INSTITUTION: MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

ADMISSION: BEDA/2020/69016

DEPARTMENT: SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

FACULTY: BACHELOR OF EDUCATION ARTS

UNIT TITLE: THEORY AND METHODS IN ORAL LITERATURE

UNIT CODE: BLA 3125

PRESENTED TO: DR.MARGARET NJOKI MWIHIA

TASK: CAT ONE AND TWO

PRESENTED BY: JUMA DAVID OTIENO

CELL PHONE: 0728112145

1.) Explore the challenges of preserving oral material (15 Marks)

a) Availability of Modern Forms of Entertainment:

At the turn of the twentieth century came the introduction of modern forms
of entertainment such as radio, television, cinema, video etc., which tend to
displace the traditional way of entertainment. These modern gadgets appear
to be more durable and attractive to both the old and the young. The
consequence is that many people no longer see it fashionable to gather
around the fireplace at night to tell stories or even rely on other traditional
forms of entertainment for amusement and relaxation. It is equally no longer
commonplace to find children in moonlight play or see age-grades tell
stories. What we find these days in traditional African setting is a situation
where there is a near total attachment and addiction to discos, home videos,
browsing the Internet, etc, thus alienating African oral literature.

b) Literacy and Modern Education:

With the introduction of formal education and literacy, the printing of books
or other materials, and the establishment of libraries, it became possible to
acquire knowledge or store and preserve important information about
communities in African, records of past achievements and history of clans
and tribes in books and other modern electronic gadgets on a permanent
basis. It is no longer fashionable to rely on the memory of the oral Artists
and the elders for the history and other valuable information of the society.
Recall that as early as the eight century AD when Arabic ideas and culture
were introduced to African and western influences have started affecting
African nay Nigerian literature. Between the fourteenth and seventeen
centuries, written and spoken Arabic flourished in Northern Nigeria and
some Hausa literature had been translated into Arabic. Besides, modern
education has so systematized the process of acquiring knowledge that it
tends in many ways to take away the young away from home since they are
no longer available at home to participate in many of the traditional
activities. Modern education is so demanding that even when one is present
he might not be able to participate in the activities.
c) The Advent of Christianity :

The coming of the Whiteman to Africa as a missionary and colonial master

meant one thing-the uprooting of our culture. The early missionaries
condemned almost everything in Africa including our culture and literature
as paganism and helped in destroying them. They and their converts were so
over zealous in presenting Christianity that they saw everything traditional
as bad and evil. Christian missionaries accelerated the importation and
imposition of western education into Nigeria during the nineteenth century.
In their enthusiasm they tried to destroy most aspects of our cultural heritage
and often made derogatory remarks about our culture. The missionaries have
so traumatized the Africans that at baptism we would need to drop our
cultural names and assume new names and new personalities. This is the
beginning of African colonial mentality-cherish everything western and
condemn everything African.

d) Urbanization:
This is the process of growth of cities and metropolis, which has resulted in
the growth of people from the rural areas to urban centers. This might be due
to economic, social, political or even spiritual reasons. The consequence is
that many people are physically far removed from their own land and
ancestral homes where they cannot no longer participate in traditional
activities and relish the aesthetic beauty in oral literature. Secondly, the
growth of cities will make for the creation of a new multi-lingual
community, which brings about a clash of cultures. In this situation, the
individual is so alienated from his culture and tends to embrace the
Whiteman's way of life.

e) Modern Economy :
In the days gone by, what was in vogue was a traditional economy which
was primarily a subsistent one where people produce just what they needed
and occupations were not highly professionalized. The places of work were
within the locality and people wake up in the morning to go to farms and
come back in the evening. There was even market days, farm days, historical
and feast days. Because of such organization of the economy, people in
African traditional settings had time to participate in traditional activities
and be actively involved in oral literature. But, today with a modern-driven
 economy, which is so professionalized, and time consuming, the individual
rarely has time to participate in traditional activities and Africa oral literature
is the worst for it. In some cases he will be forced to leave his traditional
area to places where his profession can be practised. In addition, modern
economy is so strenuous when one gets home he wants to have time to
attend to some pressing needs. There is more regulation in modern economy
than in subsistent economy.

f) Changing Attitudes and Value Systems:

Modern Africa has witnessed tremendous changes particularly in the areas
of attitudes and values. The communal spirit of traditional attitudes which
hitherto permeated the African culture is fast eroding or breaking down.
These days the African is more individualistic and more importantly
materialism has become the order of the day and the most prominent feature
of our lives. The quest for money and other material things has forced
people to abandon traditional activities and profession which are not
materially rewarding, thus no body takes time off to tell stories or sing those
traditional songs that make us a unique people. People are no longer paid or
appreciated for singing and dancing around in the village, instead they have
gone professional. People now have utilitarian concept and this has changed
the people attitudes and value system.

g) The Incursion of Computer and Internet :

There is no greater challenge of African oral literature than the one posed by
the introduction of computer system. With the introduction and operation of
these modern electronic gadgets, people most especially, the youths have
little or no time of participating in the various forms of oral literature and
use them for their entertainment and relaxation. Instead they take recourse to
the use of computer and browsing the Internet even all day and all night.
2)Explain the methods for collecting oral material ( 15 Marks)  
The process of collecting oral literature material from a field requires the
researchers to be conscious of the language as the medium for research, analysis
and presentation of the research. If there is language barrier between the researcher
and the resource persons, he or she should look for informants from that native
community to help in gathering information. The informant should be paid. For a
meaningful research to be carried out, adequate preparation should be taken in to
consideration; identify the narrator or informant and location of the informant, plan
when to visit the informant and also the necessary tools for recording the materials
should be carried. While in the field the researcher should avoid prejudice in terms
of social, political and religious beliefs. For a qualitative research data from the
field can be collected using various methods for instance; interviews, recording
of performance, observation, participation and, survey and administering
questionnaires.To begin with, a collector dealing with chanting or performance
can record firsthand information during the festivals in which these oral art forms
occur by use of tape recorders. The collector can participate in the enactment of the
songs and dances if he or she has the skills. The advantage of this is it establishes a
rapport between the collector and the ever suspicious performer and informant.
However,his or her participatory role should not distract him or her from
the significant investigative duty of attentive observation. The collector should
participate in their song refrain; pay special attention to the form and procedures of
the ceremony, the innovative mode of chanting, the role of drummers as well as
the audience response to the chanter’s artistry  which helps in the formulation of
interview questions. The collector does not only watch and make notes or record
the song but also photograph the costumes masks, and props used in the
performance. For each items recorded the following details should be considered;
name of the narrator and sex, occupation, age, the place and time the tale was
recorded and the composition of the audience.Besides that, a researcher can use
observation as the method of collecting data.
Observation is away of gathering information or data by watching behavior,
event.
or noting physical characteristics in their natural setting. Observation can be either
overt in that everyone knows that they are being observed or covert where by no
one knows that he or she is being observed or the observer is concealed.The benefit
of covert observation is that people are more likely to behave naturally if they
do not know they are being observed. However, overt observation is
necessary because of ethical problems relating to concealing one’s observation.
 Observation can also be either direct or indirect. Direct observation is when you
watch interaction, processes or behaviors as they occur. If a researcher is interested
in knowing the content of Bukusu circumcision songs, he or she would observe as
they sing out their song. Indirect observation is when you watch results of
interaction, processes or behavior for example watching recorded materials of the
Moran initiation in Maasai community to determine how they are taught the
cultural ethics.Furthermore, observation as a research method has a number of
advantages over interview. Information about physical environment and about
human behavior can be rewarded directly by the researcher without having to rely
on anticipatory account of others which may be inaccurate. For example they may
be shaped by a particular role the person plays in ways that make the account
misleading. The information may not have been systematically recorded and may
therefore contain errors. Observational data are often more accurate. The observer
may be able to see what participants cannot. Many important features
of environment and behavior are taken for granted by participants and may
therefore be difficult for them to describe.In planning for observation one ought to
consider the following: first and foremost is to determine the focus. The researcher
should think about the evaluation question he or she wants to answer through
observation and select a few areas of focus for his or her data collection. Once he
has focused his evaluation think about the specific items for which he wants to
collect data and then determine how he will collect the information required. Third,
select the sites; a number of sites should be selected to ensure they are a
representative of a large population and will provide an understanding of the
situation you are observing. Fourth, select observers; the researcher may choose to
be the only observer or include others in conducting observation. Fifth, train
observers. It is critical that the observers are well trained in your data collection
process to ensure high quality and consistent data. Lastly, time your observation
appropriately; programs and processes typically follow a sequence of events. It is
critical you schedule your observation so as you are observing the component of
the activity that will answer your evaluation questions. This requires advance
training.Besides that, survey and administering questionnaires can also be used to
collect data.
Survey is a way of finding out detailed information about different things by
asking a series of questions. Questionnaires as one of the survey method are a
research instrument consisting of a series of questions and prompt for the purpose
of gathering information from respondents through sampling. They are cheap; they
do not require much effort and often have standardized answers that make it simple
to compile data. A researcher who is out to the field should have the questions
designed according to what they want to collect from person.