Animal Tales from the Caribbean

George List

Description

These twenty-one animal tales from the Colombian Caribbean coast represent a sampling of the traditional stories that are told during all-night funerary wakes. The tales are told in the semi-sacred space of the patio (backyard) of homes as part of the funerary ritual that includes other aesthetic and expressive practices such as jokes, song games, board games, and prayer. In this volume these stories are situated within their performance contexts and represent a highly ritualized corpus of oral knowledge that for centuries has been preserved and cultivated by African-descendant populations in the Americas.

Ethnomusicologist George List collected these tales throughout his decades-long fieldwork amongst the rural costeños, a chiefly African-descendent population, in the mid-20th century and, with the help of a research team, transcribed and translated them into English before his death in 2008. In this volume, John Holmes McDowell and Juan Sebastián Rojas E. have worked to bring this previously unpublished manuscript to light, providing commentary on the transcriptions and translations, additional cultural context through a new introduction, and further typological and cultural analysis by Hasan M. El-Shamy. Supplementing the transcribed and translated texts are links to the original Spanish recordings of the stories, allowing readers to follow along and experience the traditional telling of the tales for themselves.

Acknowledgments Cuentos Costeños
Editors' Introductory Essay
George List's Introduction

The Stories
1. Mártara
2. The Little Goat
3. Of Aunt Vixen with Uncle Jaguar
4. The Excursion of Rabbit
5. The Pig Who Made Much Fun of the Donkey
6. A Humorous Tale of Rabbit
7. When Jaguar Wanted to Fight with Rabbit
8. The Man
9. Uncle Rabbit and Aunt Jaguar's Seven Children
10. Uncle Rabbit and Uncle Alligator
11. The Rabbit Who Wanted to be the Largest Animal in the World
12. The Cunning of Rabbit
13. The Saddling of Jaguar
14. When Rabbit Lost
15. Uncle Rabbit's Field
16. Rabbit and Vixen's Saloon
17. The Man Who Gathered Honey
18. The Quarrel Between Cock and Vixen
19. The Marriage of Monkey and Frog
20. Uncle Rabbit's Ears
21. When the Sun Baptized the Bat
Typology and Cultural Analysis / Hasan M. El-Shamy

Agradecimientos Cuentos Costeños
Ensayo Introductorio de los Editores
Introducción de George List

Los Cuentos
1. Mártara
2. El chivito
3. De Tía Zorra con Tío Tigre
4. La excursión del Conejo
5. El puerco que se burlaba mucho del burro
6. Chiste de Conejo
7. Cuando Tigre quiso pelear con Conejo
8. El hombre
9. Tió Conejo y los siete hijos de Tía Tigra
10. Tío Conejo y Tío Caimán
11. El conejo que quería ser el hombre más grande del mundo
12. La astucia de Conejo
13. La ensillada de Tigre
14. Cuento en que Conejo pierde
15. La roza de Tío Conejo
16. La cantina de Conejo y Zorra
17. El sacador de miel
18. La querella de Zorra con Gallo
19. El matrimonio de Machín con Rana
20. Las orejas de Tío Conejo
21. Cuando el sol bautizó al murcielago
Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Folk Tales
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Folclore
• Caribbean Coast
• Multilingualism
• Ethnomusicology
• Spanish
• Mythology
• Ritual
• Caribbean
• Translation
• Folklore
• Columbia

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 11 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780253031174
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Animal Tales from the Caribbean
Map of Colombia s Caribbean region, showing the towns visited by List. Indiana University Archives. This map is also featured in List s Music and Poetry in a Colombian Village: A Tri-Cultural Heritage (IU Press, 1983).
Mapa de la regi n Caribe de Colombia y los pueblos visitados por List. Archivo de la Universidad de Indiana. Este mapa tambi n aparece en Music and Poetry in a Colombian Village: A Tri-Cultural Heritage (IU Press, 1983).
Animal Tales from the Caribbean

