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Zusatztext "This fascinating exploration of African stories and myths...tells us who we are as human beings--all of us." --Cornel West! author of Race Matters "This wonderful and sustaining work illuminates the power and importance of ancient African myth.... Scholarship and masterful storytelling combine...fascinating." -- NAPRA ReView "A master storyteller....Clyde Ford picks up where Joseph Campbell left off." --Jonathan Young! Ph.D.! founding curator! Joseph Campbell Archives and Library "This is a breakthrough book on the mythic imagination of Africa." -- Atlanta Daily World "An important first look at the universal themes of some of the principal African myths...excellent and much-welcomed." -- Seattle Times "An excellent introduction to African mythology....Brings insights into the myths themselves and encourages further reading." -- The Bloomsbury Review Informationen zum Autor Clyde W. Ford is a doctor of chiropractic medicine, a leader in somatic psychology, and a scholar who has taught Swahili at Columbia University and African American history at Western Washington University. He has also traveled widely in Africa. He is the author of three previous books: Where Healing Waters Meet: Touching Mind and Emotion Through the Body; Compassionate Touch: The Body's Role in Healing and Recovery ; and We Can All Get Along: 50 Steps You Can Take to Help End Racism. He lives in Bellingham, Washington. Klappentext In this remarkable book, Clyde Ford restores to us the lost treasure of African mythology, bringing to life the ancient tales and showing why they matter so much to us today. African myths convey the perennial wisdom of humanity: the creation of the world, the hero's journey, our relationship with nature, death, and resurrection. From the Ashanti comes the moving account of the grief-stricken Kwasi Benefo's journey to the underworld to seek his beloved wives. From Uganda we learn of the legendary Kintu, who won the love of a goddess and created a nation from a handful of isolated clans. The Congo's epic hero Mwindo is the sacred warrior who shows us the path each person must travel to discover his true destiny. These and other important African myths show us the history of African Americans in a new light--as a hero's journey, a courageous passage to a hard-won victory. The Hero with an African Face enriches us all by restoring this vital tradition to the world. The Quest for the African Hero The hero with an African face has much in common with the heroes of all ages and all lands, for the hero quest is not predicated on the particularities of place and time. Simply stated, the hero quest is orchestrated in three movements: a hero is called to venture forth from familiar lands into territory previously unknown; there the hero encounters marvelous forces and with magical assistance wins a decisive victory over the hindering powers of the unknown; then, with boon in hand, the hero returns to the land of his origin. Departure, fulfillment, return--evidence of these three movements is uncovered in all African hero adventures. African mythology then shades the hero's career in colors of its own. On this journey, the hero with an African face might aid us in navigating the vicissitudes of life: helping us to find strength and courage where we had thought only to find weakness and fear; to venture deeply within ourselves where we had thought only to pass lightly through our lives; to wake our gods where we had thought only to wrestle our demons. The Call of Destiny Uncama dug a millet garden, but when the millet had begun to ripen, a porcupine continually wasted it. No matter how early Uncama rose, when he arrived in his garden the porcupine had already devoured the millet. At length he waited for a day on which there wa...
