A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Johannesburg, 1993. / This dissertation examines the work of Bessie Head with a view to sophisticating prevailing understandings of her texts which tend to concentrate on Head's place in a tradition of African women writers. Current critical works emphasise selected aspects, of Head's biography and assume her presentation of the 'tradition' and 'orality' of Serowe to be accurate. We argue in this dissertation that Head has constructed and manipulated concepts of 'tradition' and 'orality' in her texts to suit both her intellectual concerns and her fictional intentions. Broadly these are to present her works as the recorded history of an 'oral African' society. Head's six novels as well as aspects of her letters and interviews are examined in order to demonstrate this assertion. / AC2017

The thesis focuses on the use of folklore texts in Russian language textbooks intended for Czech learners. Selected textbooks were chosen to be analysed. The first part of the thesis is dedicated to the summary of theoretical findings in the field of folklore and relationship between language, culture and oral tradition. Theoretical part explains the term folklore as a part of discipline that deals with folklore studies. The term is elaborated on and presented in relationship with language, culture and oral tradition. Practical part informs about the results of analysis of the didactic files with its aim to find methods of folklore texts application. KEYWORDS folklore, language, culture, songs, oral tradition, Russian language, Russian language teaching

Writing has long been seen as a solitary affair, but this was not always the case. Before widespread literacy, stories were told and retold through the power of speech. Whole communities came together to weave tales and myths. Recently that tradition has been making a return to mainstream media with the renaissance of tabletop role-playing games, which serve as a standard vehicle for group collaboration. A Tale of the Terminally Fey is an attempt to reconcile the collaborative, off-the-cuff nature of oral storytelling with traditional narratives. The author has adapted the transcripts of live sessions into the first chapter of a novel that would follow the characters through one of these storytelling campaigns.

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This thesis, consisting of four chapters, examines the shifting identities in contemporary québécois migrant literature, as well as the way the Other is represented by the authors in our study. The first chapter is devoted to the methodology and the theoretical framework for our research, which, in terms of postcolonial critique, is based on Homi Bhabha’s concept of « third space » as a creative literary space and fertile ground for the exploration of identity. Our study also explores concepts pertaining to specific traits of migrant literature, such as oral tradition, irony and humour, and transcultural identity, from theorists such as Janet Paterson, Linda Hutcheon and Lise Gauvin. The second chapter focuses on the writing of Marie-Célie Agnant and Abla Farhoud, both of whom use the notions of home and of oral tradition to gather the generations and to establish family histories. These two authors portray the image of a grandmother, exiled in Québec, and represent these women as the backbone of their respective families. The third chapter takes a very different approach to the question of Otherness, examining the use of irony and humour as tools for social critique in the work of Dany Laferrière and Pan Bouyoucas, two authors who use humour to mask the serious nature of their subject matter. Their critique of modern society is developed by exploiting the concept of «Otherness». The fourth and final chapter is dedicated to a more contemporary expression of the experience of migration, as portrayed in the work of Kim Thúy and Ying Chen, whose writing signals a significant departure from the themes of the earliest literature classified as « migrant », in the sense that they both adopt a neutrality of tone and create a literary production mostly absent of spatiotemporal reference. For Thúy and ! vi Chen, writing represents an apprenticeship of the French language and of cultural integration. Today’s Québécois migrant literature questions the pluralisation of identities, as well as the concepts of individual identity and collective identity. As such, the developing pluralistic nature of Québécois society is better represented within its literary scene. Within the framework of our study, what interests us the most is the changing face of the migrant identity over the course of the past fifty years, as well as the trajectory of its representation in this body of literature. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines the evolution in the representation of migrant identity and the experience of migration at the heart of contemporary Québécois literature. This research questions the pragmatic aspect of literature, specifically the establishment of new identities in twentieth and twenty-first century Québec and Canada. Our corpus explores the literary representation of life on the margins of a host society. By applying the postcolonial research on Otherness and Identity of theorists such as Homi Bhabha, Lise Gauvin and Janet Paterson, we are able to analyse the distinct characteristics of the literary production on memory and history, and on displacement, that originate from what Bhabha calls the gap between cultures.

The study examines two selected Yorùbá movies, focuses on the oral tradition, feelings, and messages in them. Its purpose is to show that the classification or categorisation by previous scholars is not limited to Yorùbá movies; it is adaptable to other movies. Consequently, the study sets out to find an identity for Yorùbá movies and is able to accomplish its aim. It draws on copious examples of oral tradition genres in the selected movies, extract their examples from the movies, and use the extracts to make an argument that the unique way to identify Yorùbá movies is the Yorùbá oral tradition which frequents in the movies. In its attempt to find its focus, it highlights scholars’ ideas of oral tradition worldwide and narrows the concept to the Yorùbá paradigm. The dissertation contains information on research approach, theories, analysis, and findings. Also, it presents the weaknesses of the study and offers useful recommendations. Finally, the study asserts its claim and proves it with evidence from its data. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This study is a literary and ethnographic examination of The Vision of Theophilus, a fourth century Coptic narrative, as influential counter-narrative and source of counterdiscourse against the narrative created by the historically dominant Egyptian Arab Muslim state. It shows that The Vision has provided the Copts with the means to articulate their identity as different from their oppressors through its function as a repository of Coptic ideology, history and knowledge. Specifically, it has helped them resist the erosion of those aspects of their cultural identity targeted by colonial practices through its promotion of the Coptic language, pride in Coptic history, and Christianization of the landscape. This study also suggests that The Vision tradition has helped alleviate the conditions of material and economic oppression of Copts. Drawing upon theories of Foucauldian genealogy and postcolonialism my research examines the development of Coptic identity and subjectivity in relation to assimilation practices. Using oral studies and ethnopoetics, this study traces the process of composition, transmission, stabilization and systemization of The Vision over sixteen hundred years and its dispersion over a wide geographic region from Egypt to Ethiopia, Syria, and the US. My research suggests that the resilience and effectiveness of The Vision as oral tradition lies in the stability of its core message and its ability to absorb and adapt peripheral changes to the needs of each given historical period. Close analysis of this core message as gleaned through comparative manuscript study also supports important revisions to its datation, and enables us to claim its Coptic authenticity. Previously, the only academic scholarly work concerning The Vision centered on its diffused Syrian and Ethiopian variants while its Coptic manuscript history remained largely unknown. / This study, which emphasizes the specifically Coptic origins, history and significance of The Vision of Theophilus, therefore fills a vital scholarly gap: Locating cultural resistance and agency in orality, this study shows how The Vision has historically acted (and still acts today) as a repository of Coptic history and culture enabling Copts to articulate a separate identity over long periods of time, and amidst a wide range of historical and socio-economic factors. / by Fatin Morris Guirguis. / Vita. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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The study examines two selected Yorùbá movies, focuses on the oral tradition, feelings, and messages in them. Its purpose is to show that the classification or categorisation by previous scholars is not limited to Yorùbá movies; it is adaptable to other movies. Consequently, the study sets out to find an identity for Yorùbá movies and is able to accomplish its aim. It draws on copious examples of oral tradition genres in the selected movies, extract their examples from the movies, and use the extracts to make an argument that the unique way to identify Yorùbá movies is the Yorùbá oral tradition which frequents in the movies. In its attempt to find its focus, it highlights scholars’ ideas of oral tradition worldwide and narrows the concept to the Yorùbá paradigm. The dissertation contains information on research approach, theories, analysis, and findings. Also, it presents the weaknesses of the study and offers useful recommendations. Finally, the study asserts its claim and proves it with evidence from its data. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)