Pedagogies of the Emergent: Rethinking Absence and Presence in the Black Atlantic World

Proverbs and Adages

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Introduction to Proverbs and Adages

In understanding absence and presence within the Black Trans Atlantic, we will look into the productions and usages of proverbs and adages. These proverbs and scholars who speak to the usage of proverbs range from different places and perspectives in Africa, the Caribbean, and other diasporic sources. The concept of proverbs is a convention with no concrete origin and form but speaks as subjective truth and for the purpose of educating those willing to listen. Used as an oral form of expression, proverbs are spoken with authority from ancestors and generations previous to provide life lessons and morals. This mode contributes to understanding and contributing to power, identity, and ways of thought. However, the practice of proverbs have had their share of drawbacks due to the point of view proverbs are shared through and the absence of all black voices on proverbs. Due to the limitations of resources or the ability to be heard for their proverbs, the proverbs expressed and sensationalized are at the hands of those who hold the power to speak louder. This has led to misrepresentation of African people and the values and cultures they hold. This creates an absence in subjectivity of identity and in the ability to communicate ideas from their own voices and perspectives. Proverbs are powerful tools of speech and of learning, and therefore should be used by individual Black voices to express their own identities and views, without limiting the power of other proverbs and perspectives.

Practice: Proverbs and Adages

Below, you will find a video of a song by a Jamaican-American singer and member of the Rastafari movement named Tarrus Riley speaking on the importance of Jamaican Proverb. The lyrics suggest that the words that our ancestors, like your mother, father, and grandparents say are never wrong as they have been passed down for generations and have been the philosophies and teachings that have kept his family alive well.

Proverbs and adages are defined differently by different scholars and people who work within proverbs in the Black Trans-Atlantic context

Paulin J, Hountondji, a Beninese French philosopher and politician classifies African proverbs, riddles and narratives, as ethnophilosophy defined as: “a specific world-view commonly attributed to all Africans, abstracted from history and change and, moreover, philosophical, through an interpretation of the customs and traditions, proverbs and institutions—in short, various data—concerning the cultural life of African peoples” (Claybrook 2023, 223)

Proverbs are wise sayings:

"This wisdom, like knowledge, must have a practical as well as theoretical dimension. Wisdom, even if theoretical must have relevance to practical material and environmental problems of life as well as concrete human concerns and issues." (Claybrook 2023, 224-225)

It is theory building as it characterizes a way of life and type of general philosophy of the people speaks about and to, connecting both aspirations and history/past that they have faced, therefore making presence and taking form on a decision-making and individual level. From Wit and wisdom from West Africa; or, A book of proverbial philosophy, idioms, enigmas, and laconisms in the Oji Tongue:

Obi ye ne biribi-a, muma onye, na owu ben. (page 79)

"When a person does his something (i.e., his business), let him do it, for death is coming on."

Meaning: Let everyone do what he pleases, as life is short, it is little matter how he acts, all will be the same a hundred years hence; it is a characteristic negro sentiment, showing their indolence, nonchalance, and improvidence.

From the rare book Jamaica Negro proverbs and sayings: Collected and Classified According to Subjects:

"Ebery day no Christmas, an' bery day no rainy day."

Meaning: Every day is not a festival; neither is every day a time of trouble.

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From an African American context, Pamela Twyman Hoff, the author of 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me': African American students' reclamation of smartness as resistance states that “proverbs and parables ‘sayins’ are linguistic tools which function to transmit cultural knowledge and govern modes of behavior. African American ‘sayins’ are imbued with an awareness of the contradicted lived experience and consequent values of resistance.” (Twyman 2016, 1200)

This definition shows how the proverbs do not just provide a specific individual action but also contributes to a greater understanding of experiences that ancestors have had and how their lives will provide guidance to help the youngers. Specifically in the context of resistance given the perspective of African Americans who advocate for freedom and equality through the resistance in proverbs.

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From Wit and wisdom from West Africa; or, A book of proverbial philosophy, idioms, enigmas, and laconisms in the Oji Tongue:

"Wo ura tan wo-a na, ofre wo akoa dece." (page 80)

Meaning: If your master hates you, he calls you a free man. Addressed to a slave: by the act of hating you, your master declares you to be free, for nobody hates his own property.

