Yitah, H.2019-06-182019-06-182018-11https://doi.org/10.1515/fabula-2018-0104http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh/handle/123456789/30886This paper examines contemporary retellings of Ghanaian (Kasem) folktales that engage critically with the social roles and cultural values in the tra-ditional corpus. While in traditional folktales supernatural forces are unleashed to punish females who pursue their own strivings, thus regulating gender iden-tity, in the retold tales female protagonists deploy nantandia, a local Kasem term which encompasses intelligence, initiative and courage, to thwart the power of the supernatural and assert their own subjecthood.enArticle