Brother Crow
By: Vivian Phillips
Ngũgĩ uses the tropes and symbolism of folklore to highlight the absurdity of the corrupt and ingenuity of the disenfranchised in Wizard of the Crow. Kamitl and Nyawira are at the point of begging while trying to survive in a corrupt system that when finally cornered by the police, Kamitl invokes almost a bastardization of a Deus ex Machina by creating a warning sign that the house the police are trying to barge into is under the ownership of The Wizard of the Crow. This sends the police into a panic and they're immediately scared off by the ideas of bad omens and the threat of witchcraft. This is accidental mysticism empowers the powerless and frightens those with power. Which got me thinking...
Out of all the things the "Wizard" could be of, why a crow?
Going back to the tropes of folklore, on a surface level it makes sense, crows are everywhere in humanity's stories, but couldn't Wizard of the Eagle or Wizard of the Lion served a just as good, if not better purpose? Of course not, this is Ngũgĩ we're talking about. So it got me thinking, is there a deeper reason why Ngũgĩ chose a crow.
The folklore of crows varies from continent to continent, from culture to culture. The most well-known folklore of crows, of course, is the Western/European/Christian perspective: omens of death, bad luck, witch's familiar, ill intentions, and devilry. It couldn't be more on the nose than English's proper noun of assembly for a collective of crows being, "a murder." So that covers the policemen's reaction. While not white Europeans themselves, they've adopted the Neo-colonial system and beliefs they've benefitted from. This might also be another reason why Kamitl chose that specific animal, excepting such a reaction.
But again, Ngũgĩ uses folklore to empower the disenfranchised and how does a crow do that? I was curious about Kenya's cultural depiction of crows. This proved very hard to find so I expanded my search to Africa as a whole. While I was able to get some morsels from different countries in Africa it was still much smaller compared to information on Crow symbolism from a Western lens, but what I found was just as enlightening.
In a folktale from Zanzibar, aptly titled, The Kites and the Crows, the Crow is seen as the sultan of the sky and is clever enough to use kites as warfare against his enemies.
When writing about the Nuer people, an ethnic group primarily concentrated in South Sudan, anthropologist Evans-Prichard that the Nuer peoples had great respect for the Crow. There was often art and totem depicted of them in peoples' homes. "The Nuer people regard the crow as a leader whereas other bird species (like finches) are seen as sources of destruction (1934, 81)"
In South Africa, the Crow's reputation is a bit more negative. They're often seen as pests, however, begrudging respect was given to crows when photos of crows "riding" on the back on the backs of eagles in Capetown back in November 2014 went viral. When asked about this new phenomenon, an expert from a local avian reserve chalked it up to the crows being bored and having fun at the expense of the eagles and even calling them "the gangsters of the bird world."
This image of a clever trickster or underdog would apply very well to Kamitl and Nyawira in terms of Ngũgĩ 's use of folklore. What might be seen as an evil omen by those in power can be applied as seen as a wise/clever underdog for those fighting/surviving the status quo.
Ngũgĩ uses the tropes and symbolism of folklore to highlight the absurdity of the corrupt and ingenuity of the disenfranchised in Wizard of the Crow. Kamitl and Nyawira are at the point of begging while trying to survive in a corrupt system that when finally cornered by the police, Kamitl invokes almost a bastardization of a Deus ex Machina by creating a warning sign that the house the police are trying to barge into is under the ownership of The Wizard of the Crow. This sends the police into a panic and they're immediately scared off by the ideas of bad omens and the threat of witchcraft. This is accidental mysticism empowers the powerless and frightens those with power. Which got me thinking...
Out of all the things the "Wizard" could be of, why a crow?
Going back to the tropes of folklore, on a surface level it makes sense, crows are everywhere in humanity's stories, but couldn't Wizard of the Eagle or Wizard of the Lion served a just as good, if not better purpose? Of course not, this is Ngũgĩ we're talking about. So it got me thinking, is there a deeper reason why Ngũgĩ chose a crow.
The folklore of crows varies from continent to continent, from culture to culture. The most well-known folklore of crows, of course, is the Western/European/Christian perspective: omens of death, bad luck, witch's familiar, ill intentions, and devilry. It couldn't be more on the nose than English's proper noun of assembly for a collective of crows being, "a murder." So that covers the policemen's reaction. While not white Europeans themselves, they've adopted the Neo-colonial system and beliefs they've benefitted from. This might also be another reason why Kamitl chose that specific animal, excepting such a reaction.
