Some Chewa Folk Stories from Central Malawi

Description

M.A. dissertation which discusses a methodological approach to the study of Chewa traditional narratives, drawing on fieldwork carried out in the Central Region of Malawi between August 1975 and September 1977. The first chapter deals with the historical, political, social and religious features of the society in relationship to the environment. The second outlines various forms of oral traditional literature and puts particular emphasis on the traditional narrative. This narrative is discussed in terms of its value, situations and rules of performance. The third chapter examines the applicability of Alan Dundes' and Robert Georges' folktale compositional structural analysis schemata to the Chewa traditional narrative. Methods of folktale classification, and the way people themselves classify their oral traditional narratives, are also considered. Chapter Four describes the performance of the Chewa traditional narrative as a dramatic art which involves both the storyteller and the audience. Verbal and non-verbal devices, and the role of the audience, are discussed. Section Two of the study comprises the narratives discussed in the first section. These are close English translations of the Chichewa original texts.

Metadata

Identifier whctqkl5
IRN 409971
Class Mark LAVC/SRP/1/075
Level File
Type of Record Archives - ISAD(G)
Peristent Link http://prototype1.library.leeds.ac.uk/whctqkl5
Collection(s) Leeds Archive of Vernacular Culture
Category Archive
Parent Record Postgraduate Theses and Dissertations
Creator(s) Timpunza Mvula, Enoch S
Date 1978
Size and Medium 203 bound typed leaves. Copy.

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