scholarly journals Reflection on the theory of the Arab origin of the Yoruba people

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jock M. Agai
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
High Esteem ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Arab Origin

The theory of the Arab origin of the Yoruba people is seemingly the oldest amongst other theories of their origins. This is because the original Yoruba oral tradition pertaining to their origin subscribes to the ‘East’ as the location of their origin. The East is believed to be Arabia or Mecca. There are many reasons why scholars from the 19th to the 21st centuries dissociated themselves from the Arab theory of the Yoruba origin, yet some scholars uphold the theory in high esteem. The religions of Christianity and Islam might have influenced the interpretation of the Arab theory of the Yoruba origin. This research elucidates the Arab theory of the Yoruba origin pointing at the historical circumstances that might have led to the acceptance and the non-acceptance of the theory by various people who are interested in the writing of the Yoruba history. The aim of the research was to highlight the discrepancies or the weaknesses of the theory to initiate further research on the subject.

Kings versus Bandits: Anti-colonialism in a Bandit Narrative

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shail Mayaram
Keyword(s):  
State Formation ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Early Writing ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Specific Theme ◽  
Indirect Rule

AbstractDebate and controversy have bedevilled the subject of social banditry. The early writing on social banditry saw it as primitive rebellion, as prepolitical and antithetical to class consciousness. Another approach identified it with weak state formation. The literature on South Asia saw social banditry as absent having been eroded by the institutional structure of caste. This article examines and critiques some of these theses on banditry. It argues, firstly, that social banditry can be simultaneous with a phase of intensified state formation. The specific theme investigated here is the interaction of the king, peasant and bandit in an Indian kingdom under late colonialism. A window to this universe is opened up by a folk epic from the oral tradition of a community of Muslims called the Meos. Far from being prepolitical, banditry raises crucial questions with respect to authority and legitimacy. This narrative not only interrogates the legitimacy of kingship, it also challenges the authority of the colonial state. Secondly, the article challenges the argument of South Asian exceptionalism to banditry that is perhaps easier to refute. Thirdly, as this article demonstrates, banditry need not relate to a pre-industrial capitalist world. Our bandit narrative indicates the reverberations of industrialism and attendant exchange relations and institutions in the colony even though it belongs to an area of ‘indirect’ rule.

Language and the Subject

Joseph Conrad ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 51-70
Author(s):  
Yael Levin
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Philosophical Inquiry ◽  
Heart Of Darkness ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Narrative Techniques ◽  
Experimental Narrative

The chapter focuses on Conrad’s scenes of suspension as sites for an investigation of language and its role in the creation of the modernist subject. Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, and Victory are read as the serial restaging of an unsolicited encounter with the language of the other. These unwarranted interruptions contribute to an exploration of a particularly passive and fragmented subjectivity that relinquishes the agency and cohesion afforded the Cartesian cogito. The insistence on the oral tradition is thus read not as an attempt to resurrect speech within an essentially silent medium but as a dramatization of the role of language in the evolution of the modernist subject and the narrative that houses him. Those same experimental narrative techniques that are often associated with Conrad’s commitment to an inherently epistemological philosophical inquiry are attributed here to the author’s effort to chart the ontological coordinates of character and narration.

The Conquest That Never Was: Ghana and the Almoravids, 1076. II. The Local Oral Sources

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 53-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Conrad ◽  
Humphrey J. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Time Scale ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Positive Identification ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Oral Evidence ◽  
Remote Past ◽  
Written Sources

“The land took the name of the wells, the wells that had no bottom.”In Part I of this paper we examined the external written sources and found no unambiguous evidence that an Almoravid conquest of ancient Ghana ever occurred. The local oral evidence reviewed in this part of our study supports our earlier hypothesis, in that we find nothing in the traditions to indicate any conquest of the eleventh-century sahelian state known to Arab geographers as “Ghana.” Instead, the oral traditions emphasize drought as having had much to do with the eventual disintegration of the Soninke state known locally as “Wagadu.”An immediate problem involved in sifting the oral sources for evidence of an Almoravid conquest is that a positive identification between the Wagadu of oral tradition and the Ghana of written sources has never been established. Early observers like Tautain (1887) entertained no doubts in this regard, and recently Meillassoux seems to have accepted a connection, if not an identification, between Ghana and Wagadu when he notes that “les Wago, dont le nom a donné Wagadu, sont les plus clairement associés à l'histoire du Ghana.” However, much continues to be written on the subject, and the question remains a thorny one. On the lips of griots (traditional bards) and other local informants, Wagadu is a timeless concept, so a reliable temporal connection between people and events in the oral sources on one hand and Ghana at the time of the Almoravids on the other, is particularly elusive. Indeed, any link between the traditions discussed here and a specific date like 1076 must be regarded as very tenuous, as must any association of legendary events with Islamic dates. In western Sudanic tradition influenced by Islam, the hijra (A.D. 622) is both prestigious and convenient, a date with which virtually any event in the remote past can be associated, though such a claim may have nothing to do with any useful time scale.

