Sankofa: Storying as method and analysis across indigenous cultures

Sankofa: Storying as method and analysis across indigenous cultures
Edited Book proposal under review for possible publication with Routledge
Editors: Araba A. Z. Osei-Tutu aazosei-tutu@ug.edu.gh, Alankrita Chhikara
achhikar@purdue.edu, and Jake Burdick burdics@purdue.edu

Brief Description and Rationale
Until the lions have their storytellers, the story of the hunt will always glorify the
hunter (African Proverb)
Every culture has stories that they tell- stories about animals and fables, stories
about family and migration/immigration, stories about trauma, about fears, morals and
values, histories, and fiction. However, over centuries, colonialism has been instrumental
in adulterating, and in some cases erasing the stories of many indigenous cultures,
sometimes in an attempt to obscure colonial violence (Chatterjee, 1993; Cox, 2012; Dirks,
2001; Olney, 2015, Spivak, 1988). In Africa, for example, many cultural norms, stories,
beliefs, and worldviews were touted as barbaric or demonic, with languages indigenous
to the continent lost or endangered (Masaeli, 2021; Onwubie, 2016). In like manner,
stories, and worldviews of indigenous, (Native peoples across the globe), Latina/o, and
Asia, have either been marginalized, discounted with the colonial narratives dominating
(Nakhid, 2021: Osei-Tutu, 2021). Particularly within the academy and research spaces,
such indigenous ways of knowing, knowledge sharing and theorizing are ignored,
illegitimized, or assessed as not rigorous (Chilisa, 2017; Patel, 2015; Osei-Tutu, 2022).
By this rhetoric, many indigenous peoples’ cultures, ways of knowing and sharing
knowledge, as well as theorizing, have been forced to the peripherals of western lenses
and methodologies. To address this issue and as a form of resistance, many indigenous
peoples (indigenous used here refers to Native peoples, Africans, Latino/a, Caribbean and
South-Asian origins) through decolonial lenses and actions, have taken up spaces where
their stories and ways of knowing and sharing knowledge are centralized. Understanding
the role that stories play in such cultures, it is problematic to see that even in spaces like
narrative inquiry, indigenous ways of storying are not legitimized unless they are
discussed through extant literature – without which it is considered mere stories and not
analysis (Osei-Tutu, 2021; 2022). This edited book is a journey to make visible multiple
ways of being academic, particularly when we center indigenous voices towards
decolonization. As a mode of critique, we offer multiple examples of storytelling that have
been informed, shaped, and birthed by and in cultural knowledge and meanings that
depart from the totalizing force of western hegemony as it amplifies decolonial discourses
through praxis. These examples stand as instances of resistance by virtue of their very
existence in the world in what we are terming polytextual evidence as critique. This book
is a practical response to the need to take a retrospective look at epistemologies,
axiologies and meanings that marginalized peoples in academia possess through their
cultural and linguistic heritage. It is the megaphone that sounds through illustrating what
is possible when indigenous peoples bring cultural and linguistic understanding to their
experiences, hence the adoption of the Akan philosophical concept of Sankofa. Sankofa
translates literally as “go back and get it”. It is represented by a bird with its head turned
backwards, feet facing forward, carrying an egg. It symbolizes reaching back to the past
to reclaim knowledge that will pave way for new paths in the present and future (OseiTutu, 2021, 2022). Therefore, the concept of Sankofa as reflected in the title of this book
is symbolic of how retrieving, re-visiting, re-centering and re-knowing through storying
indigenously can provide alternative methodological avenues for researchers. To bring
understanding to the story we set out to tell in this edited book, we take a break to
discuss the abakoasɛm1
of storytelling across the indigenous peoples whose methods and
analysis are shared in this book beginning with the theoretical foundations.
Intersection between Decolonial Theory and Methodology
“The cognitive empire is that form of imperialism which invades the mental universe of
its victims, in the process imposing particular knowledge systems, displacing others and
consequently shaping the intellectual consciousness of its victims.” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni,
2021, n.p.)
