The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga

The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga PDF

Author: Daniel Biebuyck

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-07-28

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 0520341511

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The feats of the hero Mwindo are here glorified in the bilingual text of an epic which was sung and narrated in a Bantu language and acted out by a member of the Nyanga tribe in the remote forest regions of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Admirably structured, coherent, and richly poetic, the epic is in prose form, interspersed with song and proverbs in verse. An example of the classic tradition of oral folk literature, the tale has important implications for the comparative study of African culture, as the text provides profound insights into the social structure, value system, linguistics, and cosmology of this African people.

The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga (Zaire)

The Mwindo Epic from the Banyanga (Zaire) PDF

Author: Daniel Biebuyck

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1989-11-02

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 9780520020498

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The feats of the hero Mwindo are here glorified in the bilingual text of an epic which was sung and narrated in a Bantu language and acted out by a member of the Nyanga tribe in the remote forest regions of eastern Zaire. Admirably structured, coherent, and richly poetic, the epic is in prose form, interspersed with song and proverbs in verse. An example of the classic tradition of oral folk literature, the tale has important implications for the comparative study of African culture, as the text provides profound insights into the social structure, value system, linguistics, and cosmology of this African people.

The Epic World

The Epic World PDF

Author: Pamela Lothspeich

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-01-30

Total Pages: 661

ISBN-13: 1000912167

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Reconceptualizing the epic genre and opening it up to a world of storytelling, The Epic World makes a timely and bold intervention toward understanding the human propensity to aestheticize and normalize mass deployments of power and violence. The collection broadly considers three kinds of epic literature: conventional celebratory tales of conquest that glorify heroism, especially male heroism; anti-epics or stories of conquest from the perspectives of the dispossessed, the oppressed, the despised, and the murdered; and heroic stories utilized for imperialist or nationalist purposes. The Epic World illustrates global patterns of epic storytelling, such as the durability of stories tied to religious traditions and/or to peoples who have largely "stayed put"; the tendency to reimagine and retell stories in new ways over centuries; and the imbrication of epic storytelling and forms of colonialism and imperialism, especially those perpetuated and glorified by Euro-Americans over the past 500 years, resulting in unspeakable and immeasurable harms to humans, other living beings, and the planet Earth. The Epic World is a go-to volume for anyone interested in epic literature in a global framework. Engaging with powerful stories and ways of knowing beyond those of the predominantly white Global North, this field-shifting volume exposes the false premises of "Western civilization" and "Classics," and brings new questions and perspectives to epic studies.

Trickster and Hero

Trickster and Hero PDF

Author: Harold Scheub

Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 0299290735

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The trickster and the hero, found in so many of the world’s oral traditions, are seemingly opposed but often united in one character. Trickster and Hero provides a comparative look at a rich array of world oral traditions, folktales, mythologies, and literatures—from The Odyssey, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and Beowulf to Native American and African tales. Award-winning folklorist Harold Scheub explores the “Trickster moment,” the moment in the story when the tale, the teller, and the listener are transformed: we are both man and woman, god and human, hero and villain. Scheub delves into the importance of trickster mythologies and the shifting relationships between tricksters and heroes. He examines protagonists that figure centrally in a wide range of oral narrative traditions, showing that the true hero is always to some extent a trickster as well. The trickster and hero, Scheub contends, are at the core of storytelling, and all the possibilities of life are there: we are taken apart and rebuilt, dismembered and reborn, defeated and renewed.

The Land beyond the Mists

The Land beyond the Mists PDF

Author: David Newbury

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 2009-09-15

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 0821443402

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The horrific tragedies of Central Africa in the 1990s riveted the attention of the world. But these crises did not occur in a historical vacuum. By peering through the mists of the past, the case studies presented in The Land Beyond the Mists illustrate the significant advances to have taken place since decolonization in our understanding of the pre-colonial histories of Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern Congo. Based on both oral and written sources, these essays are important both for their methods—viewing history from the perspective of local actors—and for their conclusions, which seriously challenge colonial myths about the area.

The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore

The Palgrave Handbook of African Oral Traditions and Folklore PDF

Author: Akintunde Akinyemi

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-03-05

Total Pages: 1041

ISBN-13: 3030555178

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This handbook offers the most comprehensive, analytic, and multidisciplinary study of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the African Diaspora to date. Preeminent scholars Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola assemble a team of leading and rising stars across African Studies research to retrieve and renew the scholarship of oral traditions and folklore in Africa and the Diaspora just as critical concerns about their survival are pushed to the forefront of the field. With five sections on the central themes within orality and folklore – including engagement ranging from popular culture to technology, methods to pedagogy – this handbook is an indispensable resource to scholars, students, and practitioners of oral traditions and folklore preservation alike. This definitive reference is the first to provide detailed, systematic discussion, and up-to-date analysis of African oral traditions and folklore.

Crisscrossing Through Afro-Asian Literature

Crisscrossing Through Afro-Asian Literature PDF

Author: Rustica C. Carpio

Publisher: Anvil Publishing, Inc.

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 505

ISBN-13: 9712729192

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Crisscrossing Through Afro-Asian Literature is intended to give the reader varied views of life in the Afro-Asian sphere. It hopes to help the reader capture the nuances of the human experience that well from the vast wealth of wisdom and culture in these countries.

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