Understanding Oral Literature

This latest contribution of the Kenya Oral Literature Association to explorations in oral literature is multi-disciplinary in approach. It includes a wide-ranging selection of papers from twelve Kenyan literary scholars, linguists, educationists, material culture specialists, and historians. The central questions addressed are why oral literature should be taught, what should be included, and how it should be taught. Amongst the topics covered are translation problems, understanding proverbs, oral narrative as discourse, the use of audio visual aids in teaching, general and the politics of control, images of women in African oral literature, the relationship with material culture, and oral literature as part of oral traditions.