Resistance through ‘Robber-Talk’
Storytelling Strategies and the Carnival trickster
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8901944 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Emily Zobel Marshall (Leeds Beckett University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 62 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 210-226 |
| Publication date | 2016-04-02 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Caribbean Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0008-6495 • E-ISSN: 2470-6302 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00086495.2016.1203178 |
| OpenAlex | W2530475725 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 5 |
Storytelling Strategies and the Carnival TricksterThe Midnight Robber is a quintessential Trinidadian carnival 'badman.' Dressed in a black sombrero adorned with skulls and coffin-shaped shoes, his long, eloquent speeches descend from the West African 'griot' (storyteller) tradition and detail the vengeance he will wreak on his oppressors.He exemplifies many of the practices that are central to Caribbean carnival cultureresistance to officialdom, linguistic innovation and the disruptive nature of play, parody and humour.Elements of the Midnight Robber's dress and speech are directly descended from West African dress and oral traditions (Warner-Lewis, 1991, p.83).Like other tricksters of West African origin in the Americas, Anansi and Brer Rabbit, the Midnight Robber relies on his verbal agility to thwart officialdom and triumph over his adversaries.He is, as Rodger Abrahams identified, a Caribbean 'Man of Words', and deeply imbedded in Caribbean speech-making traditions (Abrahams, 1983).This article will examine the cultural trajectory of the Midnight Robber and then go on to explore his journey from oral to literary form in the twenty-first century, demonstrating how Jamaican author Nalo Hopkinson and Trinidadian Keith Jardim have drawn from his revolutionary energy to challenge authoritarian power through linguistic and literary skill.The parallels between the Midnight Robber and trickster figures Anansi and Brer Rabbit are numerous.Anansi is symbolic of the malleability and ambiguity of language and the roots of the tales can be traced back to the Asante of Ghana (Marshall, 2012).Asante storytellers and listeners delighted in Anansi's use of tricky word-play and double-entendres to get the better of his adversaries, and for this reason a spider design decorated the staffs of Asante royal spokesmen, otherwise known as court 'linguists' (Yanka, p. 11).Like Anansi, the Midnight Robber's trickster qualities are not only his verbal agility and his rootedness in African influenced Caribbean oral traditions; he is also a shape-shifter with the ability to perform multiple roles
Biology · Environmental ethics · Genealogy · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Ecology · History · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.75 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |