Crossing Borders. Orality, Interculturality, Memory Archives and Technology

7th Conference of The International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA)
Lecce, Italy, 11-15 June 2008
Crossing Borders. Orality, Interculturality, Memory Archives and Technology

Programme

Tuesday 10 June
Arrival of members in Lecce
[University - Buon Pastore, Via Taranto 35]

17-19 Registration
Wednesday 11 June
[Conference Room, Rector’s Office - Chiostro Santa Maria del Carmine]

8.30 Registration
9.30 Opening - Chair: Itala Vivan, Maria Renata Dolce
10.30 Coffee break
11.00 Keynote address - Chair: Hein Willemse (Isola President)
32. Finnegan, Ruth (Open University, UK) - Studying the oral literatures of Africa in the 1960s and today
12.00 Guided tour of Lecce
13.30 Lunch break
[University, Buon Pastore]
15.00 Parallel Sessions 1 - Theory and oral performance
1.1 Chair: Jean Derive
4. Agbajoh-Laoye Oty (Monmouth University, US) - Contesting modernity, decolonizing indigenous spaces: engaging orality and theme in selected African diaspora literature.
8. Akoma, Chiji (University of Pennsylvania, US) - The novel as pepper-soup: stirrings of the oral performance in the New World.
33. Furniss, Graham (University of London SOAS, UK) - On the multiple dimensions of memory in the oral communicative moment.
64. Okpewho, Isidore (Binghamton University, US)- Oral tradition and contemporary society.
1.2 Chair: Antoinette Tidjani
1. Adama, C. Lami (Western Illinois University, US) - Understanding the Igala worldview through their folklore.
5. Agomuo, Vivian (Independent Scholar, Lagos, Nigeria) - Preserving the memories of Igbo culture through festivals.
17. Boscolo, Cristina (University of Mainz, Germany) - Odún: an exploration.
77. Ramagoshi, Refilwe (University of Pretoria, South Africa) - The chicken or the egg, which came first? African beauty pageants.
1.3 Chair: Adetayo Alabi
62. Ogembo, Odongo (Maseno University, Kenya) - The body as a weapon: reflections based on memories of Lwanda Magere.
69. Osai, Jason (Rivers State University, Nigeria) - Inter-world love triangle: contemporary explication of an African legend.
89. Thotse, M.L. (University of Pretoria, South Africa) - “Psatla nkgashana”: African traditional telepathy?
103. Wood, Felicity (University of Fort Hare, South Africa) - The mermaid woman in the 21st century: oral narratives concerning the wealth-giving mermaid woman, the mamlambo, in their modern and contemporary South African context.
1.4 Chair: Françoise Ugochukwu
31. Egejuru, Phanuel (Loyola University, US) - Retrieving and defining critical tools in African orature.
55. Mokobia, Jiff (University of Delta State, Nigeria) - Intertextuality in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Arrow of God.
68. Osaaji, Geoffrey Mumia (University of Nairobi, Kenya) - Elements of orality in Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s, Wizard of the Crow.
81. Sangabau, Raymond (Université de Kinshasa, Congo) - Traditional, oral elements and their functions in Achebe’s Arrow of God.
99. Waita, Zachary (Egerton University, Kenya) - Inter-textuality of the oral and written literature in the age of globalization: the case of Ngugi Wa Thiong’o.
17.00 Coffee break

17.30 Parallel Sessions 2 - Identity, orality and human rights
2.1 Chair: Uta Reuster-Jahn
40. Idamoybo, Ovaborhene (Delta State University, Nigeria) - Intertextuality and intercontextuality in Ighopha music of Okpe culture: analysis of the track, In What is Good, we Find Evil by Egbikume Azano.
72. Pecoraro, Vito (University of Palermo, Italy) - Le raï : de la culture bédouine à la culture des cités.
102. Willemse, Hein (University of Pretoria, South Africa) - Re-making histories and memories: the South African Cape musicals of David Kramer and Taliep Petersen (1986- 2006).
2.2 Chair: Isidore Okpewho
50. Lombardi-Diop Cristina (American University in Rome, Italy) - Memories of Italian colonialism: writing the silenced voices of history.
79. Rizzà, Laura (University of Bologna, Italy) - Body language: the slave body and the word in African Diaspora literature.
87. Terracciano Alda (Future Histories Archives, UK) - Trading faces: recollecting slavery - a case study on orality and archives in the African Diaspora.
90. Tidjani-Alou, Antoinette (University of Niamey, Niger) - Ancestors from the East, spirits from the West. A panorama of intercultural themes and motifs from the Nigérien Sahel.
2.3 Chair: Itala Vivan
36. Groenewald, Manie (University of the Witvatersrand, South Africa)- Songs about Zuma: orality and context.
44. Krog, Antjie (University of Cape Town, South Africa) - ” a continous cry…” - bearing witness to Homi Bhabha’s “unequal and uneven forces of cultural representation in the contest for political and social authority within the moral world order”.
46. Kunene, Daniel P. (University of Winsconsin, US) - S.E.K. Mqhayi’s Ityala lamaWele, a dramatic presentation of court proceedings in a Xhosa traditional court.
2.4 Chair: Maria Renata Dolce
11. Asante, Yaw (Mount Royal College, Canada)- Orality and Ghanaian identity: Kojo Laing’s Search Sweet Country.
22. Darah, Godini G. (Delta State University, Nigeria) - Memory, history and the politics of national identity in the popular music of the Urhobo of the Niger Delta, Nigeria.
37. Guardi, Jolanda (University of Milan, Italy) - Le dialecte algérien comme moyen d’opposition politique.
83. Sindoni, Maria Grazia (University of Messina, Italy) - The Creole in the Caribbean: how language can create a cultural identity.