A Latin Epitaph of the Early Nineteenth Century

1936 ◽  
Vol 5 (14) ◽  
pp. 121-122
Author(s):  
D. A. Macnaughton
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Rural Area ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
Precise Meaning ◽  
High Esteem ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

This epitaph is on a tombstone in the churchyard of Kenmore, Perthshire, a little village on the shores of Loch Tay, close to the point at which the river leaves the parent lake. In the early nineteenth century Kenmore had some importance as the market of a wide rural area and as containing the parish church and parish school. The epitaph is the work of the son, William Armstrong, who succeeded to his father's post and died in 1879. Purists might perhaps take exception to the post-classical authority of puritate, but it will be generally allowed that as the composition of the Headmaster of a rural parish school its Latinity is as remarkable as its pietas. It is to be regretted that the author left no pupil to pay him a fitting tribute in the same tongue. But among his alumni there were many who remembered his teaching with admiring gratitude. Of these was one of the principal farmers of the district who told me years ago that he held Latin in high esteem as the subject which, as he put it, ‘opened his head’. His precise meaning eluded me until in later years I reflected that Highland farmers have a gift of imagination and a command of terse and figurative expression. Clearly what he implied was that, just as, when Hephaestus split the skull of Zeus, Athene sprung out in full panoply, so the impact of the lene tormentum of Latin on his own brain let wisdom loose.

Teatr ZAR's Journeys of the Spirit

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Shevtsova
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Instrumental Music ◽  
International Research ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Early Christianity ◽  
Research Centre ◽  
Theatre Arts ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
Spiritual Dimension ◽  
The Subject

Teatr ZAR has been developing its Gospels of Childhood triptych since 2003, when the company was founded after several years of research in Armenia, Iran, and Georgia. It was in Georgia that ZAR learned polyphonic songs from the Svan oral tradition, which it developed in its unique song theatre. In this article Maria Shevtsova maps the first of a series of expeditions, the latter notably including Greece, Corsica, and Sardinia. She describes how the ancient hymns and chants gathered through direct oral transmission (ZAR's choice of material reflects its interest in the songs of early Christianity) provide the subject matter and the spiritual dimension of the group's performance pieces. The idea of the ‘spiritual’ is here distinguished from the strictly religious/denominational as well as the ritualistic or cultic framings of the word. Details from the triptych show how breath, vibration and energy are the forces of ZAR's sonic compositions in which singing, instrumental music, sound making, and movement are vehicles for experience other than immediate material sensation. Reference is made to ZAR's link to the Grotowski legacy in the song theatre of Poland today. Maria Shevtsova, Chair Professor of Drama and Theatre Arts at Goldsmiths, University of London, wishes to thank the International Research Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin for hosting her research, of which this article is an integral part.

Children’s perception of human body

Physiotherapy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Nitecka-Walerych
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Natural Factor ◽  
High Esteem ◽  
Ideal Body ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Aesthetic

AbstractThe subject of this article is the perception of the modern human body by young people, more specifically pupils of primary school. I based my research on the assumption that the human body, like the entire human being, is the result of a certain stage in the evolutionary process and it is entangled in social relationships. One may define it as nature functioning within culture. Throughout the centuries, various assets of the human body have been held in high esteem, according to the demands of the natural world and social norms imposed in a given society, arising out of the aesthetic canon. But the closer we get to the modern times, the less important is the value of the natural factor, and the more important is the cultural creation. The aim of my research was to answer the following questions: How do ten-year-olds perceive the modern human body of a woman and of a man, how do they describe it, what features do they pay attention to and in what order, and additionally, does this image correspond to the image of “ideal” body pursued by post-modern society and promoted in the mass media. The research encompassed 124 pupils.

