The theme of love in Ankole oral poems.

Abstract

This dissertation is entitled the theme of love in Ankole oral poems. This research presents an analysis of the theme of love portrayed through Ankole oral poems. It also looks at examining the stylistic strategies employed to generate meaning around the theme of love in Ankole oral poems. The study is ethnographic and will be carried out in depth interviews of elderly persons of Banyankole tribe. The participants are purposively selected and several informal interviews are to be carried out. Indigenous Banyankole attached a lot of meaning and purpose in reciting oral poems that talked about cattle rearing because through them, they portrayed much love, and value they had for them. Oral poems also known as ‘Ebyevugo’ in Lunyankole are inseparable from the behaviors and attitudes of Banyankole community and are fundamental to their well-being as they were used in social, political, and economic ceremonies of their lives. They were taught to the male members of the society at an early stage and they grew up knowing how to compose them and respecting them. The research therefore concludes that there is a need to integrate love the indigenous Banyankole portrayed in oral poems aiming at transformational development. Transformational development can only be useful and achieved if the beneficiaries attach purpose and encouragement to love in oral poems as the indigenous Banyankole did.