ERITREAN PRINT AND ORAL CULTURE
Eritrean literature, like all others, stems from a rich and spontaneous oral tradition of folktales, poetry, proverbs, and riddles. In addition to printed material, this archive will make available some of Eritrea's oral literature through media files, so that visitors may listen to and enjoy the spoken culture of Eritreans in Edmonton. English translations of the recordings will be made available.
But this archive is not limited to literature, and it will also feature images, media, and information on various aspects of Eritrean culture, such as domestic and religious ceremonies, songs and hymns, clothing, musical instruments, kitchen ware and food, etc.
There are several aims for this archive. We hope that it will be a good resource for those who are interested in Eritrean culture, and how it is being shaped by the diasporic experience. It is also one of our hopes that this archive may serve to promote cultural awareness among the younger generation of Eritrean-Canadians. In a more general sense, this archive is intended to provide knowledge of one vibrant aspect of Canadian culture. And in the realm of literature, it is hoped that this archive will act to promote and broaden literary and scholarly work on this topic, and to encourage those who are already working in this field.
