MEETINGS OF AFRICAN, AFRO-BRAZILIAN AND AFRO-COLOMBIAN VOICES THROUGH THE ART OF NARRATING

Abstract

The art of oral storytelling has always been part of human life and, for a long time, it was an essential activity of many human groups to ensure the maintenance of memories and knowledge transmitted through narratives. For some time now, the transmission of knowledge and memories has taken on new forms, languages, instruments and resources. Even with numerous advances in the means of communication throughout human history, oral language maintains its fundamental importance in the construction of knowledge and in everyday social interaction practices. Working with orality and the art of storytelling in schools can also help give visibility to cultures, memories and voices often silenced, oppressed and kept on the margins of a graphocentric culture. Oral narratives are an ever-moving art, inscribed in an intense network of stories through different times and places. In Latin America, this art reveals an intricate intertwining of cultural expressions with a strong presence of Afro-descendant voices. An example is the series of stories in which a small animal, usually represented by the rabbit, overcomes larger and physically stronger animals in disputes and conflicts, always using cunning and wisdom. These stories are frequent in the oral traditions of Brazil and Colombia, countries with the largest black population in Latin America and with a strong and varied African-based cultural heritage.