Space for Oral Cultures: Storytelling and Narrative Practice in West Africa

Together with the Goethe-Institut Burkina Faso

Oral culture includes in particular traditions, places and moments of storytelling and is thus an essential component of the transmission of knowledge, values and identities. What role does oral culture play in the context of globalization? How does it change under this influence, and how does it deal with the dynamics of social and political transformation processes? For the past twenty years, Burkina Faso has been experiencing enormous political, social, and economic change, which has also brought, in particular, an increase in insecurity and violence. Many regions of the country are now difficult to access due to the activities of violent Islamist forces. At the same time, a new generation is growing up in the urban centers that is engaged in international exchange, uses digital media and participates in the transformation of the globalized world. There is often no room left for experiencing and passing on oral traditions and local knowledge.
There are hardly any classic places and moments of passing on oral tradition - on the one hand, because places of exchange are disappearing, and on the other hand, because if these places exist, only a very small part of the population can participate.
This is also due to the fact that there is hardly any knowledge about how oral tradition can be preserved and reproduced in innovative formats. The Goethe-Institut Burkina Faso has been working with storytellers for many years and supports local initiatives. With the project, it now wants to create a sustainable and digitized preservation and new spaces for experiencing oral culture.
To this end, the project is developing various digital and analog forms of exchange as well as recording and playback formats that will make oral culture visible, audible and tangible in various places. An important concern of the project is to convey a differentiated image of Africa, as well as a diversified image of oral tradition, culture and society in West Africa.
The content of the exhibition will be created in Burkina Faso and will include video formats on VR glasses, audio recordings, a photo exhibition and sound installations. They will first be presented at the Musée de la Musique in Ouagadougou and will then be on display for two months at Forum Wissen in Göttingen.
The basic principle of the project is that its content and products will be conceived and created by the local partners. Students from Göttingen have the opportunity to get involved in the dynamic and dialogical work process through internships or study projects. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)