AFRICA’S STORYTELLING TRADITION MUST PERSIST

Storytelling has long played a central role in African societies with storytellers often holding a special place as the keepers of history and tradition. However, with migration, Africa’s stories have left the continent and are now disseminated across the world. Taking full ownership of our stories through new Afro-centric content requires us to reclaim our rich storytelling culture.

With digitalisation, we have observed a renewed and increased interest from the diaspora in stories from home, as well as a strong desire from African creatives to share their authentic stories with a wider international audience. Observing these two dynamics has made it apparent that only by mutually strengthening collaboration between the diaspora and locals will we be able to ensure our storytelling tradition endures.

Here again there is important work to be done to ensure we enable such collaboration to thrive. We must create an enabling environment, composed of structures facilitating knowledge sharing, capacity building and creative expression. Experience and community learning cements knowledge. Therefore, normalising exchange between local African creatives and members of the diaspora must be an integral part of our strategy to preserve our storytelling tradition.

We must continue to share our culture through genuine Afro-centric content emanating from authentic experiences both in and out of the continent. I strongly believe that harnessing our entire storytelling potential will enable us to take true ownership of the Africa’s narrative in the 21st century.

In my latest article, I share my thoughts on what it will take to ensure Africa’s storytelling tradition persists and the role creatives from in and out of the continent must play in this. To find out more, please visit: https://dryayamoussa.medium.com/africas-storytelling-tradition-must-persist-d2ecdc77b77e