Anansi

trickster · Ivory Coast · West Africa

Anansi (Ananse), the spider trickster of Akan folklore, is celebrated across the forest belt of Ghana and the eastern Ivory Coast, where his tales traveled with trade and migration. In Ivorian versions he outwits larger beasts through cunning. His story tradition crossed the Atlantic with the slave trade and survives as Aunt Nancy in the Caribbean and southern United States.

Open in the interactive archive →