The research is an Afrocentric engagement that analyses selected songs by Tongai Moyo and Hosiah Chipanga in post-independence Zimbabwe. The study is informed by Afrocentricity, which provides the theoretical anchorage to the exposition and elucidation of the pursuit for independence, liberation and freedom of Zimbabweans in the post-independence era. The study analyses selected sungura songs composed and sung by Hosiah Chipanga and Tongai Moyo in post-2000 era. The study indicates that post-independence Zimbabwe of 2000 to 2010 reflects a decade of crisis. The exposition unfolds through a critical exegesis of selected songs by these sungura artists. The two sungura musicians are among the leading musical voices in Zimbabwe. The study is largely qualitative in nature and used interviews and questionnaires to solicit information from research participants. Respondents comprise musicians, music producers and academics in the Zimbabwe. The study stimulates more interest and research in sungura music as well as illuminating the significance of their messages to ongoing debates on the Zimbabwean crisis/crises thereby establishing the relationship between music and politics. This position is made against the backdrop of their commitment and courageous efforts by such protest musicians to comment on ‘big’ political and economic issues seriously affecting the performance of Zimbabwean economy. The study also establishes that cronyism, patronage and corruption have become major industries of the day in Africa. Through fighting for the voiceless masses, the study argues that Zimbabwe is faced by the crisis of governance and the nation has taken the medals of humiliating its own people. Pertaining to the leadership crisis in Zimbabwe, the study also shows that musicians who include Hosiah Chipanga and Tongai Moyo insinuate that the deep seated Zimbabwean challenges are a manifestation of a nation that is parentless. In their protest music, the artists reiterate that poverty, hunger, diseases and other forms of sufferings that the country encountered and continue to face are a sign of a country that is an orphan implying the dearth of people centred leadership. Additionally, findings from the study show that the land issue is one of the commonly identified factors that are ascribed to partial independence in Zimbabwe translating into crisis. The land question invited attention from Hosiah Chipanga as reflected in his post-2000 music where he suggests that Zimbabweans were to a larger extent betrayed by ZANU (PF) leadership. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D. Phil. (Languages, Linguistics and Literature)

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Theatre, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], iv, 57 p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-57).

This study examines the extent to which the teaching of Shona novels can be used to promote unhu (humanness) in Zimbabwean secondary schools where there has been a call for the teaching of cultural values. The school syllabi for Shona make this position abundantly clear. For that reason, anchoring the discussion on the role of literature in Africa as expounded by African scholars such as Ngugi wa Thiong’o (1981), p’Bitek (1986) and Achebe (1989) among others, the study observes that literature plays an important role in moulding character through advancing unhu. For instance, as Achebe (1989) argues that the novelist is a teacher, the study therefore locates literature as a life-affirming and life-extending affair. The discussion of the role of literature as a potential conduit for expressing unhu takes place within the theoretical confines of Afrocentricity, an African-centred theory that places the interests of Africa at the centre of any analysis involving African people. The selected novels namely Pfumo Reropa (1961), Kunyarara Hakusi Kutaura? (1983) and Ndafa Here? (2007) are therefore interrogated from an Afrocentric point of view. The three novels are representative of different historical epochs in Zimbabwe’s cultural trajectory. In addition, they have featured quite prominently on the school syllabi for Shona. Through a combination of interviews and critical analysis of the novels, the study crucially observes that the proper teaching of literature can effectively transform the thinking of learners thereby locating them in their own cultural platforms. However, for this to happen, teachers must be properly trained in order that they develop an appreciation of the value of literature in imparting unhu among learners. As a result, the study thus proposes sufficient conscientisation of teachers and learners on the concept and practice of unhu be systematically carried out. At the same, there is need for greater planning in constructing a more informing syllabus, as well as the deliberate inclusion of texts that canonise unhu. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Les Bwaba du Burkina Faso montrent une grande prédilection, dans leur expression orale, pour un recours à l’implicite consistant à dissimuler la parole au moyen des sons de leurs xylophones. Cette dissimulation s’exerce principalement à propos des identités individuelles et collectives. C’est là une façon, pour eux, de masquer leur pensée tout en la dévoilant, afin de susciter à tout moment chez leurs auditeurs l’éveil de l’esprit, le questionnement, la curiosité. Ils disposent à cet effet de deux genres musicaux différenciés, tous deux dévolus à la louange, dont chacun forme un corpus spécifique : les devises senké et les chants bassé. Le recensement, la description et l’analyse de cette manière d’être, de dire et de faire constituent l’objet de la présente thèse.Le plus souvent sans recours aux paroles verbalisées, ces musiques de louange offrent un exemple hautement élaboré de transmission des signifiés. L’étude s’applique en priorité à ces modalités instrumentales pour interroger les processus de transposition de la parole à la musique, qui nourrissent cette société dans son quotidien et dans ses fêtes. Enoncer de façon voilée, par les sons du xylophone, le nom d’un groupe ou d’un individu permet de faire montre d’une grande maîtrise du langage musical, comme de la gestion des relations sociales et des possibilités de communication entre les membres de la communauté. Cette étude ambitionne de démontrer que « la parole du xylophone » témoigne, chez les Bwaba, d’une exceptionnelle mise en cohérence de l’intelligence productive et de l’intelligence perceptive / The Bwaba from Burkina Faso are very partial to using implicitness in their oral communication, i.e. to conceal speech within the sounds of their xylophones. This concealment applies mostly to individual and collective identities. It is for them a way to mask their thoughts, while unveiling them at the same time, in order to create an awakening of spirit, and arouse questioning and curiosity among their audience. In order to achieve that, they can use two differentiated musical genres, both meant for praise and with a specific corpus each: mottos or senké, and songs or bassé. The object of this PhD is to make an inventory, to describe and analyse this way of being, of saying and of doing.The musics of praise, which most of the time do not use any verbal speech, give a highly elaborate example of transmission of the signified. This study first of all applies to instrumental modalities, in order to question the process of transposition of speech into music, a process which nurtures the Bwaba society in its daily life and holy days and feasts. Enunciating in a veiled way the name of a group or a person, through the sounds of xylophone, enables them to show their great skills in musical language, and also in the management of social relationships and in communication possibilities among members of the community. The present study wishes to demonstrate that "xylophone speech" shows, for the Bwaba, an exceptional setting into coherence of the productive and perceptive intelligence.

