Ruth Finnegan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3611786 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ruth Finnegan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ruth |
| FAMILY NAME | Finnegan |
| SIGNATURE | FINNEGAN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | British Academy |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0084-265X |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 114 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 545 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 114 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1968 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 11 |
Poetry and society
The chapter ‘Poetry and Society’ delves into the complex relationship between poetic activity and the social institutions in which it is embedded. It begins by exploring how poetry reflects and is shaped by the social structures of a given society, whether through specialist poets who function within the division of labour or through poetry as a tool for cultural transmission across generations. The chapter also highlights poetry's role in unifyi…
Introduction
The study of oral poetry often involves assumptions that shape its analysis, making it important to distinguish between controversial, empirical, or outdated claims. Several influential approaches to oral poetry are examined. Romantic and evolutionist theories, rooted in 18th and 19th-century European Romanticism, highlight the spontaneous, emotional, and natural aspects of poetry, emphasizing a connection to "primitive" societies. These theories…
Concluding comment
In the concluding comments of this book, the author refrains from offering a singular theoretical model, instead emphasizing the book's aim to provide a foundational guide to the study of oral poetry and its associated debates. A central theme throughout is the rejection of a rigid divide between oral and written literature. While the distinction exists, it is better understood as a continuum, rather than a fundamental chasm. The continued existe…
Style and performance
This chapter explores the intricate interplay between style and performance in oral poetry, emphasizing that both aspects are inseparable and essential for a complete understanding of this art form. While literary scholars have traditionally focused on style and sociologists on performance, this chapter argues that neither can be fully appreciated without considering the other. The study of style involves the recognition of social conventions tha…
Transmission, distribution and publication
This chapter examines the processes of transmission, distribution, and publication in oral literature, emphasizing the importance of verbal delivery for the existence and continuity of oral traditions. Unlike written literature, which can exist indefinitely in text form, oral literature must be performed and transmitted verbally, or it risks extinction. The study explores how oral literature reaches its audience, highlighting the central role of …
Composition
In this chapter, the complex and multifaceted nature of oral poetry composition is explored, addressing key questions about how oral poets create and perform their work. Scholars have debated whether performers memorize poems verbatim, improvise spontaneously, or use a mix of pre-learned formulas and real-time composition. This chapter suggests that no single method universally applies to all oral poetry traditions, highlighting the diverse strat…
Afterword
Poets and their positions
In this chapter, the focus is on oral poets and their diverse roles within different cultures and societies. The chapter begins by addressing the broad question of who the poets are, explaining that virtually anyone can assume this role depending on the social context. While oral poets can be found in various forms—from official court poets in medieval kingdoms to unpaid singers among labourers—there are recurring patterns that shape their societ…
Audience, context and function
This chapter explores the complex relationship between oral poetry and its audience, highlighting how context and audience significantly shape the function and meaning of oral performances. It begins by acknowledging the parallels between oral and written poetry in terms of their societal roles, emphasizing that broad, abstract debates about poetry's reflection of or impact on society can lead to frustration. Instead, the chapter suggests that fo…
Oral Poetry
This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the vast field of 'oral poetry,' encompassing everything from American folksongs, contemporary pop songs, and Inuit lyrics, to the heroic epics of Homer, biblical psalms, and epic traditions in Asia and the Pacific. Taking a broad comparative approach, it explores oral poetry across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas. Drawing on global research, Ruth Finnegan, the author of the seminal…
Some approaches to the study of oral poetry
This chapter explores the various approaches to the study of oral poetry, highlighting the influence of entrenched assumptions and theoretical models on the field. To properly assess claims about oral poetry, it is essential to understand the underlying assumptions behind these approaches. The chapter examines four major approaches to oral poetry: romantic and evolutionist theories, the Finnish historical-geographical school, sociological approac…
