DEPA - Sierra Leone Oral Storytelling

The storytelling project worked with communities in three villages in the north of Sierra Leone comprising a mix of predominantly: Temne, Limba, Fula, Loko, Susu and Madingo people. It focused on adults and senior citizens (both male and female). The workshops were led by a male storyteller and included: 21 teachers (3 groups of 7 – mixed male and female teachers from each village). The ‘whole community’ were engaged in the storytelling sessions, telling and sharing traditional and life history stories. It included folk sayings, proverbs and riddles, songs, and individual oral stories (folk, mythological, traditional, trickster, problem, dilemma, ghost stories and fables), parables, life histories (real life stories), and Griot (ancient individual, family and community histories).  

The 46 files in this item document the storytelling process and people’s experience of being a part of the research. It includes: 31 video recordings, 7 photographs and 8 text interview transcripts.  

The Salone DEPA project in Sierra Leone was a part of DEPA (Decolonising Education for Peace in Africa). DEPA was a 4 year project funded by the Arts and Humanities Council (AHRC) addressing the question: What are the different knowledges and values underpinning peace and how can these practices be connected and compared across countries to create curriculum content and modes of delivery in informal and formal settings, Secondary and Higher Education (HE), in order to decolonise peace education?