GEORGE LIST
Edited by JOHN HOLMES M C DOWELL and JUAN SEBASTI N ROJAS E .
With a Typological Analysis by HASAN M. EL-SHAMY
Special Publications of the FOLKLORE INSTITUTE, No. 9 INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON
I NDIANA U NIVERSITY P RESS
S PECIAL P UBLICATIONS OF THE F OLKLORE I NSTITUTE
John Holmes McDowell Editor
Advisory Board
Michael Dylan Foster
Gregory A. Schrempp
Ruth M. Stone
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2017 by Folklore Institute, Indiana University
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
ISBN 978-0-253-02937-9 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-253-03113-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-03117-4 (ebook)
1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
To the Coste os, a creative and resilient people; and to the memory of George List in recognition of his efforts to study the culture of the region
A los coste os, gente creativa y resiliente, y a la memoria de George List en reconocimiento a sus esfuerzos para estudiar la cultura de la regi n
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Agradecimientos
Editors Introductory Essay
George List s Introduction
The Stories
1. M rtara
2. The Little Goat
3. Of Aunt Vixen with Uncle Jaguar
4. The Excursion of Rabbit
5. The Pig Who Made Much Fun of the Donkey
6. A Humorous Tale of Rabbit
7. When Jaguar Wanted to Fight with Rabbit
8. The Man
9. Uncle Rabbit and Aunt Jaguar s Seven Children
10. Uncle Rabbit and Uncle Alligator
11. The Rabbit Who Wanted to Be the Largest Animal in the World
12. The Cunning of Rabbit
13. The Saddling of Jaguar
14. When Rabbit Lost
15. Uncle Rabbit s Field
16. Rabbit and Vixen s Saloon
17. The Man Who Gathered Honey
18. The Quarrel between Cock and Vixen
19. The Marriage of Monkey and Frog
20. Uncle Rabbit s Ears
21. When the Sun Baptized the Bat s Son
Typology and Cultural Analysis / Hasan M. El-Shamy
Ensayo Introductorio de los Editores
Introducci n de George List
Los Cuentos
1. M rtara
2. El chivito
3. De T a Zorra con T o Tigre
4. La excursi n del Conejo
5. El puerco que se burlaba mucho del burro
6. Chiste de Conejo
7. Cuando Tigre quiso pelear con Conejo
8. El hombre
9. T o Conejo y los siete hijos de T a Tigra
10. T o Conejo y T o Caim n
11. El conejo que quer a ser el hombre m s grande del mundo
12. La astucia de Conejo
13. La ensillada de Tigre
14. Cuento en que Conejo pierde
15. La roza de T o Conejo
16. La cantina de Conejo y Zorra
17. El sacador de miel
18. La querella de Zorra con Gallo
19. El matrimonio de Mach n con Rana
20. Las orejas de T o Conejo
21. Cuando el sol le bautiz el hijo al murci lago
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We first acknowledge the coste os , the people of Colombia s northern coastal region, for their cultivation of these wonderful stories, and next, George List, for his dedication in documenting the tales and preparing them for publication. We extend our gratitude to Alan Burdette, director of the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University, for his assistance with the sound files and photos that accompany this book and his work in establishing the ATM website, where these resources can be found: http://atmuse.org . We also wish to thank Bradley D. Cook, curator of photographs at the Indiana University Archives, who helped us locate additional photographs from George List s fieldwork in Colombia.
We owe special thanks to Hasan El-Shamy, who prepared the included type-and-motif analysis of the tales, and who assisted with the initial conversion of List s typed manuscript into a digital document.
Our thanks go as well to the advisory board of the Special Publications of the Folklore Institute, Michael Foster, Gregory Schrempp, and Ruth Stone, for embracing this project, and to Javier F. Leon, for his review of an earlier draft of the manuscript; his comments were insightful and helpful. Also, we appreciate the permission of Manuela Del Mar G mez Zapata to include in this volume stories told by her grandfather, Manuel Zapata Olivella.
Finally, we have enjoyed the support and encouragement of Gary Dunham, Janice Frisch, and Kate Schramm at the Indiana University Press.
