2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Copy Culture and Oral Literature in the Northern Camerooninan Ful'be Society
| Project/Area Number |
18520639
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Cultural anthropology/Folklore
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| Research Institution | National Museum of Ethnology |
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Principal Investigator |
EGUCHI Kazuhisa National Museum of Ethnology, Professor Emeritus (90045261)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Keywords | Northern Cameroon / Ful'be / copy culture / oral literature / Koine Fulfulde / Fulbeization / griot / recorded materials |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this research is to study the relationship between the copy culture and the oral literature among the Fulbe of Northern Cameroon. Originally the oral literature was performed in front of the audience by either professional or nonprofessional entertainers. Nowadays because of the appearance of the copy culture, the oral literature can be enjoyed without having the performers in front of the audience. The part of the oral literature has been supported by the professional griots, and the ruling class people, and the rich people have been supporting these entertainers. Since around 1982, the ruling class was weakened by the appearance of the president from Southern Cameroon. At the same time many southerners flew into Northern Cameroonian cities. These people from outside started speaking Fulfulde as regional language. This Fulfulde is somewhat simplified and called Koine Fulfulde. Even the young Fulbe people started speaking it The Koine Fulfulde speakers cannot understand the Fulfulde of the traditional entertainers. They rather love to buy cassettes of various oral arts produced in studios using the simplified Fulfulde. Now the market of the copy culture products is big. There are cassettes copied at home and those mass-produced. Most of them have no labels at all, so it is somewhat complicated to know the nature of each product.
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