Power, Marginality and African Oral Literature

A collection of essays on African oral literature and its place in popular culture.

Graham Furniss (Edited by), Liz Gunner (Edited by)

9780521480611, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 September 1995

300 pages
23.5 x 16.1 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

African oral literature, like other forms of popular culture, is not merely folksy, domestic entertainment but a domain in which individuals in a variety of social roles are free to comment on power relations in society. It can also be a significant agent of change capable of directing, provoking, preventing, overturning and recasting social reality. This collection examines the way in which oral texts both reflect and affect contemporary social and political life in Africa. It addresses questions of power, gender, the dynamics of language use, the representation of social structures and the relation between culture and the state. The contributors are linguists, anthropologists, folklorists, ethnomusicologists and historians, who present fresh material and ideas to paint a lively picture of current real-life situations. The book is an important contribution to the study of African culture and literature, and to the anthropological study of oral literature in particular.

1. Introduction: power, marginality and oral literature Graham Furniss and Liz Gunner
Part I. Orality and the Power of the State: 2. Oral art and contemporary cultural nationalism Penina Mlama
3. The letter and the law: the politics of orality and literacy in the chiefdoms of the northern Transvaal Isabel Hofmeyr
4. A king is not above insult: the politics of good governance in Nzema avudwene festival songs Kofi Agovi
Part II. Representing Power Relations: 5. Igbo enwe eze: monarchical power versus democratic values in Igbo oral narratives Chukwuma Azuonye
6. Tales and ideology: the revolt of sons in Bambara-Malinke tales Veronika Gorog-Karady
7. Images of the powerful in Lyela folktales Sabine Steinbrich
Part III. Oral Forms and the Dynamics of Power: 8. Power, marginality and Somali oral poetry: case studies in the dynamics of tradition John William Johnson
9. The function of oral art for the regulation of social power in Dyula society Jean Derive
10. The power of words and the relation between Hausa genres Graham Furniss
Part IV. Endorsing or Subverting the Paradigms: Women and Oral Forms: 11. Sexuality and socialisation in Shona praises and lyrics Herbert Chimhundu
12. Nontsizi Mgqwetho: stranger in town Jeff Opland
13. Clashes of interest: gender, status and power in Zulu praise poetry Liz Gunner
14. Jelimusow: the superwoman of Malian music Lucy Duran
Part V. Mediators and Communicative Strategies: 15. Power and the circuit of formal talk Kwesi Yankah
16. Praise splits the subject of speech: constructions of kingship in the Manden and Borgu Paulo Fernando de Moraes Farias
17. Beyond the communal warmth: the poet as loner in Ewe oral tradition Kofi Anyidoho.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]