AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER - UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
  

Workshop on Somali Folktales, 08/04


Minnesota Humanities Commission
Teacher Institute Seminar

Somali Folktales

August 9-10, 2004


Humanities Education Center
St. Paul, MN

Seminar Description

Oral folktales have long been a treasured source of stories for use in the classroom. At first glance, many of these tales in written form appear quite simple, but simplefolktales can encode many ethical, cultural, and moral questions. This seminar will introduce participants to a number of folktales from Somalia, compare Somali tales and storytelling to those in other parts of Africa and the world, and examine storytelling as a part of daily life. Teachers will learn a model for analyzing folktales that can be applied to stories in other cultures, discuss realversus fantasticelements of tales, and discuss various classroom applications that emphasize the performance aspect of folktales.


Seminar Facilitators

Joseph Mbele, St. Olaf College
Jack Zipes, University of Minnesota

Guest Presenters
Said Ahmed
Marian Hassan


Seminar Coordinators

Rebecca Eilers, Minnesota Humanities Commission
Kathleen Moriarty, Minnesota Humanities Commission

Monday, August 9, 2004
9:00-10:00 a.m. Check-In
10:00-10:45 a.m Welcome and Introductions
10:45-noon General Folktale and Storytelling Overview
Jack Zipes
noon-1:00 p.m. Lunch in the Commons
1:00-2:15 p.m. African Folktales and Storytelling Overview
Joseph Mbele
2:15-2:30 p.m. Break
2:30-3:45 p.m. Somali Storytelling with Said Ahmed and Examining
the Stories (with Jack and Joseph)
4:00-5:00 p.m. Somali History and Culture Overview
Marian Hassan
5:00-6:00 p.m. Free time
6:00-7:00 p.m. Dinner in the Commons
7:00-9:00 p.m. Optional Movie: Keita! L'héritage du griot
(Keita! Voice of the Griot) (1994; 94 min.)
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
7:30-8:30 a.m. Breakfast
8:30-9:45 a.m. Videos of Storytelling Techniques
Joseph Mbele
10:00-10:30 a.m. Somali Bilingual Intiative Overview
10:45-noon Folktale Group Work
(Introduced by Jack)
12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch in the Commons
1:00-2:00 p.m. Group Presentations and Analysis
(Joseph, Jack, and Said?)
2:00-3:00 p.m. Classroom Application Discussion
3:00-3:15 p.m. Wrap-up and Evaluations

END




Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.

Previous Menu Home Page What's New Search Country Specific