Before discussing origins and the morphology of humorous African American communicative modes, it is important that we first discuss what this is, and the different and most popular forms of said communicative modes. 

Smith & Murray (2011) describe a communicative mode as a medium through which one’s intentions are expressed or conveyed to someone else. Within the context of this section of the archive, humour is the communicative mode through which an array of nuanced and complex socio-political, moral, and philosophical thought and ideas are communicated. The following are examples of popular African (which eventually transformed into African American or Black American) humorous communicative modes and are accompanied with examples or links to other sections of the archive which expand on these communicative modes in greater detail. 

What is Anansi? 

Practice: Anansi Trickster Stories

Although these stories have spread with the movement of the African diaspora, they originated with the Akan people in Ghana, West Africa; specifically the Asante (Ashanti) people (Wickersham). Formerly named the Gold Coast by British colonizers, Ghana is often referred to under this name in documentation about the Transatlantic slave trade (Marshall 1a)

This map demonstrates that Anansi stories are prevalent in West African nations such as Togo, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The stories traveled with people to the Caribbean via the Transatlantic Slave Trade, primarily from the Asante people in Ghana to Jamaica (the green geo tags indicate this relationship between Ghana and Jamaica)

Although these stories have spread with the movement of the African diaspora, they originated with the Akan people in Ghana, West Africa; specifically the Asante (Ashanti) people ( Wickersham ).

Reflecting cultural practices and notions of spirituality, these stories were transmitted orally after nightfall in storytelling circles, often in Akan language “Twi” (Marshall 33-34a).

Further on in this database, you will find transcriptions of Anansi stories in the original Twi, accompanied by illustrations made by members of the Ashanti, Fanti, and Ewe tribes, as documented by R.S. Rattray in his primary source book Akan-Ashanti Folk Tales (Rattray 1930).

Power, Politics, Values, and Culture

POWER AND POLITICS

In the Asante kingdom and culture in Ghana during the 1920s, Anansi stories were a socially acceptable method to communicate discontent with powerful people, as the community valued discussion towards conflict resolution, rather than violence. R.J Rattray addresses how “disgraceful” versions of Anansi were performed in evening storytelling sessions to expose misconduct, emphasizing the significance of oral communication and performance in this community. The stories serve to induce resolution, diffuse negative emotions or tensions into laughter rather than resentment, and act as a medium for negotiation. (Rattray, 1930, p. x; Marshall 33a)

To regulate the practice, legitimize the mockery, and protect storytellers, there were 2 primary rules to be followed when criticizing a chief, fellow villager, or even the King of Ashanti. (Marshall 34a)

1. The tales must only be told after nightfall.

2. There must be public disclaimers announced before and after each story to attest that the stories are not strictly true.

   • Rattray’s collection - Start: “we do not really mean, we do not really mean (that we are going to say is true)” (Rattray, 1930, p. 55)

   • Rattray’s collection - End: “this, my story, which I have related, if it be sweet, (or) if it be not sweet, take some elsewhere, and let some come back to me” (p. 59) or “some of you may take as true, and the rest you may praise me (for the telling it)” (p. 77)

“If one had a grievance against a fellow villager, a chief, or even the King of Ashanti, to hold him up to thinly disguised ridicule, by exposing some undesirable trait in his character – greed, jealousy, deceit – (they could) introduce the affair as the setting to some tale. A slave would thus expose a bad master, a subject his wicked King. Up to a point the story teller was licenced” 

(Rattray, 1939,p. xi) (Marshall p 33 - Liminal Anansi) 

CULTURE AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Anansi offers social, ethical, and moral lessons that serve as the core of many Akan cultural responses to society (Britannica). In particular, Anansi represents Asante values and social structure by depicting contrasting attitudes of order and chaos (Marshall 37a). He simultaneously acts as a force of destruction and creation, of mayhem and order, due to his liminal position between human and non-human worlds, and due to his tendency to invert all social rules (Marshall 37a).

When it comes to representing order, Anansi reveals the Asante understanding that there can be no pure centrifugality. Just as the turning of the centre creates movement away from the centre, so Anansi’s movement away from order creates order. He shows the power of liminality precisely by stressing its negation of ordinary structure’ (Pelton, 1980, p. 36) (Marshall 37a).

When it comes to representing chaos, Anansi’s behaviours include disconnecting his body parts, eating his children, abusing his guests, ignoring the truth, and stealing from the sky-god Nyame. (Marshall 37a).

In addition, Marshall writes about how Anansi’s liminality helps represent his contrasting values of order and chaos. Alongside the human and spirit world, Anansi exists in the Asante ‘midden’; the liminal in-between space between the human and spiritual world. Mimicking the role of that ‘midden’, his character is depicted as an intermediary of life and death, nature and culture, and the spirit world and human world. His stories are symbolic of this ‘midden’, in part because they celebrate a cyclical > linear approach to life by linking birth to date and exploring essence as a regenerative element (Marshall 37a).

