ABSTRACT
Research on the theme of trickery—tricksters—provided Karen Keim with a conceptual focus on historical trends in colonial and postcolonial, oral and written, African literature, and folklore. Utilizing a comparative framework, meaningful differences and nuances are identified in the way that the trickster motif is used in several West and Central African, and African American traditions and literatures. Intensive field research in suburban Cameroon, analysis of novels by authors such as Mongo Beti, excursions into the literary critical fields of Spanish Picaresque writing and the didacticism of the English African novel, allow the author to portray trickery in African literature as a supple, evolving motif through which writers can deal with a variety of situations and settings. The author’s career in college teaching and participation in the founding and development of the African Literature Association was launched in her three-year volunteer stint with the MCC Teachers Abroad Program in Isiro in northeaster Zaire/Congo. The chapter highlights the intensive self-learning experienced during her immersion in African communities, cultures, and literary traditions where she taught and on which she conducted her research.
