MEPX
Chapter 8 of 10All chapters
  1. 1What myths are
  2. 2Greek mythology
  3. 3Roman mythology
  4. 4Norse mythology
  5. 5Egyptian mythology
  6. 6Mesopotamian myth
  7. 7Myths of Asia
  8. 8Africa, the Americas and Oceania
  9. 9Patterns across cultures
  10. 10Myth in the modern world

Chapter 8 of 10

Africa, the Americas and Oceania

Living traditions.

African traditions

Yoruba orisha, Anansi the spider trickster, and Dogon and Akan cosmologies each carry distinct systems, many still practised or revived in diaspora religions.

  • Oral performance is part of the meaning, not a limitation.
  • Diaspora traditions such as Candomble carry these forward.

The Americas and Pacific

Maya and Mexica creation cycles, Inca origin stories, North American trickster figures, and Polynesian accounts of Maui and Rangi and Papa. Many belong to communities that object to careless retelling.