Marshall also highlights how the idea of community is valued higher against individualism, through their depiction of Anansi as a loner; without friends or family, without community, and without obligations to others. The stories feature this character but demonstrate and uphold the orderly, cooperative, communal society which is a tenant of the Asante culture (Marshall 37a).

It was precisely by testing the limitations of Asante moral code and by acting utterly opposite to the conditioned forms of human behaviour, Anansi was able to set and strengthen hierarchical Asante social structures. He became a re-creative force, by challenging the structure of Asante society with his liminality, but simultaneously reaffirming it. This force of chaos ultimately brought about an improved social order. However, while Anansi tested the boundaries of the Asante society’s system and reinforced their social rules, in the Jamaican plantation context he symbolically destroyed the enforced/abhorrent social order imposed by the European slavers (Marshall 37a).

Who was R.S. Rattray?

R.S. Rattray headed the Anthropological Department of the Asante capital Kumasi during the 1920s; a department that he founded to conduct research on the Asante people and culture. His writing contributed to the early body of 20 th  century European writing on the matter through methods that included ethnographic research, in which he would visit remote Asante villages, observe their evening storytelling sessions, identify the tales he considered the ‘best’, have the storyteller repeat it to him the next day, and rewrite them in Twi and English with minimal editing. (Marshall 32a)

 While his work is presented as being cognizant of his position as a European scholar reproducing Asante cultural practices in their original form, it introduces discussions about the construction of archives.

1. What constituted the ‘best’ tale in his opinion. What meanings did he miss as an outsider to the culture, that might have dismissed particular tales from being included?

2. How were his research practices and understanding limited as a scholar in Europe in the 1920s? Notably, the tales reproduced in Akan-Ashanti Folk Tales are absent of any cues indicating the performance, inflections of tone, or pauses, despite being integral to the Asante oral storytelling practice. What accounts of Anansi tales could be found that more closely represent the experience of the storytelling?

3. How did his presence impact the delivery and content of the Anansi tales, especially as his documentation occurred during the second, private session with the storyteller the following day?

4. The aforementioned collection of tales is accompanied by illustrations made by members of the Ashanti, Fanti, and Ewe tribes, which he opted to use rather than attempting his own work. In addition, he pushed to offer the stories in their original Twi and English with minimal editing. Through this, he presents a degree of self-awareness about his inability to reproduce the stories accurately and responsibly.  

5. His works have been hailed as a ‘valuable and original source’, but what original sources are being left out from the history and archives because they can’t be written and published in a traditional means? Does this imply that oral preservation and intergenerational storytelling that passes on today are less legitimate, despite being the longstanding method of practice.

Ghana to Jamaica - Journeying Along the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Limitations of the Archive

Oral Storytelling: One of the major limitations of the textual archive is that Anansi stories are traditionally transmitted orally. By only reading the stories in their written & transcribed form, readers lose the expressions, pauses, and drama that are present in an oral performance of the tale. Thus, they hear a 2D version of what can be considered a 3D story. 

1. 1. Marshall highlights this strong storytelling and oral culture among the Asante in the following excerpt: “The Asante had a love of oratory and delighted in word-play and long discussions, which is exemplified in their strong storytelling tradition. They also believed that it was wrong to fight and kill when conflicts could be resolved through discussion. Europeans have contributed greatly to the image of the Asante as bloodthirsty warriors, yet a visitor from Europe to the King Osei Bonsu's court, at the beginning of the 19th century, reported that the King had 'a maxim associated with the religion he professed, never to appeal to the sword while the path lay open for negotiation' (Isichei, 1977, p. 62). Furthermore, the Anansi themselves tales undoubtedly reflect a faith in the power of words to resolve conflicts” (Marshall 33-34a).

   2. Martha Warren Beckwith’s book “Jamaica Anansi Stories” documents the Anansi stories in English, but seeks to preserve intonation and authenticity by writing them in their original slang. The stories were transcribed from over 60 Jamaican storytellers in remote districts of Jamaica during 1919 and 1921 (Beckwith, xi). In the preface and excerpts attached below, Beckwith comments on the importance of performance and oral storytelling practices in regard to Anansi tales and offers examples of those stories.

