Oral Cultural of Storytelling
The oral culture of storytelling is a tradition that goes back thousands of years. While both Iran and Afghanistan have this tradition embedded in their culture, I will mainly share Afghanistan's.
Traditional Afghan storytelling is one that each Afghan child grows up hearing. These are stories of ancient heroic tales, legends, travel accounts, and myths that introduce children to a whole world of imagination. Usually, these stories are told late in the night where people, mostly close relatives gather at one another’s houses and share such stories around a tray of cups filled with tea. These stories are mostly told by the elders in the house as they are able to recall tales from their own lives and accounts of things that happened before most of the young people were born. For example, after my family had dinner, we would all gather in the living room where both my mother and father would tell us stories of legends such as Rustam and Sohrab. Rustam is born into a royal family and is a legendary hero who is super strong as a child. When he is older, he has his own family and a son. However, Rustam soon has to go to war to fight his enemy. He doesn’t know that his son Sohrab is part of the enemy’s army so he ends up killing him accidentally. It’s not until later that he finds out that he killed his son which causes Rustam to go into years of turmoil and agony. I am sharing a very brief summary here, in reality, this story can go as long as two hours to be fully told. Usually, the storytellers describe what the characters are wearing, who their families are, where they live, what their strengths and weaknesses are...etc. The details in this kind of storytelling paint a beautiful picture of the story in your mind. Additionally, these stories not only have a form of learning component and fun to it, but they are also an introduction to cultural values and politics. The reason for this is because most of those myths and legends are influenced by actual people who did exist. The wars that are described in these stories are legendary wars of the country where outsiders tried to take over. Overall, it's fascinating. While these stories can be told at any time, the winter season is the best season for storytelling. Days are too short and it's way too cold to get much work done. As a result, families spend more time together, sitting under the sandali (pictured below), eating dry fruit and sweets, drinking tea and telling stories. (Sandali is a table that we use during winter to keep warm. This table is covered with layers of blankets and in the middle of the table (underneath), there is a bowl of charcoals laid. This bowl produces heat and keeps your legs and your body warm. You don't put your head under as it will kill you though to monoxide.)
My own deep appreciation for this tradition encouraged me to do a project in the United States with illiterate refugee women. Working with refugees from countries like Afghanistan has taught me that refugees, specifically, women continue to face challenges in rebuilding their lives. They feel isolated and incapable of contributing to their new society when in actuality, they are remarkable women filled with rare and powerful experiences that give them the potential to positively contribute to their new communities. The main issue that prevents them from tapping into this potential is that these women are illiterate. This issue causes them to internalize the thought of themselves being worthless to their communities. I wanted to combat this mindset and use the culture of oral storytelling to provide them with the opportunity to feel welcomed, empowered, competent, and valuable regardless of their literary skill. Chai wa Dastan (Tea and Tale) is the initiative that I came up with to allow women to share stories of perseverance, strengths, struggles and hopes verbally in their native language. Most of these women are familiar with the culture of storytelling so instead of focusing on titles and heroes, we would share our own stories of who we are. (Unfortunately, this project as part of the Davis Projects for Peace got cancelled for the summer of 2020 due to COVID-19. I hope to resume this once again after things turn back into normal).
Sources to check out : https://pulitzercenter.org/reporting/journalism-oral-culture-homers-odyssey-tolo-tv
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=10003
Comments
When I first think of storytelling, I recall my dad laying next to my siblings and I as he tells an imaginative, elaborate story. As my siblings and I grew older, the amount of stories my dad told us dwindled. Reading your cultural post made me remember how enjoyable those times were.
Your culture's tradition of storytelling is so beautiful. It seems many cultures have the tradition of storytelling, and the fact that yours continues throughout life is special. To bring together generations and create respect and bonds must be amazing. In the United States, our society pushes for independence from parents and guardians. I think this causes emotional and relational distance. Storytelling allows those that partake in the tradition to reconnect and strengthen relationships to family, friends, and maybe even strangers.
As a history major, I am always really fascinated by oral traditions and the ways in which older generations impart wisdom and lessons to younger generations through stories. This was also a way to circumvent the issues that might arise from illiteracy throughout generations. Your own work with illiterate refugee women sounds fascinating and impactful, and I am sorry that it had to be cancelled this summer because of the COVID-19 crisis.
I wonder what aspects of being a refugee cause someone to feel worthless due to their illiteracy.
Perhaps it is the paperwork necessary and the inaccessibility of translation apps that would help a literate Afghan. I can imagine a situation in which some members do not need to be literate, but this would require community support, especially in the diaspora.
Hey! I really enjoyed reading about your cultural post on storytelling. I didn't know storytelling was such a big cultural aspect of Afghanistan. I thought it was really cool how storytelling was important most in the winter due to the shortened days. I really thought it was interesting what you said about refugee women and the issues that they face throughout their lives. I have come to realize the deep issues regarding illiterate women in their society.