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"Until the advent of African independence, Africans were not considered fitting subjects for historical research and their words, voices, and experiences were largely absent from the continent's history. In 13 lively and provocative essays focusing on all areas of Sub-Saharan Africa, oral sources ar ... more

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Voices from the Mountain: Oral Testimonies from Southwest and Northeast China

London: Panos (2002), 49 pp.

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Voices from the Mountain: Oral Testimonies from Cerro de Pasco, Peru

London: Panos (2002), 49 pp.

"In the area around Cerro de Pasco, where these interviews were gathered, people’s herding lifestyle has undergone great change, principally as a result of Peru’s most important industry: mining. While it has brought employment and infrastructure to the region, the industry paid scant regard to ... its environmental impact: waste from the mines seeped into the water supply, and polluted the springs that run through the pastures; lakes once full of fish, and a magnet for birds, are discoloured, empty of life and their surroundings silent. Fumes from the smelter and other processing plants have polluted the air and stripped the nearby slopes of vegetation. The health of people and livestock has been badly affected, animal numbers have dramatically declined and few farmers now make a living from herding alone. And, as many narrators point out, working in the mines has weakened people’s bonds with the environment on which they previously depended [...] The impact of the mining industry underlies most narrators’ stories, which were gathered in 1995. Some stress social and cultural change; others highlight the economic impact. Almost all bear witness to the effects on the land, livestock and people’s health. The focus on industry, and the positive and negative results of being a mineral-rich highland area, is particular to this collection. But as resource extraction in mountain regions accelerates, these narrators’ experiences will be of interest to many other communities. In Peru alone, the area taken over for mining activities had expanded from 6 million hectares in 1992 to 24 million hectares by 2000. As in other areas in the Central Andes, out-migration is a major issue. Young people’s need for education and employment takes them away from the highlands. Some return, but most—without adequate job opportunities in their home area—end up staying in Lima or other cities. But many would stay if they could, say narrators, and faithfully return to celebrate their community fiestas. These testimonies bear witness to a still vibrant culture, mixing Catholic, Andean and other influences, and distinguished above all by a still powerful bond with the land and the mountain." (Introduction, page 1-2) more

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Orality and Cultural Identities in Zimbabwe

Maurice Taonezvi Vambe (ed.)

Gweru (ZW): Mambo Press (2001), xii, 127 pp.

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Voices from the Mountain: Oral Testimonies from Wollo, Ethiopia

London: Panos (2001), 49 pp.

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Voices from the Mountain: Oral Testimonies from Mount Elgon, Kenya

London: Panos (2001), 48 pp.

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Voices from the Mountain: Oral Testimonies from the Lesotho Highlands

London: Panos (2001), 49 pp.

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Voices from the Mountain: Oral Testimonies from the Sudety Mountains, Poland

London: Panos (2001), 48 pp.

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Giving Voice: Practical Guidelines for Implementing Oral Testimony Projects

London: Panos (1999), iii, 79 pp.

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Sobre las huellas de la voz: Sociolingüística de la oralidad y la escritura en su relación con la educación

Luis Enrique López, Ingrid Jung (eds.)

Cochabamba; Bonn: PROEIB-Andes; Ediciones Morata; Deutsche Stiftung für Internationale Entwicklung (DSE) (1998), 255 pp.

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Afrika im Mediendiskurs

Medien Journal (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Kommunikationsfragen, Salzburg), volume 20, issue 4 (1996), 64 pp.

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On Printed Matter and Beyond: Media, Orality and Literacy

Kees Epskamp

Den Haag: Centre for the Study of Education in Developing Countries (CESO) (1995), 136 pp.

"In fact this paperback is about narration and about text in whatever form: spoken, written or printed. Or even better, this book is about the importance of narrative art. It therefore invests all kinds of storytelling, not only the person-to-person oral tradition, but also the mediated forms of sto ... rytelling. Is taken for granted that the radio is giving an extra dimension to the spoken word, like books are giving an extra dimension to the printed word, or the cinema or television are connecting texts and visuals again, like woodcut printings have done in the past. Stories from the oral tradition found their way to the mass media like movies, radio and television. Therefore a wide variety of media will be discussed in this book without showing any preference for one medium or another. The focus of interest is more on storytelling then on de media used to tell stories. It is about the athletics of words and the flexible relatedness between the various media. All these media make use of characters to present stories. Therefore characters with stereotyped traits are present in every medium that makes use of narrative or dramatic elements like comic books, photo novels and soap operas. Mass media have been taking over the role of traditional storytelling. Nowadays, it seems as if instead of listening to an individual storyteller, the global community sits down and have stories told by their favourite radio plays and television series like situation comedies and soap series. Some social scientists strongly reject this change in media consumption. They regret the changing patterns in spending leisure time. They regret for example the supposed decline of reading habits which has been considered as an effect of changing media consumption. And they are not the only ones to regret this. On the one hand there are the educationalists worrying about the latest statistics on literacy rates. These figures certainly do not show any worldwide improvements in literacy and numeracy. And there are the publishers too, who regret the declining reading habits. On a global scale the selling of books and other printed matter is at a decline. With an expanding media market, people are spending their leisure time in a more varied way leaving them less time to read. However, despite this conclusion the educational system in whatever country cannot do without a structured transfer of knowledge. And it seems that the most effective medium within the educational system still is the written word, being presented to the people by printed materials. Learning children as well as adults to read and write is the main preoccupation of as many multilateral aid organisations as national governments." (Pages 10-11) more

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Mass Media in Sub-Saharan Africa

Louise M. Bourgault

Indianapolis, Indiana: Indiana University Press (1995), 294 pp.

"Bourgault investigates three principal influences: the pre-colonial legacy of the oral tradition, the presence of an alienated managerial class, and the domination of African nations by systems based on political patronage. The first two chapters provide the theoretical framework. Subsequent chapte ... more

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Navegaciones: Comunicación, cultura y crisis

Aníbal Ford

Buenos Aires: Amorrortu Editores (1994), 244 pp.

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Black African Cinema

Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike

Berkeley et al.: University of California Press (1994), x, 371 pp.

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Volkskultur - Cultura Popular

Claudius Armbruster

In: Brasilien heute: Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur

Dietrich Briesemeister, Gerd Kohlhepp, Ray-Güde Mertin, Hartmut Sangmeister, Achim Schrader (eds.)

Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert (1994), pp. 545-563

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Listening for a Change: Oral Testimony and Development

Hugo Slim, Paul Thompson

London: Panos (1993), viii, 167 pp.

"The focus throughout is on "listening" to people, in order to learn from experiences. Oral testimony is considered in terms of oral history and oral artistry. The importance of listening is illustrated by a large number of entertaining case studies, drawn from both developed and developing countrie ... more