Language and Transcription: A second key limitation of the archive is that many of the stories are preserved in translated English, as opposed to the original Twi. Resultingly, the meaning of the story is determined by the interpretation of the translator,

1. This issue is addressed in part by R.S. Rattray’s 1930’s book “Akan-Ashanti Folk Tales”, where he highlights how transcribers were prone to ignoring African idiom, frequently omitted details deemed trivial, but were actually key to the individuality of each story, and transcribed stories in a uniform unidiomatic expression that doesn’t reflect the spoken language of the storytellers or the mass of the people (Rattray, v). In the preface attached below, readers can see how he attempted to remedy this by documenting the stories in their original Twi and a near-literally translated English, noting that critical analysis of Rattray’s work and research methods should still be applied.

View more of the maps and image carousels below, including side-by-side English-Twi story translations: 

Laws and legislature explicitly prohibiting and restricting the freedom of movement and expression of the enslaved were enacted to both prevent collective mobilization for rebellion, and to crush their spirits, depriving them of hope or reprieve from the torment they were undergoing. This was essential to successfully exploiting and suppressing the enslaved, as it enabled continuous monitoring and control of their agency and prevented achievement of legal and socially perceived personhood. The following are archival sources concerning U.S. state legislature on slavery.

Despite these attempts at controlling the movement and gathering of enslaved Africans, (as the gathering of Black men and women in groups larger than 5 was outlawed in several states including Alabama, District of Columbia, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia) (NMAAHC, n.d.), enslaved peoples resisted this by hosting secret gatherings deep within the woods at night. It was here that the familial, spiritual, political, social, pleasurable, and comedic relation building occurred (NMAAHC, n.d.). These can be seen as practices of the emergent. It is also here that the African American humorous communicative modes were skillfully practiced, shaped, crafted, and transformed from traditional African oral traditions, to what eventually continued to develop into what we know today as contemporary African American humour. 

Responses: Oppressor Censorship & Narrative Control 

Humour was a tool to which enslaved peoples actively responded to and engaged with enslavement and their oppressors, helping to navigate the criminalization of their existence. To prevent the comedic and humorous from translating fully into the political, institutions of racialized violence and their oppressors responded with a twisted humour of their own to a) justify the institutionalization of slavery by over-caricaturizing and dehumanizing their portrayals of enslaved peoples b) psychologically reassure themselves that they were the superior race and class of being (Dates, 2018). This was done through the introduction of Minstrel Shows, Coon Shows, and song in the late 18th century, where narratives on the Black man as the “coon” emerged. Here, Black men began being depicted as “…ignorant, devoid of honesty or personal honour, given to drunkenness and gambling, without ambition – often featured as watermelon and chicken-loving rural buffoons” (Dates, 2018, p. 29). Due to the confinement of Black civil rights, liberties, and subsequently, economic autonomy and mobility, many Black men were forced to portray themselves in this degraded way in minstrel or coon shows to help provide for their families (Dates, 2018). Stereotypical and degrading narratives on Black Women began taking form and shape here as well. 

Sapphire/Angry Black Woman: This caricature was created as a framing tactic to establish the narrative of white women as a cultural norm and standard to which Black women were to be compared to. Here, Black women were characterized as being loud, aggressive, un-ladylike, hostile, dishonest, and White women as lady-like, caring, and catering towards men. This character was often accompanied by a Black Male character, who can become the target of verbal abuse, reprimanding, and emasculation for his questionable and dishonest character, as previously discussed (Dates, 2018). This narrative has continued into the 21st century through new popular media. 

The Jezebel: A caricature which depicts Black women as the “slut” – constantly engaging in/with lewd sexual acts, who utilizes her sexuality to gain “…attention, love, and material goods from men” (also known as the gold digger) (Dates, 2018, p. 40-41). It was used during the period of enslavement to justify why many slave drivers were having mixed children – they were not willing participants in the sexual violence enacted against Black enslaved women, but simply allured and seduced into sex by a “deviant” and “immoral” women. It utilizes Biblical imagery and imaginaries of Queen Jezebel. It also has its roots in the pre-enslavement period with White men first encountering Black women in African tribes to which they immediately sexualized, being “scantily dressed” and dancing in “provocative manners” (Dates, 2018).  

Ultimately, these have been the narratives and stereotypes created by slave owners and oppressors and continue to take shape and form within modern and contemporary media. Jokes and joke telling was not so much criminalized as it was reappropriated and weaponized as a means of both silencing and erasing identity.  