"Ano patiruw-a, esen namon." (page 102)

Meaning: When the mouth stumbles it is worse than the foot. A wrong word — “nescit vox missa reverti” — may be more harmful than a blunder in action.

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Proverbs or aphorisms have been used in pedagogy of African culture and values as seen in this children’s book called From the heart of Africa: a book of wisdom (Walters 2018).

"Aphorisms are shared as a way to help someone make a decision or find a solution to a problem. They are used as a way to communicate: to make arguments and defend ideas, settle quarrels and find common ground; as a form of entertainment; and as a way to praise a person or community. In the African tradition, the aphorisms in this book are a way to share the collective knowledge of the community through art and story."

"Rain does not fall on one roof alone."

Origin: Cameroon
Meaning: There’s never just one cloud raining on one person, and ou’re never really alone. Whatever you’re feeling or experiencing, someone else probably has too. Both sorrow and good fortune are often shared by many. By being kind and open to those around you, you’ll experience that kindness back, and you might just solve your problems together!

"If you wish to go fast, go alone. If you wish to go far, go together."

Origin: N’Gambay People, Central Africa
Meaning: If you need to get somewhere fast, going alone means no one will slow you down. But if you’re alone, you might be stopped by obstacles that you cant overcome without help.

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There are examples of proverbs that explain the significance and importance of proverb usage:

“A proverb is the horse of conversation: when the conversation flags, a proverb revives it: proverbs and conversation follow each other” (Burton 1969)

"Proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten''. (Achebe 1958)

"Proverbs are the horses of speech; if communication is lost, we use proverbs to find it" (Priebe 1971, 26)

Proverb Origins

The image on the side is an example of how despite the proverbs being formulated from different parts of the world, proverbs can have the same meanings. This example is a comparison between Ashanti and Jamaican proverbs.

The history of proverbs and its origins is considered little studied and by American and European Folklorist, Archer Taylor, states that:

"The origin of proverbs is obscure."

He found it obscure that in efforts to find its origin, it is evident that proverbs may be of same theme and formulation for more than one person. Showing how despite time and space on Earth there are examples of how similar proverbs are without a concrete connection between them. Rather than researching where proverbs as a whole originated from, research has been focused on the ordinary people who formulate proverbs and how they are compared with other places and people. American author Bartlett Whiting in his own research looking for the origin of proverbs concluded that proverbs derive from popular sources and tend to be traceable to ancient times but not to a singular person. This argument implies that affixing multiple different names to proverbs is conventional as they are not conscious literary pieces but are accepted and repeated usage of sayings.

Principles, Philosophies, and Modes of Being

Below, you will find a video of Miss Lou talking about Jamaican proverbs in Patwa (a Jamaican dialect), as well as a video on Haitian proverbs.

Proverbs are an oral tradition that show wisdom and knowledge can be transferred through generations without the need to write the knowledge down. Proverbs in its originating state uses the main sensoria of listening and hearing, as well as speaking to convey the philosophy. The oral tradition is translated to different actions that use other sensoria...

Continuously be spoken and passed down
Written and read, as I have been reading it
Seen as people have acted upon this philosophy within their lives

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In African Proverbs, Riddles, and Narratives as Pedagogy: African Deep Thought in Africana Studies, there are opinions regarding proverbs originating as an oral tradition being seen as philosophical:

On a positive understanding of proverbs it is said that “African proverbs, riddles, and narratives are part of African orature, which is the ‘vast field of knowledge in which information and messages are transmitted verbally from one generation to the next’” (Claybrook 2023, 223)
Negatively explained by P. O. Bodunrin on proverbs is “that the collective thought of peoples upon which they concentrate is not genuine philosophy” because philosophy must be “properly studied.” (Claybrook 2023, 223)

While not seen as philosophical for its lack of origin in a written presentation African proverbs can often encapsulate complex philosophical and political issues into a few short lines. Proverbs, essentially, are used to guide thought and behaviour. African proverbs reflect African philosophy and cultural values derived from everyday experiences. (Claybrook 2023, 225)

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Proverbs are shown as a way of life philosophy for most African and Caribbean cultures, one particular example in Guyana is in the reading “Taalk Half, Lef Half”: Negotiating Transnational Identities through Proverbial Speech in African Guyanese Kweh-Kweh Rituals which shows how it is seen and interpreted.

