An Exploration of Hausa Verbal Art Forms in Shaihu Umar: A Hausa Novel

摘要

This paper explores the Hausa verbal art forms in Shaihu Umar, a novel first published in the Hausa language and then translated into English. The paper mostly focuses on the author’s use of the structures of a Hausa initiation tale as a vehicle for the narrative in the novel. In other words, the paper attempts to investigate how the author uses the structures of Hausa tales for stylistic effects. As a result, the paper tries to identify and analyze what the novel owes to the indigenous Hausa literary tradition as an illustration of the interface between orality and literacy.