Oral Literature of the Embu and Mbeere

Oral Literature of the Embu and Mbeere
Author: Ciarunji Chesaina
Publisher: East African Publishers
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1997
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9789966464071
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This is a new title from the Kenyan publisher who is publishing works of scholarship on the oral literature of the different groups in Kenya. The background is the rich repository in oral literature of the enduring wisdom and cultural values of the peoples of Africa. Within the proverbs and riddles, oral narratives and songs, philosophical and material cultures are captured and expressed. These ethnic-based oral literature titles seek to preserve this wisdom in the written form. The literature of the Embu and Mbeere of Eastern Kenya is fully explored here by a renowned scholar and writer on oral literature. She covers the historical and cultural background; genres of oral literature and their performance; form and style; and the social functions of oral literature. Literary texts examined are narratives, oral poetry, proverbs, and riddles and puzzles.

Oral Literature of the Asians in East Africa

Oral Literature of the Asians in East Africa
Author: Mubina Hassanali Kirmani
Publisher: East African Publishers
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2002
Genre: History
ISBN: 9789966250858
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A further new title in this series on East African oral literature, considering East African-Indian genres of oral literature and cultures, which developed as people from India/Asia migrated to East Africa. The authors discuss how these literatures have been a source of creativity and renewal; and how they give expression to the values, perceptions and aspirations of cultures. The book is organised into sections on the socio-cultural background and historical origins of the literatures; patterns of migration and settlement in East Africa; styles in Indian literature as preserved in East Africa, common symbols, images and figures of speech; the role of the artist in literary production; and performance of oral literature. The authors further provide and discuss narratives from many genres: e.g. myths, legends, animal tales, moral stories; tales of wisdom and wit; riddles, proverbs and songs. Many passages appear in the original languages, transcribed from primary sources - in particular Gujerati; also Sindhi, Punjabi, Cutchi, Hindi, Kondani - as well as in English translation.

Oral Literature of the Luo

Oral Literature of the Luo
Author: Simon Okumba Miruka
Publisher: East African Publishers
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2001
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9789966250865
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This is the sixth title in a series of titles focussing on the oral literary tradition of various East African ethnic groups - the Maasai, the Embu and the Mbeere amongst others - published by EAEP. Okumba Miruka, particularly known for his contribution to oral literature in Kenya, sets out to contexualise his subject by first explaining about the Luo people and culture - from migratory patterns and economic activity to the concept of divinity, death, warfare and Luo cuisine and eating culture. He then approaches the oral literature of the Luo through the genres of riddles, proverbs, poetry and narratives. For each genre, he offers a general introduction, notes on style, convention, performance and social function, and a wide range of samples, or 'primary texts' with commentaries.

Contemporary Oral Literature Fieldwork

Contemporary Oral Literature Fieldwork
Author: Wasamba, Peter
Publisher: University of Nairobi Press
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2015-10-19
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9966792538
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Contemporary Oral Literature Fieldwork is based on rich research experience dating back to the 1990s. The book is written against the backdrop of Africa’s confusion with regard to the place of oral literature in the face of the rest of the world, where oral literature exists in conjunction with new literary forms. Wasamba argues that the oral and the written literatures are complementary literary forms. Throughout the work, the author underscores the universal dimension of oral literature as he demonstrates its particular attributes.

Kenyan Oral Narratives

Kenyan Oral Narratives
Author: Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira
Publisher: East African Publishers
Total Pages: 116
Release: 1994
Genre: Folk literature, Kenyan
ISBN: 9789966462305
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Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective

Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective
Author: Anders Pettersson
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 1196
Release: 2011-12-22
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110894114
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Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective is a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). Initiated in 1996 and launched in 1999, it aims at finding suitable methods and approaches for studying and analysing literature globally, emphasizing the comparative and intercultural aspect. Even though we nowadays have fast and easy access to any kind of information on literature and literary history, we encounter, more than ever, the difficulty of finding a credible overall perspective on world literary history. Until today, literary cultures and traditions have usually been studied separately, each field using its own principles and methods. Even the conceptual basis itself varies from section to section and the genre concepts employed are not mutually compatible. As a consequence, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the interested layperson as well as for the professional student, to gain a clear and fair perspective both on the literary traditions of other peoples and on one's own traditions. The project can be considered as a contribution to gradually removing this problem and helping to gain a better understanding of literature and literary history by means of a concerted empirical research and deeper conceptual reflection. The contributions to the four volumes are written in English by specialists from a large number of disciplines, primarily from the fields of comparative literature, Oriental studies and African studies in Sweden. All of the literary texts discussed in the articles are in the original language. Each one of the four volumes is devoted to a special research topic.

