An investigation of aesthetic strategies employed by Gusii oral narrators in Gusii oral narratives
Abstract
Oral performers have not been accorded attention that is due to them. This may be an
attribute of a prevalent tendency to culturally and ethnically situate oral literature
research. In this study we make an effort to use both the ethnocentric approach and
the narrator centred approach in order to shed light on the extent to which the social
circumstances and experiences influence the narrator's performance. The study is
premised on the assumption that there exists a link between the narrators' worldview
and their presentations. Equally, that the audience's reactions are pegged on the
performance techniques employed by the performer. The questions that motivate the
study include: to what extent can aesthetic strategies be said to be deliberate? Is there
a correlation between individual narrator's disposition and aesthetic strategies
employed? Finally, how do the strategies employed influence the audience's
appreciation of the concerns? With these questions in mind, we then set out to show
the link between the narrator's own world-view and artistic choices, as well as show
how the artist's treatment of narrative events affects the audience's perceptions. To
achieve these objectives we closely analyse performances by ten Gusii performers of
Gusii fictional narratives guided by the canons in the theories of structural-semiotics
and narratology. The data was also examined within the framework provided in the
studies in oral literature that have placed the individual narrator at the centre of
analysis. Among other findings, we note that the narrator's experiences are pivotal in
the manner in which episodes are represented in a performance. Similarly, aesthetic
strategies employed by the narrator are aimed at arousing sensations intuitively
shared by both narrator and audience. The findings of this study would further the
efforts being made by scholars of oral literature to strengthen tools of analysis that are
not dictated by analytical templates of written literature. Indeed, in this study we
demonstrate that individualised study of oral narrators is not only viable but
analytically very resourceful.
Citation
Masters thesis, University of Nairobi (2008)Publisher
University of Nairobi Department of Literature and Languages
Description
A project paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements to the degree of masters of arts in literature at the university of Nairobi