To speak with proverbs is to use reported speech. (Richards-Greaves 2016, 420)

By using reported speech, the speaker asserts that the utterance was previously co-constructed by other sources and that he or she is only an “animator” who propagates the utterance.
By using proverbs, speakers engage in “double-voiced utterances”, which add authority and moral weight to the speaker’s own voice compared with non-proverbial speech.
"Double-voiced discourse ‘is directed both towards the referential object of speech as in ordinary discourse, and toward another’s discourse, towards someone else’s speech’. — they make use of double-voicing to bring together two (or more) independent utterances to serve their own purposes: ‘in one discourse, two semantic intentions appear, two voices’" (Baxter 2014, 4)

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"Proverbs can be analysed to reveal and express social, cultural, natural, and community events and practices. They can form sound theoretical frameworks that move away from conceiving the researched as participants to seeing them as co-researchers with authentic literature about their communities." (Chilisa et al., 2017, p. 335)

Below are some excerpts from "Jamaica Negro Proverbs and Sayings" (Swipe through the images)

Practice as it relates to Identity, Power, Freedom, and Culture

Above, you will see a video featuring Hausa Proverbs from the African Proverbs Project from the African Studies Centre in Boston University, as well as the further information from the webpage. The project entailed collecting short performances by African theater troupes in their local languages. These languages include Wolof from Senegal, Hausa from Niger, Amharic from Ethiopia, Xhosa and Zulu from South Africa and Swahili from Tanzania. Each improvisation focuses on one of ten common proverbs, performed in an authentic cultural and social context.

South African Proverbs

In the context of South Africa in the reading Reconsidering the Freedom Charter, the black theology of liberation and the African proverb about the locust's head in the context of poverty in South Africa, Pedi proverbs are used to understand the struggle and lifestyle that was faced.

Bana ba motho ba ngwathelana hlogo ya tšie, means, ‘the siblings share the head of a locust’. (Mtshiselwa 2016, 4)

Meaning: Illuminate the argument in favour of the equitable redistribution of the mineral wealth in the context of poverty in South Africa. The presupposition in this African wise saying is that the proverb emerged from the context of poverty. The noun tšie, [a locust], which is singular, refers to a single locust. (an element of poverty).
Unlike the idea of individualism, the ideas of interconnectedness, communalism and socialism which support the argument for equitable sharing of the mineral wealth throw light on the significance of the proverb.
Showing how there is a clear understanding that poverty is present and is a struggle that people are trying to overcome by explaining through a proverb how weighted the issue is. It also follows the general philosophy of most African proverbs that togetherness and communalism are a virtue rather than more Western ideals of individualism.

Guyanese Proverbs

Proverbs in a Guyanese context also show how their identity and past, as well as power dynamics can be explained. African Guyanese use proverbs in kweh-kweh ritual settings to assert ancestral authority, address taboo subjects, and impart matrimonial advice to soon-to-be-married couples (Richards-Greaves 2016, abstract)

Kweh-kweh emerged amongst African slaves in Guyana and was historically used as a medium of matrimonial instruction for soon-to-be-married couples. By the late 1980s, kweh-kweh performances in Guyana began to dissipate, due in part to a failing Guyanese economy, urbanization, religious conflict, and migration. The decrease in kweh-kweh celebrations adversely affected the pervasiveness of proverbs by reducing or eliminating this crucial context of proverbial expressions (Richards-Greaves 2016, 414).

So the more issues that are being faced in the community, the less proverbs were being used in the Guyanese context, showing that its importance was waning due to the lack of confidence on the previously used knowledge from the proverbs. In conversation with the impact that Western ideals have had on the country through the economy, urbanization, and migration that impacts the stability of Guyana.

While proverbs continued to be an important mode of communication, stylistic changes in kweh-kweh ritual performances—particularly to the music repertoire, instrumentation, traditional dance, and ritual segments—resulted in a shift away from pervasive usages of masked (proverbial) language to more colloquial and raw speech. (Richards-Greaves 2016, 414)
Raw speech according to these many articles were seen as less influential and important as proverbs, alluding to a lack of faith in the teachings and knowledge in proverbs. This leads to the influence of Western culture that leads to a change in the identity carried in Guyana and how the proverbs used to pass down knowledge have also been influenced.

