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SoSe 23: Oral Traditions: Modes of Remembering and Transmission in the Iranian Speaking World

Khanna Usoyan

Comments

Whilst the study of “verbal art” in the literary sphere is now receiving a certain amount of academic interest, less attention has so far been paid to the dynamics of orality, especially in the sphere of religion, in non-Western traditions. This seminar will focus on ways of remembering and transmission in oral traditions in the Iranian speaking world concentrating on three major forms of knowledge transfer, that of epics, history, and religious one. During the course – among others – the following themes will be methodically discussed: oral vs written literature, interaction between orality and literacy, the notion of ‘text’, oral vs written/‘factual’ history, cultural memory, etc. On various samples of texts will be discussed, whether and how far Parry and Lord’s well-known ‘oral-formulaic theory’ is applicable to oral traditions other than epic ones. Under the guidance of the instructor, participants of the seminar will conduct their own projects in the frame of the seminar (based on qualitative interviews combined with grounded theory method), and present their results during a workshop at the end of the course. This course will be taught in English and is initially offered in the Master of Iranian Studies program. Nevertheless, it is also open for other students if they enrol for it through Campus Management or via the form "Modul-, Lehrveranstaltungs- und Prüfungsanmeldung". There will be a strict limit to number of students, so students from other universities who cannot enrol directly via CM will need permission from the instructor. Prior knowledge of any Iranian language is welcomed, but not required; there will be extensive reading of secondary literature in English. close

Suggested reading

Allison, Christine and Kreyenbroek, Philip G. (eds.), Remembering the Past in Iranian Societies, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2013. Assmann, Jan, Das kulturelle Gedächtnis: Schrift, Erinnerung und politische Identität in frühen Hochkulturen, 6th edition, München, 2007. Cantera, Alberto (ed.), Transmission of the Avesta, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2012. Finnegan, Ruth, Oral Traditions and the Verbal Arts: a Guide to Research Practices, London and New York, 3rd edition, 2001, 1st edition 1992. Goody, Jack (ed.), ‘Canonization in oral and literate cultures,’ in A. van der Kooij and K. van der Toorn (eds.), Canonization and Decanonization, papers presented to the interna¬tional conference of the Leiden institute for the study of religions (LISOR), held at Leiden 9–10 January 1997. With an annotated bibliography compiled by J. A. Snoek, Leiden-Boston-Köln, 1998, pp. 3–16. Kreyenbroek, Philip and Marzolph, Ulrich (eds.), Oral Literature of Iranian Languages: Kurdish, Pashto, Balochi, Ossetic, Persian and Ta¬jik, companion volume II: A History of Persian Literature, I.B. London and New York, 2010. Omarkhali, Khanna and Kreyenbroek, Philip (eds.), Oral Tradition among Religious Communities in the Iranian-Speaking World, Volume 35, Number 2, Harvard, Cambridge, 2022. Omarkhali, Khanna, The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition: From Oral to Written. Categories, Transmission, Scripturalisation and Canonisation of the Yezidi Oral Religious Texts, Series: Studies in Oriental Religions, vol. 72, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 2017. Ong, W. J., Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word, Methuen, London and New York, 1982. Rubanovich, Julia (ed.), Orality and Textuality in the Iranian World. Patterns of Interaction Across the Centuries, Brill, 2015. close