This study examines the portrayal of children in West African oral literature in terms of
their unique social role. It delves into a recurring motif found in various narratives within
this oral tradition: the concept of a child endowed with the ability to resolve certain societal
issues and carrying the hope of perpetuating the family lineage. The child characters
fulfilling such functions thus stand apart from the popular archetypes found in local
folktales. I refer to this child figure in West African oral literature, depicted as an antidote
to earthly transience, as the “remedy child.” This figure challenges the conventional view
of childhood as passive, which is shaped by the Western romantic imagination of the 18th
and 19th centuries. While prior studies have contrasted this Western model with the active
social role assigned to children in traditional African cosmologies, this study specifically
focuses on identifying the “remedy child” figure within West African oral literature.
At times embodying a link between generations and at others serving as a mediator
between the visible and invisible realms, the “remedy child” is endowed with the power
to resolve social crises and defy the oblivion of mortal finitude. Consequently, the analysis
provides food for thought on the evolving status of children within a rapidly changing
Africa.