Over the past few decades, proverb use in Guyanese communities has waned for diverse reasons, including “urbanization, Eurocentric education, emigration and admiration for cinematic dialogue” (Richards-Greaves 2016, 413)

“If yuh mek yuh-self grass, horse gon’ eat you” (Richards-Greaves 2016, 416)

Mothers also admonish their daughters about sex with this proverb. In this context, is that a young woman should maintain a high degree of self-respect, and refrain from promiscuity, which involves laying one’s body down indiscriminately, like grass. A purity culture is formed from this where the sexual purity for women is a focus of many proverbial discourses in Guyana.

Because Guyana has a history of racially divisive politics, which frequently result in the physical abuse, marginalization, or death of those who oppose the status quo, proverbial speech provides a relatively benign, yet effective, mode of communication.

“the old people seh”, “dem bin ah seh”, and “dem boys seh” (Richards-Greaves 2016, 419)

Proverbial commentaries take place in every sphere of Guyanese society, but more recently, television programs, such as This Is We and The Link Show, and newspaper columns, such as “Dem Boys Seh” and “The Baccoo Speaks” in Kaieteur News, have served as media for anonymous and identified Guyanese to comment on political leaders with little or no reprisal. A way of speaking to a greater group of people with varying political beliefs without disrespecting other people, despite the issues they refer to.

On a more cultural level in Guyana, the obeah is regarded as a powerful spiritual force that can be used to heal or harm others or to foretell the future. (Richards-Greaves 2016, 422) Two well-known proverbs that speak to African Guyanese belief in the presence or power of obeah are:

“do fuh do ain’t obeah” [reaping what you sow is not obeah] & “Bad haart nah obeah” [Coronary problems do not necessarily index witchcraft].

Meaning: Very often, when individuals experience unexplained illnesses or catastrophic events, they blame obeah for such calamities. Shows how their identity and culture that believes in the obeah is used in their own personal ways to place blame.

African American Proverb

Within the culture and identity of people, in the African context, the use of religious proverbs aids in understanding their philosophy, specifically in this reading focusing on former slaves in African-American proverbs in context. Proverbs can also be found sometimes in the transcriptions of sermons by former slaves. Many of these are quotations drawn from the Bible and are used didactically (intention to teach us something), as one would expect. (Prahlad 1996, 38)

“God loves the buffalo” [the cheerful giver]

Meaning: Used during the collection to encourage the congregation to give more money. While building community and togetherness, is a reference to the desire to keep their own black institutions alive through the love of God.

"It becomes obvious in reading the texts of the ex-slave narratives that speakers are acutely aware of the necessity for rituals of disguise and defense/attack" (Prahlad 1996, 44). How the stories and guidance of ex-slaves can guide the actions that African-Americans take today. It connects the past and shows the development to a state of freedom, but acknowledging that there is not true equality and resistance is still needed.

“Yer auntie is sho’ a comin’"

Meaning: Commonly used and understood among African-Americans to mean that freedom was imminent, though its meaning remained hidden from whites.

“A low fence is easier to git over than a high one. Say little and you ain’t gwine to have a heap to ’splain hereafter. Dere is plenty of persons dat has lost deir heads by not lettin’ deir tongues rest."

Meaning: In the first of these, the “fence” becomes a metaphor for speech acts, for words uttered, and the proverb portrays them as enclosures that one builds around oneself, that one constructs between the self and other persons or objects. The metaphor further states that it is wise to build as low a fence as possible (to reveal little) in the event that one needs to reach the object on the other side, in this case, anonymity.
In essence, the proverb is a testimony to the wisdom of keeping one’s true feelings hidden in this particular speech event and, conversely, of the foolishness and danger of revealing those feelings. Shows how there is a desire in slaves to keep themselves and their feelings private to ensure that they won't be in danger, showing how they fear being farther from freedom.

African- British Proverbs

Anthony Reddie in the journal of Black Theology states that proverbial wisdom in the Caribbean can be a shared and a collective means of wresting with and searching for truth is a propsal that forces us all to reframe what it means to be Black. In this article, Reddie collects proverbs from older Black, Caribbean Christian women in Birmingham, in the West Midlands of the UK. The women were largely Methodists, Anglicans, Baptists and some Pentecostals. These proverbs are meant to be used to better understand your identity, your feelings, your actions, and your connection to God. Here are a few examples:

If yu wan’ good, den yu nose mus’ run.

