The Place of Igbo Oral Literature in Rekindling Igbo Values: A Semantic Approach

Abstract

The world today has drastically changed; human values are no longer cared for.The erosion ofvalues is causing havoc in our society. Today, both developed and developing nations faceerosion of humanistic, ethical and moral values. The Igbo nation is not left out. A lot of Igbocherished values are fast disappearing. The Igbo culture is sated with traditional beliefs whichare rooted in native folklore, proverbs and popular legends. Through this oral literature, the Igbohad preserved their rich values until the colonial era. Oral literature encapsulates traditionalknowledge, beliefs and values about the environment and the nature of society itself. It containsthe history of society and its experiences and society's knowledge to be passed on to succeedinggenerations. Using semantic approach, the two Igbo aetiological tales collected as data wereinterpreted. The analysis revealed that Igbo oral literature can be very effective in rekindling theIgbo values in Igbo children. The paper advocates the inclusion of Igbo oral literature in theschool curriculum from nursery to post-primary level.