scholarly journals N. I. Novikov’s Literary Priorities

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 19-24
Author(s):  
N. D. Kochetkova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Russian Culture ◽  
High Esteem ◽  
The Subject

The article examines N. I. Novikov’s testimonials regarding the most prominent Russian writers of his time. In his satirical journals of 1769–1773, he spoke with particular praise about the works of A. P. Sumarokov, giving him obvious preference over M. V. Lomonosov. V. P. Petrov, proclaimed «the second Lomonosov», would often become the subject of his satirical attacks. Later, the critic condemned certain «depraved opinions» by Sumarokov, yet continued to hold in high esteem his literary talent. At the same time, Novikov conducted a continuous polemics with Catherine II’s magazine Vsiakaia Vsiachina, where V. K. Trediakovsky, whose merits Novikov greatly appreciated, was often ridiculed. His historical studies helped him to grasp the general course of development of Russian culture, and in the journal St. Petersburg Scientifi c Gazette for 1777, he paid tribute to each of the writers.

scholarly journals A Textual Interpretation of Mandailing Oral Tradition: A Cultural Maintenance Model

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-152
Author(s):  
Mara Untung Ritonga
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Qualitative And Quantitative ◽  
Cultural Maintenance ◽  
Textual Interpretation ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Maintenance Model ◽  
Research Show

Language has the pivot on which the culture grow or turn to extinct. Language is as primary means of cultural events transmission. A digitalised adage as one of efforts to revitalise or maintain the culture will not be received without understanding the meanings of the oral tradition texts as their implicitness. This research tries to fill the space left by other researchers to make young generation of Mandailing understand the meanings of the oral tradition texts. The oral tradition tells a great deal of local genuine. By doing so, it is expected the young generation can pick out the beneficial messages from the oral tradition texts, then, to guide them in the action, behaviour, and thinking. Therefore, the oral traditonal needs to maintain or to reserve. With respect to the nature, the out put of this research is to design a maintenance model of Mandailing oral tradition. The subject of the research is the oral tradition of Mandailing analisyed through cognitive semantics, and CDA as theoretical tools for textual interpretation. The qualitative and quantitative data of the research show  that the oral traditon of Mandailing; mangandung and marturi include in the category of extinct, while mangambat, mangalehenmangan, manjair, maralok-alok, mambue, marturas, maronang-onang, marsilogo, marungut-ungut, and marpege-pege are in the category of endangered traditon. The cultural activities of the oral traditon do not transmit towards the young generation of Mandailing (age. 17- 40) taken from 100 respondent. Theydid not understand the meaning of the oral traditon texts (87%). The other factor is very few young generation  (10%) involve in the cultural traditon of the oral tradition.

scholarly journals Hudhud: A Living Oral Tradition of the Ifugao

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Bienvenido B. Constantino, Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Death Rituals ◽  
Living Tradition ◽  
The Subject

This study focuses mainly on the oral tradition of Ifugao called Hudhud, its performances, cultural values, and means of pedagogical transmission. It is important to note that this oral tradition is sustaining through the school of living tradition in the place of its origin. Through this study, people will be aware of this unique oral tradition of Ifugao, which is situated in the northern Philippine highlands. This ethnographic study captures the holistic purpose of the study of Hudhud; and thus, immersion, interview, archiving, and observation of the subject were made. Performances of the Hudhud are still popular during the community gathering called Gotad ad Ifugao, death rituals, weddings, and other important gatherings—big or small—in the entire province of Ifugao.

Comparative Law and African Customary Law

2006 ◽  
pp. 640-674 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
International Diplomacy ◽  
Customary Laws ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Normative Order

Customary law grows out of the social practices which a given jural community has come to accept as obligatory. It is a pervasive normative order, providing the regulatory framework for spheres of human activity as diverse as the family, the neighbourhood, the business of merchant banking, or international diplomacy. This article looks at the customary laws of sub-Saharan Africa. It deals with the preservation of the law in an oral tradition and how it has been influenced by certain social, economic, and political structures. This focus requires, in turn, that particular attention be paid to factors influencing the production of texts on customary law. Because information on the subject is limited, outdated, and somewhat subjective, readers must be made aware of how changes in the theories of jurisprudence and anthropology have affected ideas and preconceptions.

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