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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2012

Tadesse Jaleta Jirata
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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

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