In this project we seek to study human/non-human interaction in the case of Oromo fables told during oral performance, focusing in particular on the interactions between different creatures, entities and forces, how these are bordered (or not) in the oral tales. Perspectives of storytellers and audiences will be taken into account, leading to a contextual analysis.
This will entail questions about whether or not ‘nature’/‘culture’, ‘human’/’animal’ ‘animate/inanimate’ are indeed constructed as categories in Oromo oral literatures, and if so what consequences this has for categorization, anthropomorphisation, fictionality and knowledge. in this we want to establish both ecology as a theme in the fables as well as attempt to interpret how the fables form an ecocritical approach in themselves.