The Power of Stories: A Conversation with Dr. Raouf Mama
During Once Upon a Time at Camp Sparkler, Sparkler’s virtual summer learning program, we’ve been traveling around the world, hearing myths and folktales from global storytellers. This week, we were thrilled to hear a story told by Dr. Raouf Mama, a legendary storyteller, natively of Benin. Dr. Mama shared the story of Goat’s Encounter with Tiger.
After he told the story — and sang a traditional storytelling song — he generously shared his thoughts on the power of stories to teach and inspire — even in today’s modern, tech-filled world.
“Listening to stories evening after evening in the years of my childhood really helped me learn certain skills, communicative skills, listening and comprehension skills,” he said.
Dr. Mama is a unique storyteller: he tells folktales in English, French, Fon, and Yoruba. His stories are from his native Benin and other parts of the world. He’s also a best-selling author and a professor of English and Storytelling at Eastern Connecticut State University.
Highlights of Dr. Mama's insights into the power of stories:
Why are stories and storytelling important? I am a storyteller today because in the years of my childhood, I was told a lot of stories because back then, there was no tv. I didn’t have any books. So the only source of entertainment at home was storytelling. And that would be storytelling in the evening. And usually it was either mom or dad or an uncle or a grandparent who would tell a story to us. There was always a little stool in the corner in the living room. And after the evening meal, after we’ve all done our chores, you know, we would gravitate toward that corner, and we will sit in a semicircle, waiting, for mom or dad or some grown up to come and sit on that stool and tell us a story. The magical opening to my story was my ‘story takes flight,’ because once the storyteller opens the story like that, off we will be, off we’ll go to a wonderland where all kinds of wonderful things will happen.
What do you think storytelling has taught you? It improved my listening skills, because listening is very important. Not very many people ever learned listening, because listening is the key to understanding. So listening to stories evening after evening in the years of my childhood really helped me learn certain skills, communicative skills, listening and comprehension skills.
How can storytelling compete with all of today’s tech-based entertainment options? Well, you have to make sure you don’t lecture too much. Just make sure they enjoy it. If they like it, they want more of it. So I just find a way to engage them and to make them enjoy the story and I try to make it as interactive as I can.
Who inspired you to be a storyteller? I must say my two mothers, because I have two mothers. I have my biological mother and my mother’s elder sister who adopted me when I was three months old. These two, they have passed, but they have made a profound mark on me. And when I tell stories today, to me, it’s a way of honoring their memories; honoring their memories and the memories of all those wonderful storytellers of my childhood.
The Story Dr. Mama Shared at Once Upon a Time at Camp Sparkler
As part of Sparkler’s summer learning program, Once Upon a Time at Camp Sparkler, Dr. Mama shared a story from West Africa, Goat’s Encounter with Tiger. Read along or listen to Dr. Mama tell and sing the story!
