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Oral Literature
Oral literature, orature or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung as opposed to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used varying descriptions for oral literature or folk literature. A broad conceptualization refers to it as literature characterized by oral transmission and the absence of any fixed form. It includes the stories, legends, and history passed through generations in a spoken form. Background Pre-literate societies, by definition, have no written literature, but may possess rich and varied oral traditions—such as folk epics, folk narratives (including fairy tales and fables), folk drama, proverbs and folksongs—that effectively constitute an oral literature. Even when these are collected and published by scholars such as folklorists and paremiographers, the result is still often referred to as "oral literature". The different genr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility. Genre began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literatur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Urban Legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family member, often with horrifying, humorous, or cautionary elements. These legends can be entertaining but often concern mysterious peril or troubling events, such as disappearances and strange objects or entities. Urban legends may confirm moral standards, reflect prejudices, or be a way to make sense of societal anxieties. Urban legends in the past were most often circulated orally, but now can also be spread by any media. This includes newspapers, mobile news apps, e-mail, and most often, social media. Some urban legends have passed through the years/decades with only minor changes, in where the time period takes place. Generic urban legends are often altered to suit regional variations, but the lesson or moral remains majorly the same. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'o
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (; born James Ngugi; 5 January 1938) is a Kenyan author and academic who writes primarily in Gikuyu and who formerly wrote in English. He has been described as having been "considered East Africa’s leading novelist". His work includes novels, plays, short stories, and essays, ranging from literary and social criticism to children's literature. He is the founder and editor of the Gikuyu-language journal Mũtĩiri. His short story ''The Upright Revolution: Or Why Humans Walk Upright'', is translated into 100 languages from around the world. In 1977, Ngũgĩ embarked upon a novel form of theatre in his native Kenya that sought to liberate the theatrical process from what he held to be "the general bourgeois education system", by encouraging spontaneity and audience participation in the performances.Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, ''Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature'', 1994, pp. 57–59. His project sought to "demystify" the theatrical p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kimani Njogu
Dr. Kimani Njogu is Kenyan linguist known for his role in study and advocacy of Kiswahili language. Life and career Njogu was born in Kericho County. After teaching high school, he pursued further education in Swahili studies, gaining his bachelor's degree from Kenyatta University in 1985 and Masters from University of Nairobi. He joined the faculty of Kenyatta University. In 1988, he embarked on a scholarship at the department of Linguistics at Yale University, where he completed his PhD in 1993 with a dissertation on dialogue poetry in East Africa. On returning to Kenya, he once again served on the faculty at Kenyatta University before becoming an independent scholar. He is the founder chairman of Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa, a body dedicated to the promotion of Kiswahili in Kenya. His book, ''Ufundishaji wa Fasihi: Nadharia na Mbinu'', coauthored with Rocha Chimera, won the 2000 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa The Noma Award for Publishing in Africa (''French:Le Prix No ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon Gikandi
Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus authority ''Simon'' * Tribe of Simeon, one of the twelve tribes of Israel Places * Şimon ( hu, links=no, Simon), a village in Bran Commune, Braşov County, Romania * Șimon, a right tributary of the river Turcu in Romania Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Simon'' (1980 film), starring Alan Arkin * ''Simon'' (2004 film), Dutch drama directed by Eddy Terstall Games * ''Simon'' (game), a popular computer game * Simon Says, children's game Literature * ''Simon'' (Sutcliff novel), a children's historical novel written by Rosemary Sutcliff * Simon (Sand novel), an 1835 novel by George Sand * ''Simon Necronomicon'' (1977), a purported grimoire written by an unknown author, with an introduction by a man identified only as "Simon" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxymoron
