Reimagining Folktales for Cultural Sustainability: Developing a Comic Narrative of the Wakame and Warugwe Bakiga Folktale

Abstract

Folktales have long functioned as vital channels for transmitting moral values, cultural identity, and communal memory across generations. However, the dominance of digital and visual media has transformed traditional modes of cultural transmission, necessitating innovative approaches to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage. This paper examined the adaptation of the Bakiga folktale The Rabbit and the Leopard into a comic narrative as a strategy for sustaining the cultural identity in contemporary contexts. Anchored in interpretive folkloristics and visual narrative inquiry as research design, the paper adopted a qualitative, practice-based methodology that integrated folktale text analysis, semi-structured interviews with Bakiga elders and cultural practitioners, and participatory validation sessions to ensure cultural authenticity and ethical representation. The paper documented an iterative creative process involving script development, sketching, illustration, colouring, and visual semiotic refinement, through which the “Wakame na Warugwe” (Rabbit and Leopard) folktale was decontextualised into sequential art. The Findings revealed that the comic format effectively preserves core Bakiga moral values, particularly intelligence over brute force, justice, and resilience, while enhancing accessibility and engagement for visually oriented and younger audiences. Afro-comic aesthetics, symbolic characterisation, strategic colour use, and the integration of speech bubbles and narrative captions were shown to reinforce moral interpretation and sustain the performative essence of oral storytelling. Thus, the paper demonstrated that comic narratives function not merely as preservative tools but as adaptive cultural technologies that extend the life of folktales through reinterpretation and visual mediation. The paper contributed to broader discourse on digital heritage and cultural sustainability, illustrating the potential of comics to support intergenerational knowledge transmission and the revitalisation of indigenous African folktales in the digital age.