Monday, August 31, 2026 · 天火 · tianmu.org

African

African folklore, religion, history, oral tradition, and Atlantic diaspora traditions.

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Texts

GlossaryA shelf-specific slice of the Good Works Glossary for African traditional and diaspora terms.Introduction to African TraditionsA critical introduction to the African shelf: oral tradition, indigenous religion, colonial-era ethnography, Yoruba and Ife, West and Central African systems, southern African sources, Atlantic diaspora survivals, and the ethics of reading a continent through partial archives.Reader's Guide to African TraditionsA people-, language-, and source-specific guide to the African shelf, including oral literature, colonial collections, political witness, counter-history, and Atlantic diaspora archives.
African Diaspora1 page
African Diaspora and Atlantic Traditions6 pages

African diaspora and Atlantic traditions, including Jamaican Anansi stories, Obeah, Louisiana Voodoo, New Orleans folklore, and African American coastal oral history.

Central African and Bantu Traditions2 pages

Central African and Bantu folklore, myth, proverb, and religious tradition, including Kongo-region and broader Bantu materials.

East African1 page
General History and Comparative Religion3 pages

General African history, comparative religion, racial history, Afrocentric historiography, and broad theoretical studies.

South African Literature and Political Witness2 pages

A doorway into Black South African political literature, documentary witness, journalism, law, and multilingual intellectual history.

Southern African Traditions4 pages

Southern African folklore and religion, including Xhosa, Zulu, San, Khoekhoe, and South African tale collections.

West African2 pages
West African Traditions5 pages

West African religious, ethnographic, and folklore materials beyond the dedicated Yoruba and Ife subroom.

Yoruba and Ife3 pages

Yoruba religion, Ife mythology, legends, ritual context, and early ethnographic accounts of Yoruba-speaking peoples.