Tricksters: From Trickster to Badman

Following up on Henry Louis Gates yesterday, I wanted to share this important book on the legacy of African tricksters in the Americas: From Trickster to Badman: The Black Folk Hero in Slavery and Freedom by John W. Roberts.

The book is divided into four chapters: Br'er Rabbit and John: Trickster Heroes in Slavery ~ The Power Within: The Conjurer as Folk Hero ~ Christian Soldiers All: Spirituals as Heroic Expression ~ "You Done Me Wrong": The Badman as Outlaw Hero. Roberts provides what he calls an Afrocentric approach to the formation of Black folk heroes: "When we encounter the African American folk hero, we meet a figure whose actions reflect the transformed and, in some ways, transmuted values of African people shaped by situations and conditions in America." And, as the opening chapter shows, the African trickster tradition as it took shape dynamically in the Americas is a crucial part of the formation of the African American folk hero tradition.

So, there is lots of read and ponder here, and I would suggest as a companion text, the fantastic book by William Bascom: African Folktales in the New World, which documents in abundance the African folktales that were told and retold in the Americas: 

Next time I'll be back with more about trickster traditions in the Americas, looking at Indigenous traditions and also the ways in which African and Indigenous traditions came together, especially in the southeastern United States. More on that tomorrow! Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy today's book:

From Trickster to Badman:
The Black Folk Hero
in Slavery and Freedom
by John W. Roberts