Need help with West African names & folklore/mythology

[gethenian]

Googled: a labyrinthine series of terms involving general African mythology; Jangu; Mami Wata; names and surnames and name meanings of "native African" peoples, "West African" peoples, and by individual countries, regional variances in skin tone, Von Luschan's chromatic scale, etc. etc. etc.

So here's what I got:

Comments

[foreign_xchange]

I could help you out with east African stuff but not this I'm afraid. have you tried searching Amazon for books on west African folklore? these sites might help you get a basic understanding but I think books would be better. maybe you could do something with Mami Wata and Anansi/Ananse (spellings differ).
http://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/african-folklore.html
http://ccs.clarityconnect.com/NRiggs/AfricanFolktale
http://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/fssn/
http://www.allfolktales.com/folktales.php

these sites might help with the names:
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/baby-names/african.html
http://www.tlcafrica.com/african_names_liberia.htm
http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071204193155AAjNw9i