Culture of Publishing
Publishing is in essence the purposeful dissemination of some work by its creator beyond just him‐ or herself, whether orally or using one of the many writing systems, always, as with any social institution, intermingled with politics, power, and social constraints. There have been many changes in the culture and conventions of publishing over the years, in large part because of changing technologies—in particular, print and digital reproduction.…
Voice in a narrative: A trialogue with Ruth Finnegan
Ruth Finnegan FBA OBE (1933, Derry, Northern Ireland) took a DPhil in Anthropology at Oxford, then joined the Open University of which she is now an Emeritus Professor. Her publications include Oral Literature in Africa (1970), Oral Poetry (1977), The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (1989), and Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation (2011). Ruth Finnegan was interviewed by Sarali Gintsburg (ICS, University of Nava…
John Miles Foley's World of Oralities: Text, Tradition, and Contemporary Oral Theory
This collection brings together newly commissioned and cutting-edge essays on oral text and tradition ranging from the ancient and medieval world to the present day by a leading group of European and North American oral theorists. Using a range of materials including the Bible, Greek epic, Beowulf, Old Norse and Old English riddles, and medieval music, the contributors collectively work to refine, challenge, and further advance contemporary Oral …
Consciousness, Altered States of
Forms of “altered” consciousness are common in human life yet at the same time (apart from dreams) seldom investigated in depth by anthropologists. The main areas where such states of consciousness have been found, and up to a point studied, are dreaming, including prophetic and creative dreams; sensations of contact of various kinds with and from the dead; the experience of music, poetry and trance; and psychic communication of the kind describe…
Oral Literatures
Oral literature refers to works of art produced, transmitted, and/or performed without writing. It is found in many contexts, both “industrial” and “nonindustrial,” and in multiple genres, many of them overlapping or interacting with those of written literature. Contrary to some perceptions, oral literary forms are not just something of the past or far away, practiced among so‐called exotic peoples, but realized here and now and in a variety of f…
Secrets of the Extraordinary Ordinary: The Revelations of Folklore and Anthropology
The basic principle of folklore is constant-unveiling the hidden riches within the ordinary things of everyday life: a fine contribution to, and coordination with, the humanities. Examples are the study of the oral/orality; life stories of the obscure; practices of 'hidden' amateur musicians, studied ethnographically rather than through written scores or the 'great' composers; research by scholars outside the formal institutions of higher learnin…
Where does language come from
It is always interesting to ask about the origin of things, but for this we also need to consider what it is for which we seek the beginning. What, then, is 'language' - voice, words, text? This leads to a number of questions: what are the current and earlier theories about how language began? did language come just once to humankind and from one single source? can language and verbal text come in dreams and visions (the paper discusses and analy…
Modes of Thought in Western and Non-Western Societies
Oral and Literate Expression
Child play is serious: Children's games, verbal art and survival in Africa
Although less known than children's lore elsewhere, especially that so well documented by Peter and Iona Opie, children's play in Africa has long been recorded and admired. This article reports on both the traditional and the current position in that continent, with conclusions based on a combination of ethnographic work, documentary sources, oral tradition and images. Contrary to what is often believed, the outcomes of play in Africa are serious…
Topical and Political Songs
Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliograph…
Special Purpose Poetry - War, Hunting, and Work
Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliograph…
Lyric
Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa. This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliograph…
Poetry and Patronage
Variations in the poet’s position. Court poets. Freelance and wandering poets. Part-time poets. This chapter is intended to give some account of the conditions in which African oral poets produce their works, and the audiences to which they address themselves. However, even the most summary account of this topic is a matter of great difficulty. This is partly because of sheer lack of data. Even those who have spent time and care recording African…
Oral literature in Africa
This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, drum language” and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs from the Limba …
Oral Poetry