But again, Ngũgĩ uses folklore to empower the disenfranchised and how does a crow do that? I was curious about Kenya's cultural depiction of crows. This proved very hard to find so I expanded my search to Africa as a whole. While I was able to get some morsels from different countries in Africa it was still much smaller compared to information on Crow symbolism from a Western lens, but what I found was just as enlightening.
In a folktale from Zanzibar, aptly titled, The Kites and the Crows, the Crow is seen as the sultan of the sky and is clever enough to use kites as warfare against his enemies.
When writing about the Nuer people, an ethnic group primarily concentrated in South Sudan, anthropologist Evans-Prichard that the Nuer peoples had great respect for the Crow. There was often art and totem depicted of them in peoples' homes. "The Nuer people regard the crow as a leader whereas other bird species (like finches) are seen as sources of destruction (1934, 81)"
In South Africa, the Crow's reputation is a bit more negative. They're often seen as pests, however, begrudging respect was given to crows when photos of crows "riding" on the back on the backs of eagles in Capetown back in November 2014 went viral. When asked about this new phenomenon, an expert from a local avian reserve chalked it up to the crows being bored and having fun at the expense of the eagles and even calling them "the gangsters of the bird world."
This image of a clever trickster or underdog would apply very well to Kamitl and Nyawira in terms of Ngũgĩ 's use of folklore. What might be seen as an evil omen by those in power can be applied as seen as a wise/clever underdog for those fighting/surviving the status quo.
Work Cited
Bateman, George W. Zanzibar Tales. Told by the Natives of the East Cost of Africa. Transl. from the Orig. Swahili by George W. Bateman. Ill. Afro-Am Pr, 1969.
Earth Touch News Earth Touch News Earth Touch is built on a simple philosophy: nature's stories should be told with passion and imagination. VIEW more from this CONTRIBUTOR. “Meanwhile in Africa, Crows Are Riding on the Backs of Eagles.” Earth Touch News Network, 14 Jan. 2015, www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/meanwhile-in-africa-crows-are-riding-on-the-backs-of-eagles/.
Vadala, Jeffrey. “The Intelligent Crow: Exploring Human-Animal Relationships Cross-Culturally.” Human Relations Area Files - Cultural Information for Education and Research, 6 Aug. 2018, hraf.yale.edu/the-intelligent-crow-exploring-human-animal-relationships-cross-culturally/.
Bateman, George W. Zanzibar Tales. Told by the Natives of the East Cost of Africa. Transl. from the Orig. Swahili by George W. Bateman. Ill. Afro-Am Pr, 1969.
Earth Touch News Earth Touch News Earth Touch is built on a simple philosophy: nature's stories should be told with passion and imagination. VIEW more from this CONTRIBUTOR. “Meanwhile in Africa, Crows Are Riding on the Backs of Eagles.” Earth Touch News Network, 14 Jan. 2015, www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/meanwhile-in-africa-crows-are-riding-on-the-backs-of-eagles/.
Vadala, Jeffrey. “The Intelligent Crow: Exploring Human-Animal Relationships Cross-Culturally.” Human Relations Area Files - Cultural Information for Education and Research, 6 Aug. 2018, hraf.yale.edu/the-intelligent-crow-exploring-human-animal-relationships-cross-culturally/.
Bateman, George W. Zanzibar Tales. Told by the Natives of the East Cost of Africa. Transl. from the Orig. Swahili by George W. Bateman. Ill. Afro-Am Pr, 1969.
Earth Touch News Earth Touch News Earth Touch is built on a simple philosophy: nature's stories should be told with passion and imagination. VIEW more from this CONTRIBUTOR. “Meanwhile in Africa, Crows Are Riding on the Backs of Eagles.” Earth Touch News Network, 14 Jan. 2015, www.earthtouchnews.com/wtf/wtf/meanwhile-in-africa-crows-are-riding-on-the-backs-of-eagles/.
Vadala, Jeffrey. “The Intelligent Crow: Exploring Human-Animal Relationships Cross-Culturally.” Human Relations Area Files - Cultural Information for Education and Research, 6 Aug. 2018, hraf.yale.edu/the-intelligent-crow-exploring-human-animal-relationships-cross-culturally/.
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