Published Paper Details:

Orality is all about making knowledge memorable. This can include proverbs, tales, riddles, legends, myths, epic songs, poems etc., which pass on from one generation to another, thereby transmitting the cultural and social values of the communities. Before the advent of writing, the oral traditions are meant for keeping the cultures alive. The Native or Indigenous people who are said to be identified with this orality are considered as the Fourth world people, no matter in which country they are living; and they are known for their specific and intense relationship with nature and the land in which they are living. Through memorising and narrating of the stories they believe in their orality which is the rich source of every detail about their origin, survival and the formation of the culture, and also these people consider the stories as the source of their bonding with each other in the communities and hence they pay tribute to the early beginnings through their stories. The complex understandings behind the creation of mankind, universe, other living creatures were made easy by incorporating them into stories, and hence making nature as an inherent part of their lives. In view of Native Americans, not only the living things like humans, plants and animals but the winds, water, fire, stones etc., are living and sentient and they believe that all these things living and non-living in the nature, are interconnected and interdependent in an imaginary circle. All the elements of nature were finely interwoven by having their identity in the form of stories; and hence the oral cultures became the source for the transmission of knowledge from generations to generations. In this context, this paper attempts to analyse the role and significance of storytelling/oral tradition in the lives of Native American people and their cultures, who are said to be the part of the Fourth world; and also, the application of the studies of orality in the contemporary scenario. The words Aboriginal, Indigenous, Native or Dalit gives the same meaning to address the people of Fourth world and hence, in this paper, the terms Indigenous and Native people are used interchangeably without any ambiguity.