Gender and Socio-Cultural representations in Oral Literature: Documentation and Literary Study of the Oral Story "Justice in Jungle"
Abstract
Lust and loyalty are interlinked concepts that have a history as old as that of human beings. Human psychology and emotions have gone through different phases of development, yet these two emotions still exist. Literature being the true depiction of human life is full of stories of the human lust for power and search for loyalty. English writers such as William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlow, and Francis Bacon have highlighted these concepts in their literary oeuvre. These writers have mentioned dimensions of these concepts that are instrumental in laying out the specific instinctual flaws and follies of human beings. This research paper investigates these human characteristics being portrayed through fictionalized and dramatized accounts in the oral sources of literature in Sargodha. The oral sources of literature in Sargodha are interpreted for the exploration of the role of both male and female characters and their emotions in ancient Punjab. The research is qualitative in nature, and the primary source of oral data is collected in a recorded form. Moreover, different genre-specific books, research articles, and online resources have been consulted for the purpose of analysis and discussion. The story of Justice in Jungle is primarily documented and translated into English by the researcher. The findings show that the basic innate potentialities of different cultures and their inhabitants remain unaltered despite the literal uniqueness of the specific regions. The research is innovative in the way that it explores the universal human traits in the documented oral story and thus serves to authenticate the socio-cultural purview of the local oral literature of Pakistan.
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