From Folklore to Multimedia: Repositioning Nigerian Folklore for Cultural Development in a New Technological World

Abstract

In Nigeria, cultural contents have continued to be explored in relation to their typologies, taxonomies and social value. Some folklore materials are disappearing due to modernisation and globalisation, leaving marginal communities to turn to alien models, some of which are not effective or accessible. The desire for a community-based model is weak as it is considered primitive and inferior to contemporary existence. Folklorists are too few with too little research wherewithal to carry out an extensive and broad-based study on oral art forms and their continued relevance to society. An ironic hybrid and interdisciplinary connectivity exists between folklore and multimedia as cultural materials adopt modern technologies, which an in-depth study could bring to light. This article, using the contextual perspective of analysis, examines ways in which folklore materials could continue to be explored even in their dynamic new multimedia “homes” such as music, photography, moving images, audio, computer, and broadcast media, thus creating new narrative and performance spaces other than the oral and the literary, and a new interface between folklore and modern technology life. The article proposes the undertaking of enhanced research into the hidden dimensions of folklore and the re-fashioning of cultural thought, science and technology, in line with cultural and global trends towards enhanced knowledge and development.