Abstract:
There are many scholarly works on oral poetry in Africa and Ghana. Some scholars have also on performance poetry in Ghana and Africa as a whole. It is interesting to note however that not much has been done on contemporary spoken word poetry in Ghana. It is undeniable that contemporary spoken word poetry in Ghana is gaining popularity hence the need to study it in order fully understand its role and importance in society. It is observed however that most of the work on contemporary Ghanaian spoken word poetry is found on non scholarly blogs and social media.
This study therefore aims at taking a look the history of contemporary Ghanaian spoken word poetry and to trace the link between the art and traditional African oral poetry. In this research, I attempt to identify and examine various features of traditional African oral poetry that are present in contemporary Ghanaian spoken word poetry in order to show how the traditional art is remediated in contemporary times.
This study seeks to arouse more scholarly interest in contemporary Ghanaian spoken word poetry in academia and also encourage the use of the art to teach Ghanaian history, culture and traditions in schools.
