Orature • By: Johnathan Allen

Orature & The Times

• Orature = Oral Literature • Stories weren’t written– They were told and spread by word of mouth

• Passed between generations

• Strong bonding experience– Communal participation in Africa

• Easier telling than learning write and/or read• Decline of European orature– Printing press– More people reading and writing

Orature & The Changing Times

• In the US– Slaves mostly kept orature alive

• Orature coined as term by– Pio Zirimu or Ngugi wa Thiong’o

• Further Decline from– Movies– Radio

• Still orally but not passed from generation to the next

– Television– 87% literacy rate worldwide

Examples of Orature

• Folklore

• Urban legends

• Origin myths

• Personal tales

Common Traits of Orature

• Frequently origin stories• Usually have a moral– With morally flawed but potentially redeemable

character• Can be told – To teach a lesson to an individual or group– To entertain

Orature of Old

• Many classic stories previously told orally– Canterbury Tales

– Le Morte d’Arthur

– Rigveda

– Iliad

– Odyssey

Orature’s Influences

• Despite common traits– Themes, morals, &

genres differ between cultures• Stories change over time

depending on culture and even the storyteller– Either modified or

discarded

• Variations in words differ the story as well.

Benefits to Orature

• Story can be made appropriate for varying audiences

• Great practice for oration• Committal to memory instead of needing a

book • Story can be made to have a personal effect

on the listener

Orature Today

• Rural people– Africa– South East Asia

• Family stories

• Campfire Stories

Orature’s Rebirth• Why orature?

– We have recording mediums– No need to memorize words

• Like college– One big reason

» What if?