbean stories that reflect varied cultural nuances of the region. Also, they are stories that are uniquely presented in the format of straight, declarative English, which seeks to approximate so-called Standard English that aims to meet standard usage in schools of the United States, as well as those of Canada, and the United Kingdom. These are regions to which many Caribbean students have traditionally gravitated in the pursuit of advanced academic study, outside of the Caribbean region.

In particular, these stories are told in a manner in which the treatment of grammatical features of Creole languages may influence students’ pathways to learning, not only in United States’ English, for example, but as well, in genres considered acceptable in Canada and

the United Kingdom. Included too, is the quality of improvement which the Caribbean region as a whole, has sought to inculcate, especially in consideration of the dynamics of changes within Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary education. Such efforts may serve to motivate end products, such as changes in the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) and other pertinent curricular considerations and areas of discipline, which are already being undertaken as serious research enterprises, and are already partially reflected in the public domain, for example, the internet.

It is hoped, that these stories and their format could become instrumental as points of departure for school-age children, at home, as well as during their educational transition abroad. And, that students can be motivated to model many of the stories, and incorporate the dynamics that are implicit in their substance, as basic strategies while they attempt to overcome language impediments, especially during their transitional phase in schools.

At the same time, many other dynamics are addressed in this book. While the book evidently places much attention on the transition of entering high school students, the issues, which are addressed herein, attempt to meet the Caribbean students’ needs within their own region. It is there, where much research and organization are already under way, as serious academic efforts that are aimed at meeting head on, the crucial educational needs that are destined to improve and advance curricular structure, content, and function of education. For this purpose, the use of the modality of storytelling to enhance language requirements or improvement is accorded primacy.

STORYTELLING

The art of storytelling, it is suggested, dates back to the beginning of human existence. In fact, it is said to predate writing. There is a general belief that it was the storyteller, for example, who began chronicling human history. In the case of Africa, it is said that the ‘griot’ was the one who acted as the living storehouse as well as the chronicler of the oral history of the tribe. In this sense, it is believed that it was the griot who, through storytelling, chronicled the accumulated experiences and, translated the wisdom of the ancients, thus leading from one generation to another.