Saeedi:
"Children's oral history" disregarded
19 Dec 2011 14:23
Iranian researcher of children and young adult's literature Sohrab Saeedi believes that Children's oral history has been ignored in Iran.
IBNA: Talking about his book, "Oral history of Hormozgan's children" he said:" Most of the book's data was gathered orally; stories, lullabies and … which were conveyed through generations among the people of Minab and regional villages. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to register the information."
He added:" Some literature students helped me gathering the information. We visited some regional people and taped our required data and their interviews."
The children and young adult's literature researcher believes that children's oral literature has been ignored in Iran. Considering the increasing impact of the new media including the net and satellite channels, negative results are anticipated. For instance the new generations of today's mothers fail to know lullabies which indeed indicate our cultural poorness.
He added: "Lullaby is about the elegance of a mother's spirit. A child whom grows with such kind of songs is kind. Many children are attracted to foreign literature but even in Europe certain attention is paid to the registration of children's oral history."
Moreover he said:" However literature has recently been categorized into different groups including children, young adults and adults but in Iran special children's stories and fictions existed since a long time ago. The new categorizations influence this certain section of literature but it doesn’t mean that we have less than the west culture."
He added:" If children and young adult's authors are supported they can create great works and attract the children. I read a book of an Iranian writer a while ago which was themed on the Iranian culture but included foreign names to attract readers."
In other news he suggested that cultural organizations should support the authors and researchers of children's works. He added:" Cultural institutes and organizations active in the field of children's literature including Institute of Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults can help preserving the sources of children's oral literature.