If you want to prosper, or move forward, then you will have to make some sort of sacrifice or have to work for what you want.

Yu mus’ learn fi dance at home before yu dance abroad.

You must first learn how to behave or act at home in front of your family, where your actions will not be held against you. It is better to learn in this environment than to embarrass yourself in the outside world.

If yu ’ave ears fi ’ear, but cyaan ’ear, den yu mus’ feel

If you have been given an opportunity to learn something, or have been given a warning, but refuse to listen or heed the advice, then you will have to feel the consequences, and then will learn the hard way.

African Proverbs on White People

In an article titled The White Man in African Proverbial Sayings Ojoade provides examples of proverbs that show from an African perspective how they perceived White people as peculiar and foreign to them. These proverbs show a hierarchical dynamic between White men and African people given the colonial efforts in Africa.

"With the coming of the white man even the tortoise eats beans with a spoon." (Idoma)

The implication of this proverb is that with the coming of the white man even fools become wiser and more civilised. A good number of Africans seized the opportunity of Western education to improve their social position.
The proverb may be used to describe a person hitherto considered hopeless who suddenly surprises others by rising up the social ladder owing to the intervention of someone else.

"If you slap a white man in the face, he will not be angry; but let him who wishes to see his anger beat his dog." (Igbo)

The saying simply reflects the white man’s fondness of his dog, and can be applied in any situation in which somebody wishes to emphasise the degree of his affection for something.

"If you wish to know whether a white man loves his wife, go to his house when his wife is ill." (Igbo)

Indirectly, here the black man is comparing himself to the white man. Normally the white man is monogamous, whereas the African is customarily polygamous. It is natural therefore for the white husband to dote on his only wife whereas the black husband has his love shared by a number of wives.

Jamaican Proverbs

The following source shows the impact of slavery in proverbs written in this newspaper print titled Proverbs in Jamaica (Furber 1896) Where is stated that at the time being 1896, the use of proverbs is used to remember the hardships and struggles of slavery. Select the document to enlarge it in another window.

Proverbs in Jamaica O A Furber 1896.pdf

Furber, O. A. "Proverbs in Jamaica." Charleston Tri-Weekly Courier, 30 Dec. 1896, p. 16. Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive, link-gale-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/apps/doc/GT3004682021/SAS?u=utoronto_main&sid=bookmark-SAS&xid=68f22553. Accessed 21 July 2023.

Archival Limitations and Absence

In the book Wit and wisdom from West Africa; or, A book of proverbial philosophy, idioms, enigmas, and laconisms we see what becomes when proverbs are absent in the Black Trans-Atlantic context:

“The absence of poetry and the cultivated mind with hyperbolic lyrical songs and destroyed decorum in language has resulted in the massiveness and bulkiness of languages, causing the weakness in the intellect of the native." (Burton 1969, xiii)

The reduced influence of proverbs has resulted in the idea that these cultures have cultivated minds. The absence of knowledge of the wisdom these places and cultures hold results in shifted power dynamics in the world where those who benefitted from its wisdom can no longer attain it anymore.
The book like most other Black trans-Atlantic proverb books and archives are used to counter-archive the knowledge that was lacking due to the prevalence of raw speech.

When literature and stories are translated and produced by foreigners, the vernacular literature can be distorted and misrepresented. (Burton 1969, xiv)

Absence in the meanings as the language translation can distort the proverbs and change the meanings. Bad translations cause an absence of correct proverbial knowledge being transferred and spread to other people which can impact its effectiveness and can shift the goals of the proverbs.
There is a general absence of meaning and translation even between the giver and the receiver in the same language as there is need to interpret ones own meaning from the general statement as well.

A second problem is that we do not have the kind of contextual information that would give us a clearer sense of two individuals interacting with each other.

There is archival limitations when looking at the fact that all this research is done using primary and secondary sources that have the proverbs written down rather than gathered firsthand.
This means that there are translation issues and one cannot gather the right inflections and other sensoria from a written page, creating an absence of depth when researching and understanding proverbs from this perspective.

