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In general, in Afrika and the diaspora, past and present, the spoken word dominates communication culture, this is part of the continuity with the ancient Afrikan past. What is also known as “Oral Literature” or “Orature”, the “Oral Tradition” refers to a wide body of oral discourse that encompasses every subject and in every type of expression created by a people. The oral tradition is described as an art form that can be analysed in accordance with an approved and recognised set of traditional standards.

The nature of the Afrikan oral tradition is drawn from Afrikan belief systems and traditions, consequently, Afrikan orature conforms to a specific Afrikan style of speech making. While appreciating the oral skill of the speaker/poet, Afrikans recognise their orature and its performance (one cannot have one without the other) as a functional part of society. The purpose of orature is not merely to entertain or appeal to emotions or physical senses, but to enlighten and stir the audience into some productive action or initiate or facilitate spiritual action.

Examples of the use of language rooted in the indigenous Afrikan culture are copious. This is important because it demonstrates that there is no line drawn between a speech act and a performance in Afrikan communities, they are one and the same, to speak is to perform. Traditional Afrikan orature, exists alongside or within Afrikan languages. It is not compartmentalised into separate and distinct categories. Thus, the whole notion of public speaking or rhetoric is not separated from performance.

Therefore when discussing the Afrikan oral tradition, we are speaking of artistic verbal expression and its performance in the form of poems, songs, proverbs, myths, legends, incantations, sermonising, lecturing, testifying, signifying and other modes based on a complex worldview designed to elevate and transform society.