African Folklore: An Encyclopedia - Marshalls University

African Americans 851
customs the world over, and forms some of the primordial stuff out of which modern
European usages have evolved” (Vail and White 1991, 7). It is as if he half-suspected that
his subjects might not be human.
Vail and White also comment that Kidd’s portrayal of the African would have found
ready acceptance among the white settlers, since it echoed their own racial stereotyping
of the natives. Some of his assertions about his subjects could not have been entertained
if he had conducted a thorough study of local folklore. Kidd is reported as having said
that the African could not be trusted to be truthful, not out of malice, but because,
“childlike, he could not grasp the importance of truth.” Further, Kidd claimed that
because the native African had undeveloped mental capacities, he had no sense of logic
and was thus “capable of entertaining contradictory ideas at the same time” (Vail and
White 1991, 7–8). It was also believed that the native African lacked the ability to
classify phenomena, was unable to think in abstract terms, and was weak in grasping
causal relationships.
Modern Scholarship
Modern scholarship has come a long way since The Essential Kafir. All the epithets with
which Kidd labels the southern African native have since been shown to be contradicted
by various aspects of the folklore of the region. No society, in Africa or anywhere else,
could survive unless it placed a premium on the value of truth. Communities in the region
have proverbs that emphasize this fact, that the truth cannot be hidden. The Shona of
Zimbabwe say: “That which has horns cannot be concealed (by covering it) in a bundle
of grass.” To emphasize the importance and stubbornness of the truth, the Shona pronoun
for “that which” is in the augmentative form, ri-, instead of the diminutive chi-. Further,
parallel to the English saying, “Cash talk breaks no friendship” a Shona proverb
proclaims “The truth does not destroy a relationship.”
As for being comfortable with entertaining two contradictory ideas at the same time,
the African’s answer is that this ensures that extremes are avoided. Things must be done
in moderation, with the individual always striving to achieve the golden mean in his or
her conduct. Thus, both cooperation and individualism are recommended in the
proverbial lore, with circumstances determining which one to choose: “What is mine
alone is food/ when it comes to a court case, I call others,” which is in apparent
contradiction to “Too many mice make no lining for their nest” (which is very similar to
the English saying: “Too many cooks spoil the broth”).
Above all, the very fact that a community has its own proverbial lore, riddles, tales,
and religious beliefs means that its members have the mental capacity to think in abstract
terms and to philosophize about the human condition. The observation of human conduct,
of the flora and fauna in the ecological environment, and of the seasons, together with the
dialectical interrelations of these and other phenomena, has inspired the African (as it has
done others beyond Africa) to develop a complex, multigenre folklore. This folklore
serves to regulate social behavior even as it educates citizens about opportunities for selffulfillment,
their responsibilities and rights, about sanctions for aberrant conduct, and the
rewards for conduct that bolsters the integrity of the social fabric.