A Thematic Analysis of the Oral Poetry of the People of Fogera
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2008-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The people of Fogera have a wide range of poems with numerous themes. Discussing the
major themes of this community's oral poem is the objective of this research. To
materiali ze this objective, data were collected from five sub-di stricts of Fogera di strict
from February 20 to March 15/2008.
Apart from note taking, the methods applied to collect the data '.vere observation and
interview. The data collection was carried out with the instrumentality of audio and video
recording as well as photographing devices.
These methods enabled the researcher to record on the spot songs and poetic reci tals
along with actual performances. This approach also enabled the researcher to decipher
further meanings since the information is obtained from the poets themselves.
Among the collected poems fifty eighth representati ve poems were selected for
di scussion in this research. The nature of contexts and their themes were taken as a
consideration for selection and analysis.
Based on the collected poems, in this research, an attempt is made to identify the major
themes of the oral poems of the people of Fogera. Reflecting strong social attachment,
praising their land of origin, the transformation of the people of Fogera from cattle
rearing to rice farming and the economic significance of ox for the farmer are some of
them from the identified themes in this research.
From the themes of the poems studied in this research, it is possible to understand that the
people of Fogera capture their socio-economic acti vity through their oral poems. All in
all it is possible to see that the oral poems of the people of Fogera can reflect the people's
life style.
Description
Keywords
Oral Poetry