Oral Traditions and Orature
Oral traditions, or orature, comprise the epics, praise poetry, folktales, and performances transmitted orally across African and other societies, recognized as a major form of literature.
Definition
The body of orally composed, performed, and transmitted literature—epic, poetry, story, and song—studied as a major literary mode in Africa and beyond.
Scope
This topic covers oral literature, with particular attention to Africa: epic and praise poetry, folktales, proverbs, riddles, and songs performed and transmitted without writing. It treats the theory of orality and literacy, the techniques of oral composition and performance, the role of the griot and other oral artists, and the relationship between oral tradition and written African literatures.
Core questions
- What forms make up oral literature or orature?
- How is oral literature composed and performed?
- How do orality and literacy differ as modes of expression?
- How does oral tradition relate to written African literatures?
Key concepts
- orature
- oral-formulaic composition
- the griot
- praise poetry
- orality and literacy
Key theories
- Oral-formulaic composition
- Albert Lord, building on Milman Parry, showed that oral epic is composed in performance through formulas and themes rather than memorized verbatim, a theory applied widely to oral traditions.
- Orality and literacy
- Walter Ong argued that oral and literate cultures differ fundamentally in thought and expression, with oral cultures favoring formulaic, additive, and performative modes.
History
Oral literature is humanity's oldest literary mode, long undervalued by written-canon scholarship. Milman Parry and Albert Lord's study of South Slavic epic reframed Homeric and oral composition, while Ruth Finnegan's Oral Literature in Africa and Isidore Okpewho's work established African orature as a serious field, recognizing epic, praise poetry, and folktale as literature in their own right.
Debates
- Is oral tradition 'literature'?
- Scholars debated whether orally transmitted forms count as literature, a question Finnegan and Okpewho answered affirmatively against older print-centered assumptions.
Key figures
- Ruth Finnegan
- Isidore Okpewho
- Walter Ong
- Albert Lord
- Milman Parry
Related topics
Seminal works
- finnegan1970
- okpewho1992
- lord1960
Frequently asked questions
- What is orature?
- Orature, or oral literature, is literature that is composed, performed, and transmitted orally rather than in writing, including epic, praise poetry, folktales, and song.
- What is a griot?
- A griot is a West African oral artist, historian, and praise singer who preserves and performs the community's epics, genealogies, and traditions.