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Narratives on Animal Wisdom
The QfWf continues to collect animal stories from all over the world on the Animal Wisdom website. The overarching goal of this storytelling programme is to present how the symbolism in the narratives transcends cultural borders and at the same time the beauty of cultural diversity is presented. This goal is explained in the first two books of the Animal Wisdom Collection. This collection also contains specific cultural storytelling traditions and presents examples with various artistic forms, sharing the intercultural wisdom about how to become truly human (in the mirror of animal life) and how to build happy communities.
By developing this quest for wisdom perspective into (e-)books, teaching modules and other educational forms, these old treasures are preserved and made freshly available for new generations.
The good life in the cosmopolis
Animal stories can be found in all cultures of the world in a colourful diversity of narratives and genres. Through their differences, these stories express a cross cultural elemental wisdom that these animals embody.
The crosscultural significance of the narrative use of animals as embodying wisdom and natural strength forms a golden opportunity for building bridges between cultures. Educational goals of the programme include the strengthening ecological and cosmopolitan values of global citizenship — such as inclusion, cultural diversity, ecological awareness and 21st century skills. In appealing artistic and educational forms, the QfWf aims to reach different target groups: children, students, parents, teachers, professionals, managers and administrators.
Further reading on the development of the programme Animal Wisdom in a series of articles (NL):
De Gulden Snede: deel 1 — deel 2 — deel 3 — deel 4 — deel 5 — deel 6 — deel 7 — deel 8
On the Animal Wisdom website the intercultural Wheel of Animal Wisdom categorizes the gathered animal stories from all over the world. This Wheel visualizes the overarching goal of the intercultural Animal Wisdom storytelling programme: how do the (un)wise animals mirror in a symbolic way human behaviour, virtues and mischief. The QfWf develops not a “flat moral” from those stories but a multifaceted one in artistic forms that is thought-provoking: as narrative wisdom that cultures worldwide have developed and that tells in a visual language about humanity and community building.
Intercultural Animal Wisdom
Communities from all over the world pass on their cultural wisdom gathered over generations in the form of stories, proverbs, symbolism and rituals.
The QfWf Storytelling program unlocks this intercultural source of wisdom and gives it appealing artistic forms, focused on connecting the stories and transcultural symbolism!
Animals embody elemental wisdom
Animals represent an elementary wisdom, they display clever and vicious tricks as well as being paragons of virtue. However differently the animals are presented, according to the specific cultural and historical context in which the stories were created, in all cultural traditions animals reflect basic natural strength and wisdom.
Beautiful forms of the latter are found in the classic tales of the of the Hindu Panchatantra and the Buddhist Jatakatamala.
Also, the famous stories of the Ghanaian Anansi as well as the less famous but extraordinary adventures of cricket, chameleon and other Malagasy hero’s.
Animals in myths, legends and fairy tales present a wise natural force: proverbial is the wisdom of the owl and the cunning of spider Anansi.
Birds in fairy tales and myths often convey messages, like the raven for example, as a mediator between the world of the gods, the humans and the underworld.
In addition to similarities, there are also interesting cultural differences. For example, almost all cultures have stories about dragons. Although they differ in shape on the one hand — sometimes more serpentine, sometimes more like a giant bird or like some kind of dinosaur — they all embody an enormous (super)natural power.
Read examples of Animal Stories as well as about the programme on — Animal wisdom
Update 2025-02