Megan Kathman

ENG 301 Literature Review

African Oral Literature
Akintunde Akinyemis Oral Literature, aesthetic transfer, and Social Vision in Two
Yoruba Video Films from Research in African Literatures explains the creativity of an African
writer who worked to preserve African oral literature through film. Akinwumi Isola, the
scriptwriter, felt that the African stories were so important for cultural history that he wanted to
get them captured in a lasting way that never fade.
These stories are native to Yorubu, a culture of people to which oral literature is primarily
functional. The stories are used to educate their young children or used in religious ceremonies
and sound very rhythmic and poetic. It seems natural that these stories be converted into film as
they have a natural flow about them which would translate well.
John Kobias Gender Roles in African Oral Literature explores the oral literature of the
Igembe people of Meru of Kenya. In this community, oral tradition plays a role in the way they
as a people define their own gender. There are ceremonies, rite of passage in which young boys
and girls become men and women and they sing their songs and tell the stories that have been
passed down through the generations of their people. Kobia defines oral literature as spoken or
performed art whose medium of communication is the spoken word (392). He goes on to
explain that this means song is a form of oral literature, and that politicians have been known to
use song to drive their points and this is a form of oral literature. Kobia connects oral literature
with gender roles because they are both society driven and therefore are similar. Oral literature is
artistic expression in the same way that people may use their gender expression as a creative
outlet. Gender and Oral tradition are both driven by culture and to the Idembe people, culture is
very important.

William Murphy also says that studying oral literature is a way to study culture.
Anthropologists use oral literature to study culture in a way that truly expresses who the people
of the time period are. Oral literature has often also been referred to as folklore but there seems
to be a controversy surrounding that term, as Murphy explains. Some antropologists prefer the
term oral art to really capture the fact that the storytelling truly is an art form (Murphy 114).
The term folklore seems to bring with it negative connotations that may offend the African
people who hold those stories as tradition.
The term folk is somewhat considered derogatory of the people it is describing. Folk
has connatations associated with poverty, rural areas who are not prosperous. Anthropologists
worry that the term sounds primitive and used to mock non-Western people. However, folklorists
would like to rid the term of anything negative by making the term ethnocentric and nationalistic.
They are not offended by the term, rather, they prefer it as they feel it is the only word that
accurately portrays their culture.
Akinyemi, Murphy, and Kobia all look at African oral literature differently. They all
understand how important oral literature is to cultures of people, and they all have their own
stake in the conversation surround oral literature. From reporting on youtube videos of the
retelling of oral stories, adding to the conversation about gender roles, or just trying to make
sense of the African oral literature, each of these men are summing up conversations and adding
their own thoughts into them. The conversation continues as more and more writers and
emerging and adding their own two cents about oral literature and what it means to people. Oral
literature defines cultures, as well is completely defined by culture. It is something that has been
around as long as people have. Since the first people on earth, human beings have told stories,
and these stories tend to be important enough to pass down and eventually record in new ways

such as youtube videos and websites. As culture changes, the way humankind tells stories
changes with it, but there will always be stories and there will always be people talking about
those stories.

Works Cited
Akinyemi, Akintunde. "Oral literature, aesthetic transfer, and social vision in two Yoruba video
films." Research in African Literatures, vol. 38, no. 3, 2007, p. 122+. Literature
Resource Center, libproxy.eku.edu/
Kobia, John M. "Gender Roles in African Oral Literature." Matatu: Journal For African
Culture & Society 41 (2013): 389-404. Academic Search Complete.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.eku.edu
Murphy, William P. "Oral Literature." Annual Review of Anthropology 7. (1978): 113-136.
Academic Search Complete. http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.libproxy.eku.edu