Wahid Omar

Afghanistan: a Nation in Performance: a Comparative Study Between Medieval France and Contemporary Afghanistan Wahid Omar

This study attempted to understand French Medieval literature through the lens of performance theory and live contemporary oral narrative in Afghanistan. Paralinguistic modalities, audience settings, genre, sequence of acting along with the study of contextual cultural practices by means of ethnographic data can illuminate new meaning in oral performance. Data collected during field work in Afghanistan shows the textural nature of performance in both oral and literary contexts. This reinforces the interface between the oral and written modes of communication as both complementary rather than being binary opposites. This study explores the intricacies of oral performance and its connection to community development. Through the comparative exploration of epic as a genre and other sub-genres from the Afghan and French contexts, the complex nature of oral traditions is addressed using examples, including cultural rituals, traditional settings, social practices, healing, and entertainment. Attempt was made to consider oral poetry not as an end product in itself but as rendering medium, a connector between performer, audience, and sometimes third parties.