by Thompson Kellett

Created on: July 05, 2008

There is an art to the weaving of a story - the art of the spoken word. A storyteller in imparts the spiritual, ethical, and social standards in the African oral tradition.

The story, as a vehicle of socialization and education within the varied cultures of Africa, plays a key role in social development. As many African cultures do not have a strong written literary tradition, the development of a strong oral tradition provides a means to transmit history, spirituality, and cultural mores from one generation to another.

In many of these cultures, the oral narrative has transcended recreation into an art form that reflects the cultures of a region in the same manner cultures with strong written traditions have developed literary traditions that have transcended text to become art.

In this pivitol social role, the narrative becomes much more than entertainment. It becomes a vehicle to: transmit history, espouse moral standards, reflect spiritual beleifs, and a medium to explain the inexplicable. Unlike the western literary tradition, the story is not static it is evolutionary and changable to reflect the current African experience and the culture of the storyteller.

To understand the African narrative one should have a basic understanding of the culture the story reflects. As there are widely diverse cultures throughout Africa without context the social undercurrents of the story could be lost on the listener. There are many methods used by the storyteller to share their knowledge; call and response, narrative, and recitation. Although rote transmission is rare.

The storyteller is free to modify the story. In many ways, to be a storyteller is to adopt a profession: undergoing training to perfect their art and develop the skills to perform their key social role. This student is trained in the spiritual beleifs of their culture, the ethical standards they are to reflect and elements of spirituality are emphasized. This last component of the storyteller's education is crucial as it is often beleived that when a true storyteller performs their art they summon spirtual forces when performing a narrative.

As the African oral tradition has played such a key social role for millenia, understanding these narratives is crucial to understanding Africa. The artful story: reflects history, spirituality, ethical standards while entertaining the listener. This evolutionary art form reflects the changes underway within African cultures like no other.

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