Laughing with Caution. Ikalanga Trickster Tales and the Gender Question

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Literature - Africa, grade: Undergraduate, University of Botswana, language: English, abstract: The essay looks at the role of the trickster in oral literature and argues that the trickster is neither male nor female. The essay argues that the trickster is androgynous and it is this concept that makes the trickster able to outwit the larger and more powerful creatures in the tales. As such, the essay makes a point that the trickster's success at outwitting animals in folklore has nothing to do with it being male!

Wazha Lopang is a lecturer in the Department of English at the University of Botswana. His area of interest is oral literature and the gender politics within. He has written articles arguing that the African trickster is androgynous and not male as some storytellers and listeners believe. He is co-editor and contributor of AMANTLE! , a book that focuses on Botswana Literature. Currently he is working on how the dislocation of minorities affects rituals that involve species alien to their new environment.. He has published a short story for The Caine Prize Workshop (2013), The Strange Dance of The Calabash. He was the winner of the 2015 Poetavango short story competition for his story, The Small Matter of the Jelly. He was second runner up in the 2012 Bessie Head Competition. His novel, The Guardian of the Spirit Stone was published online by Just Fiction.

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