Folktales of the Kxoe in the west Caprivi

Title: Folktales of the Kxoe in the west Caprivi
Series: Namibian African studies, Vol. 5
Author: Christa Kilian-Hatz
Editor: Wilfrid H. G. Haacke
Illustrations: Benat B. Diwana
Publisher: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag
Cologne, Germany 1999
ISBN 3896450816 / ISBN 3-89645-081-6
Original softcover, 16 x 24 cm, 338 pages, several illustrations

Condition:

Very good, like new.

About: Folktales of the Kxoe in the west Caprivi

This book presents a collection of twenty-one folktales of the Khwe people in the Caprivi strip of north-eastern Namibia. The Khwe texts are accompanied by interlinear morphologic word-by-word translations placed immediately beneath each line. Idiomatic English translations follow separately after each tale and are readable as coherent texts. Sentences are numbered so that each passage of a Khwe text can easily be cross-checked with the English translation. The book thus serves equally the needs of Khwe people interested in learning to read and write their own language, the needs of linguists interested in the structure of the language, as well as the needs of scholars in oral literature interested in subjects of folktales or folklore.

It provides easy access to the tales and is useful for all three groups of readers it wants to serve. The book is a text collection and a sourcebook. It does not intend to and, thus, does not provide us with a more general perspective on oral literature or a detailed cultural and historical contextualization. A very short introduction presents the reader with brief information on the Khwe people (one page, plus a map of Caprivi), and a section on their oral literature including paragraphs headed "Kinds of Discourse", "Main Motifs", "Character of Animals" and "Performance", "A Short Comparative Aote" and "Presentation of the Tales". Additionally, the introduction contains notes on the orthography and on "Technical Issues".

The latter paragraph gives particulars on the place, time, and circumstances of the recordings as well as on the contributors to the book. Each tale is followed by a short interpretative comment on the message of the tale or the lesson to be learned from it. Footnotes provide information on the date and place of the recording event, on scientific names of animals and plants and, occasionally, on the literal meaning of a Khwe expression. They further contain remarks on interesting particularities of language usage including, for example, insulting by using opposite sex pronouns, speaking of oneself in the third person, etc. A short list of references closes the monograph.

Content: Folktales of the Kxoe in the west Caprivi

Abbreviations
Introduction
1. The Kxoe
2. Oral Literature of the Kxoe
2.1 Kinds of Discourse
2.2 Main Motifs
2.3 The Character of the Animals
2.4 Performance
3 A Short Comparative Note
4. Presentation of the Tales
5. Notes on the Orthographical Convention
6. Technical Issues
How we got the Fire
Warthog and Bumble-bee
Vulture and Korhaan
The toads
Monkey and Hare
Hippo and Fire
Leopard and Chameleon
Crocodile and Cock
Polecat and Rock-monitor
The Zebras and Crocodile
Monkey and Crocodile
Tortoise and Hare
Hare and Hyena
Jackal and Hyena
Jackal and Lion
Lion and Jackal
Lion and Genet
The Successful and the Unsuccessful Hunter
The Python and the Child
Karakdrani
References