e-sRC

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
This dissertation surveys Oral Narrative Techniques in Nigerian children‟s Literature with a special
focus on Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo‟s Selected Works.The study foregrounds the influence of
traditional oral forms on contemporary written Nigerian children‟s literature.Children‟s
literature, long before the era of printing, were in the oral form embedded in folktales, fairy tales,
proverbs, fables, myth, etc. (see Hunt, 2002:5, and Adams, 2004:227). This view is supported by
Scholes and Kellogg, (1966) as cited in Ong, (2012:138) who maintain that narratives developed
from some ancient oral origins into what they are today. The oral origin of narratives, according
to critics, “does not immediately disappear by the mere fact of its being in contact with writing,
nor does the literature of the oral society disappear because of the introduction of written
literature” (Obiechina, 1992:197 and Ong, 2012:9). Obiechina (1992) holds that “a synthesis
takes place in which characteristics of the oral culture survive and are absorbed, assimilated,
extended, and even reorganized within a new cultural experience”. In Obiechina‟s view, “vital
aspects of the oral literature are absorbed into an emerging written literature” (p. 198). It is this
composite existence of orality and written narrativity that draws the interest of the present
research to express the interplay of orality (oral narrative techniques) and the Nigerian children‟s
literature.
Furthermore, the choice of this study is premised on the arguments that a lot of papers,
dissertations, and theses have investigated Nigerian children‟s literature either from its linguistic,
thematic/contextual, or from its recurrent motifs. Little research has been carried out on the
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Nigerian children‟s literature in relation to orality. Although, Akachi Ezeigbo Adimora is a
prolific Nigerian children‟s writer, there are only few critical works on her children‟s texts. On
this backdrop, this study intends to fill the gap by surveying the elements of oral narrative
techniques in her selected works.
The choice of Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo‟s children‟s texts proves to be more difficult
because there are other texts out there that might suit this research. However, Akachi Adimora-
Ezeigbo‟s texts stand out as narratives that combine the elements of orality and written
narrativity. Besides, Akachi‟s texts fall within the most preferred and literary compared to most
of the children‟s texts out there. Akachi‟s children‟s narratives fall within the binary
configuration of old/new, indigenous/foreign, traditional/modern, and oral/written. The concern
of this work is to dissect those oral techniques in the written narrativity of Akachi‟s selected
children‟s texts. In other words, the focus of this research is to examine the creative use to which
Nigerian children‟s writers have deployed the resources of oral tradition in narrative fictions.
Before delving further, it is vital to delineate the concept of orality.
The term orature was coined by the Ugandan linguist Pio Zirimu in the early seventies of
the last century to counter the tendency to see the arts communicated orally and received aurally
as an inferior or a lower rung in the linear development of literature (Wa Thiongo, 2007:4). Wa
Thiongo asserts that Zirimu rejects the term oral literature. This brief definition of orature as the
use of utterance, as an aesthetic means of expression remains tantalizingly out there, pointing to
an oral system of aesthetics that did not need validity from the literary.Whatever the case, in a
clearer and lucid manner, Abraham (2013:2) upholds that “oral literature refers to any form of
verbal art, which is transmitted orally or delivered by word of mouth”. Abraham maintains that
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today, these two terms are used interchangeably. Thus, orature of a community remains a
window to their traditions while playing the pivotal role of binding the different cultural aspects.
For Liman (2010:132) “Orature in Africa is diverse because of the wealth of its genres
and sub-genres.” Ogundokun (2015:181) asserts that proverbs, oral poetry, myths, legends,
folktales, music, songs, chants and invocations also form parts of daily life of the African people
in which their culture is expressed. Similarly, Wa Thiongo (2007:6) identifies the major generic
elements of orature as “riddle, proverb, story, song, poetry, drama and dance – are an imaginative
attempt to explain the universe.” Unlike the postulations of Liman, Ogundokun and Wa Thiongo,
orature can be categorized into three broad genres:the spoken form (oral narratives), the sung
form (poetry), and the performance [drama] (National Open, 2009:18).Oral narratives (the
spoken form) is divided into: myths, fables, legends, folktales, anecdotes, riddles, proverbs and
tongue twisters. This is supported by Liman (2010:132) who posits that “in narrative forms, for
example, there are various types of tales, classes of proverbs, riddles, wise sayings and oratory
skills.” It is within the context of the oral narrative form of orature that this research explores the
oral techniques deployed in Akachi Ezeigbo Adimora‟s children‟s texts. This focus will link up
with the questions of “What is children‟s literature?” and “What is Nigerian children‟s
literature?”
