Multiculturalism, Orality, and Folklore in South Africa

Motsei, Anastacia Sara; Phindane, Pule

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-55517-7_25

Cited by 2 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the African context, traditional informal education was well conceived and pursued collectively for the good of the community. Families and communities continue to endorse the underlying aim of traditional African education, that is, to progressively connect children to their cultural heritage, ways of life and the continuation of their family and community (e.g., Gudhlanga and Makaudze, 2012 ; Motsei and Phindane, 2021 ). However, in many African countries, school systems do not consider cultural transmission to be part of their educative responsibilities ( Ngalim, 2014a , b ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, African folktales are not monologues. They are told in suspenseful, engaging ways, and require the audience to pay attention so that they are ready to follow instructions, as the audience is usually required to make responses (e.g., through antiphony or call-and-response; Motsei and Phindane, 2021 ; Hayashi et al, 2022 ). In many African traditions, the audience may also interrupt the performance of a folktale in order to make comments ( Essegbey, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Folktales as indigenous pedagogic tools for educating school children: A mixed methods study among the Nso of Cameroon

Wiysahnyuy

Valentine²

2023

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In many low and middle-income countries, schools are sites of cross-cultural contact and conflict due to a mismatch between the learning priorities and pedagogical practices used in children’s homes and those they encounter in school. The alien nature of school as a learning context contributes to several negative outcomes. It hampers children’s acquisition of academic skills, limits their parents’ engagement in their schooling and prevents schools from benefiting from the learning resources and pedagogical practices available in the local context. To prevent this, many low and middle-income countries are considering the feasibility of incorporating local cultural activities into the school curriculum as a means of bridging the cultural divide between schools and the communities they serve. This research aims to inform these decisions through a case study of stakeholders’ views towards the integration of a specific indigenous pedagogic tool, folktales into school settings in Cameroon, Central Africa. Qualitative data were gathered from 20 teachers and 15 parents in Kumbo, the capital of the Nso Kingdom where traditional child-rearing customs remain strong. A thematic analysis of the data revealed that most parents told their children folktales as one component in an indigenous participatory pedagogy designed to stimulates some cognitive skills and enhance moral development among children. Most teachers and parents believed that there were many potential importance of integrating folktales into schools as a traditional pedagogy for schoolteachers’ professional practice. All teachers reported that they used folktales during lessons and/or pupils’ free time. Like parents, teachers both narrated folktales and invited children to narrate them though some parents indicated that it was not necessary. This pattern of findings supports the conclusion that folktales provide invaluable pedagogic values and prospects for schools and formal education in general. Caution should be exercised in any attempt to generalize these findings because the sample and the geographical site were limited. However, this study suggests that folktales may be a readily available indigenous pedagogic tool that has both a high level of acceptability among teachers and parents and can be effective in bridging the cultural divide between schools and communities in many low and middle-income countries.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Folktales as indigenous pedagogic tools for educating school children: A mixed methods study among the Nso of Cameroon

Wiysahnyuy

Valentine²

2023

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

African Oral Literature as Sociopolitical Commentary: A Comparative IsiXhosa-Afrikaans Approach

Kaschula,

Mokapela,

Mletshe

et al. 2023

SAJFS

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The history, identities, languages and cultures of amaXhosa, Khoikhoi and San communities are intimately connected and hybrid. This is carefully documented by Jeff Peires in his seminal work on the history of amaXhosa, The House of Phalo. Many of the descendants of these communities also contributed to the development of the Afrikaans language. The post-1980 consensus within Afrikaans historical linguistics is that the language developed as a result of intercultural contact—what is known as the interlanguage theory—according to which Afrikaans developed as a result of different peoples from different languages speaking a form of Dutch, and the linguistic stabilisation that ensued from the linguistic contact. This intercultural contact is noted by Hein Willemse. It therefore stands to reason that some of the oral literary genres told through isiXhosa and Afrikaans (and prior to that Khoikhoi and San languages and dialects) would have linkages and shared techniques. This article compares genres such as Afrikaans folktales and storytelling from the Northern Cape and Namibia with those of amaXhosa from the Eastern Cape region and elsewhere in relation to points of similarity, thematic commonalities and techniques. This debate will also be broadened to other genres such as comparative oral poetry. The analysis is supported theoretically by taking into account historical factors and multiculturalism, which contribute to the complex sociopolitical factors that influence southern African society. Commonalities regarding the evolution of the isiXhosa and Afrikaans languages and the relationship between these languages is explored, for example the use of borrowings from Afrikaans into isiXhosa and also borrowings from Khoikhoi into isiXhosa. The borrowings show how these languages (and cultures) are intimately connected and that there is also constantly language shift, even today. To date, there has been little or no research that traces the linguistic relationship in relation not only to the evolution of isiXhosa and Afrikaans languages, but also the oral literary genres that are underpinned by these languages. This is done against a sociopolitical and historical theoretical paradigm.

show abstract

Multiculturalism, Orality, and Folklore in South Africa

Cited by 2 publications

References 4 publications

Folktales as indigenous pedagogic tools for educating school children: A mixed methods study among the Nso of Cameroon

Folktales as indigenous pedagogic tools for educating school children: A mixed methods study among the Nso of Cameroon

African Oral Literature as Sociopolitical Commentary: A Comparative IsiXhosa-Afrikaans Approach

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About