Teaching Oral Traditions (Options for Teaching (Paperback)): 13 - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0873523717 ISBN 13: 9780873523714

Publisher: Modern Language Association, 1998

Synopsis

Research is beginning to unearth the astounding wealth of oral traditions that have served as a vital cultural activity and verbal art for peoples throughout the world, from antiquity to the present. In this thirteenth volume of the MLA series Options for Teaching, forty-two scholar-teachers bring these discoveries and rediscoveries from the scholarly forum to the classroom.

About this title

Review

"The breadth of the volume--the variety of theories, materials, and practices that it features--is exceptional. It is an important and valuable collection of essays that will be of great use to those who teach oral traditions." --Margaret H. Beissinger, University of Wisconsin-Madison

From the Author

Worldwide oral traditions for the general reader
We seldom pause to realize that the world of writing, texts, and authors is a very small and comparatively insignificant world. Historically, and in many regions throughout the world even today, oral traditions dwarf the written, printed, and electronic word. Consider only one statistic: for more than 90% of our existence as a species, homo sapiens has transacted its cultural business wholly without the "indispensable" craft of literacy. We must have managed somehow.

"Teaching Oral Traditions" is the first book to put recent discoveries about worldwide oral traditions in the hands of college and university teachers and students as well as the general reader. While the twentieth century has witnessed a rediscovery of oral traditions (even as electronic communication competes with print), this exciting and revolutionary research has been slow to find its way into the general study of literature and verbal art. "Teaching Oral Traditions" seeks to bridge the gap by translating these new ideas into a series of plainly written, practically oriented essays. A team of 42 experts in oral traditions across the spectrum from the ancient world to the present day offer perspectives and practical advice on how to "read" works that stem from oral traditions. In the process they touch on stories and other forms from six continents, revealing how we have come to appreciate the complex technology involved in communication that proceeds without writing and texts.

This book is thus aimed primarily at nonspecialists, undergraduate teachers and students, and experts in one area or language who need suggestions on approaching a parallel field. Part I includes general essays on the comparison of oral tradition, the library, and the Internet; the role of oral "literature" in courses on comparative literature; the spectrum of oral and literate creation; and the challenges of editing and translating oral traditions. Part II concentrates on equipping the reader with a knowledge of the primary methods employed in the study of oral traditions. Included here are a historical glossary of approaches, an essay on the linkage to contemporary critical theory, accounts of performance theory and ethnopoetics, and a discussion of traditional context.

Part III addresses both living traditions and texts with roots in oral tradition. Among the modern areas covered are Native American, African, African American, Hispanic, Jewish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, South Slavic (the former Yugoslavia), balladry, folktales, women's traditions, and storytelling. Ancient and medieval works covered include the Hebrew scriptures, the New Testament, Homer, "Beowulf," Chaucer, Middle English romance, Old French narrative, Icelandic sagas, and the frame tale.

The final section, Part IV, is devoted to practical classroom applications. In addition to the results of a national survey of courses related to oral tradition (with sample descriptions and syllabi), this section features essays on multiculturalism, the composition course, and a selection of audiovisual and internet resources.

"Teaching Oral Traditions" brings radical new discoveries about human expressive techniques to a wider audience. It offers nonspecialists of all kinds -- teachers, students, general readers -- an entry into a fascinating field of inquiry.

Edition details

• Publisher: Modern Language Association
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0873523717
• ISBN 13: 9780873523714
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 548
• Editor: Foley John Miles