Free dinner
[Chiostro Santa Maria del Carmine, Rector’s Office]
21.00 Traditional music and dances of Salento

Thursday 12 June
[University - Buon Pastore, Via Taranto 35]
9.00 Parallel Sessions 3 - Technology and Archives
3.1 Chair: Graham Furniss
3. Adeniran, Morenike Adunni (University of Ibadan, Nigeria) - Mutation of style in trans- generic narrative fiction.
41. Johnson, John W. (Indiana University, US)- Publishing a successful manuscript in the oral epics in Africa series (Indiana University).
80. Roulon-Doko, Paulette (LLACAN-CNRS, France)– Transcrire, traduire et éditer des contes africains.
101. Wasamba Peter (University of Nairobi, Kenya) - The politics of internet and preservation of African oral literature.
3.2 Chair: Tanure Ojaide
12. Azuonye, Chukwuma (University of Massachusetts, US)- Migration of traditions: memory archives for the reconstructon of the history of African oral literature.
14. Baumgardt, Ursula (LLACAN-CNRS, France) - La mise en scène de la littérature orale dans des DVD filmés : l’exemple des contes peuls du Nord-Cameroun.
39. Idamoybo, Atinuke (Delta State University, Nigeria) - The sustenance of Yoruba musical culture through memory archives and technology.
45. Kuitche Fonkou, Gabriel (Inspecteur Ministère Enseignement, Cameroun) - Littérature orale : mémoire technologique, mémoire historique.
65. Onanuga, Cornelius Oluwarotimi (University of Ijebu-Ode, Nigeria) - The apepe traditional musical rendition of Ijebuland: challenges of preservation and continuity.
3.3 Chair: Winnie Nkhuna
24. David, Maserame Hannah (University of Gaborone, Botswana)- Memory archives, technology and the oral arts in Botswana.
51. Makgopa, Mokgale (University of Venda, South Africa)- Transmission and archiving of oral literature through the click of a button.
54. Merolla, Daniela (University of Leiden, Netherlands)- Verba Africana: pilot project on African oral genres and technology.
84. Smith, Pamela J.O. (University of Nebraska, US) - From traditional historical archives to the new technologies of communication: Akínwùmí Ìsòlá and the video explosion.
3.4 Chair: Tal Tamari
23. Dauphin-Tinturier, Anne-Marie (LLACAN-CNRS, France) - Comment structurer un hypermédia ?
29. Dili Palaï, Clément (Ngaunderé, Cameroun/Arras, France) — Oralité et enjeux des TIC au Nord-Cameroun.
42. Kaschula, Russell H. (Rhodes University, South Africa) - Digitizing and technologizing the oral word: the case of Bongani Sitole.
49. Leguy, Cecile (Université de Paris V, France) + Dembélé Alexis (Paris III, France) - Radio locale et dynamique du conte en milieu rural africain : l’expérience d’une rencontre entre conteurs après dix ans d’interventions à Radio Parana (Mali).
11.00 Coffee break

