THE RELEVANCE OF THE SETSWANA PROVERB TO THE 21ST CENTURY SPEAKER OF SETSWANA

Abstract

The most important knowledge that people have is knowledge borne from long experience and passed from one generation to another in their languages about their local environment and surroundings. Local proverbs are one of the ways in which local knowledge is embodied and transmitted in a community. Mieder (1980.119) defines a proverb as “a short, generally known sentence of the folk which contains wisdom, truth, morals, traditional views in a metaphorical, fixed and memorable form which is handed down from generation to generation.” Jang (1999.83) sees proverbs as statements which represent traditional wisdom within shared cultural experience in a way that summarizes issues of importance to local communities. Jang’s definition underscores “shared cultural experience” suggesting that the meaning of a proverb could be obscure and irrelevant unless one shares in the knowledge, experience, wisdom and understands the language and culture underlying it. The question is; does the modern day speaker of Setswana share and understand the imageries, philosophies and language used in these statements? This paper questions the position and relevance of proverbs to the 21st century speaker of Setswana who does not share the same cultural experience as the creator of the proverbs. Specifically, the paper interrogates some of the commonly held views of the proverb such as its old and fixed structure and its ability to cut across generations and ages. These questions basically compel us to interrogate the relationship between indigenous and contemporary knowledge.