Proverbs and Adages

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."



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."


______________


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.

______________


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) 



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


______________


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." 



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


______________


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





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 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...

______________


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:



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)

______________


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) 

______________

"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)


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)


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.


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)



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)



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].  


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] 



"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’"



“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." 


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.



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



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


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) 



"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) 



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


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)



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


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.

______________


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


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).



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



"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.


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)


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.

______________


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)


______________


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

Videos