Imperialism poses a complex challenge for epistemology, particularly when indigenous
epistemologies are concerned. This form of coloniality embedded in research and
knowledge sharing has resulted in many calls for decolonization; the call for centering
African knowledge systems (the philosophical, theoretical, conceptual and
methodological thinking from Africa) in learning, teaching, research, and community
service (Bekele et al., 2023b; Bekele, 2024; Chilisa, 2017); the decolonization of research
methods (Smith, 2012); resisting the cognitive empire (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2019) and
“similar ideas expressed by other African scholars and writers, such Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s
“metaphysical empire’ and ‘colonization of the mind,’ V.Y. Mudmbe’s ‘colonial library,’
Robert Gildea’s ‘empire of the mind,’ Ashis Nandy’s ‘intimate empire/ intimate enemy’ and
Aníbal Quijano’s ‘coloniality of power’ and the work of other Latin American scholars on
the coloniality of knowledge” (McInerny, 2021). In centering narrative as a methodology
1
History
informed by decolonial theory /euro western push back activist route, this edited book
adopts and adapts Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s (2019) conceptualization of decolonization;
Besides identifying modernity/colonialism as the fundamental problem,
decolonization/decoloniality challenges the present globalization and its
pretensions of universalism, which hides the reality of the Europeanization
and Americanization of the modern world. While colonialism and
imperialism embarked on an aggressive destruction of existing diverse
worlds, they were also equally aggressive in denying common humanity as
they invented and created all sorts of pseudo-scientific discourses to divide
people racially across the planet and notions of stages of developmentalism
to push other human beings below the invented “human line” (Fanon
Wretched), (p. 203).
In that spirit of challenging globalization, Europeanization and Americanization in research
methods and sharing, this edited book posits that utilizing indigenous theoretical
frameworks and philosophies inform the development of indigenous research
methodologies (Love, 2019; Osei-Tutu, 2022), thus engendering the sharing and place
of indigenous epistemology in organizational [identifying organization in context of this
work as academia] research (Ruwhiu & Cone, 2010). Therefore, as “a much more
profound activity and process than simply obtaining political independence; [Sankofa:
Storying as method and analysis across indigenous cultures] … is a condition of possibility
to … [share] a new thinking and doing aimed at a re-humanized … [research and
knowledge sharing community],” (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2019).
African Oral Traditional Storytelling
Oral traditions constitute messages and/or knowledge that are passed down from
generation to generation by oral forms such as songs, folktales, epic narrations, narrative
proverbs and sayings. Within the various ethnicities of Africans, the existence of stories
and its role in conveying culture, experience, values, and a means of transmitting
knowledge, wisdom, feelings, and attitudes in oral societies, is widely documented
(Finnegan, 2012; Obiechina, 1993; Osei-Tutu, 2021; 2022). This means that communities
across Africa practice a communal gathering where indigenes come to hear stories of the
past, its impact on the present, coupled with the fantastical/mythical and these stories
and the telling shed light on individual and communal experiences with the ability to
influence the society (Achebe, 1987; Waita, 2014). Thus, storytelling within the African
oral tradition is innate with the philosophies, worldviews and epistemologies. This innate
quality is the foundation for the movement toward indigenous storytelling approaches as
relevant and important to understanding the experiences of Africans and African peoples
as expounded by scholars such as Adelowo et. al (2016), Amponsah (2023), Chilisa
(2017), Ikuenobe (2018), Osei-Tutu (2021; 2022), Quillien (2019); Tuwe (2016), to
mention a few. Therefore, this book engenders a space for scholars to show the various
ways within which African indigenous knowledge and epistemologies navigated and
shared through oral storytelling are utilized in academia and its impact on the experiences
and the expansion of knowledge. It also serves as artifacts of possibilities for graduate
students and researchers on how decolonizing research can be conducted through African
oral tradition storytelling and what it can look like.
Caribbean Storytelling
Storytelling across the Caribbean reflects a connectedness to African oral tradition
storytelling due to the historical backgrounds of the Caribbean peoples. In the statement
of the African literary theorist “the storytelling tradition is never simply a spoken art; it is
an enactment, an event, a ritual, a performance” (Nongenile, 1992 cited in Puelo, 1996)
and for many peoples of the Caribbean that connection to their African origin cannot be
overlooked. For instance, in discussing the Caribbean storyteller Ana Lydia Vega, Puleo
(1996) iterates that “Vega’s story is based on Puerto Rican folklore, classical literature,
Christian religious literature, and an element that has been suppressed and often denied
in Puerto Rican culture-its African heritage” (p. 21). Within the storytelling culture of
Trinidad, Marshall (2016) discusses the Midnight Robber in “Robber Talk” who is “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” (p. 210). Puleo (1996) further explains that
the connection to West African Elements of the Midnight Robber’s dress and speech are
directly descended from West African dress and oral traditions. She further explains that
there are parallels between the Midnight robber and the trickster figure Anansi – 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, 2016, p. 210). These stories, passed
through oral tradition of storytelling, served as the conduit for imported slaves to pass
down historical and sometimes hyperbolic accounts of their homeland, tales and fables.
