Catch the Spark
Kasalina Maliamu Nabakooza
Guide Entry to 24.01.09
The catalyst for this unit is a collection of folktales by the Sociologist Ernest Balintuma Kalibala. Kalibala introduces these African folktales with a dedication “for the children of America from whose racial inheritance these stories were taken.” This unit builds on another visual arts lesson written last spring about the Dream Keeper book of poetry written by Langston Hughes for children because it connects main characters such as Wakaima the rabbit to the diasporic character trickster character of Br’er rabbit and makes other connections to the African diaspora through exploration of how poetry and visual art are connected. Storytelling with African folktales using sculpture and puppetry is the focus of this unit written for visual arts students in grades 3-4. Themes of cyclicity and morphology inspired by readings in the seminar Myth, Legend, Fairytale seminar led by Associate Professor Marta Figlerowicz of Comparative Literature at Yale have been important in the development of meaningful lessons within this visual arts unit. Students will be encouraged to use their voices to communicate ideas to each other through performance and whimsical creative play.
(Developed for Visual Arts, grades 3-4; recommended for Visual Arts, grades 3-4)