11.30 Parallel Sessions 4 - Intertextuality. from oral to written texts
4.1 Chair: Russell Kaschula
61. Oboe, Annalisa (University of Padua, Italy) - “Survival is in the mouth”: encoding orality in Yvonne Vera’s writing.
66. Opara, Chioma (Rivers State University, Nigeria) - Fleshing out memory: history and politics in Ezeigbo’s The Last of the Strong Ones.
67. Orobello, Ornella (University of Palermo, Italy)- Identity formation in two generations of African women writers: Emecheta and Adichie.
75. Presbey, Gail (University of Detroit, US) - Prophetess Alice Auma Lakwena: interviews and signage.
4.2 Chair: Cécile Leguy
18. Bourlet, Mélanie (LLACAN-CNRS, France)- La mémoire et le rythme. Sur l’oralité des poèmes de Bakary Diallo (1892-1978).
30. Duruoha, S. I. (Rivers State University, Nigeria) - Tapestry of sounds and symbols: meaning, memory and intertextuality in the poetry of Christopher Okigbo.
57. Mweseli W. Monica (University of Nairobi, Kenya) - Okot P’Bitek and the use of oral literature in his written texts.
96. Ugochukwu, Françoise (Open University, UK) - « Aidez-nous à combattre le mal » - l’arme du chant collectif au coeur du conflit biafrais.
4.3 Chair: Mokgale Makgopa
7. Akinyemi, Akintunde (University of Florida, US) - Contemporary Nigerian dramatists and Yoruba oral history.
26. Delfini, Antonella (University of Bari, Italy) - Elements of oral tradition in Uzodinma Iweal’s Beasts of no Nation.
52. Mamet-Michalkiewicz, Marta (University of Silesia, Poland) - Storytelling as the art of seduction: The Thousand and One Nights as intertext in contemporary African literatures.
86. Tamari, Tal ( MALD-CNRS, France) - La littérature française en traduction bambara : l’exemple du Comte de Monte Cristo.
4.4 Chair: Stephen Belcher
6. Aiello Traore, Flavia (University of Calabria, Italy) - Reading Swahili children’s books: orality, education, and interculturality in contemporary Tanzania.
20. Colombo, Laura (University of Verona, Italy) - Des voix des aïeules à Sylvie Vartan: paroles et chants de femmes dans l’Afrique contemporaine.
94. Udo, Daniel G. (University of Uyo, Nigeria) - African oral traditions and the dramatic medium: Amiri Baraka and Femi Osofisan.
95. Udoh, Isaac (Abia State University, Nigeria) - Oral literature and the question of identity in the Niger Delta of Nigeria: a study of J.P.Clark’s The Ozidi Saga.
13.30 Lunch break
[University - Facoltà Lingue, via Calasso 3]

15.00 Workshop with African Italian writers
Chair: Itala Vivan
2. Aden, Mohamed Kaha (Somalia/Pavia, Italy) - Le vie di Mogadiscio / The streets of Mogadishu (Les rues de Mogadichio).
35. Ghermandi, Gabriella (Ethiopia/Bologna, Italy) - In the shade of the shameless branches laden with bright red flowers.
43. Khouma, Pap (Senegal/Milano, Italy) - Mon voyage dans ma troisième langue, l’Italien (My journey through Italian, my third language).
48. Lamri, Tahar (Algeria/Ravenna, Italy) - Il pellegrinaggio della voce / Le pèlerinage de la voix (The voice’s pilgrimage).
17.00 Coffee break
17.30 General assembly
20.15 Bus to social dinner

Friday 13 June
[University - Buon Pastore, Via Taranto 35]
[Room 2]
9.00 Plenary lecture - Chair: Ruth Finnegan
28. Derive, Jean (LLACAN-CNRS, Université de Chambery, France) - Diaspora mandingue en région parisienne et identité culturelle : production de littérature orale en situation d’immigration.
10.00 Coffee break

