Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [201]-217). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Massachusetts Amherst, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-187).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Lombard, Ill., 1998. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-85).

Thesis (M.A.)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2004. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Walter Fleming. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-113).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1975. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 363-378).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-01-27Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:55:16Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 yahn_cac_me_assis.pdf: 676578 bytes, checksum: d9e422fd55697a618082f29fa06d7a6c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Visa-se estudar as cantigas de Capoeira Angola e descobrir um pouco mais sobre seus mitos e ensinamentos que muitas vezes funcionam como instrumento de transmissão de uma tradição ancestral que resiste até hoje, que interage com a cultura e a oralidade brasileiras enriquecendo-as e, que diante dessa interação por meio de conhecimentos que são passados em situações múltiplas de comunicação forma novos capoeiristas angoleiros. Procura-se demonstrar como os cânticos da roda de capoeira denominados “ladainha”, “corrido” e “louvação” podem ser analisados como parte da poesia oral afrobrasileira, pois de antemão já se sabe que os mesmos possuem forma e conteúdo essencialmente enraizados na arte poética. Tais cânticos são providos de ritmo, rimas, musicalidades, gestos, olhares e ambiguidades de vários tipos inerentes ao contexto da roda onde se desenvolve o discurso do canto, revelando uma dupla faceta uma poética e outra dinâmica do mesmo fenômeno. Ainda procura-se ilustrar parte da representação que a Capoeira Angola tem no mundo atualmente. Convém destacar a cotidiana relação que se estabelece com o seu universo por meio de treinamentos e trocas coletivas. Experiências de grandes mestres e mestras da Capoeira Angola contribuíram para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, pois como aqui tratamos de um saber específico, inevitavelmente em muitas etapas debruçamo-nos diante de seus detentores para então se entender pequenos pedaços de sua magia, que como já se sabe de antemão, é simples, porém reflete sentidos profundos / The aim is to study the songs of Capoeira Angola and discover a little more about their myths and teachings which often act as instrument of transmission of an ancestral tradition that endures until today, that interacts with the Brazilian culture and orality and enriching them, interacting through knowledge that are passed in multiple situations of communication creating new players of capoeira angola. It seeks to demonstrate how the chants of wheel called ladainha, louvação and corridos can be analyzed as part of the oral poetry: struggling, because beforehand is already known that they have the form and content essentially rooted in the poetic art. Such songs are fitted with pace, rhymes, gestures, looks and ambiguities of various types inherent in the context of the wheel where develops the chant speech, revealing a dual facet a poetic and other dynamics of the same phenomenon. It still seeks to illustrate part of the representation that Capoeira Angola has in the world today. Everyday should highlight the relationship that is established with his universe through collective exchanges and trainings. Experiences of grandmasters and master of Capoeira Angola contributed to the development of this work, because here we treat a specific knowledge, inevitably in many steps focusing on their holders to then understand small pieces of their magic, which as already known beforehand, is simple, but reflects deep meanings

This article takes up the challenge of comparative research in Africa by analysing and comparing the oral art of West African griots and Southern African iimbongi or oral poets. Similarities and differences between these performers and their respective societies are highlighted through the use of an ethnographic methodology. A distinction is drawn between the more traditional performers such as Thiam Anchou and D.L.P. Yali-Manisi, and the more modern performers such as M’Bana Diop, Bongani Sitole and Zolani Mkiva. The rich use of genealogy and history in the more traditional performances is highlighted. In comparing the work of the more contemporary, urban poets such as M’bana Diop of Senegal and Zolani Mkiva from Southern Africa, similarities are found in their performances on post-independence leaders such as Senghor and Mandela. Political pressures which have been brought to bear on the performer are also discussed. This article explores the continuity between the past and the present in relation to aspects such as the following: how performers gain recognition, their continued survival, their relationship with politics and religion, the orality- literacy debate, and the stylistic techniques used by these performers. Wherever possible, examples of performers and their work are provided.

This thesis examines Ngugi wa Thiong'o's later writings in order to establish the nature of his quest for a people's literature. It illustrates how the author attempts to break the barriers between traditional oral forms and the relatively new written forms in addressing a basically "illiterate" audience. The research begins with an exploration of Gikuyu oral literature as an essential background to Ngugi's later dramatic and fictional writings as distinct from his earlier literary works in which he initiates the dominant quest for a more just society. Ngugi's return to these roots constitutes the central "homecoming" that characterizes his search for new forms. The analysis is conducted through three significant chronological stages representing Ngugi's writings over a period of about a decade from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Each stage starts with a play and performance followed by a parallel novel, the first pair written in English and the subsequent ones in Gikuyu. The three stages - designated Transition, Homecoming and Realization - mark Ngugi's involvement in the promotion of Gikuyu culture and orature, both as a source of inspiration and as a cause to which he fully dedicates himself. The transitional stage depicts the convergence between conventional and traditional oral literary forms with which Ngugi begins to experiment. The second stage introduces significant departures as Ngugi begins to use the Gikuyu language as his primary medium of creative expression. The final stage demonstrates his ultimate assertion of the primacy of orality over the written word as a dynamic agent of transmission. The thesis concludes that Ngugi wa Thiong'o in these later works - while leaving the possibilities of his vision of a "New Earth" unfulfilled pioneers the African writers' climb down from an "ivory tower" to deal with the realities of the experience of the predominantly non-reading African masses, acknowledged as both recipients of and active participants in the relatively new written literature which purports to speak for their experiences and their times.

Bibliography: pages 105-113. / This study is a description, from the vantage point of a participant observer, of the development of a new, and probably unique, method of writing, teaching and learning about an oral tradition - a method which is grounded in ways of knowing, thinking and learning inherent in that tradition. It arose in the course of a co-operative venture - between two lecturers in African Religion and myself - to write a text for South African schools on African Religion (sometimes called African Traditional Religion). Wanting to be true to our subject within the obvious constraints, we endeavoured to write within an oral mode. The product, African Religion and Culture, Alive!, is a transcript of taped oral interchanges between the three authors within a simulated, dramatised format. The simulation provided the context for using the teaching and learning strategies employed in an oral tradition, but within a Western institution. We hoped in this way to mirror and mediate a situation in which many South African students find themselves: at the interface between a home underpinned by an oral tradition, and a school underpinned by a written tradition. In the book, knowledge is presented through myth, biographical and autobiographical stories, discussion, question, and comment. The choice of this mode of knowledge-presentation has been greatly influenced by the work of Karen McCarthy Brown. A further important requirement for us was to produce a text that would be acceptable to all the particular varieties of African religious practice. This need was met in a way that became the most important aspect of the method - the device of setting, as a core part of the work for students, a primary research component. Students are required to seek out traditional elders within their community and learn from them, as authorities on African religion and culture, the details of particular practice. This is a way of decentering the locus of control of knowledge and education, as well as of restoring respect for African Religion and preserving information in danger of being lost. The primary research component highlights fundamental issues relating to the 'ownership' of religion, knowledge, power, reality which are explored in the study. Also considered are the implications of writing about an oral mode while trying to preserve as much of the character of that mode - writing by means of speaking. Text as a metaphor provides a frame for examining the process and the product - in terms of text as document, as score, as performance, as intertextual event, and as monument and site of struggle. Suggestions are made for further research, both on the particular method of text-production under consideration, and also on the approach to teaching and learning about African Religion. Also considered is the relevance of this particular learning and teaching approach to the values inherent in the proposed new curriculum for education in South Africa.