Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion

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dc.contributor.advisorChidester, Daviden_ZA
dc.contributor.authorStonier, Janet Elizabeth Thornhillen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-01-02T04:50:35Z
dc.date.available2016-01-02T04:50:35Z
dc.date.issued1996en_ZA
dc.descriptionBibliography: pages 105-113.en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis study is a description, from the vantage point of a participant observer, of the development of a new, and probably unique, method of writing, teaching and learning about an oral tradition - a method which is grounded in ways of knowing, thinking and learning inherent in that tradition. It arose in the course of a co-operative venture - between two lecturers in African Religion and myself - to write a text for South African schools on African Religion (sometimes called African Traditional Religion). Wanting to be true to our subject within the obvious constraints, we endeavoured to write within an oral mode. The product, African Religion and Culture, Alive!, is a transcript of taped oral interchanges between the three authors within a simulated, dramatised format. The simulation provided the context for using the teaching and learning strategies employed in an oral tradition, but within a Western institution. We hoped in this way to mirror and mediate a situation in which many South African students find themselves: at the interface between a home underpinned by an oral tradition, and a school underpinned by a written tradition. In the book, knowledge is presented through myth, biographical and autobiographical stories, discussion, question, and comment. The choice of this mode of knowledge-presentation has been greatly influenced by the work of Karen McCarthy Brown. A further important requirement for us was to produce a text that would be acceptable to all the particular varieties of African religious practice. This need was met in a way that became the most important aspect of the method - the device of setting, as a core part of the work for students, a primary research component. Students are required to seek out traditional elders within their community and learn from them, as authorities on African religion and culture, the details of particular practice. This is a way of decentering the locus of control of knowledge and education, as well as of restoring respect for African Religion and preserving information in danger of being lost. The primary research component highlights fundamental issues relating to the 'ownership' of religion, knowledge, power, reality which are explored in the study. Also considered are the implications of writing about an oral mode while trying to preserve as much of the character of that mode - writing by means of speaking. Text as a metaphor provides a frame for examining the process and the product - in terms of text as document, as score, as performance, as intertextual event, and as monument and site of struggle. Suggestions are made for further research, both on the particular method of text-production under consideration, and also on the approach to teaching and learning about African Religion. Also considered is the relevance of this particular learning and teaching approach to the values inherent in the proposed new curriculum for education in South Africa.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationStonier, J. E. T. (1996). <i>Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Religious Studies. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16127en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationStonier, Janet Elizabeth Thornhill. <i>"Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Religious Studies, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16127en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationStonier, J. 1996. Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Stonier, Janet Elizabeth Thornhill AB - This study is a description, from the vantage point of a participant observer, of the development of a new, and probably unique, method of writing, teaching and learning about an oral tradition - a method which is grounded in ways of knowing, thinking and learning inherent in that tradition. It arose in the course of a co-operative venture - between two lecturers in African Religion and myself - to write a text for South African schools on African Religion (sometimes called African Traditional Religion). Wanting to be true to our subject within the obvious constraints, we endeavoured to write within an oral mode. The product, African Religion and Culture, Alive!, is a transcript of taped oral interchanges between the three authors within a simulated, dramatised format. The simulation provided the context for using the teaching and learning strategies employed in an oral tradition, but within a Western institution. We hoped in this way to mirror and mediate a situation in which many South African students find themselves: at the interface between a home underpinned by an oral tradition, and a school underpinned by a written tradition. In the book, knowledge is presented through myth, biographical and autobiographical stories, discussion, question, and comment. The choice of this mode of knowledge-presentation has been greatly influenced by the work of Karen McCarthy Brown. A further important requirement for us was to produce a text that would be acceptable to all the particular varieties of African religious practice. This need was met in a way that became the most important aspect of the method - the device of setting, as a core part of the work for students, a primary research component. Students are required to seek out traditional elders within their community and learn from them, as authorities on African religion and culture, the details of particular practice. This is a way of decentering the locus of control of knowledge and education, as well as of restoring respect for African Religion and preserving information in danger of being lost. The primary research component highlights fundamental issues relating to the 'ownership' of religion, knowledge, power, reality which are explored in the study. Also considered are the implications of writing about an oral mode while trying to preserve as much of the character of that mode - writing by means of speaking. Text as a metaphor provides a frame for examining the process and the product - in terms of text as document, as score, as performance, as intertextual event, and as monument and site of struggle. Suggestions are made for further research, both on the particular method of text-production under consideration, and also on the approach to teaching and learning about African Religion. Also considered is the relevance of this particular learning and teaching approach to the values inherent in the proposed new curriculum for education in South Africa. DA - 1996 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 1996 T1 - Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion TI - Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16127 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/16127
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationStonier JET. Oral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religion. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Department of Religious Studies, 1996 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16127en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Religious Studiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherReligious Studiesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherOral tradition - South Africaen_ZA
dc.subject.otherAfrica - Religionen_ZA
dc.titleOral into written : an experiment in creating a text for African religionen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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