The psychodynamic interpretation of selected Gouro tales including their first time recording into writing in the Gouro language and translation.

Abstract

This study investigates into the psychodynamic interpretation of ten selected Gouro tales, that is the way in which the mind (psycho) and the action (dynamic body movement) of a Gouro storyteller translate into a performance. Because the tales are initially selected from the Gouro tale repertoire, the study focuses critically on the transcription of the tales into the Gouro language, which has no standardized written form yet, and translates the tales into English. In this thesis three levels of translation are addressed: (1) An inter-lingual level of translation which is the translation of the Gouro tales into English, (2) An oral-literate level of translation, which undertakes the writing down of the Gouro language which currently has no standardised written form, (3) An inter-modal level of translation, which focuses on the translation of an oral performance mode into a written mode in terms of the particular issues addressing the 'putting of the tale performance on the page'. The central theory accounting for the writing down of the Gouro tales in the Gouro language, the translation of the Gouro tales, and their psychodynamic interpretation is the theory of 'Human expression' as identified by the French anthropologist Marcel Jousse under the psycho-physiological laws of 'Mimism, Rhythmism, Bilateralism, and Formulism .' Jousse's theory of 'Human expression' underpins essentially what he calls the 'Oral-style expression', such as it is witnessed amongst the Gouro whose language is still essentially oral. The principles of the Oral style expression are thus applied to the orally performed Gouro tale texts to delineate the tales' dynamic mnemonic contents. In other words, the interpretation and analysis of the Gouro tales aim at identifying the very narrative elements that make possible the memorizing of a story, its recall, and its reliable transmission, such as it is the case in societies with the absence of writing. The products of this study are a suggested work-in-progress for a standardised written form of the Gouro language, and the documentation of the Gouro tradition which is fast disappearing to make it relevant and available to researchers.