Events and Generation of Oral Literature: The Murder and Burial of Bishop James Hannington as a Case Study

Abstract

This study focuses on two events, namely the death and burial of Bishop Hannington, in order to help us understand the generation and development of oral narratives. It follows the path that has been cleared by scholars in African Literature like Hofmeyr who combine multiple approaches to the study of Oral Literature, that is, History, Anthropology, and Sociology. It proves that much oral literature can be produced from a single event. The study looks at the generation of oral literature from the death and burial of Bishop James Hannington the first Anglican bishop of the Equatorial Province. The researcher visited the sites of the murder and a place where the bishop’s body was kept for a while before the first burial. He interviewed several informants from whom very insightful information was got. The conclusion is that much oral literature can be generated from an event as here reported and documented in this dissertation.