Myth

Ever since Odysseus heard tales of his own exploits being retold among strangers, audiences and readers have been alive to the complications and questions arising from the translation of myth. How are myths taken and carried over into new languages, new civilizations, or new media? An international group of scholars is gathered in this volume to present diverse but connected case studies which address the artistic and political implications of the changing condition of myth this most primal and malleable of forms.

Where do myths come from? What is their function and what do they mean?

Using the socio-political discourse of Kwame Nkrumah, a pioneering Pan-Africanist and Ghana’s independence leader, Nartey investigates the notion of political myth-making in a context underexplored in the literature. He examines Nkrumah’s construction of a myth described in the book as the Unite or Perish myth (i.e. the idea of a ‘United States of Africa’ being a prerequisite for the survival of Africa in the post-independence period), exploring the rhetorical resources he deployed, categorizing and analyzing key tropes and metaphors, and setting out the myth’s basic components.