10.30 Parallel Sessions 5 - New crossings identity
5.1 Chair: Graziella Parati
58. Nfah-Abbenyi Juliana Makuchi (University of North Carolina, US) - African oral narratives and the intercultural immigrant experience of home in the Southern United States.
59. Nkhuna, Winnie (University of Pretoria, South Africa) - New crossings immigration and interculturality in South Africa.
71. Paci, Francesca Romana (University of Eastern Piedmont, Vercelli, Italy) - Italophonic African writers and the heritage of oral literature.
82. Sanou, Alain (Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) - L’impact des migrations sur la littérature orale bobo.
97. Van Coller, H.P. (University of the Free State, South Africa)- Intertextuality in Hafid Bouazza’s novel Paravion.
5.2 Chair: Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbebyi
38. Gueye, Marame (University of East Carolina, US) - Praise Song for the Good Woman: the Influences of islam on Wolof oral poetry.
47. Kuria, Mike (Daystar University, Kenya) - Our narratives, our memories: revisiting the performance of Gitiiro among the Agikuyu of Kenya.
85. Suriano, Maria (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) - Oral history, memory and gender: TANU women and the liberation struggle in colonial Tanganyika.
100. Wanjala, Alex Nelungo (University of Nairobi, Kenya) - Elements of the gothic in Grace Ogot’s fiction.
5.3 Chair: Paulette Roulon-Doko
63. Ojaide, Tanure (University of North Carolina, US) - Oral poetic performance in Africa and the African Diaspora: Udje, Battle Rap, and Calypso.
73. Petillo, Mariacristina (University of Bari, Italy) - Trinidadian calypsoes as oral heritage: linguistic and cultural problems.
78. Reuster-Jahn, Uta (University of Mainz, Germany) - Traits of traditional orature in Swahili Bongo Fleva (HipHop) music in Tanzania.
91.Tsaaior, James (University of Ibadan, Nigeria) - The cross-cultural dialogue across the Atlantic dissolving cultural boundaries between Africa and its Diaspora.
5.4 Chair: Nduka Otiono
9. Alabi, Adetayo (University of Mississippi, US) - The trickster and the autobiographer: orality, art, and African cultural production.
13. Ba Alpha Oumarou (LLACAN-CNRS, France) - Les procédés de légitimation du pouvoir dans l’épopée peule du Fouladou.
15. Belcher, Stephen (Independent Scholar, US) - Evolution, orality, and the epic.
34. Gelaye, Getie (Hamburg University, Germany) - Amharic poems preserved in the Fondo Conti Rossini, BNAL in Rome, Italy.
74. Piangatelli, Roberto (Independent Researcher, Brescia, Italy) - “Wahalla don start, Ken don die”. A cry for the death of Ken Saro-Wiwa (E’ cominciato il casino, Ken è morto…).
13.00 Lunch break

15.00 Parallel Sessions 6 - Orality and performance
6.1 Chair: Hein Willemse
21. D’Abdon, Raphael (University of Udine, Italy) - Building a continuum: spoken word movement and the re-production of oral culture in post-apartheid urban South Africa.
53. Martino, Pierpaolo (University of Bari, Italy) - Transnational metamorphoses of African orality: L.K. Johnson’s dub poetry.
70. Otiono, Nduka (University of Alberta, Canada) - Tradition and secondary orality: new Nigerian performance poets and the search for new idioms of expression.
92. Tsenôngu, Moses Terhemba (Benue State University, Nigeria) - Technological verdicts in Tiv oral poetry: the emergence of Golozo as the greatest poet of his time.
6.2 Chair: Francesca Romana Paci
10. Aresta Antonio (University of Salento, Lecce, Italy) — Wolof griot from Senegal: between tradition and change.
60. Nyitse Mbaiver Leticia (Benue State University, Nigeria) - Text and context: a study of poetic practice of Grace and Simeon Tsav.
93. Turner, Noleen (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) - Fluidity and the oral text - Izihasho amongst the Zulu.
98. Van Niekerk, Jacomien (University of Pretoria, South Africa) - Folktale influence in Afrikaans literature: (mis)recognition, interpretation, negotiation.
6.3 Chair: Oty Agbajoh-Laoye
16. Bornand, Sandra (LLACAN-CNRS, Switzerland) - La secrète revendication d’une sexualité féminine : les chants du marcanda chantés par les captives songhay (Niger).
19. Byaruhanga, Frederick K. (University of California in Los Angeles, US)- African traditional higher education: a misnomer?
56. Motsei, Sara (University of the Free State, South Africa) - Naming of an African child (in particular Sesotho).
76. Rafapa, Lesibana (University of Venda, South Africa) - African traditional oral hymns vis-à-vis universal human spirituality.
88. Tengan, Alexis B. (Independent Researcher, Belgium) - Memory archiving and the ritual art of narrative performance: case study of the Dagara bagr archive project.
17.00 Coffee break
17.30 Closing of conference
[Palazzo Cezzi]
19.30 Poetry reading (Antjie Krog, Natalia Molebatsi) with farewell drinks

Saturday 14 June
9.00 Day excursion to Salento with visit and lunch in Otranto and visit to Galatina

Sunday 15 June
10.00 Coda : Special programme Italo-Senegalese (Introduction : Antonio Aresta)
10.15 Film document (94′) “Keita, l’héritage du griot” (Keita, the griot’s legacy) - Original version in French and Bambara, captions in Italian
12.00 Presentation of project of cooperation between Salento and Senegal and performance on the legend of Sundjata Keita
13.00 Short performance by the Senegalese griot Mandiaye Ndiaye with artists from “La fabbrica dei gesti” (The workshop of mimes)

fonte Musicaos.it