Wikipedia Trail, from Anansi to Cockpit Country
I tried to keep my wikipedia trail as under control as I could- one for the readers sake, and two so I could keep my head on straight. I began my wikipedia search with Anansi, who is a famous African folktale character in the shape of a spider. One of my interests for my portfolio for this class is West African folktales, so I thought I would do a little research.
My first stop, Anansi, is a wikipedia page solely dedicated to the character himself. Anansi is one of the most important characters in African and Caribbean Folklore, and is considered to be the spirit of all knowledge in the stories in which he appears. We might recognize his character in modern tellings, as he can be depicted as a regular spider, a spider with a human face, or even a human with spider qualities- such as eight legs.
My second wikipedia page, Akan Language, is the language from which Anansi stemmed from, which translates to 'spider'. Akan is one of the native languages of Ghana. And it is the country of Ghana, which the Anansi stories originated from.
My third wikipedia page, Jamaican Maroons, is a page about the Jamaican Maroons themselves, which were enslaved people brought from Africa to the country of Jamaica. It is said that these Maroons are responsible for the spread of Anansi stories in Jamaica, which then became an integral part of the culture. It is said that the Anansi stories are most preserved in the country of Jamaica, because the country had the highest number of enslaved Asante people- the native people of Ghana from where the stories originated.
This leads to my final link, Cockpit Country, which is the mountainous region of Jamaica, where the Jamaican Maroons found shelter after escaping from the plantations from which they were imprisoned.
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