The social content and function of Matengo oral literature

This work is an attempt to elucidate some aspects of the social content and function of the oral literature of the Matengo of southern Tanzania at a specific stage of their historical development, with a view to contributing to the scientific appreciation of oral literature in general. The argument presented herein is that to understand this and any other oral literature it is necessary to grasp it as a totality of genres, as a unity of the particular and the universal, and as a phenomenon in permanent motion. These three considerations remain valid irrespective of whether we are looking at the form or the content of oral literature. Our aims, promises and methods are outlined in chapter one. In chapter two we review some folklore theories to see how other people have perceived and handled folklore. In chapter three we define the concept of Matengo oral literature by outlining its scope and characteristics. In chapter four we discuss, in general terms, the social content of this oral literature as is revealed by its various genres. This discussion is continued in chapter five in which we focus on a particular tale to reveal its social content. The social function of Matengo oral literature is the subject of the last chapter, Chapter six.