「音樂」或「歌」在台灣原住民的生活中有著特殊的文化位置，在「原住民文學」發展之際也屢屢成為難以分割的元素，而在書面文字以外龐大的原住民口傳文學中，音樂或歌曲更是有著舉足輕重的地位。在歌手巴布狄倫（Bob Dylan）獲頒諾貝爾文學獎的今日，不但代表了歌曲文本在俗文學與典範文學中的壁壘再度被挑戰，「流行音樂」所牽扯到的全球架構之流行文化、娛樂產業與庶民生活價值等面向也開始被一併地以「文學」觀點討論。本論文從「口傳文學」與「流行音樂」兩個領域出發，並以唱片公司跨國整併以及在地意識、多元文化價值蓬勃的九零年代台灣為關鍵的時間點，探討「原住民流行音樂」如何成其面貌，以及當中具代表性的可能因素與類型特質。本研究的思考軸線，從「他者」的書寫、「認同」的建構到「差異」類型的成形，在這個演進過程中，當代西方理論的發展已經顯示了一條清楚的路線，它不但可以是個體生命歷程的縮影，與台灣原住民族的近百年來的族群經驗也密切地吻合。本論文首先以認同經驗的層次來檢視原住民「傳唱歌謠」所反映的時代社會性質，以及當中屬於口傳文化「集體性」的展現，並探討傳唱歌謠進入流行音樂框架中的銜接處所產生的關鍵性質差異。其次，討論九零年代的台灣音樂環境，分別從產業、創作製作和文化三個面向進行考察，嘗試描繪出原住民流行音樂成形的狀態。最後，以「流行音樂」的研究觀點來對原住民流行音樂的實際案例進行分析，包含其核心價值與邊界形式的討論，也與全球脈絡中的其他「口傳」族群音樂成其音樂類型並影響主流流行音樂的案例進行對比參照。在這些大主題與「歷史敘事學」（Historical Narratology）式的分析考察中，本文企圖勾勒出原住民流行音樂作為一種音樂類型，在其差異脈絡中的「差異自主性」，相對應於口傳文學「集體性」與某種他者印象中「原住民性」之觀看軸線，作為未來對原住民音樂或其他流行音樂類型可嘗試的一種研究思路與音樂經驗的印證方式。 / The “Music” or “Singing” has a special position in Taiwan’s aboriginal culture. It is not only an indispensable element in the development of “Aboriginal literature” but also very important in the vast indigenous oral literature beyond written languages. Nowadays, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature as a singer songwriter. It indicates that the steady state of the “songs” between popular literature and classic literature once again been challenged or eliminated, while it also points out that the points of view that popular culture, entertainment industrial, and common people’s life as well as Pop-music are feasible to be part of “literature”. To discuss the reason why “Taiwanese Aboriginal Pop-Music” became a type and how it worked, the thesis starts from the idea of two field, which is “oral literature” and "popular music”. In the year of 90s in Taiwan when the record companies were consolidated across different countries and the booming of the local awareness of the music and the multi-culturalism were as the key successful factors at that time. The axis of this study is the development that from the description of “Others”, the construction of “Identity” to the formation of “difference categories”. It demonstrated clearly in the development of western contemporary theories. It is not only a microcosm of the life course of an individual, but also closely corresponds to the ethnic experience of the indigenous people in Taiwan over the past centuries. First,this dissertation research the social in natures of the periods reflected by aboriginal "oral folk songs” and the “Collectivity” of oral culture among them with the difference levels of identity experience. Then, I explored the key properties that arose when the oral folk songs entering the interface of pop-music. Second, to depict the formation of aboriginal pop-music, I discussed the music environment in Taiwan’s 90s according to three aspects of views, which are industry, creative production and cultural. At last, I analyzed the actual cases of the aboriginal pop-music by the theoretical perspective of “Pop-Music” research, which contains the discussions of its core values and boundary. It also been compared with the cases of other "oral" ethnic music globally, that formed the genre of music and influences mainstream pop music. In these wide range of topics and the research in the light of “Historical Narratology”, I tried to contoured a possible way to research the indigenous music or other music types and to express personal music experience. It depends on the aboriginal pop music, as a music type, has its own “Differential Autonomy” in its context, corresponding to the “Collectivity” of oral literature and the “Aboriginality” from “Others”.

