Oral Traditions and Material Culture: An East Africa Experience

Abstract

�� n this paper I explore the relationship between oral traditions and material culture. Specifically, the paper draws attention to methodological points in re s e a rching and writing an ethnography that combines the two disciplines of material culture and oral traditions. The examples that are re f e rred to are from Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic cultures of Eastern Africa. The people mentioned are the Akamba, Maasai, Rendille, and Kalenjin g roups. The first point is about being conscious of the language as the medium of re s e a rch, analysis, and presentation of the re s e a rch. In the field I encounter ethnic languages and Swahili, and I must write my ethnography in English. There is the triple language play that becomes a methodological issue as well. The subjects are native speakers of ethnic languages who often also speak Swahili as their second language. The information is g a t h e red by my informants in ethnic languages that they share with the subjects. It is then re-told to me, the ethnographer, in Swahili, and we have discussions in Swahili on the data. I write in English, as it is the language of academic discourse in East Africa and at international venues. The second point is about analysis of data. Data from the field are analyzed using methodologies from academic traditions of art/design, anthrop o l o g y, and oral literature to construct an ethnography that in turn combines specific topics, namely, material culture and oral literature. Using a rt and design tools I analyze an artefact systematically into its elements such as shape, color, texture, materials, craft techniques, and its functional p ro p e rties. For example, how the shape of a pot relates to storage of grain or carrying of water in a homestead is a design issue. I analyze the sizes and f o rms that make the stomach and seat of a clay pot and work on anthro p omorphic human-product information, which is again a matter of design. My next step would be to elicit proverbs, songs, and narratives that refer to the a rt and design elements of the object of material culture such as a pot. Here I enter the field of oral literature . The third methodological point relates to seeking information on the cultural contexts of material culture and oral traditions. This is done by exploring and noting the associated cultural meanings of artefacts and how the shape, materials, and functions of the objects as well as the pro v e r b s , songs, and narratives relating to the objects are perceived within the culture that produced them. This process leads to the making of an ethnography that combines the disciplines of oral traditions, material culture, and a n t h ro p o l o g y. Ethnography has that space to contain areas in art / d e s i g n and oral traditions, for they both touch on culture. For example, some ethnic groups in Kenya such as the Akamba compare the pot to the womb in its roundness and fullness that relate to mother’s domain of care and as the provider of food and life. Hence the pot’s presence is associated with s a c redness, as life is considered sacred in African traditional belief systems.