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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Categories of Igbo oral literature: the Enuani example |
Author: | Okoh, Nkem |
Year: | 1988 |
Periodical: | Journal of Asian and African Studies (Tokyo) |
Issue: | 35 |
Pages: | 73-83 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Nigeria |
Subjects: | Igbo oral literature |
Abstract: | By comparison with the east Niger Igbo (Nigeria), little research has been done on the Enuani Igbo. The author attempts a first classification of Enuani oral literary genres, based on distinctions recognized by the Enuani themselves, viz. 'inu' (tale, proverb, riddle), 'abu' (song), and 'egwu' (dramatic art). Certain similarities (and dissimilarities) in the nomenclatures by which the eastern Igbo and the Enuani variously categorize their forms of oral literature are identified. While surveying the work on classification already done on the eastern Igbo, the author argues that in contrast to the highly idiosyncratic and unsatisfactory proliferation or overseparation of genres obtaining at present, it is far more logical to establish broad and open-ended categories which will accommodate every known form of Igbo oral literature. Notes, ref. |