The Tiv Poet And Heroism: A Study of Inyamtswam Songs (original) (raw)
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Harmonizing Folklore With Poetry: A Study Of Select Poems By Temsula Ao
International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 2024
Folklore is an important repository of traditional knowledge for most of the communities of North East India. Before the arrival of western education in the region, most of the tribes followed an Oral tradition, and hence, folklore assumed significant importance as an alternate source of literature. Due to the absence of a written script, mediums such as songs, legends, myths, graphic patterns and designs, and artifacts became the transmitters of their tribe's ancient history In recent years, there has been a revival of interest in the region's rich literary heritage. Several poets of NorthEast India, have chosen as the subject of their poetry, folk stories, songs, legends and myths of their tribes. Priyanka Kakoti observes that "These writers, by moving from the oral to the written, have attempted to give permanence to the fluid narrations of oral literature". The present paper proposes to examine select poems by Temsula Ao to establish that a perfect symphony has been achieved through the harmonization of poetry and folklore in her poems. The paper seeks to identify the similarity between Ao's poems and the folk songs of her tribe. The paper will also discuss the poet's role as a transmitter and preserver of history as she assumes a voice similar to her tribe's ancient storytellers, upon whom rested the task of transmitting their tribe's ancient wisdom from generation to generation. Her poetry, like the ancient songs of her ancestors, serve as repositories of knowledge which teach, move and inspire the readers. The intrinsic identity of her people is thus preserved through her poems.
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The present study is part of a movement to safeguard Malay folktales as an unsung intangible cultural heritage (ICH). A folktale is a representation of oral traditions and expressions. This study converges on literary folktales as a revitalized form of oral folktales. As urged by UNESCO, the viability of the ICH is achievable via scientific research, among other things. Therefore, considering the small amount of study on Malay folktales at the moment, the current study endeavors to examine the folktale The Song of the Kedidi (TSoK) of its hero embodiment as one of the dramatis personae. The framework of Propp’s dramatis personae, which is based on Russian folktales, grounds the examination. This study examines whether the heroes from the Russian folktales embody TSoK. The thematic qualitative text analysis (TQTA) was employed to examine TSoK. It was conducted in Atlas.ti environment to assure rigor and trustworthiness. The study’s findings suggest that TSoK embodies heroes from Russ...
Those Days and These Days: Akiga's Narrativization of the Tiv Nation
This article pays tribute to Akiga Sai (1898–1959) and his iconic status as the first great Tiv writer who recorded Tiv history, customs, beliefs and experiences during the turbulence unleashed by colonization and missionary intervention in the early twentieth century. It offers an appreciation of Akiga’s vivid writing style and his achievements as both a historian and a recorder of his people’s way of life, which was fast changing. The article presents the perspective of a younger Tiv generation who encountered Akiga Sai’s work in the course of their education. Akiga, from this viewpoint, is not only an individual pioneer and creative genius, but also the representative of a better era, after which moral decay and a decline in communal health and well-being set in.
Recovering Lost Lore Through Poetry: An Examination of Select Poems by Temsula Ao
International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 2022
The revival of traditional folklores through poetry may be considered an alternate source of history, for a people who have lost much of their cultural and historical moorings. Hence, the present paper endeavors a discourse on the significant role writers play in recovering and reviving the traditional oral lore of their people through their writings, with specific emphasis on poetry. In this regard, the paper aims a careful examination of select poems by Temsula Ao. Ao may be positioned as one of the poets who have fulfilled the dual role of poet and preserver of her people's cultural heritage. An examination of her poems makes it evident that she makes a concerted and deliberate attempt to recover the lost lore of her people through her poetry. The poet's role as the transmitter and preserver of history becomes all the more important considering the fact that her tribe's intrinsic history rests on an oral tradition, which is growing more flimsy with the progressing generations. She notes that forgetting the songs of her ancestors would be catastrophic to her people's history, territory and their "intrinsic identity.
Journal of Social Sciences and Cultural Studies, 2024
Folk songs are not merely a form of entertainment but also serve as a medium to understand the local wisdom embedded within a community. This study aims to uncover the local wisdom of Madura through the folk songs Pajjhâr Lagghu and Tondu' Majhâng. The research employs a qualitative descriptive method with an ethnolinguistic approach. The data consists of words, phrases, and clauses found in the two songs. Data sources include internet sites, YouTube, and textbooks. Data collection was conducted by downloading song videos from YouTube and reviewing song lyrics from websites and books. The collected data were analyzed using an extralingual matching method. The findings reveal that the local wisdom in Pajjhâr Lagghu encompasses: (a) values such as hope, high optimism, hard work, perseverance, resilience, independence, fighting spirit, courage, responsibility, dedication, and strong commitment; (b) knowledge and skills in agrarian enterprises; and (c) patriotism, including the willingness to sacrifice everything for the prosperity and glory of the homeland. Meanwhile, the local wisdom in Tondu' Majhâng includes: (a) values such as courage, resilience, perseverance, hard work, togetherness, solidarity, hope, supportiveness, gratitude, and a strong work ethic; and (b) knowledge and skills related to maritime sciences.
