Comments | little_details: Need help with West African names & folklore/mythology

gethenian in little_details

Need help with West African names & folklore/mythology

Jul 21, 2010 23:33

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:

( tl;dr: Mysterious nomad lady who may be something more than human... )

~folklore (misc), africa (misc), ~religion & mythology (misc), ~names

Comments 5

dsgood July 22 2010, 04:45:09 UTC

You might get help via the American Name Society's website http://www.wtsn.binghamton.edu/ANS/

foreign_xchange July 22 2010, 12:23:26 UTC

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 ( ... )

busaikko July 22 2010, 13:36:10 UTC

Well, I can tell you that many people are quite dark-skinned in Liberia, which is coastal and which is mentioned in every Google article:

Van Stipriaan speculates that Liberian traders of the Kru ethnic group moved up and down the west coast of Africa from Liberia to Cameroon beginning in the 19th century. They may have spread their own water-spirit beliefs with them and helped to standardise conceptions in West Africa.Fact|date=February 2007 Their perceived wealth also helped establish the spirit as one of good fortune. Van Stipriaan 329.]

The Wikipedia page on the Kru people. I don't think there would be anything unusual about her parents being named Harris if they are Liberian *shrugs*

However, I don't know what year you want her parents to leave West Africa. Liberia has had several coups, and many people were displaced. Whether that works or not with your timeline, I don't know. Here's a page that might give you some background.

osunwunmi July 23 2010, 09:49:38 UTC

I wouldn't use that skin-colour map. As a West African, I'm finding it dubious in the extreme. You wouldn't let anyone tell you all Scotsmen had red hair, would you ( ... )

oh, and I forgot to say osunwunmi July 23 2010, 10:01:44 UTC

The Nigeria/Biafra civil war was from 1967-70. It would be plausible for your character's parents to have left Nigeria after the war when Igboland was devastated and the people were left traumatised and disillusioned.