Date: Sun, 16 Apr 1995 17:50:25 -0400
From: tburke1-AT-cc.swarthmore.edu (Timothy Burke)
Subject: Re: mermaids in poco lit


>I would appreciate any myths or legends or fairy tales concerning mermaids
>that occur in the oral histories of Latin America, South America or Africa.
> I am reading the House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende and in searching for
>information on mermaids, I ran across a bibliography of English authors who
>have used mermaids in their novels/poems. I was surprised to see Salmon
>Rushdie listed as well as other authors that I consider post colonial.
>What do mermaids signify in  postcolonial literature? Is there a mermaid tale
>that is common knowledge in Chile? Rosa the Beautiful is said to be a mermaid
>in the House of The Spirits, is she just symbolic/allegory?
>

Well, there's a linked group of West African/Central Africa discourses
about spirits that Westerners often refer to as "mermaids", often known in
these parts of Africa as Mami Wata. Check out Henry Drewal, "Mermaids,
mirrors, and snake charmers: Igbo Mami Wata shrines", -African Arts-, 21:
1988; Henry Drewal, "Performing the other: Mami Wata worship in Africa",
-Drama Review-, 32: 1988.


Timothy Burke
Swarthmore College, Department of History
Swarthmore, PA 19081
610-328-8115 (w), 610-544-2504 (h)




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