Educational values of "Sigendini Luo": the Kenya Luo narratives

Abstract

This study exanines the educational vaiues of sigendini Luo, the Luo oral narratives. Oral narratives form an important genre of oral literature whioh is recognised and accepted as literature within the context in which the term literature is used in this thesis. The term literature here does not refer to written literature only, but is used in its widest context including sung, spoken, danced or acted literature whioh is all oral in nature. The investigations and analysis of the sigendini Luo have revealed that these were not used purely for amusement and as a pastime, but that, they had other functions and roles as well. One of these, functions was to transmit certain educational values to the younger members of the society. This study is an attempt to examine critically what these educational values were, and to establish what supplementary part they played in the education of the Luo children. Sigendini, as a genre of literature, are created from the life's experiences of the people, emanating from issues, which are social, economic, political and religious in kind. fherefore, as is the case with written literature, sigendini act as a mirror of the society which creates them. We can tell the sort of life the Luo led, their history over. the years, philosophical thoughts, ideals and beliefs from their sigendini which we are discussing here. The study further advances the idea that Sigendini embody certain general knowledge that enlightens the children about their world. The importance of work and how dependent human beines are on their enviroment is also raised and examples are given of actual instances where various characters in Sigendini are engacad on work, exploiting their enviroment for their subsistence. The existence of a supernatural power , the Luo Nyasaye, God, is discussed at length. From the discussion, we come to realise that according to the Luo, religion is something that is lived and praotised every moment of the day. The part that sigendini play in the promotion and training of artistic creation, using the mind and imagination is also examined in the study. From listening to the sigendini and also by being given opportunities to take part in telling sigendini, the ohildren themselves, acquire the art of story-telling and may even·tually grow up to be (at least some of them) good story-tellers, Good speakers and orators for they become used to adressing audiences while they are still youne. These points are all viewed as being important for creating viable conditional which assist .children in their education towards self-development and learning to live in harmony with others in their society and to be self-reliant. TWenty-one sigendini; are analysed in detail in the body of the thesis as representative of samples of the na.rrative mode.