African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African folklore 380
insulting songs, usually characterized by gross descriptions of each other’s sexual organs.
During such ceremonies of ritual reversal and sexual license, the atmosphere is decidedly
convivial, as all respond with laughter, never insult.
Culture-specific and performance-specific interpretations of meaning and functions
must be continually sought, but in general, the sexual references in African verbal arts
have more to do with the aesthetic and entertainment value of the bizarreness of the
metaphor, the exaggeration of the action, and the vividness of the imagery, than with any
real concern with vulgarity or desire to be obscene. As a vehicle for social commentary,
such references are made no less serious by the laughter evoked. Mary Douglas has
observed, “In any culture insulting terms are the most illuminating indication of accepted
values” (1984, 12). These values are not just reflected in the content but in the
performative dynamics of exchange and the creative production of vivid, startling
images. Although it must be left to others to explain the sexual basis of European and
European-American obscene insults, compared to the common denominator of creative
wit in African abusive language, they appear relatively “witless.”
References
Boadi, Lawrence. 1972. The Language of the Proverb in Akan. In African Folklore ed. Richard
Dorson. New York: Doubleday.
Bosman, William. 1907. A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (1705). London:
Ballantyne.
Cosentino, Donald J. 1982. Mende Ribaldry. African Arts 15, no. 2: 64–67, 88.
Douglas, Mary. 1984. Social and Religious Symbolism of the Lele. In Implicit Meanings. London:
Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Olajuba, Chief Oludare. 1972. References to Sex in Yoruba Oral Literature. Journal of American
Folklore 85:152–66.
Peek, Philip M. 1982. Sexual References in Southern Nigerian Verbal Art Forms. African Arts 15,
no. 2:62–63, 88.
——. 1996. The Roles of Sexual Expressions in African Insulting Language and Verbal Arts. In
Folklore Interpreted: Essays in Honor of Alan Dundes, ed. R.Bendix and R.L.Zumwalt. New
York: Garland Press.
Warren, Dennis M., and K.Owusu Bremprong. 1977. Attacking Deviations from the Norm: Poetic
Insults in Bono (Ghana). Maledicta, no. 1:141–66.
PHILIP M.PEEK
See also Gossip and Rumor; Jokes and Humor; Language; Performance in
Africa