Raouf Mama, a storyteller who specializes in stories from
the Fon region of Benin in western Africa, will give a performance
on Friday, Feb. 23, at 1:40 p.m. in Old Chapel.
The event, free and open to the public, is part of the
College's celebration of Black History Month.
Mama, a professor of English at Eastern
Connecticut State University, was born in Benin, educated at the
National University there, and received his graduate degrees at the
University of Michigan.
He is the author of Why Goats Smell Bad,
a collection of 20 folktales from the Republic
of Benin. As the former Kingdom of Dahomey, Benin was a
jumping-off point for the slave trade of the
17th century.
Mama's translated tales also have been published
by Storytelling Magazine, Parabola, Connecticut
Review, and Facts and Fiction.