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In Anand Prahlad's book Reggae Wisdom: Proverbs in Jamaican Music, Prahlad provides fieldwork in Jamaica where he saw the accounts of proverbs in everyday life as well as in music

"Looking at proverbs in reggae poses different kinds of problems from those I encountered in my study of African American proverbs. There are no person-to-person speech acts, per se, but rather recordings and in some cases live performances of songs in which proverbs are used. The proverb lives as a part of a performed sound event in which the actual speaker is not so significant as the persona being employed in the song. Thus the levels of proverb meaning are more restricted in this study." (Prahlad 2001, 2)
The depth and understanding of proverbs cannot be fully comprehended due to the use of written proverbs rather than the speech acts that use proverbs. However, this provides an alternate form of proverb used outside of written text as it is seen within music lyrics.

Examples of proverbial expressions found in African American blues music and in reggae that while used in both styles would carry different meanings based on the music and the audience that it captures (Prahlad 2001, 3).

You reap what you sow
A rolling stone gathers no moss
You never miss your water until your well runs dry
The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice
Don't bite the hand that feeds you
Seeing is believing

Possible origins of these proverbs used in reggae include African, English, biblical, American, traditional Jamaican, and Rastafari as well as phrases invented by given lyricists.

"One should know and not believe" (Prahlad 2001, 13)

Meaning: To believe implies a false knowledge. Believers are those who have been brainwashed by Western institutions that distort history by omitting the African's contribution and misrepresent religious ideas in order continually to subjugate the oppressed.
It represents the absence of African presence within the telling and sharing of African proverbs leading to a false narrative that is told about their cultures, religions, and ways of life.

"These conversations [interviews with Jamaicans] confirmed my theory that certain people tend to use proverbs regularly, while others seldom use them at all" (Prahlad 2001, 76) Used in everyday conversations, Prahlad in his fieldwork in Jamaica found its usage in most conversations.

E.g. After a while, Frazer seemed to sense my discomfort and began talking about how beautiful some of the women were. At the same time, he noted, they were snobbish and pampered. "See, Not everything that glitters is gold," he said.
E.g. “You can't stop bird from flying over your head, but you can stop him from building a nest.” He explained that the proverb was used by a woman in response to other women showing interest in men.

Patrolling and Controlling Absence

Below there is a newspaper on the Yoruba tribe in Western Africa, but the proverbs collected for this newspaper article are provided by a Christian native of Yoruba who was educated in England. This provides examples of proverbs but from a skewed perspective that has been patroled.

African_Proverbs._PRACTICAL_P (2).pdf

Transcriptions of interviews with ex-enslaved people or their direct descendants are another source of proverbial speech that can be seen in African-American proverbs in context that show how there is an absence of reliable sources and absence of substantive understanding of their philosophy as those proverbs that are collected could have been chosen to fit a theme or has an ulterior purpose (Prahlad 1996, 39)

Prahlad notes particular problems with using these documents, warning against their consideration as “a reliable source for those seeking to study black speech patterns and black English”
The language patterns and dialect were recorded with varying degrees of concern for accuracy by collectors with no formal training, as a rule “taken down in pencil or pen, most often after the interview, from memory or from scattered field notes supplemented by memory”

It may be that features such as introductory formulas of proverbs, for example, were added, changed, or omitted by collectors not focused on such details, creating an absence of detail.

One right reasonably surmise, however, that items which were more culture-specific to the speakers would have had less chance of being remembered or accurately recorded than items with which the collectors were already familiar.
Thus the dominance of proverbs that were shared by Euro-Americans cannot be taken as an indication of the range of proverbial speech that existed among the informants. Making an absence of substantial proverbial knowledge and understanding from an American context.

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From Wit and wisdom from West Africa; or, A book of proverbial philosophy, idioms, enigmas, and laconisms another way to understand the way in which proverbs are controlled is the quote:

“Ensuring that people who are African and black do not have the opportunity to speak on their culture and share it on their own terms without translations and other changes” (Burton 2016, xiv)

Which is seen in many of the texts provided in the 19th century and 20th century. This reduces the impact of resistance that proverbs are meant to have for black people and the community.

