African folklore: A tool for improving sustainable resource management practices in Africa

Abstract

Africa's traditional knowledge system sustained the continent and its people for millennia before the advent of Western knowledge and, even so, has continued to play a critical role in the advancement of the continent. We ask in this article if Africa's traditional education through storytelling/folktales has a role to play in the contemporary drive for sustainable development practices. To answer this question, we carried out a field experiment among preteen pupils in Nigeria. We taught an age-old African folktale among school-age pupils to one set of pupils and not in the control group and asked them how they would use and manage certain natural resources. We find that those exposed to an African folktale had a better appreciation for resource management than those who were not holding all else constant. We also discuss the implications of incorporating folktales into the Nigerian school curriculum and its potential benefits for resource management.