This book draws together contributions from literary studies, anthropology, ethnomusicology, and African language studies to analyze the complex functioning of oral texts and models in differing contexts. It examines the continuing role of orality in modern society, the adaptation of oral models to printed forms, and the ability of oral forms to ‘talk back’ to the technology of print.

Subjects include: orality and Christianity; the role of orality in the liberation struggle; domestic predicaments by Kiba performers from the Northern Province; Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, and the image of the book in Xhosa oral poetry.