The 60’s – 70’s 

This period of daily American life and African American humour was defined by significant socio-political upheaval and turmoil with the onset of the Civil Rights Movement, protests against the Vietnam War, and fighting for women’s rights. Subsequently, this period of social reformation saw White comedians beginning to embrace their black counterparts, providing them more mainstream exposure as they were the gatekeepers of such opportunities (Dates, 2018). Black comedians began shaping their craft around the subtle nuances present within everyday racism in an authentic and witty way, helping expose larger audiences to what life as a Black man or woman was like in North America. The following is an excerpt from Dick Gregory’s autobiography “Nigger: An Autobiography” featured in Dates & Ramirez’s (2018) novel African American Humour: The Best Black Comedy from Slavery to Today: 

The 80’s – 90’s 

Other forms of institutionalized racism materialized in the form over-policing of and within Black Communities. This occurred amid the onset of the crack epidemic, which allowed for an inadvertent form of social and geographical segregation (Dates, 2018). Subsequently, CRT became a dominant tool and lens through which racial socio-political inequalities could be analysed, resulting in the emergence of Interest Convergence Theory. This theory proposes that true reformation and advancements in racial equity and equality within America occurred only when it suited the interests of powerful elites and the U.S. government (Dates, 2018; Timcke, 2017). It became necessary during the Cold War in achieving the capitalist agenda of expanding the U.S.’s global sphere of influence, which entailed expansion in areas of newly freed enslaved peoples; their media image needed changing (Dates, 2018). This had a significant impact upon the commercial success and exposure of the American population to Black comedy; it suited the agendas of advertisers in increasing their sales and profits, thus beginning targeted advertising of both their products, and Black Comedy to Black consumers during their programming’s (Dates, 2018). Black comedians continued to use their platforms to discuss racial injustices and daily lived experiences through their humour, but the extent of the exposure to wider audiences remained limited due to the White gatekeepers to mainstream comedy and television.  

The 90’s saw explicit increasing efforts on behalf of the U.S. government towards the improvement in race relations and encouraged engagement in inter-ethnic dialogue. With this came new emergent spaces specifically designed by Black comics for Black comics where they were able to discuss and articulate much racier explicit content such as race relations, sex, drugs, and other “off limit” subjects; this was in significant contrast to the conservatist politics of the prior decade (Dates, 2018). Many citizens and comedians, disillusioned by the war on drugs and the emergence of Hip-hop felt more encouraged and safer to freely express themselves on issued typically reserved for the in-groups within our community. The most prolific and impactful of these spaces being Def Comedy Jam, created by Russell Simmons. This was a space in which the content matter of the jokes being crafted no longer had to appeal to and be palatable for white audiences and became less self-deprecating than it did explicitly making fun of or poking fun at white people (Dates, 2018).  

Black Television 

Black-led television, film, and stand-up comedy was emboldened by its explicit, socio-political consciousness, addressing key issues such as social identity/identity politics, racism, racial injustice, and the black experience. The Dave Chapelle Show, Key & Peele, Black-ish, and Atlanta are all examples of television series in which play into socio-cultural stereotypes of both the Black community and other racialized communities to critically portray, articulate, and comment on the absurdity of racism and challenged pre-conceived notions and conceptualizations on race as a social construct. What was employed here is a phenomenon Simon (2010) identifies as “Reverse discourse”, a strategy often employed by Black comedians utilizing the same or similar semantics and etymology from earlier racist discourses for a reversal effect and is positioned in the context of the reversal of the social dynamics and speaker in which the language/semantics itself is employed within. It is the “other” of the earlier discourse’s articulation and inflection of new meaning in this that reverses the discourse, giving it new meaning (Simon, 2010).  

Social Media & Black Twitter 

Social media revolutionized and transformed the way in which content was delivered to the people. Platforms had now existed where ordinary people could create and share their own humour with others and enabled the audience to engage and interact with the content in real time in a significantly more accessible way (Dates, 2018, p. 126). It removed content moderators, gatekeepers and mediators traditionally found within broadcasted television and comedy venues. Most prolific of these platforms for Black Americans have been and continues to be Twitter, which took on a name of its own amongst the people, “Black Twitter”. This ultimately enabled more niche issues to be discussed on public digital forums that were once previously unknown to the public (Dates, 2018).  

Black Twitter gave voice to Black intellectuals, trendsetters, and everyday people to discuss pressing socio-political issues or shocking pop-culture moments that would have not gone into mainstream discourse in years prior (Dates, 2018). It enabled racial injustices to become known globally in an age of globalization and interconnectedness, becoming a useful tool for sharing in-group culture to the world through hilarious trending hashtags. Ultimately, it became a unique place which housed diverse dialogue and engagement pertaining to black experiences (Dates, 2018). E.g., Examples of these hashtags include #ThanksgivingWithBlackFamilies | #OscarsSoWhite | #StayMadAbby | BlackLivesMatter, and memes generally speaking. This is especially true in its usage to respond to and have discussions on the state of U.S. politics. In most recent memory, the election of President Obama & Trump lit the internet ablaze with diverse perspectives of social political commentary. Following the election of Donald Trump and the subsequent degradation in race relations, accompanied by increasing racial violence, humour was utilized as a tool for healing, for coming to terms with the realities of what the presidency had meant for the Black community.