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In the article, “Tamed identities? Glimpsing her identity in Proverbs”, there is a patrolled absence of individual identities in womanhood as the promoted and socially accepted proverbs contain this picture of a woman in the “hetero-patriarchy.” Here are examples of proverbs that permit this idea of collective hetero-patriarchal perceptions of womanhood:

"A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she who brings shame is as rottenness in his bones." (Pr 12:4; MEV)

"It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house." (Pr 21:9; MEV)

By then limiting the context to one type of perception of women in proverbs, there is a controlling of identity and leading to an absence in alternate pathways for women that could be seen in other proverbs that highlight the strength and power of women.

"As can be expected, the agenda of the proverbs gives readers a glimpse of the patriarchal contexts that produced them: a good wife’s main duty is to do her husband good always." (Masenya 2018, 5)

Works Cited

Anderson, Izett, Frank Cundall, and Lilly G. Perkins. 1927. Jamaica Negro Proverbs and Sayings : Collected and Classified According to Subjects. Second edition, revised and enlarged / by Frank Cundall ; illustrated by Lilly G. Perkins. London: Published for The Institute of Jamaica by the West India Committee.
Burton, Richard Francis. 1969. Wit and Wisdom from West Africa; or, A Book of Proverbial Philosophy, Idioms, Enigmas, and Laconisms. New York: Biblo and Tannen.
Chilisa, B., Major, T., & Khudu-Petersen, K. (2017, 04/01). Community engagement with a postcolonial, African-based relational paradigm. Qualitative Research, 17(3), 326–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468794117696176Claybrook, M. Keith. 2023. “African Proverbs, Riddles, and Narratives as Pedagogy: African Deep Thought in Africana Studies.” Journal of Black Studies 54 (3): 215–35. https://doi.org/10.1177/00219347231157113 .
Daniel, J L, G Smitherman-Donaldson, and M A Jeremiah. 1987. “Makin’ a Way Outa No Way: The Proverb Tradition in the Black Experience.” Journal of Black Studies 17 (Jun 87): 482–507.
Dennis, Carlton Alexander. 1995. “Proverbs and the People: A Comparative Study of Afro-Caribbean and Biblical Proverbs”. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.
Furber, O. A. "Proverbs in Jamaica." Charleston Tri-Weekly Courier, December 30, 1896, 16. Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive (accessed May 11, 2023). https://link-gale-com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/apps/doc/GT3004682021/SAS?u=utoronto_main&sid=bookmark-SAS&xid=68f22553 .
Gillian Richards-Greaves. 2016. “‘Taalk Half, Lef Half’: Negotiating Transnational Identities through Proverbial Speech in African Guyanese Kweh-Kweh Rituals.” The Journal of American Folklore 129 (514): 413–35. https://doi.org/10.5406/jamerfolk.129.514.0413 .
Masenya, Madipoane. 2018. “Tamed Identities? Glimpsing Her Identity in Proverbs 10:1–22:16 and Selected African Proverbs.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 74 (1): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v74i1.4819.
Mtshiselwa, Ndikho. 2016. “Reconsidering the Freedom Charter, the Black Theology of Liberation and the African Proverb About the Locust’s Head in the Context of Poverty in South Africa.” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 72 (1): 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v72i1.2915 .
Prahlad, Anand. 1996. African-American Proverbs in Context. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Reddie, Anthony G. 2015. “Telling the Truth and Shaming the Devil: Using Caribbean Proverbial Wisdom for Raising the Critical Consciousness of African Caribbean People in Postcolonial Britain.” Black Theology : an International Journal 13 (1): 41–58.
Twyman Hoff, Pamela. 2016. “‘Fool Me Once, Shame on You; Fool Me Twice, Shame on Me’: African American Students’ Reclamation of Smartness as Resistance.” Race, Ethnicity and Education 19 (6): 1200–1208. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2016.1168542 .
Walters, Eric. 2018. From the Heart of Africa : a Book of Wisdom. Toronto: Tundra Books.

Videos

Boston University. 2011. "Hausa Proverb 01" YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLESi1Bs0do&list=PLHtbAuJZkRg0Bh_NKtgQkSMOfIhCUyLTF
CFCAUSA. 2009. "Haitian Proverbs" YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS9thQ0X1ZI&t=4s
National Library of Jamaica. 2019. "Miss Lou on Jamaican Proverbs." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYAxQ3BIF3g
Riley, Tarrus. 2019. "Tarrus Riley - Jamaican Proverbs (Official Audio)." YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TPxgLym8KA

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