I am currently writing an article based on two collections of early
twentieth-century Jamaican folktales (by Walter Jekyll and Martha Warren
Beckwith). My main concern is with the images of women in these tales and
the messages that they conveyed to their audiences about the place and
roles of Afro-Jamaican women. I also want to address in my article the
practice of storytelling in early twentieth-century Jamaica. I want to
explore issues, such as: at what occasions stories were told; who told
stories; what status did storytellers have within the community; to what
extent did the storytellers make use of mime, music etc. Thus far I have
found few references in contemporary texts about storytelling. Most
contemporary sources mention Anancy stories but make no reference to the
way in which they were told or who the storytellers were. About one third
of the stories collected by Beckwith were narrated by women. This leads me
to ask whether women featured prominently amongst storytellers and if
perhaps they were more likely than men to tell their stories at night in
their homes than at social and more public occasions, such as a wake.

Has anyone come across primary sources that address storytelling but which
go beyond a simply listing of stories? Furthermore, can anyone direct me to
secondary literature on early twentieth-century Caribbean folktales and
storytelling? There are various studies on oral performance in the
Caribbean but these tend to focus on the post-independence period and are
to a large extent focussed on the African origins of oral performances.
Thus far I have not found a study that provides an overview of the
development of storytelling as an art form in the Caribbean or addresses
the issue of gender in Caribbean folktales.

Any suggestions welcome.

Dr. Henrice Altink
University of Glamorgan
School of HLaSS
Pontypridd CF37 1DL
Wales
United Kingdom
+44 (0)1443 48 2474