Jamaica Anansi Stories

(Hardback)

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Jamaica Anansi Stories is a collection of folklore by Martha Warren Beckwith. Having studied under famed ethnographer Franz Boas at Columbia University, Beckwith dedicated her career to recording and contextualizing the traditions of people from around the world. Specializing in Jamaican, Hawaiian, Sioux, and Mandan-Hidatsa cultures, Beckwith published widely acclaimed works of folklore and ethnography through her interviews with native storytellers around the world. "One great hungry time. Anansi couldn't get anyt'ing to eat, so he take up his hand-basket an' a big pot an' went down to the sea-side to catch fish. When he reach there, he make up a large fire and put the pot on the fire, an' say, 'Come, big fish!'" Opening her collection with the lighthearted and instructional "Animal Stories," many of which record the conflicts between Anansi and the Tiger, Beckwith introduces her reader to one of central figures of Jamaican folklore. Associated with resistance, play, and resourcefulness, Anansi was a symbol of hope for a people subjected to centuries of slavery. Situated alongside similar tales from Europe, popular songs, riddles, and jokes, the Anansi stories form an invaluable part of Jamaican culture and of other Caribbean and American cultures who trace their origins to West Africa.

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Author Bio

Martha Warren Beckwith (1871-1959) was an American folklorist and ethnographer. Born in Wellesley Heights, Massachusetts, Beckwith attended Mount Holyoke College before graduating with a Masters degree in anthropology from Columbia University in 1906. In 1920, having earned her PhD, she became the chair of Vassar Colleges Folklore program. Specializing in Hawaiian, Jamaican, and Native American cultures, Beckwith published numerous collections of proverbs, folk stories, myths, and ethnographies from her extensive research, often conducted with renowned ethnomusicologist Helen H. Roberts.