Anansi's Journey: A Story of Jamaican Cultural Resistance

This interdisciplinary study examines the cultural and historical significance of the Jamaican Anansi folktales. Anansi the spider is the trickster folk hero West African slaves transported to the Caribbean. He symbolizes key aspects of Afro-Caribbean culture and is celebrated as a vital link with an African past. Anansi stories, in which the small spider turns the tables on his powerful enemies through cunning and trickery, are now told and published worldwide.

Emily Zobel Marshall traces Anansi's journey from West Africa to Jamaica, where he is celebrated as a folk hero. She demonstrates how Anansi survived a cultural metamorphosis and came to symbolize the spirit of resistance of the Jamaican people.