Abstract for 15. Some Instances of African Oral Traditions in Ama Ata Aidoo’s The Dilemma of a Ghost

One of the African writers’ particularities is their sense of promoting and preserving their traditions through their artistic works. This paper aims at tracing some instances of African oral traditions in Aidoo’s play. Though she is seen as subversive regarding to certain social norms, Aidoo does not fail to reflect African oral traditions in her play. Based on a textual analysis of Aidoo’s the Dilemma of a Ghost, the study qualitatively explores the main instances of oral traditions in the play. The work draws its theoretical underpinnings from the sociolinguistic approach, which establishes a correlation between language and society. The theory posits that language is constantly dynamic in accordance with the cultural context and social interactions. As a result, the paper reveals that drama like the other literary forms of literature draws its roots from oral traditions and African writers are mostly guided in their writings by those traditions. At the end, the paper demonstrates that oral traditions greatly influence African drama.