Don't show me this again
My Basket
This work has been accessed more in Africa than in any other continent.
The most significant development in
this new edition is its accessibility, for the book is now freely
available online. [...] In these and other ways, Finnegan's study
offers windows into new worlds while reminding readers who are returning
to it of all that it encompasses and all that it has bestowed upon
African oral literary studies. The book can now be read online, or
downloaded as a free e-book or pdf. In its new form, the book is a gift
given to us anew and, more importantly, given freely to the continent
whence it came.
What is significant about this revised, online edition is that it makes this ground-breaking, seminal work freely available to all who want to use it. This is particularly significant for the African scholar living in an increasingly technologized society on a continent where academics often remain on the periphery of a society consumed by emerging capitalism and political uncertainty. African academics, their universities and libraries are largely under-resourced and can often not afford to purchase hard copies of books. Making this book freely available therefore returns it back to its people on the ground, back to its original home, which underpins the fieldwork represented in the volume. It is now available for the next generation of researchers who will emerge through being influenced by this technologized version of the book.
What is significant about this revised, online edition is that it makes this ground-breaking, seminal work freely available to all who want to use it. This is particularly significant for the African scholar living in an increasingly technologized society on a continent where academics often remain on the periphery of a society consumed by emerging capitalism and political uncertainty. African academics, their universities and libraries are largely under-resourced and can often not afford to purchase hard copies of books. Making this book freely available therefore returns it back to its people on the ground, back to its original home, which underpins the fieldwork represented in the volume. It is now available for the next generation of researchers who will emerge through being influenced by this technologized version of the book.
—Russell H. Kaschula, Journal of African Cultural Studies, (2013) Volume 25/1, 141-44.
In ‘Oral Literature in Africa’, Ruth Finnegan explores themes common to anthropology, linguistics and sociology, debunking commonly held conceptions of the time and reestablishing the relevance of studying the oral arts of Africa with as much rigour as any other form of artistic expression.
Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa.
This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. Oral Literature in Africa has been accessed by hundreds of readers in over 60 different countries, including
Ethiopia ,
Kenya ,
Rwanda and numerous other African countries.
This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs from the Limba country (Sierra Leone), collected by Finnegan during her fieldwork in the late 1960s, which are are hosted by the World Oral Literature Project and are freely accessible here.
This book is part-funded by an Unglue.it campaign.
This book is part-funded by an Unglue.it campaign.
Oral Literature in Africa is the first volume in our World Oral Literature Series. The Series is produced in conjunction with the World Oral Literature Project.
Oral Literature in Africa
Ruth Finnegan | September 2012
xliv + 570 | 39 b&w illustrations | 6.14" x 9.21" (234 x 156 mm)
World Oral Literature Series, vol. 1 | ISSN: 2050-7933 (Print); 2054-362X (Online)
ISBN Paperback: 9781906924706
ISBN Hardback: 9781906924713
ISBN Digital (PDF): 9781906924720
ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 9781906924737
ISBN Digital ebook (mobi): 9781906924744
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025
BIC subject codes: JHMC (Social and cultural anthropology, ethnography), HBTD (Oral history), 1H (Africa)
 |
 |
 |
 |
List of Illustrations
Forward by Mark Turin
Preface to the First Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements: Addendum 2012
Abbreviations
Note on Sources and References
I • INTRODUCTION
1. The 'oral' nature of African unwritten literature
The significance of performance in actualization, transmission, and composition. Audience and occasion. Implications for the study of oral literature. Oral art as literature.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.01
2. The perception of African oral literature
Nineteenth-century approaches and collections. Speculations and neglect in the twentieth century. Recent trends in African studies and the revival of interest in oral literature.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.02
3. The social, linguistic, and literary background
Social and literary background. The linguistic basis — the example of Bantu. Some literary tools. Presentation of the material. The literary complexity of African cultures.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.03
II • POETRY
4. Poetry and patronage
Variations in the poet's position. Court poets. Religious patronage. Free-lance and wandering poets. Part-time poets. A note on 'epic'.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.04
5. Panegyric
Introductory: nature and distribution; composers and reciters; occasions. Southern Bantu praise poetry: form and style; occasions and delivery; traditional and contemporary significance.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.05
6. Elegiac poetry
General and introductory. Akan funeral dirges: content and themes; structure, style, and delivery; occasions and functions; the dirge as literature.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.06
7. Religious poetry
Introductory. Didactic and narrative religious poetry and the Islamic tradition; the Swahili tenzi. Hymns, prayers, and incantations: general survey; the Fante Methodist lyric. Mantic poetry: Sotho divining praises; odu Ifa (Yoruba).
