South Carolina State University News May 9, 2012 SC State University French Professor Releases New Book Exploring African Folktales For the past three years, Dr. Justin S. Niati, assistant professor of French in the Department of English and Modern Languages at SC State University, has been on a distinct journey to learn more about his culture. Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, Niati also has a strong interest in folktales, particularly in his homeland. Those two interests sparked his desire to collect and document his findings in a recently released book entitled: "Narrative Strategies in African Folktales: Revisiting the Russian Formalism Theory." In his book, Niati explores the fundamentals of African and Russian folktales. In sharing similarities of the two, he focuses on addressing questions such as: What are the basic plot elements in any African folktale?, what does the main character do and how does he/she acts in the story?, and what strategies are used by the main character to make the case? "To answer these questions, I used author Vladimir Propp's, "A Russian Folklorist" model as described in his "Morphology of the Folktale," noted Niati. "Then I wanted to find out whether the plot elements found in the Russian folktales share any similarities with those found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. If yes, why?" he says. As a teenager, Niati says he listened to adults when they told stories in the middle of the night. As he got older, his interest in folktales heighted. "I wanted to know how they are structured and how they work," says. Once he began gathering that knowledge for himself, he quickly had the desire to share it with others and his book derived. "Many folktale books published so far simply focus on the texts themselves and are just informational. This book will help the reader to grasp the structure of the tale and its different components," he says. The French instructor is excited about the release of his fourth book and says he has a special message for his readers. "Achetez le livre et vous ne le regretterez pas," he says in French which, in English translates to buy the book and you will never regret it! "Narrative Strategies in African Folktales: Revisiting the Russian Formalism Theory" is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and PublishAmerica.com. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-520-0593 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/2012meeting-form.html for the October 21-23, 2012 HBCU Library Alliance 5th Membership Meeting and the Photographic Preservation Pre-Conference in New Orleans, LA. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.