The Liberating Potential of Oral Literature in a Globalized Context

Without sounding like a dissenter or an arch pessimist, it is pertinent to assert that indigenous African cultures are today at the brink of extinction due to marginalization and the imposition of European values made possible largely by advanced information technology that is a function of globalization. This erosive tendency, if unchecked, has the potential to obliterate African cultures and ways of life particularly given the rate at which globalizing trends that aim at international integration and interchange of world views, products and ideas, including democratic ideals, are fast enveloping African states, even at traditional levels. Already, African cultures are dubbed primitive, African democracy plastic and unsophisticated, even by Africans themselves. To attempt to reverse this trend and focus attention on the upliftment of the African image and identity, this paper explores the role oral literature can play within the current context of globalization and the attainment of democratic ideals. The paper therefore posits that the neglect of oral literature accounts for the continuous enslavement of the African mentality leading to the excessive reliance on Eurocentric paradigms for the interpretation of reality. It concludes that for Africa and Africans to impact democratically in todays globalized context, Africans should have recourse to the liberating potential of oral literature to strengthen their image and identity which can then be bandied positively in the modern capitalist market economy driven by globalization.