1.4 Aim and Objectives
The aim of this study is to examine the elements of oral narrative techniques in selected Nigerian
children‟s literature, with special focus on Akachi Ezeigbo‟s children‟s narrative texts as utilized
in The Adventure of Anum the Tortoise (2006), Whisker the Brave Cat (2005), Snake Child and
Star Baby (2005), Ezezemale and the Tree Spirits (2006), and Red One and the Wizard of Mula
(2005) to show the extent and purposes of their applications. These narratives are not only
regarded by this research as depictions of the functionality of Nigerian oral tradition in
particular, but as representations of the aesthetics of African oral tradition in general. African,
and by implication Nigerian children‟s literature contains in itself such aspects of orality as
riddles, fables, legends, myths, and folktales based on spoken tradition. Thereby, signifying that
children‟s literature borrows elements from the oral tradition of its place of origin. In the light of
this, the specific objectives of this research are:
 To demonstrate that some Nigerian children‟s literary narratives are embedded with
peculiar elements of Nigerian oral narrative techniques which advance the narrative
mode of the texts.
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 To illustrate that some of Akachi Ezeigbo‟s children‟s narratives, either for thematic,
structural or aesthetic functions, are laced with elements of oral narrative techniques
which can be critically identified and analyzed.
 To show that the formalist poetics can be deployed as a viable critical tool for the
analysis of the texts understudy so as to uncover the interplay of orality in the Nigerian
children‟s narrative texts.
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1.5 Justification of the Study
Most studies on children‟s texts focus on the written techniques or the contextual aspect of the
written form of the children‟s texts while less attention is paid on the oral narrative style of these
texts. For instance, Ashimole (1992), in her work “Nigerian children‟s literature and the
Challenges of Social Change” focuses on Nigerian children‟s literature pitted against other social
realities, especially the electronic mass media because of its influence in the lives of Nigerian
children. In her conclusion, she argues that children‟s literature in Nigeria should be
characterized by blatant glamour, professional and attractive packaging of practically everything
in order to attract consumers patronage. This is because for Ashimole, “when the chips are down,
children will always capitulate to the most captivating”. As it is clearly seen, the study only
touches on the external properties of children‟s literature, and pays no attention to the internal
characteristics of children‟s texts of which orality is a part.
Furthermore, Ogu (1992), in his paper “Creativity and Children‟s Literature” is interested
in literature as an instrument for fostering creativity in children. He views the writer as teacher
who through his literary creation helps to develop the creative potentials of the child. In his
conclusion, he argues that children‟s literature must aim at destroying the tendency to be part of
an amorphous supergang. It must aim at extricating kids from the entrapments of collectivism.
One thing that is obvious in this postulation is that children‟s literature is seen as the function of
creativity. It is therefore viewed from the contextual perspective rather than the textual. In the
light of this, the present dissertation is very significant as it bridges an obvious gap by exploring
the oral narrative techniques in selected Nigerian children‟s literature, with particular attention to
Adimora Akachi-Ezeigbo‟ children‟s narrative texts:Asa and the Little Stream (2004),The
Adventure of Anum the Tortoise (2006), Whisker the Brave Cat (2005), Snake Child and Star Baby (2005), Ezezemale and the Tree Spirits (2006),Red One and the Wizard of Mula (2005) and
Fire from the Holy Mountain (2007) to demonstrate the effects of oral narrative techniques in the
selected texts, alongside understanding the child‟s relationship to language either in the oral or
the written form.