Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-lrf7s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-25T16:51:45.423Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

LEARNING THROUGH PLAY: AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF CHILDREN'S RIDDLING IN ETHIOPIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2012

Tadesse Jaleta Jirata
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although the educational value of African oral traditions, particularly folktales, has been discussed widely in social studies of children, education and folklore, riddling is not commonly investigated as a part of children's everyday social practice. In this article, I present riddling as a part of children's expressive culture, through which they play together and learn about their local environment. I generated the data through ten months of ethnographic fieldwork among Guji people in southern Ethiopia. Based on analyses of the times and locations of this activity, as well as the social interaction involved, I argue that children perform riddling in order to entertain themselves and to learn from their immediate social and natural environment through discrete peer networks.

Résumé

Si la valeur éducative des traditions orales africaines, notamment des contes populaires, a certes fait l'objet de larges discussions dans les études sociales consacrées aux enfants, à l’éducation et au folklore, en revanche la devinette n'est pas communément étudiée comme un constituant de la pratique sociale quotidienne des enfants. Dans cet article, l'auteur présente la devinette comme une composante de la culture expressive des enfants, à travers laquelle ils jouent ensemble et apprennent à connaître leur environnement local. Les données de cette étude sont le fruit de dix mois de travaux ethnographiques menés auprès des Guji dans le Sud de l’Éthiopie. Sur la base de l'analyse des temps et des lieux de cette activité, ainsi que de l'interaction sociale en jeu, l'auteur affirme que les enfants pratiquent la devinette afin de se divertir et d'apprendre de leur environnement social et naturel immédiat à travers des réseaux discrets de pairs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 82 , Issue 2 , May 2012 , pp. 272 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Argenti, N. (2010) ‘Things that don't come by the road: folktales, fosterage, and memories of slavery in the Cameroon grassfields’, Comparative Studies in Society and History 52 (2): 224–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ben-Amos, D. (1977) ‘Introduction: folklore in African society’ in Lindfors, B. (ed.), Forms of Folklore in Africa. Austin TX: University of Texas.Google Scholar
Beriso, T. (1994) ‘Warfare among Guji Oromo of southern Ethiopia’ in Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies Vol. II. Addis Ababa: Institute for Ethiopian Studies (IES).Google Scholar
Beriso, T. (1995) ‘Agricultural and Rural Development Policies in Ethiopia: a case study of villagization policy among the Guji-Oromo of Jam Jam Awuraja’. PhD thesis, Michigan State University.Google Scholar
Beriso, T. (2000) ‘Riddles on number nine in Guji-Oromo culture’, Journal of Ethiopian Studies 38 (1): 35–46.Google Scholar
Buchoff, R. (1996) ‘Riddles: fun with language across the curriculum’, The Reading Teacher 49 (8): 666–8.Google Scholar
Burns, T. (1976) ‘Riddling: occasion to act’, The Journal of American Folklore 89 (352): 139–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corsaro, W. A. and Eder, D. (1990) ‘Children's peer cultures’, Annual Review of Sociology 16: 197–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Debsu, D. (2009) ‘Gender and culture in southern Ethiopia: an ethnographic analysis of Guji-Oromo women's customary rights’, African Study Monographs 30 (1): 15–36.Google Scholar
Derive, J. (2003) ‘Riddles’ in Peek, P. and Yankah, K. (eds), African Folklore: an encyclopedia. New York NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Eastman, C. M. (1984) ‘An ethnography of Swahili expressive culture’, Research in African Literatures 15 (3): 313–34.Google Scholar
Eshach, H. (2007) ‘Bridging in-school and out-of-school learning: formal, non-formal and informal education’, Journal of Science Education and Technology 16 (2): 171–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FDRE (2007) ‘Ethiopian housing and population census’, unpublished document, Central Statistical Agency (CSA) of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa.Google Scholar
Finnegan, R. (1970) Oral Literature in Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Finnegan, R. (2007) The Oral and Beyond: doing things with words in Africa. Oxford: James Currey.Google Scholar
Hinnant, J. (1978) ‘The Guji: Gada as a ritual system’ in Baxter, P. and Almagor, U. (eds), Age, Generation, and Time. London: C. Hurst and Co.Google Scholar
James, A., Prout, A. and Jenk, C. (1998) Theorizing Childhood. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Jirata, T. J. (2011) ‘Changes of position cause changes of relation: insights for reflexive ethnographic research with children’, Childhoods Today 5 (1).Google Scholar
Kyoore, P. K. S. (2010) ‘A study of riddles among the Dagara of Ghana and Burkina Faso’, Journal of Dagaare Studies 7 (10): 21–40.Google Scholar
Kyratzis, A. (2004) ‘Talks and interaction among children and the co-construction of peer groups and peer culture’, Annual Review of Anthropology 33: 625–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maranda, E. K. (1976) ‘Riddles and riddling: an introduction’, Journal of American Folklore 89 (352): 127–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDowell, J. H. (1981) ‘Speech play’, Children's Literature Association Quarterly 6 (2): 26–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mouritsen, F. (2002) ‘Child culture – play culture’ in Mouritsen, F. and Qvortrup, J. (eds), Childhood and Children's Culture. Odense: University of Southern Denmark.Google Scholar
Njoroge, H. N. (1994) ‘The riddle’ in Understanding Oral Literature. Nairobi: Nairobi University Press.Google Scholar
Noss, P. A. (2006) ‘Gbaya riddles in changing times’, Research in African Literatures 37 (2): 34–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Okpewho, I. (1992) African Oral Literature. Bloomington IN: Indian University Press.Google Scholar
Rettig, M. (1995) ‘Play and cultural diversity’, Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students 15: 93–106.Google Scholar
Schmidt, N. J. (1971) ‘Collection of African folklore for children’, Research in African Literatures 2 (2): 150–67.Google Scholar
Schmidt, N. J. (1977) ‘African folklore for African children’, Research in African Literatures 8 (3): 304–26.Google Scholar
Schwartzman, H. B. (1978) Transformations: the anthropology of children's play. New York NY: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
van de Loo, J. (1991) Guji-Oromo Culture in Southern Ethiopia. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.Google Scholar
Wyness, J. (2006) Childhood and Society: an introduction to the sociology of childhood. New York NY: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar