Chapter 3. Tales of death and regenera- tion in West Africa

Abstract: Myths in African traditional religions (plural intended!) often have an ambivalent relation both to the rituals in those religions and to the conceptions of the ‘other world. ’ For one part the princi-pal rituals seem to bear little relation to the main body of myth, on the other hand some or many of the main supernatural agents do not feature in the myths at all. This relative cultural autonomy of myths is reflected in the issues the myths address among which etiology seems to be of a lesser concern. This dynamic will be viewed in the myths on death and dying in some West African societies. Here, ques-tions of ultimate origin do not feature, neither of creation nor of death, but the mythical atention is more of an intermediate nature, more protohistorical than purely mythical. Thus, one of the glaring absences, in some cases, is any explanation of death’s origin, while the focus is either on avoiding the discourse on death and dying, or on the battle against death: how to avoid dying, and why man’s ulti-mate inability to do so. The comparative data stem from the author’s research (Kapsiki, North Camer-oon, and Dogon, Mali) as the core of a wider West African comparison. Introduction: An unromantic Africa Books with large collections of myths, especially those of the universalistic kind such as Campbell’s,2 usually have only a short section on African myths. For some reaso