![]() ![]() ![]() 'I was amazed to realise how little comment there has been over the years about the many similarities between Potter's tales and the Africa-originated Brer Rabbit folktales.' 'Yet her tales are, at heart, folktales that originated in Africa before being adapted to expose and reflect the violence, resistance and survival tactics of the plantation life of enslaved people in the Americas. ![]() The stories were later shared by slaves working on plantations in America before being adapted for a white audience in the 19th century by American journalist and folklorist, Joel Chandler Harris.ĭr Zobel Marshall has accused the acclaimed author of failing to publicly credit them as the source behind some of her children's stories ![]() The tales, about a cunning rabbit who lives in a briar patch and outwits larger animals, can be traced to pre-colonial Africa, said Dr Zobel Marshall in an essay for The Conversation. Beatrix Potter has been accused of 'cultural appropriation' by an academic who claimed the author's most beloved tales copied folk stories told by African slaves.ĭr Emily Zobel Marshall, an expert in postcolonial literature at Leeds Beckett University, has called for wider acknowledgment of the debt Potter owed to the Brer Rabbit stories told by enslaved Africans working on American plantations.Īccording to the research scholar, the author's 'quintessentially English' tales of Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and Jemima Puddle-Duck, were 'more than just inspired' by the Brer Rabbit stories told by slaves in the 1800s. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |