The Meaning of Proverbs and Children’s Games in Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’

Update: 2013-02-14

Description

Ama Ata Aidoo is one of Ghana’s most revered writers. Her works includes drama, novels, short stories, poetry, and children’s stories. Aidoo’s play “The Dilemma of a Ghost” made her the first published Ghanaian writer in 1965, and maybe one of the first African writers to use fiction to depict the emerging challenges of modernity and identity in the African diaspora. This presentation examines how Aidoo uses the Ghanaian oral tradition in the form of proverbs and children’s games to articulate cultural values and practices; historical resistance to the Atlantic slave trade and colonialism; and concerns about modernity. The presentation also brings attention to why, 48 years after its first publication, “The Dilemma of a Ghost” is still significant in ongoing discourse about African diaspora identities and experiences.

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The Meaning of Proverbs and Children’s Games in Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’

Griselda Thomas, Assistant Professor of English and African & African Diaspora Studies, Kennesaw State University

#box-pro-ellipsis-176098584291263{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}The Meaning of Proverbs and Children’s Games in Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’

The Meaning of Proverbs and Children’s Games in Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’

Griselda Thomas, Assistant Professor of English and African & African Diaspora Studies, Kennesaw State University

The Meaning of Proverbs and Children’s Games in Ama Ata Aidoo’s ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost’