We are in week three of the Mythological Africans Podcast September series on how mythology and folklore from the African continent intersects with psychology. This week, we tackle yet another phenomenon common to the African continent: the incidents of mass panic which seem to take hold of certain communities for days, weeks or even months at a time. Such incidents are curiously common on the campuses of girl’s boarding schools on the continent. As it turns out, I have experienced them myself!

In this week’s episode, we’ll examine some folkloric precedents for some of these events and probe lightly at why certain communities seem so vulnerable to them.

References

* Pinky Pinky

* Madam Koi Koi

* Walsh, Martin. “Killing Popobawa: collective panic and violence in Zanzibar.” 57th Annual Meeting of the African Studies.

* Zhao, Gang et al. “Mass hysteria attack rates in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.” The Journal of international medical research vol. 49,12 (2021): 3000605211039812. doi:10.1177/03000605211039812

Meanwhile…

The Watkins Book of African Folklore (…or The Mythological Africans Book) is out!

The Watkins Book of African Folklore contains 50 stories, curated from North, South, East, West and Central Africa. The stories are grouped into three sections:

* Creation myths and foundation legends

* Stories about human relationships and the cultural institutions they created

* Animal tales (with a twist…the folktales are about some of the most unlikely animals!)

I thoroughly enjoyed digging into the historical and cultural context out of which the stories, their themes, and protagonists emerge. There is something for everybody!

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