The oral heritage of Sheikh Ali bin Aoun

Farid‭ ‬Al Sughayri‭ ( ‬Tunisia‭ )‬

The oral heritage of nations and communities is as important as the material heritage to the cultural aspects of these nations and communities. Oral heritage represents collective folk memory in all its manifestations. 

The aim of this research is to collect and study the components of oral heritage in the central-western region of Tunisia, where the collective folk memory holds creative expressions that helped to form collective Arab culture.

Our approach to the poetry and sayings attributed to Sheikh Ali bin Aoun begins with questioning the folk memory of the new generation who keep his life and words alive. The goal of the research is to record that which is narrated in folk stories across the whole region.

The research has three main focuses. The first focus is an attempt to assess the accuracy of the content of the stories narrated about Sheikh Ali bin Aoun and his poetry. The second focus deals with the content of the stories and poetry and investigates the objectivity of the narrators. The third focus is the study of the oral heritage’s meanings and symbols, which reflect social, political, and moral attitudes.

For a thorough understanding, the research used a critical comparison of the narrated poetry about people and their concerns, and the narrated stories.

The oral heritage that was collected, recorded and analysed relates to living collective memory rich in interesting stories, poems, and life events attributed to Sheikh Ali bin Aoun within the social environment and cultural heritage of his time.