Those Days and These Days: Akiga's Narrativization of the Tiv Nation in History of the Tiv
Africa, 2015
ABSTRACTThis article pays tribute to Akiga Sai (1898–1959) and his iconic status as the first great Tiv writer who recorded Tiv history, customs, beliefs and experiences during the turbulence unleashed by colonization and missionary intervention in the early twentieth century. It offers an appreciation of Akiga's vivid writing style and his achievements as both a historian and a recorder of his people's way of life, which was fast changing. The article presents the perspective of a younger Tiv generation who encountered Akiga Sai's work in the course of their education. Akiga, from this viewpoint, is not only an individual pioneer and creative genius, but also the representative of a better era, after which moral decay and a decline in communal health and well-being set in.
Poetic Concerns Of Yumlam Tana: An Analysis Of Select Poems
Abstract: Yumlam Tana is an English poet from Arunachal Pradesh, India and his poems have been appreciated by the readers and acclaimed by critics. The paper shall attempt to critically analyse the poetic concerns of Tana whose works attempt to make an authentic portrayal of the Nyishi society in particular and all tribal societies in general. Caught in the vortex of modernity and globalization the tribes have found it tough to establish equilibrium between the various economic, cultural and socio-political developments/ changes taking place around them and their cultural heritage. Tana deals with the varied aspects of the everyday lives of his people trapped in such circumstances. The researchers shall objectively analyse how the poet views the situation and his take on it. Keywords: Home, Culture, Mainland, Root
Towards an Ecology of Indo-European Poetry: Weaving and the Lamentation of the Dead
The last forty years have seen substantial developments in the study of Indo-European poetics (culminating in Watkins 1995; for a history of the field, see Watkins 1995:12–27). Here, the comparative method has been successfully applied to the reconstruction of inherited formulas, as well as to the reconstruction of the IE poet and his social function. By its own nature, however, the comparative method creates unity out of multiplicity: this has left us with a view of poetic practice in IE society that is perhaps overly unified, and overly centered on the highly paid and highly trained professional poet. Perhaps the most most explicit formulation in this direction is found in West 2007:27 “In traditional Indo-European societies poetry was not a diversion to be taken up by anyone who happened to be visited by the lyrical impulse. Knowledge of the poetic language and technical command of the verbal arts were the province of specialists”, and “such services could not be performed by any Tom, Dick, or Harry” (ibidem:29). While the comparative evidence for a professional class of IE poets is sound, claiming that all poetic activity in a society is limited to a small number of highly specialized individuals is likely inaccurate. The study of oral traditions worldwide has shown that forms of oral poetry tend to organize themselves in ecological systems, in which a variety of poetic forms are practiced on different occasions, by different members of society, at different levels of professionalism, and at different stages of their lives (see Foley 2002:188–218 for an exploration of the ecology of South Slavic oral poetry, which includes epic genres practiced by semi-professional poets, as well as genres like spells, lamentations, and genealogies, which are the purview of private members of the household). This paper proposes that we investigate IE poetry under such a wider lens, in the attempt to recover the diversity of poetic practice that IE society is typologically likely to have possessed. As a case study, the paper collects evidence for a genre of poetry performed by women who were not professional poets in many IE traditions: the ritual lamentation of the dead.
Ethnopoetics & Ideologies of Poetic Truth (2013)
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Endangered oral literature genres in Punan Tubu (East Kalimantan)
2013
Punan Tubu is the language of a community of former hunter gatherers spread in a number of villages in the District of Malinau in East Kalimantan. Like many local languages in Indonesia it is gradually loosing its domains of application for different reasons. Traditionally, the languages of hunter gatherers, probably more than other minority languages undergo an influence from the neighboring languages like Kayan and Kenyah and from the major languages like Indonesian. The cultural and linguistic influence of the neighboring agriculturalists like the Kayan, the Kenyah and the Abai-Berusu is remarkable. This paper will focus on special genres found in the language spoken in the village of Respen Tubu, a resettlement village where a part of the Punan Tubu community has moved since the 70ies to live together with other ethnolinguistic groups and next to the capital town or Malinau. Keledu', Ketuya' ledun and kelolo kelovi' are three genres described in this paper from the perspective of use, meaning and structure. Keledu' is the chanted language the shaman (andu') uses to communicate with the upperworld spirits. Due to change in religion and habits the role of the andu' has been restricted to that of collector of traditional plants for medical treatment and his role as a medium has practically disappeared. Due also to the old age of the only three andu' in the village, the language is now completely unintelligible to all but a handful of Punan Tubu speakers. Ketuya' is a poetic version used to tell stories of ancestors and heroes of the Punan Tubu group. It is allegedly known only by people able to communicate with spirits and can take the form of long poems common people do not understand. In common tales like mbui bits and pieces of ketuya' are found here and there as metaphors to refer to the main characters like that of Unjung, a female hero found in many tales. Ledun that refers to any kind of song of no ritual meaning also uses a special rhythm and a language non employed in the everyday communication. Kelolo kelovi' are children songs and rhymes, lullabies and nursery rhymes. A brief analysis of old nursery rhymes hardly known by children today, gives a taste of this special genre in the Punan Tubu language. This paper will report ongoing work on the relationship between the ritual keledu' and ketuya' and spoken Punan Tubu and try to understand why most of it bas been lost as the ritual language has disappeared.