An Analysis of Central and West African Folktales as a Means of Understanding Central and West African Values and as a Tool for Foreign Language Learning

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02608
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in general
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: NAGAI Atsuko 上智大学, 文学部, 教授 (50217949)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: アフリカ文学 / 民話

Outline of Final Research Achievements

When reading folktales from Central and West Africa, Japanese readers are often surprised when they encounter moral and life lessons that are very different from these thought in Japanese folktales. To analyze and explain the cause of this surprise, I apply a phenomenological theory about reading proposed by Hans Robert Jauss. He propose that reader’s surprise comes from unmet expectations which result especially in their memory about similar stories. I also used folktales from Central and West Africa to promote learning of French and intercultural understanding of students . I discussed how collaboration with West and African students via the internet can further this learning and I proved validity of exchanges between Japanese students and foreign students about a intercultural topic by presentation and report by students.

Free Research Field

フランス文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

他文化の読者がアフリカの民話を読んだときに感じる違和感の理由を、受容美学の理論を発展させて説明することで、差別や排除といった優劣の意識を含む言説ではない、相互に平等な異文化理解に資する理論的モデルを提出することができた。
研究対象地域を含む諸地域の研究者との継続的な共同研究や国際学会の主催を通じて、大陸横断的な共同研究を継続的に実行する際の作業分担や資金調達面での今後の課題を認識すると同時に、様々な文化的背景の人を受け手として意識する研究を実践できた。アフリカの民話を大学でのフランス語学習や文学的なテクスト分析の教材とすることの、異文化理解としての教育効果を検証することができた。