Within the Caribbean culture of storytelling is also liming and ole talk which is described
as a uniquely Caribbean way of knowing that reflects the indigenous knowledge sharing,
thinking, experiences, values and principles (Nakhid, 2021). In expounding on culturally
affirming research methodologies, Nakhid (2021) iterates that “Liming methodology,
incorporating liming as research methodology and ole talk as research method, is not
derived from Western interpretations but grounded within a Caribbean context” (p. 180).
It is such contestations and expressions of storytelling as epistemology that this book
seeks to center within academic and sociocultural discourse on research. Authors in this
section are therefore encouraged to navigate storying in this book as resistance, heritage
and voice of Caribbean peoples demonstrating the rich perspectives it brings to academic
discourse.
South Asian forms of Storytelling
People gathered under a banyan tree in a village or a field to listen to stories is the
historical image that comes to mind to describe storytelling in South Asia. Historically,
storytelling in South Asia has been tied to the oral tradition and used to represent the
cultural and social values (lore) of the community (folk). The purpose of storytelling was
to educate, galvanize, impart hope, honor, and preserve the rich cultural and religious
traditions. For South Asian diasporic communities, stories help maintain links to their
ancestral homeland and are a way to maintain cultural traditions and memory. For many
trying to craft their identity, family history and folklore and mythology are transmitted
within families (Narayan, 2004). Stories have functioned as emplacement, though the
diaspora is linked to displacement. South Asian storytelling has also been used to critique
social issues, cultural practices, and communal violence (Nagappan, 2005) as well as
reclaim colonized narratives written with a Eurocentric lens (Fatima, 2019). Critiques of
colonialism reshaping indigenous narratives about nationhood and history and the control
of narratives to redefine the caste system that deeply altered cultural and historical
narratives of indigenous people in South Asia abound (Dirks, 2001; Spivak, 1988) South
Asian storytelling continues to explore roots and historical narratives, expose divisive
issues and center marginalized voices, and retain rich cultural practices.
Histheoretical Perspectives of Storying and the Shift to Decolonial and indigenous
methodologies
In this section, we invite contributors to discuss the linkages between story, culture,
identity, and coloniality. Taking up story as both a tool for formal, normative identity
formation and pedagogical development, as well as an instrument of revivifying missing
cultural narratives, reconceptualizing identity beyond colonial confines, and rewriting
cultural stories toward decolonial values and ends.
Proposed chapters should cover the following cultural spaces:
 African Oral Traditional Storytelling approaches to research
 Caribbean storying approaches to research
 South Asian Storying approaches to research
 Collaborative African, Caribbean, and South Asian storying approaches or
conversation
 Histheoretical Perspectives of Storying and the Shift to Decolonial and indigenous
methodologies
Authors are encouraged to delve into oral traditional storytelling cultural practices in their
identified indigenous cultures. While books like these usually turn to be theoretical and
inundated with literature, authors are encouraged to move away from such rhetoric and
work within the cultural spaces of their indigenous storytelling cultures: languages,
proverbs, metaphors, identities, and ways of telling and sharing knowledge are crucial in
showing the cultural capital that indigenous research methodologies and indigenous
sharing bring to the field of research and knowledge sharing. Chapters can also discuss
transcultural or diasporic experiences and multicultural mosaics. We imagine these
accounts break disciplinary and cultural boundaries. Given that this collection is centered
on the existing practices of storytelling as a means of decolonizing spaces, performances,
epistemologies, and identities, we would like pieces to center on the practical primarily,
even if it is a way to communicate theoretical ideas. The concrete experiences of
storytelling and that practice’s effects in the world should take a primary role in your
chapter.
Important Deadlines
Please respond with an expression of interest and a 250 word abstract via email
(sankofabookproject@gmail.com) to guest editors by the 31st October 2025.

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