The aim of this research project is to study oral narrative genres in African contexts. This will involve:

- PhD-research on oral narrative genres (in Gikuyu (Kenya) and/or Oromo (Ethiopia)).

- Setting up inter-institutional cooperation between African universities & UGent in the realm of performance and oral literature.

The approach is largely one of OL4D ‘Oral literature for Development’. We will explore the potential of the cultural-historical ways in which people deal with societal problems and crisis situations through their history of literary expression. We can think of gendered crisis situations, ecological disasters, poverty, disease, famine, exclusion, etc. Story-telling and oral performance form one way to reflect on such crises and offer fictitious solutions or proposals to handle them.

The aim is to study traditions of oral storytelling as part of a decolonisation process, whereby academic and developmental models are opened up to include alternative  epistemological models.