Ever-present in Jamaican folklore and storytelling is the character of the trickster Anansi, an African spider-god who regularly outsmarts other animal-god characters. Also known as Kwaku Ananse, 'Nancy Spida,' and Aunt Nancy in the Southern US, the character of Anansi originated with the Ashanti people in Ghana. In Jamaican culture, as well as throughout the Caribbean, Anansi has been a symbol of slave resistance. Just as Anansi uses cunning and subterfuge to achieve victories over his oppressors, so too did slaves employ such strategies within the power structure of the plantations.