An oxymoron (usual plural oxymorons, more rarely oxymora) is a figure of speech that juxtaposes concepts with opposing meanings within a word or phrase that creates an ostensible self-contradiction. An oxymoron can be used as a rhetorical device to illustrate a rhetorical point or to reveal a paradox. A more general meaning of "contradiction in terms" (not necessarily for rhetoric effect) is recorded by the '' OED'' for 1902. The term is first recorded as Latinized Greek ', in Maurus Servius Honoratus (c. AD 400); it is derived from the Greek word ' "sharp, keen, pointed" Retrieved 2013-02-26. and "dull, stupid, foolish"; as it were, "sharp-dull", "keenly stupid", or "pointedly foolish".. Retrieved 2013-02-26. "Pointedly foolish: a witty saying, the more pointed from being paradoxical or seemingly absurd." The word ''oxymoron'' is autological, i.e. it is itself an example of an oxymoron. The Greek compound word ', which would correspond to the Latin formation, does not se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pio Zirimu
Pio Zirimu (died 1977) was a Ugandan linguist, scholar and literary theorist. He is credited with coining the word "orature" as an alternative to the self-contradictory term, "oral literature""Notes towards a Performance Theory of Orature" ohio.edu, 3 September 2007. Retrieved 31 May 2014. used to refer to the non-written expressive African traditions. Zirimu was also central in reforming the literature syllabus at to focus on African literature and culture instead of the English canon.Simon Gikwandi, Evan Mwangi (2013). ''The Columbia Guide to East African Literatu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, shared with Kenya and Tanzania. Uganda is in the African Great Lakes region. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin and has a varied but generally a modified equatorial climate. It has a population of around 49 million, of which 8.5 million live in the capital and largest city of Kampala. Uganda is named after the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country, including the capital Kampala and whose language Luganda is widely spoken throughout the country. From 1894, the area was ruled as a protectorate by the United Kingdom, which established administrative law across the territory. Uganda gained independence from the UK on 9 Oc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tylor, Edward. (1871). Primitive Culture. Vol 1. New York: J.P. Putnam's Son Culture is often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location. Humans acquire culture through the learning processes of enculturation and socialization, which is shown by the diversity of cultures across societies. A cultural norm codifies acceptable conduct in society; it serves as a guideline for behavior, dress, language, and demeanor in a situation, which serves as a template for expectations in a social group. Accepting only a monoculture in a social group can bear risks, just as a single species can wither in the face of environmental change, for lack of functional responses to the change. Thus in military culture, valor is counted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Performance Poetry
Performance poetry is a broad term, encompassing a variety of styles and genres. In brief, it is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open to improvisation. History The term ''performance poetry'' originates from an early press release describing the 1980s performance poet Hedwig Gorski, whose audio recordings achieved success on spoken word radio programs around the world. Her band, East of Eden Band, was described as the most successful at music and poetry collaborations, allowing cassettes of her live radio broadcast recordings to stay in rotation with popular underground music recordings on some radio stations. Gorski, an art school graduate, tried to come up with a term that would distinguish her text-based vocal performances from performance art, especially the work of performance arti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Def Poetry
''Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry'', better known as simply ''Def Poetry Jam'' or ''Def Poetry'', is a spoken word poetry television series hosted by Mos Def and airing on HBO between 2002 and 2007. The series features performances by established and up-and-coming spoken word poets. Performances also include special appearances by well-known actors and musicians, as well as occasional performances by Mos Def himself. Co-created by Bruce George, Danny Simmons, Deborah Pointer, Stan Lathan, and Russell Simmons, the show is a spin-off of the popular ''Def Comedy Jam'' which began airing on HBO in the 1990s. As with ''Def Comedy'', Simmons appears at the end of every episode to thank the audience. The series included historical legendary poets such as, The Last Poets, Nikki Giovanni, Amiri Baraka and Sonya Sanchez. It also featured poets, Saul Williams, J. Ivy, Jessica Care-Moore and Lemon. Though technically not a poetry slam, ''Def Poetry'' has become heavily associated with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Simmons
Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. Simmons' net worth was estimated at $340 million in 2011. After producing or managing artists such as Kurtis Blow, Run DMC, Whodini, and Jimmy Spicer, Simmons joined forces with producer Rick Rubin to found Def Jam Recordings. Under Simmons' leadership as chairman, Def Jam signed acts including Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Jay Z, DMX, and Kanye West. From 1992 to 1997, he also produced the Def Comedy Jam television program. Simmons has promoted veganism and a yogic lifestyle. He also published books about healthy lifestyle and entrepreneurship. In 2017, Simmons was publicly accused of sexual assault by multiple women; he denied the allegations. Following these allegations, Simmons stepped down from his various business roles a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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