Short Essay – Oral Traditions

Write a one to three-page essay discussing 4 different things you have learned about oral traditions in Africa. Explain how music, objects, and other arts and crafts communicate information and preserve history and culture. Include specific examples from class (readings, videos, lectures, and listening examples) for each item you choose to discuss.

Here are a few ideas of things you might talk about (choose four of these or any others you can think of):

Mande Kora & Jaliya tradition from Old Mali (King Sundiata & The Legend of the Buffalo Woman)

Shona bira event from Zimbabwe (music, dance, and religious beliefs)

The spoken word in the Limba culture of Sierra Leone: Malimba ma.

Ewe Kente cloth & Ashanti brass objects in Ghana

The written word in Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” (Nigeria)

Senufo (Poro and Sande Kulobele) traditional education in Burkina Faso

Below I attached some documents of some of the course readings

Attached Files (PDF/DOCX): 2- Music Fundamentals-1.pdf, Nigeria Oil-1.pdf, West African Decolonization-1.pdf, Criticism of the West-1.pdf

Note: Content extraction from these files is restricted, please review them manually.

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