The Hero With An African Face is a breakthrough book on the mythic imagination of Africa. Clyde Ford picks up where Joseph Campbell left off and takes us into the wonder and mystery of the African traditions. A master storyteller, he skillfully evokes the mythic vision, weaving personal reflections on the seeker's journey with interpretations of enchanting stories from the many voices south of the Sahara.
This expansive work blends careful scholarship with a compelling passion to illuminate the tales of the continent. While a great service for the study of the great African mythic systems. The Hero With An African Face is also an engaging personal odyssey." Jonathan Young, Ph. D., Founding Curator (1990-19995); Joseph Campbell Archives and Library.
The Hero With An African Face presents the compelling wisdom of African traditions, which is relevant to everyone living in the modern world. Through this book the deep well of sacred mythic knowledge left to us by these "first peoples" can assume its nature and rightful place in the pantheon of world mythologies, and we are all the richer for it. Clyde Ford given us an extraordinary gift which will help us better understand and appreciate our shared human ancestral heritage." - Michek Tom, Co-Founder of New Dimensions Radio; Author of "An Open Life" and co-author of "True Work."
"Though the contribution of Africa to world mythology is monumental, African mythology has yet to gain the honor and admiration given to other mythologies in the West. Clyde Ford is destined to change this. "The Hero With An African Face" resurrects the sacred wisdom of traditional Africa, thus re-establishing the rightful place of African mythology in the concert of human mythologies. This book should be read with reverence and respect." - Malidoma Some', Author of "Of Water and the Spirit."
Discovering a deeply meaningful African myth is like finding an old snapshot of myself in a place long forgotten...These myths are more than just folk tales or fables ... Here are epics as grand as Gilgamesh, heroes as hardy as Hercules, heroines as vexing as Venus." - Clyde W. Ford.
According to author and African American scholar Clyde W. Ford, African mythology and spiritually have largely been ignored in contemporary literature, denying the importance of their contributions, and obscuring an integral part of the mores and culture of traditional African society. But now, for the first time, his book. The Hero With An African Face, to be published as a Bantam Hardcover on January 19, 1999, examines many of these ancient stories and provides a new understanding of these cultures and their influence on contemporary African American society.
The Hero With An African Face identifies and explores the connection between humanity and divinity found throughout traditional mythologies of Africa. In the book, Ford takes readers on a journey into the mythologies of sub-Saharan Africa, presenting timeless insights into the human spirit that reveal the power and importance of ancient African myth. He places it among the great mythological traditions of ancient Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Native Americans. It is also the first book to show the similarity between African spiritual traditions and their counterparts in Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Native American spirituality, and other spiritual traditions worldwide.
Mythology was traditionally a means of healing self and society by helping people baring the circumstances of their lives into harmony with larger concerns. As Ford writes, "Myths bring us into accord with the eternal mysteries of being, help us manage the inevitable passages of our lives, and give us templates for our relationship with the societies in which we live." In the book, Ford explores how African myths convey the perennial wisdom of humanity: the creation of the world, the hero's journey, our relationship with nature, death, and resurrection. Ford shows how many myths reveal the intimacy of human and animal spirits, and explores the arhetypal forces of the orishas - the West African deities that were carried to the Americas in the African Diaspora. Ultimately, Ford points out that these myths enable us to see the history of African Americans in a new light - as a hero' journey, a courageous passage to a hard-won victory. ***
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