This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the vast field of 'oral poetry,' encompassing everything from American folksongs, contemporary pop songs, and Inuit lyrics, to the heroic epics of Homer, biblical psalms, and epic traditions in Asia and the Pacific. Taking a broad comparative approach, it explores oral poetry across Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas. Drawing on global research, Ruth Finnegan, the author of the seminal…
Modes of Thought in Western and Non-Western Societies
How to Do Things with Words: Performative Utterances Among the Limba of Sierra Leone
The Oxford philosopherJ. L. Austin has popularised the notion of'performative utterances'. These are utterances in which using a certain form of words is not to describe or express, nor to make a true or false statement. Rather, their point is to do something. This can be made clear through some examples. If one says 'I do' (sc. take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife, as said in the course of the marriage ceremony), 'I give and bequeath my w…
Limba stories and story-telling
Ethnologie et langage. La parole chez les Dogon
This article analyzes the complex relationship between language and social structure among the Dogon of Mali. It focuses on the performative aspects of Dogon speech, examining how words are not merely descriptive but actively shape social reality. The authors explore various speech genres, including ritual pronouncements, greetings, and everyday conversations, to demonstrate how language reflects and reinforces Dogon social hierarchies, cosmology…
Oral Traditions and the Verbal Arts: A Guide to Research Practices
Oral Traditions and the Verbal Arts: A Guide to Research Practices offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the study of oral traditions and verbal arts. Ruth Finnegan explores the rich diversity of oral forms, including narratives, songs, proverbs, riddles, and performance traditions, across cultures and historical periods. The book provides practical guidance on research methodologies, addressing key issues such as fieldwork techni…
The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town
Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation: The Culture and History of Quotation
1.1 'If it weren't for the last minute...' 1.2 'Dad turns out all right' 1.3 War memorial, Church Green Road, Bletchley, November 2009 1.4 Graveyard quoting 2.1 Example of extract from a mass observer's comment 2.2 An 85 year-old widow's quoting 2.3 Sayings in 'our circle of friends' 2.4 A large collection of quotation books 3.1 'I was suddenly conscious of the quote marks' 4.1
Lithoko: Sotho Praise Poems
The Dinka and Their Songs
Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context
Oral Cultures Past and Present: Rappin' and Homer
Part 1 The oral world's a stage: the good talker thinking on your feet can I get a witness?. Part 2 Caught in the web of words: praising boasting abusing drawing together the web. Part 3 The tapestry of words: spinning the threads the web that binds. Part 4 Stepping back: repairing the seams coming to a close
Composing Culture: The Authority of an Electronic Text [and Comments and Reply]
See So that We May See: Performances and Interpretations of Traditional Tales from Tanzania
Epic Singers and Oral Tradition
Man and Woman Among the Azande
From Family Tree to Family History
The Epic in Africa
Participating in the Knowledge Society: Researchers Beyond the University Walls
A Note on Oral Tradition and Historical Evidence
There are a number of assumptions about the nature of in Africa which are sometimes made by historians and others. Two of these will be discussed in this Note the assumption that oral tradition is something unitary and selfevident and that it is somehow impervious to many of the factors which historians usually take account of in critical assessment of sources. These (and other) assumptions about the nature of are generally unconscious, but perha…
What is Orality — if Anything
‘A challenging start to the Colloquium’ was what the organiser asked for, in the form of a critique of one of its key terms. This is what this paper endeavours to supply. I suspect it has turned out not quite as provocative as the title sounds, but it does attempt to provide some critical assessment of, and background to, the much-discussed concept of ‘orality’, presented from the viewpoint of an anthropologist long interested in the study of ora…
How oral is oral literature
The study of oral literature is among the many areas to which Wilfred Whiteley made an important contribution. He was one of the founder editors of the extensive 'Oxford Library of African Literature', and played an essential part in both the development of the study of African oral literature and the maintenance of scholarly standards through generous encouragement and informed advice to colleagues and students working in this area. His primary …
Voice in a narrative: A trialogue with Ruth Finnegan
Ruth Finnegan FBA OBE (1933, Derry, Northern Ireland) took a DPhil in Anthropology at Oxford, then joined the Open University of which she is now an Emeritus Professor. Her publications include Oral Literature in Africa (1970), Oral Poetry (1977), The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town (1989), and Why Do We Quote? The Culture and History of Quotation (2011). Ruth Finnegan was interviewed by Sarali Gintsburg (ICS, University of Nava…
