The Portrayal of Ananse as a Deceptive Character in ‘Anansesem’: Evidence from Yaw Asare’s Ananse in the Land of Idiots

This paper focused on deception, which has been identified as one of the attributes of Ananse, the Spider in all
contexts of Ghanaian folklore. The paper is an analytical discourse which derives its source of reference from Yaw Asare’s
Ananse in the land of idiotsa play based on the Ghanaian story telling tradition. The analysis of deception is rooted on Buller & Burgoon’s (1996) Interpersonal Deception Theory. In the final analysis, the paper concluded that Ananse exhibited various forms of deceptive postures in all his dealings and engagements at different levels. Ananse as a character is also portrayed as epitome of man in the Ghanaian social context.