> >Brittingham Scholar Braima Moiwai September 2001 > >Braima Moiwai, a renowned artist, musician, teacher and storyteller from >Sierra Leone, West Africa now based in Durham N.C., has been invited as >Brittingham Scholar by the German Department to teach a workshop on >"Storytelling and Oral Traditions." He will be in Madison from 10-14 >September 2001 and will give a public lecture on "Storytelling and Oral >Traditions" on Thursday, September 13, 2001 (Memorial Union, for location >please check TITU-Today In The Union). > >Braima Moiwai will speak about the importance of storytelling and oral >tradition for the handing down of traditional knowledge and history in >non-literate societies, giving examples from his own childhood in rural >Sierra Leone, West Africa. He grew up as the seventh of nine children in a >farming family, the only one to receive a formal education outside of the >traditional practices. He attended college at the University of Sierra >Leone, studying history, but was equally influenced from an early age by >his mother, a traditional healer and community leader of the Mende tribe of >Sierra Leone, West Africa. > >He just returned from a trip to his native Sierra Leone, and will give an >assessment of how the long civil war in his country has severely disrupted >the traditional ways of life. It interrupted the transmission of knowledge >and values from the elder to the younger generation, since many older >members of the communities could not escape the rebels and were among the >first victims of their brutal raids. In the shelters of the refugee camps, >the daily struggle for survival leaves no room for the traditional >education and initiation of the children. > >Braima Moiwai has developed educational programs for schools, libraries, >civic groups, museums and historic sites, exploring the influence of >African languages, customs and traditions on American culture. His main >interest is in the historical, cultural and linguistic connections between >the Gullah people of the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands and their >West African origins. He recently served as an expert on African oral >traditions, languages and music that survived among the slaves of the >American southeast for the civil war movie "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson, >and has played a Gullah musician in the film.