Na Bóka Noti" Tales in Cape Verdean Oral Tradition

Abstract

In the case of Cape Verdean literature - and all African literature in general - theft becomes real and oblivion becomes institutionalised. Magic and popular belief can no longer be cultivated and preserved in the soul of the population, because they are considered pagan forms and therefore symbols of sociocultural inferiority. When we speak of Cape Verdean literature, however, we cannot disassociate it from another term which is 'oral tradition'. And here the 'reader' is displaced to the condition of 'listener'.