John Holmes McDowell | Juan Sebasti n Rojas E .
AGRADECIMIENTOS
En primer lugar queremos agradecer a los coste os, la gente de la regi n costera septentrional de Colombia, por su cultivo de estas historias maravillosas, y luego, a George List, por su dedicaci n al documentar estos cuentos y prepararlos para publicaci n. Queremos extender nuestra gratitud a Alan Burdette, Director de los Archivos de M sica Tradicional de la Universidad de Indiana, por su apoyo con los archivos de audio y las fotos que acompa an este libro, al igual que por su trabajo al montar una p gina Web donde se pueden localizar estos recursos: http://www.atmuse.org . Tambi n queremos agradecer a Bradley D. Cook, Curador de Fotograf a en los Archivos de la Universidad de Indiana, quien nos ayud a localizar fotograf as adicionales del trabajo de campo de George List en Colombia.
Debemos agradecimientos especiales a Hasan El-Shamy, quien prepar el an lisis de tipos y motivos de los cuentos incluidos en este volumen, y quien ayud con la conversi n inicial del documento impreso a formato digital.
Nuestros agradecimientos van tambi n para el comit asesor del Fondo de Publicaciones Especiales del Instituto de Folklore, Michael Foster, Gregory Schrempp y Ruth Stone, por adoptar este proyecto; tambi n a Javier F. Le n, pues su lectura de una versi n temprana del manuscrito contribuy comentarios perspicaces y tiles. Tambi n agradecemos el permiso otorgado por Manuela Del Mar G mez Zapata para incluir en este volumen historias narradas por su abuelo, Manuel Zapata Olivella.
Finalmente, damos gracias por el apoyo y la motivaci n a Gary Dunham, Janice Frisch y Kate Schramm de la Editorial de la Universidad de Indiana.
John Holmes McDowell | Juan Sebasti n Rojas E .
Animal Tales from the Caribbean
Editors Introductory Essay
Juan Sebasti n Rojas E. and John Holmes McDowell
G EORGE L IST (1911-2008) was something of a renaissance man-composer, musician, scholar, writer, archivist, and teacher. During the course of a long and adventurous life, he received appreciation and respect for his endeavors in all of these fields. His work as a scholar of traditional music took him to the Southwest of the United States, to Ecuador, and to Colombia, where he conducted ethnographic fieldwork with rural coste os , as the chiefly African-descendent population residing along the Caribbean coast call themselves. 1 He also documented traditional songs in the state of Indiana, where he served as director of the Archives of Traditional Music at Indiana University in Bloomington from 1954 until his retirement in 1976. List is credited with helping to develop the Ethnomusicology Program at Indiana University and establishing the Archives of Traditional Music as a major holding of recorded sound.
List made four trips to the Colombian Caribbean coast to do fieldwork for what was the major research project of his career: the study of traditional music in peasant communities in Atlantic coastal Colombia. 2 There, he visited some fifteen towns and cities in search of musicians and storytellers who could contribute material for his research. 3 List focused mostly on the Bol var Grande region, and there he concentrated his attention on a village called Evitar (part of Mahates municipality), where he found a great variety of musical expressions. 4 His fieldwork entailed making extensive audio recordings of performances, in natural settings and in arranged ones, and conducting interviews with the performers and others in the community. He was of the school that placed emphasis on the transcription and analysis of musical sound, on music as text, and made good use of these materials to describe and analyze features of musical sound, art, and structure. Elements that became more central to ethnomusicological fieldwork in subsequent years, such as social relationships, symbolic interaction, and performance contexts (see Nettl 2005, 74-91; Cooley and Barz 2008), were not prominent in List s day, yet, as an alert field researcher, he was not inattentive to them.
Partially because of this approach to hi