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Essay on the function of oral storytelling in the transmission of knowledge in Amerindian societies
Oral storytelling has occupied a central place in human culture. Although often considered as an activity centred around children, oral storytelling in one form or another is at least as much a part of adult life and performs many functions from entertainment to a negotiation of identity, with the listener taking an active role in each unique storytelling event (Georges 1969). This essay is concerned with how it functions in the transmission of knowledge in Amerindian societies and will use two cases studies: the first concerning historical tales of the Western Apache and the second the migration stories of the Hopi. Firstly, however, it is appropriate to define terms.