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.07
8. Special purpose poetry — war, hunting, and work
Military poetry: Nguni; Akan. Hunting poetry: Yoruba ijala; Ambo hunters' songs. Work songs.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.08
9. Lyric
Occasions. Subject-matter. Form. Composition.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.09
10. Topical and political songs
Topical and local poetry. Songs of political parties and movements: Mau Mau hymns; Guinea R.D.A. songs; Northern Rhodesian party songs.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.10
11. Children's songs and rhymes
Lullabies and nursery rhymes. Children's games and verses; Southern Sudanese action songs.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.11
III • PROSE
12. Prose narratives I. Problems and theories
Introductory. Evolutionist interpretations. Historical-geographical school. Classification and typologies. Structural-functional approach. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.12
13. Prose narratives II. Content and form.
What is known to date: content and plot; main characters. Types of tales: animal stories; stories about people; 'myths'; ‘legends' and historical narratives. What demands further study: occasions; role of narrators; purpose and function; literary conventions; performance; originality and authorship. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.13
14. Proverbs
The significance and concept of the proverb. Form and style. Content. Occasions and functions. Specific examples: Jabo; Zulu; Azande. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.14
15. Riddles
Riddles and related forms. Style and content. Occasions and uses. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.15
16. Oratory, formal speaking, and other stylized forms
Oratory and rhetoric: Burundi; Limba. Prayers, curses, etc. Word play and verbal formulas. Names.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.16
IV • SOME SPECIAL FORMS
17. Drum language and literature
Introductory — the principle of drum language. Examples of drum literature: announcements and calls; names; proverbs; poetry. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.17
18. Drama
Introductory. Some minor examples: Bushman 'plays'; West African puppet shows. Mande comedies. West African masquerades: South-Eastern Nigeria; Kalabari. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.18
Conclusion
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.19
Map
Bibliography
Index
© 2012 Ruth Finnegan. Forward © 2012 Mark Turin.
This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license (CC-BY 3.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work; to adapt the work and to make commercial use of the work providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that she or he endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa. Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2012, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0025
Further details and the full legal statement of this CC-BY licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs
from the Limba country (Sierra Leone), collected by Finnegan during her
fieldwork in the late 1960s. These recordings are hosted by the World
Oral Literature Project, and are freely accessible here.
Reviews of the original edition of Oral Literature in Africa:
"... a book certain to establish itself as a classic in the field of oral literature, distinguished alike for the range of its reference, the weight of its judgements and the quality of its discriminations. Future scholars are likely to find it not so much a gateway [...] as a vast web from which their innumerable lines of inquiry will radiate and to which they will ultimately return."
"This is a comprehensive, scholarly and one would think definitive study of the subject."
"Besides being a goldmine for scholars, [Oral Literature in Africa] is a delight for the general reader. Finnegan conveys the richness and joy of the African imagination. The people and animals and spirits of Africa live, laugh, weep and quarrel between the covers of her book."
"... a book certain to establish itself as a classic in the field of oral literature, distinguished alike for the range of its reference, the weight of its judgements and the quality of its discriminations. Future scholars are likely to find it not so much a gateway [...] as a vast web from which their innumerable lines of inquiry will radiate and to which they will ultimately return."
— The Times Literary Supplement
"This is a comprehensive, scholarly and one would think definitive study of the subject."
— African Studies Association Bulletin
"Besides being a goldmine for scholars, [Oral Literature in Africa] is a delight for the general reader. Finnegan conveys the richness and joy of the African imagination. The people and animals and spirits of Africa live, laugh, weep and quarrel between the covers of her book."
— Journal of Asian and African Studies