Child play is serious: Children's games, verbal art and survival in Africa
Although less known than children's lore elsewhere, especially that so well documented by Peter and Iona Opie, children's play in Africa has long been recorded and admired. This article reports on both the traditional and the current position in that continent, with conclusions based on a combination of ethnographic work, documentary sources, oral tradition and images. Contrary to what is often believed, the outcomes of play in Africa are serious…
Survey of the Limba People of Sierra Leone
Limba Stories and Storytelling
Ethnologie et langage. La parole chez les Dogon
This article analyzes the complex relationship between language and social structure among the Dogon of Mali. It focuses on the performative aspects of Dogon speech, examining how words are not merely descriptive but actively shape social reality. The authors explore various speech genres, including ritual pronouncements, greetings, and everyday conversations, to demonstrate how language reflects and reinforces Dogon social hierarchies, cosmology…
Attitudes to the Study of Oral Literature in British Social Anthropology
Hausa Tales and Traditions: An English Translation of Tatsuniyoyi na Hausa
Part 1 Mainly animals: spider hare jackal lion cat goat hyena a miscellany. Part 2 Caricatures - ethnic and other stereotypes: Maguje Fulani Gwari the Kano man Sokoto men Kanuri Tuareg and Buzu Nupe stupid country folk the Malam the barber all Hausas. Part 3 Moralizing: women poverty gratitude the will of God miscellaneous morals. Part 4 Men and women young men and maidens. Part 5 Dilemma tales. Part 6 Cases at law
How to Do Things with Words: Performative Utterances Among the Limba of Sierra Leone
The Oxford philosopherJ. L. Austin has popularised the notion of'performative utterances'. These are utterances in which using a certain form of words is not to describe or express, nor to make a true or false statement. Rather, their point is to do something. This can be made clear through some examples. If one says 'I do' (sc. take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife, as said in the course of the marriage ceremony), 'I give and bequeath my w…
A Note on Oral Tradition and Historical Evidence
There are a number of assumptions about the nature of in Africa which are sometimes made by historians and others. Two of these will be discussed in this Note the assumption that oral tradition is something unitary and selfevident and that it is somehow impervious to many of the factors which historians usually take account of in critical assessment of sources. These (and other) assumptions about the nature of are generally unconscious, but perha…
Oral literature in Africa
This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, drum language” and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. This volume is complemented by original recordings of stories and songs from the Limba …
The Kinship Ascription of Primitive Societies: Actuality or Myth
The Springs of Mende Belief and Conduct. A Discussion of the Influence of the Belief in the Supernatural among the Mende
Structural Analysis of Oral Tradition
Thirteen anthropologists, including Claude Levi-Strauss, Dell Hymes, and Edmund R. Leach, examine myths, rituals, fold dramas, folk tales, riddles, and folk songs, all in the context of the cultures in which they occur
Approaches to the Study of African Oral Literature
Opening Paragraph Dr. Ruth Finnegan's study Oral Literature in Africa (The Oxford Library of African Literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970, pp. xix+558, £5) is likely to become an influential book. It surveys and summarizes much of our knowledge regarding the basic forms of African oral literature. Although there have been a number of essays published discussing some of the issues involved in recording, analysing, and appreciating such litera…
The Murle. Red Chiefs and Black Commoners
Oral Literature in Africa
Can there be an Unbiased Sociology of Literature: Some Comments On the Need for a Comparative Perspective
How oral is oral literature
The study of oral literature is among the many areas to which Wilfred Whiteley made an important contribution. He was one of the founder editors of the extensive 'Oxford Library of African Literature', and played an essential part in both the development of the study of African oral literature and the maintenance of scholarly standards through generous encouragement and informed advice to colleagues and students working in this area. His primary …
Modes of Thought: Essays on Thinking in Western and Non-Western Societies
The Dinka and Their Songs
Man and Woman Among the Azande
Lithoko: Sotho Praise Poems
Jerrold M. Sadock, Toward a linguistic theory of speech acts.New York: Academic Press, 1974. Pp. 168
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Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance, and Social Context
The Epic in Africa
Limba stories and story-telling
A World Treasury of Oral Poetry
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