CHAPTER ONE

1.0  INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY One of the most striking features of colonial administrations in Africa is their failure to understand the culture of the people they were privileged to govern. According to Nwosu (1980:4), “the utter failure of most of the bureaucrats concerned to grasp the realities of life of the various people they were privileged to govern”. They had confused notions about what constituted African aesthetics and failed to realize that the literature of Africa does not begin with the written. As a matter of fact, oral tradition has been in existence in African society since the beginning of the continent. However, despite all the processes that colonization took to erase African oral tradition, the form and the aesthetics is still cherished among the people. Lindfors (2002:7-9) confirms the prevalence of oral tradition in the works of African literary writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka and D. O. Fagunwa which they drew from the rich experience they acquired in their various cultures. Oral tradition emanates from the people and is communicated among the people in oral form. Oral tradition in Africa is best described as the literature of the various traditional African societies. Oral tradition has also added sample of documentary from African historians particularly for scholars from the pre-colonial era. Jackson (1977:5) opine that Africans have relied on these traditions to give shape to the past.

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