Literary History

Literary History
Author: Anders Pettersson
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 1208
Release: 2006
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9783110189322
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Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective is a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). Initiated in 1996 and launched in 1999, it aims at finding suitable methods and approaches for studying and analysing literature globally, emphasizing the comparative and intercultural aspect. Even though we nowadays have fast and easy access to any kind of information on literature and literary history, we encounter, more than ever, the difficulty of finding a credible overall perspective on world literary history. Until today, literary cultures and traditions have usually been studied separately, each field using its own principles and methods. Even the conceptual basis itself varies from section to section and the genre concepts employed are not mutually compatible. As a consequence, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for the interested layperson as well as for the professional student, to gain a clear and fair perspective both on the literary traditions of other peoples and on one's own traditions. The project can be considered as a contribution to gradually removing this problem and helping to gain a better understanding of literature and literary history by means of a concerted empirical research and deeper conceptual reflection. The contributions to the four volumes are written in English by specialists from a large number of disciplines, primarily from the fields of comparative literature, Oriental studies and African studies in Sweden. All of the literary texts discussed in the articles are in the original language. Each one of the four volumes is devoted to a special research topic.

The Rest Write Back: Discourse and Decolonization

The Rest Write Back: Discourse and Decolonization
Author:
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2019-06-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004398317
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In The Rest Write Back: Discourse and Decolonization, Esmaeil Zeiny brings together a collection of essays that interrogate the colonial legacies, the contemporary power structure and the geopolitics of knowledge production. The scholars in this collection illustrate how the writing-back paradigm engages in a conversation and paves the way for a “dialogical and pluri-versal” world where the Rest is no longer excluded. Among the important features of this book is that it presents ways for “decoloniality” and “epistemic disobedience.” This book will be of interest to scholars and students of all Social Science and Humanities disciplines but it is particularly important for those in the disciplines of sociology, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, literature, and theory and philosophy of Social Sciences and Humanities. Contributors include: Dustin J. Byrd, Ciarunji Chesaina, Hiba Ghanem, Mladjo Ivanovic, Masumi Hashimoto Odari, Arjuna Parakrama, JM. Persánch, Andrew Ridgeway, Rudolf J. Siebert, and Esmaeil Zeiny.

African Cultures and Literatures

African Cultures and Literatures
Author: Gordon Collier
Publisher: Rodopi
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN: 9401209154
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Besides searching book reviews, an interview with the writer Tijan M. Sallah, a full report on the 6th Ethiopian International Film Festival, and a stimulating selection of creative writing (including a showcase of recent South African poetry), this issue of Matatu offers general essays on African women’s poetry, anglophone Cameroonian literature, and Zimbabwean fiction of the Gukurahundi period, along with studies of J.M. Coetzee, Kalpana Lalji, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Aminata Sow Fall, Wole Soyinka, and Yvonne Vera. The bulk of this issue, however, is given over to coverage of cultural and sociological topics from North Africa to the Cape, ranging from cultural identity in contemporary North Africa, two contributions on Kenyan naming ceremonies and initiation songs, and three studies of the function of Shona and Ndebele proverbs, to national history in Zimbabwean autobiography, traditional mourning dress of the Akans of Ghana, and the precolonial origins of traditional leadership in South Africa. Contributors: Jude Aigbe Agho, Nasima Ali, Uchenna Bethrand Anih, Aboneh Ashagrie, Francis T. Cheo, Gordon Collier, Abdel Karim Daragmeh, Geoffrey V. Davis, Nozizwe Dhlamini, Kola Eke, Phyllis Forster, Frances Hardie, James Hlongwana, Pede Hollist, John M. Kobia, Samuelson Freddie Khunou, Mea Lashbrooke, María J. López, Brian Macaskill, Evans Mandova, Richard Sgadreck Maposa, Michael Mazuru, Corwin L. Mhlahlo. Zanoxolo Mnqobi Mkhize, Kobus Moolman, Thamsanqa Moyo, Felix M. Muchomba, Collins Kenga Mumbo, Tabitha Wanja Mwangi, Bhekezakhe Ncube, Christopher Joseph Odhiambo, Ode S. Ogede, H. Oby Okolocha, Wumi Raji, Dosia Reichhardt, Rashi Rohatgi, Kamal Salhi, Ekremah Shehab, Faith Sibanda, John A Stotesbury, Nick Mdika Tembo, Kenneth Usongo, Wellington Wasosa.

Africa in Contemporary Perspective

Africa in Contemporary Perspective
Author: Takyiwaa Manuh
Publisher: African Books Collective
Total Pages: 532
Release: 2013-12-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9988647492
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An important feature of Ghanaian tertiary education is the foundational African Studies Programme which was initiated in the early 1960s. Unfortunately hardly any readers exist which bring together a body of knowledge on the themes, issues and debates which inform and animate research and teaching in African Studies particularly on the African continent. This becomes even more important when we consider the need for knowledge on Africa that is not Eurocentric or sensationalised, but driven from internal understandings of life and prospects in Africa. Dominant representations and perceptions of Africa usually depict a continent in crisis. Rather than buying into external representations of Africa, with its lacks and aspirations for Western modernities, we insist that African scholars in particular should be in the forefront of promoting understanding of the pluri-lingual, overlapping, and dense reality of life and developments on the continent, to produce relevant and usable knowledge. Continuing and renewed interest in Africas resources, including the land mass, economy, minerals, visual arts and performance cultures, as well as bio-medical knowledge and products, by old and new geopolitical players, obliges African scholars to transcend disciplinary boundaries and to work with each other to advance knowledge and uses of those resources in the interests of Africas people.