From: "Mark S. Segal" <segalpuppets-AT-comcast.net> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org> Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:32:34 -0400 Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] puppetry and racial problems There was a book by Idris Shah called World Tales. Don't know if it can still be found it was a remainder like 35 years ago. The stories were all cross cultural and cross ethnic cross referenced with comparable stories listed from other cultures.. Like I remember one being listed as a Native American (The tribe was listed) Cinderella. I believe that Aesop's fables became a repository of moral based cautionary tales from all over...not just his...... I also read that Aesop (read Ethiop) gained his freedom by telling the stories...became a tax collector and was killed (thrown over a mountain) by some folk who were not really intent on paying... Mark ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wayne Krefting" <thatpuppetguy-AT-q.com> To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2007 6:07 PM Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] puppetry and racial problems > This a bit long, but I think addresses, in part, the question of using > pieces of cross cultural heritage. At bottom, Aesop was a slave and lived > in Greece in 2500 years ago, yet his tales are as relevant today, to any > culture, as then, and are retold in cultures world-wide. Thus, > > From: "Christopher Hudert" <heyhoot-AT-mindspring.com> > > "when we have used puppets and/or stories from other cultures/races. . . > there are occasional objections that we are stealing their culture . . . > another case of the white man [oppression}. . . My take is that if the > story speaks to me and/or something I want > to address, and I can do it well, it should not matter what background I > come from." > > Julius Lester, author, teacher, and extraordinary storyteller, in the > foreword to the first of his "The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of > Brer Rabbit", concurs saying, "I have been asked many times whether it is > all right for a white person to tell black folktales. 'I can't tell them > the way you do,' is the inevitable plaint. Of course not, buy why should > that be a consideration? Undoubtedly, a black person with roots in the > southern black tradition will bring an added dimension to the telling of > these tales to which most whites will not have access. That does not bar > whites from telling them. > > "The most important element in telling these tales, or any folktale, is, > do you love the tale? [Folktales, he notes earlier, are not cultural > artifacts, but "we are the tale and folktales are a mirror in which we can > see our particular story."] After all, what is a tale except a means of > expressing live for this experience we call being human. If you love the > tale, and tell it with love, the tale will communicate. If the language > you speak is different from the language I speak, tell the tale in your > language. Tell the tale as you would, not I, and believe in the tale. . . > > "The tales will live only if they flow through your voice. The suffering > of those slaves who created the tales will be redeemed (to a degree at > least) if you receive their offering and make it a part of your life." > > Empathy for the only race--the human race--trumps all. > > Wayne Krefting > _______________________________________________ > List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org > Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit > Archives: http://www.driftline.org _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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