The aim of this thesis is to create an ethnolinguistic analysis of two corpuses of Mongolian riddles (Lovor and Ölziikhutag 1990 and Ölziikhutag 2013). The work contains over one hundred riddles appended with translations and morpheme-to-morpheme glosses. The riddles are further analyzed on a phonetic level, including descriptions of specific sound patterns and alliterations, as well as their lexical and semantic properties. This complex analysis, in conjunction with findings gained in field research, renders possible the description of a specific language of Mongolian riddles, characterized by the frequent occurrence of borrowings, the presence of semantically and phonetically 'damaged' words, ideophones, metaphors and many specific cultural expressions. The language of Mongolian riddles also often skilfully exploits overt abstractions, allusions, and lexical and morphological ambiguities, in addition to other techniques which facilitate conceptual mapping and cognitive blending. This linguistic analysis makes possible a description of the various aspects of the worldview of Mongolian nomads concealed in these riddles, including the characteristic linking of the 'sacred and profane,' as well as the relationship of these riddles to mythology and religious ideas.

Die Arbeit untersucht Differenzdiskurse zu zwei historischen sozialen Identitäten im Manden (Westafrika) anhand mündlich und schriftlich tradierter Texte unterschiedlicher Sprachen (Bambara, Französisch, Deutsch, Englisch) und Genres (Reisebericht, Preislied (fasa), Epos (maana), Roman, Märchen (nsiirin), Lied (donkili)), die zwischen dem 14. bis 21. Jahrhundert erschienen sind. Die Differenz von horon, dem Edlen, Freien und jeli, dem 'Handhaber des Wortes' wird dabei höchst unterschiedlich als komplexer Beziehungsmodus diskursiv und performativ hervorgebracht und gestaltet. Als uneigentliche Differenz bildet sie sich unter der Prämisse des Schamprinzips vor allem entlang der jeweils vorgenommenen Zuschreibungen von freigiebigem Renommee-Suchenden und erbittendem Panegyriker. Die analysierten Texte, die den Zeitraum von Beginn des mittelalterlichen Mali-Reiches bis Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts als intradiegetisches Setting haben, verhandeln die Differenz entsprechend spezifischer Wirkungsintentionen von einer Außenseiter-Perspektive, z.T. zur Legitimation kolonialer Absichten oder von einer Insider-Perspektive aus, um, teils politisch motiviert, das eigene kulturelle Erbe zu valorisieren oder auch um (historische) Mißstände anzuprangern. Dabei wird die Differenz von jeli und hↄrↄn unterschiedlich ausgestaltet, mit dem horon als Helden (ŋana, cεfarin), König (mansa, faama), Gastgeber (jatigi) und dem jeli als Meisterredner/sänger (ŋaara), Reputations-Verantwortlichen, Klienten des jatigi. Literatur wie Differenz wird als rhetorischer Ort kreativer Verhandlungen, strategischer (Neu)schöpfungen betrachtet, durch welche die jeweiligen Akteure spezifische Interessen verfolgen und damit variabel an Diskursen und damit an Wirklichkeiten mitgestalten. Jeli und horon verändern sich als literarische Konstruktion in Abhängigkeit von ästhetischen und ideologischen Strategien. / The present work examines discourses of difference about two historical social identities in Manden (West Africa) using oral and written literary texts of different languages (Bambara, French, German, English) and genres (travelogue, praise song (fasa), epic (maana), novel, fairy tale, song (dↄnkili)), published between the 14th to the 21st century. The difference between horon, the noble, the free, and jeli, the 'handler of the word', is produced and shaped in a highly differentiated way as a complex mode of relation(ship) in a discursive and performative manner. As an improper difference it is formed under the premise of the principle of shame, especially along the attributions made between the generous rewards seeker and the panegyrical requester. The analysed texts, which have the period from the beginning of the medieval Mali empire to the middle of the 20th century as an intradiegetic setting, negotiate the difference according to specific intended effects from an outsider perspective, eg. for purposes of legitimacy of colonial intentions or from an insider perspective, partly politically motivated, in order to valorise one's own cultural heritage or to denounce (historical) grievances. The difference between jeli and hↄrↄn appears in varying ways, with the horon as hero (ŋana, cεfarin), king (mansa, faama), host (jatigi) and the jeli as master-singer/-orator (ŋaara), reputational entrepreneur, client of a jatigi. Literature and Difference are considered both as a rhetorical place of creative negotiation, of strategic (re)creation, through which the respective actors pursue specific interests and thereby participate in shaping discourses and thus realities. The jeli, who is at the same time performer, narrator and protagonist of many narratives, and the horon, determined by his status and his ethos, change as a literary construction depending on aesthetic and ideological strategies.