Abstract
Despite textual and other historical evidence pertaining to ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ in ancient Lanka is sparse scholars have focused their attention on such notions. However, there is rich evidence for ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ in ancient Lanka’s folktales which treat these concepts as ‘lived experiences’ of protagonists occupying imaginary worlds. Yet, there has been minimal scholarly attention paid to folktales. This paper focuses on those folktales with the objective of locating what such story-telling tells us about the way common folks perceived education. Using a folkloristic standpoint which views folk speech acts as being carriers of not only cultural embellishments but cultural predispositions, this study attempts to locate what the notions of ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ present in stories told by southern Lankans tell us about their deep-seated attitudes to/understandings of education. The study uses Henry Parker’s Ceylonese folktales as its sample and attempts to locate the enabling conditions that uphold the ideas of ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ to achieve its objectives.
Highlights
Though folkloric speech acts—folktales, folksongs, folk drama, myths and etc.—are largely told/heard/read for purposes of entertainment by ordinary ‘folk’ and might not readily invite in-depth scholarly attention, such narratives are not culturally unembellished and neutral
The notions of ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ as conceived by the story tellers/creators/listeners of ancient Lanka is presented under different thematics as follows: ‘Learning’
Notions of ‘learning’ are only present in the tales narrated by the cultivating caste— whose tales make up the majority in Parker’s collection8 and such ideas do not appear in the tales he collected from the ‘lower’ castes9
Summary
Though folkloric speech acts—folktales, folksongs, folk drama, myths and etc.—are largely told/heard/read for purposes of entertainment by ordinary ‘folk’ and might not readily invite in-depth scholarly attention, such narratives are not culturally unembellished and neutral. One way of reading the absences of Buddhist influences, European colonizers, and local regional gods in Parker’s folktales is that the tales he collected could be some of the oldest in the country Their remoteness from the centers of power—Parker himself asserts that he had collected the tales from rural areas and taken specific care to ensure that the tales were devoid of what he called “European influences” (Parker 1910)—might have made them impervious to mainstream cultural influences. There would be old people to talk to.” (Genghis Khan—Life, Death and Resurrection, John Man) its limits...real significance” (Macherey 1993) These silences that surrounds the ideas of ‘learning’ and ‘teaching’ of the tales will be put under scrutiny in this study to understand how common folks in Southern Lanka of an unspecified time period could have viewed education
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
