African Man and Two Classical Miths

Extract

The debate prompted by Meyer Fortes in his account Oedipus and Job in West-African Religions is valuable for its insight into the peoples of the Black Continent. In fact, if the basic motivations behind the two cited mythical stories can be discerned to any extent among the Tallensi of Ghana, and also, as the author suggests, within many other ethnic groups, it will be easier to establish characteristics common to all mankind, the elements of similarity being of a more primordial and significant nature than the differentiating factors. On the other hand, if the evidence is not convincing, or if the examples selected by the researcher are disputed by the outsider—who might for instance contest their long-term validity or universality—this might imply that the differences are predominant without their invalidating the overall possibility of there being a good number of common features.