About me

I'm a researcher and author; you can find out more at my website, LauraGibbs.net.

I was on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma from 1999-2021 where I taught courses in world mythology and folklore; I retired in May 2021. I have a B.A. in Classical Languages and Slavic Languages from UC Berkeley (1986), an M.Phil. in European Literature from the University of Oxford (1988), and a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature (Latin, Greek, and Polish) from UC Berkeley (1999). I have a long-term interest in Aesop's fables and other short folklore forms such as proverbs and riddles.

Wikipedia projects

I've always relied on Wikipedia for my teaching and research, so it is exciting to finally have time to contribute to Wikipedia now that I'm retired.

Oral literature and African language articles

My current Wikipedia project is adding oral literature references and examples to African language articles. Completed so far:

Chinyanja
Efik
Ga
Giriama
Hausa
Ibibio
Ila (There was already a paragraph here about Brer Rabbit, but no language examples.)
Kanuri
Lamba
Maasai
Mende
Mongo
Nandi
Ndau
Shilluk
Swahili (I added the 19th-century collection section; there was already a section with some proverbs.)
Taveta
Temne
Tsonga
Twi
Wolof
Zulu

Putting a priority on accessible materials

When I was adding an oral literature section to the Hausa language article, an editor jumped in just seconds after I had published the section and deleted my work. This was my first experience with an editorial challenge, and I'll admit that I was pretty upset that the editor did not engage in some kind of dialogue with me about it; instead, they just peremptorily deleted my work. They are not African and they are not an Africanist scholar, and I'm not sure they have any experience with African languages (?); instead, they just assumed that an old reference is a bad reference, and so on that basis alone they deleted the content.

When I protested at their Talk page (a discussion which later shifted to my Talk page), all the editor could do was state repeatedly that an old reference is a bad reference. I raised many objections, and the editor finally just did not reply anymore, but at least they did not delete the Hausa oral literature section that I had restored, so I am going to carry on with this project, language by language, updating the language sections with bilingual oral literature texts that are available at the Internet Archive, either always-available (public domain or CC-licensed), or available for borrowing with controlled digital lending. After I complete that task (which will take a while! I've updated 17 articles so far, and I have lots more to do), I will then move on to adding bilingual references from the materials I have access to in my personal library and also from the research university library to which I have access (the University of Texas grants library privileges to any Texas resident for the payment of a small annual fee).

The editor who challenged my work would presumably prefer for me to do things in the opposite order, starting from the scholarly materials that are (usually) available only to people privileged enough to have access to a research university library, but I disagree. Instead of prioritizing inaccessible resources, I put my highest priority on materials that are accessible at the Internet Archive. There is a lot I could say about this, but I'll just provide one example for now that provides a stark illustration of these two different approaches:

Today I added an oral literature section to the Nandi language article, basing that section on Hollis and Eliot's The Nandi: Their Language and Folklore published in 1909, and available online at the Internet Archive. There is not much else there at the article, which provides only the barest description of the Nandi language. There is a chart of vowels and a chart of consonants and the declaration that Nandi is a tonal language. No sample texts were provided, which is why I quoted some of the Nandi proverbs and riddles in the oral literature section: now there is some Nandi language in the Nandi language article! And the samples do not come from a Bible translation (as is sometimes the case in these African language articles), but from Nandi orature.

The Nandi vowel and consonant charts come from the Creiders' A Grammar of Nandi, published in 1989. That more-or-less contemporary reference to a book published by a German academic publisher is exactly the kind of thing the aforesaid editor wants to see... and it is exactly the kind of book that (almost) nobody can consult, unless they have access to a research university library. And if you don't have access to a research university library, good luck to you: the book is out of print, and as far as I can tell literally not a single copy is available for sale.

But here is some good news: when I went to look for that book at the Internet Archive, it was not there, but I did find the Creiders' Dictionary of the Nandi Language published in 2001. Fantastic! So, in addition to the oral literature section that I created today, I also added a reference to this Nandi dictionary, linking to the copy that is available for borrowing, thanks to the Internet Archive (yay Internet Archive!).

And here is more good news: although the Creider's Grammar is not available outside of university libraries, there is a grammar of the Nandi language in Hollis and Eliot's book. My focus was the Nandi texts available in that book, but I also made sure to mention that there is a grammar of Nandi in the book, which is available to anyone anytime at the Internet Archive. The book is in the public domain in the United States although, again sad to say, it is not in the public domain in countries which have a death-of-author-plus-70 rule; Hollis did not die until 1961, so that means we have to wait almost 10 more years for the book to enter the public domain in the U.K. and E.U. (but that's another topic...).

So, although the Nandi article did contain an excellent 1989 grammar reference, that reference is not likely to do anyone any good if they really want to learn more about the Nandi language. Meanwhile, the materials available at the Internet Archive — both the old Hollis & Eliot book and the Creiders' dictionary — will be useful, and they are both just a click away!

In conclusion, I think the Nandi article is now better than it was because of BOTH the 1909 reference AND the 2001 reference that I added. I suspect the editor who challenged my work still would not agree about including both of these references (they would want me to cite only the 2001 reference)... but I will leave this statement here as an explanation of why I am citing both old and new references, and if I am challenged again by that same editor or another, hopefully this statement will be useful, even if we just "agree to disagree" about our personal priorities when it comes to the important work of adding more breadth and depth to the African language articles.

African tricksters

After I complete this work on the African language articles, I want to broaden and deepen the articles dealing with African trickster traditions: spider, tortoise, hare, and others. :-)