African Mythology (Mythology and Culture Worldwide)

This volume looks at some of the popular myths of Africa and discusses their role in the culture and the values they reflect. The book also touches on how hip-hop music has its roots in African mythology. Readers will learn about creation myths, and the role of spirits and magic in African mythology and lore. Myths are stories of gods, heroes, and monsters that include tales about the creation and destruction of worlds, epic battles, and heroic adventures. But myths are not random imaginings; they reflect the cultures that created them. The Mythology and Culture Worldwide series from Lucent Books is designed to help young readers understand the origins, cultural importance and impact of world mythologies. Each volume focuses on one cultural or national mythology. Major myths, characters, gods and goddesses, and themes of the mythology are presented with a particular emphasis on tying these stories back to the geography, history, natural resources, technological state, social organization, religious beliefs, and values of the culture that created the mythology. Full color photographs and illustrations include a map of the geographic area specific to the volume's mythology, a family tree or other visual organizer of major entities covered in the volume, and an alphabetically-arranged table listing the major entities with pronunciations and brief descriptors. A glossary, a bibliography and a subject index provide useful tools for further research and discussion. Mythology and Culture Worldwide is a valuable resource to help readers visualize as an integrated whole a culture's mythology, its origins, and its impact. -- From back cover This volume of Lucent's Mythology and Culture Worldwide series looks at some of the popular myths of Africa and discusses their role in the culture and the values they reflect. The title touches on how hip-hop music has its roots in African mythology and ; This new series is designed to help young readers understand the origins, cultural importance and impact of world mythologies; each title focuses on one cultural or national mythology and explains how those stories reflect the culture that created them.; This new series from Lucent Books is designed to help young readers understand the origins, cultural importance and impact of world mythologies. These books will explain how mythology reflects the culture that created it. Each volume focuses on one cultur This volume of Lucent's Mythology and Culture Worldwide Series looks at some of the popular myths of Africa and discusses their role in the culture and the values they reflect. The title touches on how hip-hop music has its roots in African mythology and how these ancient beliefs continue to influence the modern world. -- From amazon.com Introduction: the way of the ancestors Myths, cultures and kingdoms Creation myths Animal tricksters Spirits, magic, and ceremonies Ancient beliefs in the New World. Tells in graphic novel format the story of Anansi, the crafty spider whose cunning and humorous tricks had all the stories in the jungle named after him Examines the ancient civilizations and peoples of African mythology, to explore and study their religious beliefs and myths