INFS 431: LITERATURE AND SERVICES FOR CHILDREN Session 8 – TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN GHANA Lecturer: S. Nii Bekoe Tackie, School of Information and Communication Studies, Department of Information Studies Contact Information: snbtackie@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017
Session Overview A trend may be observed in the provision of literature for Ghanaian children. This may be categorized into three stages, namely the Pre-colonial period, the Colonial period and the Post-colonial period. Slide 2 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Session Objectives By the end of this session, the student should be able to: • Identify the discernible trends in the development of indigenous literature for children in Ghana • Discuss the trends • Provide specific examples of books that were written during the three stages Slide 3 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Session Outline The key topics to be covered in the session are as follows: • Topic 1: The Pre-Colonial Period • Topic Two: The Colonial and Post-Colonial Periods Slide 4 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
Topic One: The Pre-Colonial Period Slide 5 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Pre-Colonial Period During the pre- colonial period children’s literature was basically oral. • Oral literature was valued as one the major methods by which society educated, instructed and socialised its young members. • Ghanaian culture is full of folktales, myths, legends and animal stories which had been handed over from generation to generation. • Additionally, there is a rich tradition of story telling. • Many of the stories that form the body of the traditional oral literature had not been specifically created to suit a specific age group so generations of adults as well as children have enjoyed these stories. Slide 6 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Pre-Colonial Period(Cont.) • The stories are usually told in the courtyard of the extended family house. • The stories were sometimes complemented with song. • Traditional story telling is still a part of life in many rural areas. • But for many children especially in urban areas the days when all members of the extended family sat in circles in the courtyard and took turns to tell stories especially Ananse stories have become a part of history. • Slide 7 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Pre-Colonial Period(Cont.) Causes of the Breakdown of Storytelling Many reasons may be adduced for the breakdown of story telling. • First is the breakdown of the extended family system. – Urbanization, – education, and – industrialization • Makes people keep small family sizes. • Living in the city where cost of living is unbearable makes it impossible for people to encourage extended family members to live with them. • Secondly, television with its combination of sound and pictures has better appeal than books. • Besides watching television seems more in concert with the African culture of group activity – A number of people can watch and enjoy a television programme while reading requires solitude. Slide 8 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Pre-Colonial Period(Cont.) • Thirdly parents do not have quality time to interact with their children any more. • Especially true of parents who live and work in urban areas. – Transportation difficulties – Traffic congestion on our roads • People leave home at dawn and return at night. • People who work in financial institutions like banks also spend time balancing the books after the day’s work so they leave the office late. • With such pressures, parents hardly find time to interact with their children in a meaningful way. • Fourthly adulteration of our culture by foreign influence is another factor in the erosion of our habit of storytelling. • Young people find foreign culture more attractive than our African culture. Slide 9 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
Topic Two: The Colonial and Post-Colonial Periods Slide 10 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Colonial Period This period brought with it formal education • The adoption of western style of education brought a transition from oral culture to literate or reading culture. • During the colonial period, children in government and mission schools were introduced to foreign literature. Children read stories like – Black Beauty , – Alice in Wonderland , – Cinderella , – Beauty and the Beast . Slide 11 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Colonial Period(Cont.) • Most of the stories had backgrounds which were alien to the children; however, • They fulfilled a useful and necessary purpose of broadening the mind and outlook of children. • In the process of broadening the mind and outlook of children, • They created a big cultural gap in the life of those who no longer have the opportunity to listen to traditional stories. • Slide 12 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Post-Colonial Period The need for local stories was felt soon after independence in1957. • However, it took quite sometime for a body of indigenous literature specifically written for the Ghanaian child to appear on the market. • Today however, there are quite a number of local story books written specifically for Ghanaian children. • The first decade of the development of children’s literature in Ghana spans the period 1969 – 1979. • One notable name in the effort of providing children’s literature is Peggy Appiah. • She wrote a number of folktales, most of which were published outside the country. • Others followed by writing folktales around the world. • Example is Esther Bekoe Nfodwo who published Folktales around the world . Slide 13 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Post-Colonial Period(Cont.) • Another prominent writer Joe de-Graft Hanson, published Papa and the animals in 1973. • Hannah Danquah Smith published Some popular Ananse Stories (1975). • Alex Odoom published Some short fireside stories .(1975). • Anokye Wiredu published – Queen Amina (1972) and – Nii Ayi Bontey (1975). • Some other writers, – re-told folktales, – adopted legendary monsters, characters and motives • From traditional stories and merged them with familiar realistic stories to create their own original fantasies for children. • For example: • Joe de-Graft Hanson published – The Little Sasabonsam (1972) and – Papa and the magic marble (1973) Slide 14 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Post-Colonial Period(Cont.) The second decade 1980 – 1990 was dominated by traditional stories especially about animals. • Writers like Anokye Wiredu, T.Y. Ennin and Abena Korama also dominated. They re-told traditional animal stories in a fresh and enlightening manner. In some of the stories the animals remain their true animal nature. However, in other stories the authors ascribed speech and human thought to the animal characters. • Popular among these are – Anokye Wiredu’s The disobedient chicken (1982); – Abena Korama’s The cat and the mice (1988) and The river bird and the fishes (1988). • Stories in which animals acted as human beings included – Anokye Wiredu’s The Adventures of Dabodabo Akosua (1982). – S.Y. Manu also published Kwaku Ananse and Abebe the Grasshopper (1988). • The traditional style of magic tales in which strange and magic powers are given to people, animals and objects also appeared during this decade. – Notable among them was Susanna Alhassan’s Issa and Amina ( 1988) Slide 15 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS
The Post-Colonial Period(Cont.) Another form of fantasy story in which inanimate objects are personified also appeared. • A typical example is • Meshack Asare’s The Brassman’s Secret (1981) - a story in which gold weights became animated. • He won the first Noma award for best African children’s story with this book. • In the same vein he published The canoe story (1982 ) in which the canoe told it’s own story . Historical fiction and legends also featured in the literature for children. • Thus Joe de Graft Hanson published – The Secret of Opukua (1967); – The fetish hideout (1975); and – The people from the sea (1988) by. • J.O. Eshun wrote what may be described as science fiction for children – – The Adventures of the Kapapa (1976). • Slide 16 Dr. Richard Boateng, UGBS
The Post-Colonial Period(Cont.) Realistic stories were not left out in the literature for children during the first and second decades. These featured stories about every day events and experiences in the lives of children and young people. They include familiar objects and animals. Many of these stories especially the earlier ones were a series of incidences woven around a central character. A number of school stories were published about various aspects or with varying view points. Examples are Okpoti’s first day at school (1978); Mercy Owusu Nimoh’s Kofi Zee goes to School (1978) and J.S. Mensah’s This is Osei (1974). Other realistic stories dealt with young people and the problems they face in choosing a career. Examples include J.S. Mensah’s Nimoh the driver (1973); J.B. Keelson’s Kofi goes back to the farm (1973) and T.Y. Ennin’s Asiedu drives his father’s cows (1978) • Slide 17 S.N.B. Tackie, SICS-DIS •
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