Uganda Folk Tales

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Transcription to Begin!

Ryan has returned to the states, and I should be receiving his CD's in the next few days. I will be able to evaluate the content and plan for what i need to do when I am in Uganda in early March.

I am so excited to hear the voices and the translators. My reading continues, and I plan to get you a general paper on Baganda Folk Tale Tradition before I leave o March 9th. Thank you for your support. This proves to be a wonderful experience for me in writing and education.

I will graduate with pride knowing that I have stepped out on faith and pushed myself to become a better teacher, writer, and person. :)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Flight Booked, Tape Recorder In Hand, Video Camera Loaded

My flight for Uganda will be leaving March 9, and I will be returning on March 23rd. For the most part my stay will be in Bugabo, North of Kampala; however, I will be teaching three graduate classes at Makarere University in the Education Department.

Ryan has begun his interviews of the elders in the District south of Luweero, where I will be working.

The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda by Immaculate Kizza has proven to be a valuable resource in my preparation for studying the oral tales that we collect during our interviews.

I look forward to receiving Ryan's uploads when he returns to the States (bandwidth is an issue in Uganda) at the first of March, right before I leave, so that I may study them some before my flight.

My primary objective is to listen and learn. When I return from my trip, then we can begin the deconstruction and reconstruction of the tales. I will be able to decide what kind of literary format would best fit the essence of the stories, and I can begin to write.

Ahhhhh....it is all coming together.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Interviews Begin Next Saturday!

Here is a copy of an email from Ryan. I am so excited to be working with him and his team on the Folk Tale collection.

Lisa,

This is the Wakiso district that Francis and I will be visiting next Saturday. As you can see it surrounds Kampala and Entebbe, but of course this is the heartland of the traditional Kingdom. What kind of questions do you have in mind? I told Francis that the interviews would be around an hour long, just guessing that the might take more or less time. I also told him that I would have some of the gas money and the money for the interviews next week. I think we have this first set of interviews lined up, in terms of which villages he thinks he can go to to find elders with stories. Please let me know if you have any other instructions.

Cheers,
Ryan

Monday, January 17, 2011

Kindle the Fire!

I have fallen in love with my Kindle and have downloaded The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda. Ryan will begin work this weekend and work for five weekends through February. He is contracted to interview five elders of different villages and download the recordings and translations, done by a native Ugandan student, before March 6th. I will be preparing a study of the materials and books that I have added to a working bibliography:

Uganda Folk Literature: Tales of Buganda

Working References

E.K.K Sempebwa, “Baganda Folk Songs: A Rough Classification”

(Makerere Institute for Social Research)

Uganda Journal: 12 (1) 1964, pp 16-24.

Campbell, Joseph, Bill D. Moyers, and Betty S. Flowers. The Power of Myth. New York: Anchor, 1991. Print.

Kizza,, Immaculate N. The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda: A Study and Anthology of Legends, Myths, Epigrams, and Folktales. London: McFarladn & Company, 2010. Kindle Download.

Never Marry a Woman With Big Feet : Women in Proverbs from Around the World (eBook)

by Schipper, Mineke.

Publication: [Leiden] Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

Student Encyclopedia of African Literature (eBook)

by Killam, G. D.; Kerfoot, Alicia L.

Publication: Westport, Conn Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008.

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales (eBook)

by Haase, Donald.

Publication: Westport, Conn Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008.

Non-Western Educational Traditions : Indigenous Approaches to Educational Thought and Practice (eBook)

Sociocultural, Political, and Historical Studies in Education

by Reagan, Timothy G.

Publication: Mahwah, N.J Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2005.

101 Healing Stories for Kids and Teens : Using Metaphors in Therapy (eBook)

by Burns, George W.

Publication: Hoboken, N.J John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (US), 2005.

Hunter and Hunted : Relationships between Carnivores and People (eBook)

by Kruuk, H.

Publication: Cambridge, UK, New York, NY Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Plants of Life, Plants of Death (eBook)

by Simoons, Frederick J.

Publication: Madison University of Wisconsin Press, 1998.

Uganda (eBook)

World Bibliographical Series ; V. 11

by Nyeko, Balam.; Collison, Robert Lewis.

Publication: Oxford, England ; Santa Barbara, Calif. ABC-CLIO, 1996.

The Spiritual Quest : Transcendence in Myth, Religion, and Science (eBook)

by Torrance, Robert M.

Publication: Berkeley University of California Press, 1994.

Angola (eBook)

World Bibliographical Series ; V. 151

by Black, Richard.

Publication: Oxford, England ; Santa Barbara, Calif. ABC-CLIO, 1992.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Uganda Folk Lore Research

I have also made contact with Ryan Gibb, a Fulbright Scholar from the University of Kansas, who is working on his dissertation now in Uganda. He is doing research at the Federal Archives and is hopefully going to help me gather some information that has not yet been compiled in book format. This is exciting news particularly if I cannot proceed with my trip due to civil unrest in Sudan.

Research from Artem Kozim

Monday, January 3, 2011

Bantu Tribes and Luganda

The people indigenous to the region of Leweero District and specifically, Bugabo, are of the Baganda (Ganda) ethnic group. Their language is Luganda. There are an estimated 3 million Baganda in Uganda, the largest ethnic group and most accessible language of the county. The region of their existence covers most of central and Uganda. (Represented in green on the map to the left.)

My researcher and Etymologist who is working on his dissertation in Kampala. He spends much time at the National Archives and is working to locate documents that may not be published but that will be helpful with research and preparation for my trip. We began working together this week, and I have high hopes for this process.

In my computer research, I have found several references. I am ordering a Kindle because it will pay for itself in the difference of cost in electronic and print books. I should receive before the term begins.

Several references on the Folk Tales of the Baganda that I found so far are

The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda: A Study and Anthology of Legends, Myths, Epigrams and Folktales
by Immaculate M. Kizza

THE KING OF THE SNAKES AND OTHER FOLK-LORE STORIES FROM UGANDA
by MRS. GEORGE BASKERVILLE
Baganda People and Folk Tales

"Folktales define community; reflect the history, traditional values and accumulated wisdom. Every culture has its own collection of ancient and traditional stories that have been orally transmitted from generation to generation.

Baganda People and Baganda women told these stories to the children in the evening after work and before they had to go to bed around a fire. In some of the stories, general animals, birds and plants have human characteristics (souls), by means of which they talk and develop relationships with humans. They have a supernatural element which allows them to perform tasks only in folktales.

Stories have always been very significant to the tradition and the culture of Baganda People. The young generation of Baganda People has been taught about the past of their kingdom, they have learnt about their ancestors, cultural taboos, history, values of life, etc.

Traditionally, the stories or legends were a main source of education in the African life style, that involved participation, which was oral and it was the way to teach the young ones to used and to know almost everything about their culture, people and historical background."