Oral Literature in African Libraries: Implications for Ghana

Abstract

African oral tradition has come into UNESCO's programme in a number of ways. First of all, oral tradition is one of the main sources of African history used for the "General History of Africa" project. Secondly, oral tradition is of the greatest'importance as a depository of the cultural past of Africa. Lastly, material drawn from the oral tradition is used in the study of African cultures and African languages (UNESCO 1974?: 15). As far back as 1966 an international committee of experts met in Abidjan, Cote d'lvoire to propose regions and periods to be covered and the themes to be dealt with and, secondly, , decide what types of research should be undertaken in view of the sources and periods involved and the importance, abundance or scarcity of documentation. Since then, there have been other meetings on the coordination and planning of the collection of oral tradition in Ouagadougou, Niamey and Porto Novo