SUBMIT MANUSCRIPT

Donnish Journal of English and Literature

December 2024 Vol. 12(12), pp. 267-286

Copyright (c) 2024 Donnish Journals




Original Research Paper


A Review of Ruth Finnegan’s Article: Studying the Oral Literatures of Africa in the 1960s and Today


Blessing Okpapi Ekpe

Department of General Studies, Petroleum Training Institute, Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria

Corresponding Author's E-mail: blessing_eb@pti.edu.ng

December 14th, 2024.



Abstract


The present review is based on Ruth Finnegan’s article ‘Studying the Oral Literatures of Africa in the 1960s and Today’. I believe it is an engaging reflection on how scholarship about African culture has changed in focus in the last few decades. Finnegan rather concisely situates the scholarly activity in the 1960s - immediately after colonization or during self-examination to disentangle the layer of culture – when many squabbled for recognition of oral pieces of literature as more than an appendage to literature Western civilization. The article outlines the theoretical shifts that accompanied the change involving the study of those traditions, the most notable ones being the adoption of cross-disciplinary frameworks – anthropology, folklore and literary theory. Using the bracketed time frame, Finnegan explains how much more recently integrated African scholarship is regarding oral performances and what they do, like the evolution of identity, memory and community. The review emphasizes Finnegan's point on the need to grapple with oral literature in this globalized world, and the argument she makes for their current relevance is quite compelling. Oral works of literatureare of intergenerational importance, and comprehending oral narratives in that frame can broaden one’s understanding of Africa. This review offers a background against which I feel oral works of literature should be conceptualized, particularly in relation to the changing perceptions of the study of Africa.

Keywords: Climate Ruth Finnegan, Oral works of literature, Africa, Western civilization

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Cite This Article:

Blessing Okpapi Ekpe. A Review of Ruth Finnegan’s Article: Studying the Oral Literatures of Africa in the 1960s and Today. Donnish Journal of English and Literature 12(12) 2024 pp. 267-286.


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