Ku Nseke and Ku Mpèmba: The Dikènga Theory as Evinced Through Content and Function of Akan Ananse Stories and Yorùbá Ìjàpá Tales

Obádélé Kambon

Obádélé Kambon Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

Keywords: Ananse; Ìjàpá;, Dikènga; content; function

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to highlight parallels between Akan Ananse stories and Yorùbá Ìjàpá tales. In this
article, connections are made with regard to function and content of Akan and Yorùbá stories using
Dikenga, the cosmogram of the Bakôngo, as a tool for oral literary analysis revealing intertextual
parallels (O_ Kambon, 2017). We highlight six (6) sets of stories common to both Akan and Yorùbá
people differentiated primarily by the main character being the spider or the tortoise. Further, we show
how the stages of transformation of any story can be gainfully analysed using the proposed Dikenga
theory of literary analysis.

Author Biography

Obádélé Kambon, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

Dr. Kambon is the founder of Abibitumi.com. He completed his PhD in Linguistics at the University of Ghana in 2012, winning the prestigious Vice-Chancellor’s award for the Best PhD Thesis in the Humanities. He also won the 2016 Provost’s Publications Award for best article in the College of Humanities. In 2019 he was the recipient of the [Nana] Marcus Mosiah Garvey Foundation award for excellence in Afrikan Studies and Education.
He is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Language, Literature and Drama Section of the
Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana. Okunini Kambon is currently Editor-in-Chief
of the Ghana Journal of Linguistics as well as Secretary of the African Studies Association of Africa.
He played an instrumental role in 34 Afrikans of the Diaspora receiving Ghanaian citizenship in 2016
and 126 receiving citizenship in 2019. He now assists others interested in repatriation via
RepatriateToGhana.com. Dr. Kambon is also Special Advisor to UNESCO (ICM). His research
interests include Serial Verb Construction Nominalization, Historical Linguistics, Kemetology, &
Afrikan=Black Liberation.