Akan Ananse Stories, Yorùbá Ìjàpá Tales, and the Dikenga Theory: Worldview and Structure

Abstract

s it possible to use endogenous African cosmological, philosophical, theoretical, and conceptual frameworks to analyze indigenous African phenomena? Why should one even try? In this article, it is argued that such analyses are not only possible and plausible, but they are imperative. It is further argued that just such frameworks can add insight to our understanding of the structure of Akan Ananse and Yorùbá Ìjàpá stories and the shared African worldview from which they arise. According to Fu-Kiau, "nothing exists that does not follow the steps of the cyclical Kongo cosmogram " (Fu-Kiau 1994: 26). This bold hypothesis is tested in this study by applying Dikènga, the cosmogram of the Bakôngo, to an oral (and/or written) literary analysis of the structure of Akan and Yorùbá stories. This application is what we term the "Dikènga theory of literary analysis." We find that this theoretical framework can help us shift away from concepts of "storylines" and "timelines" to reveal the patterned and cyclical nature of material and immaterial phenomena and to deepen our understanding of these stories as manifestations of a shared African worldview.