RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

“From Storytelling to Writing” is an excellent example of how oral traditions transform to meet the needs of an evolving society. It is easy to relate to this research as the tradition of Sudanese storytelling is quite similar to the Southern oral traditions.
According to Ochs and Capps, the most important function of storytelling is “to construct their identities and to relate to and navigate the world”. This is exactly what the Sudanese boys have done with their stories. The research subjects all discussed the need of keeping their Sudanese history alive for future generations. This is one primary function of traditional storytelling (Perry, 340). The young men knew that with the demise of the majority of their elders, they were the last hope for passing on the stories of their families and their people. According to Perry, even as the Lost Boys expanded their audience, they still continued to engage in the practice of oral storytelling.
One key feature of the research was the idea of transformed storytelling. Perry defines transformed storytelling as, “involved participants telling stories whose purpose, audience, and medium differ in important ways from those of traditional storytelling then they have encountered or enacted before.” (338) As the need for the Lost Boys to relay their experiences to others outside of their community, they also began to realize their was a need to communicate in various ways. When the boys came to America they were asked to share their experiences and stories with the community. Obviously, this would need to be done in English and not their native language. The boys also needed to consider their audience and the purpose of their story. In my opinion, this was the beginning of the switch between traditional storytelling and transformed storytelling.
The refugees could no longer rely on their previous oral tradition to express themselves.
The refugees found many opportunities to share with a wide range of audiences their stories and experiences. As I stated at the beginning, this seems to be the natural and logical evolution of storytelling.
I think we can look at the aspect of storytelling in the Lost Boys’ situation and compare it to our own storytelling experiences. The South is rich in oral traditions. The stories that were orally passed down for generations were eventually turned written down and are now shared in classrooms throughout the country. Bluegrass music is a great e
example of another way our forefathers shared stories. In Southern families, stories about our ancestors are shared by grandparents, remembered by grandchildren, and passed along. We, too, value the idea of stories and see the purpose they have in our lives. I enjoy sharing the personal stories with my classroom that my grandmother told me about growing up during the Great Depression. I also tell them about my great grandfather, who died during the Spanish Flu epidemic, and what life was like during this little discussed time in American history. I think personal stories add relevance to topics we teach. I encourage my students to share their personal experiences and history whenever possible. I do agree with Perry when he warns that sharing our stories is a personal choice and not appropriate for everyone. I think this connects to the ideas of personal voice. When students find their voice and feel comfortable, they may be more willing to participate.
One difference that I noted between the Sudanese refugees and the other minority groups we have read about is the eagerness for the Sudanese immigrants to assimilate into our way of life. The research subjects were eager to learn English and pursue a higher education. The young men understood the need to write down their history in order to pass it along. They also new the value their experiences had to the rest of the world and that the only way to continue sharing these stories with the global community was through the written language and the use both English and their native tongue.
They seemed to be willing to switch registers (as discussed in the previous research) in order to be successful in their adopted country.

Sally Elliott