Oral Literature and Sustainable Culture in Akoko Land, Ondo State, Nigeria

Oral literature exists in every human society and it is, therefore, a universal phenomenon. Like elsewhere in Yorubaland, oral literature has played a vital role in sustainable cultural norms among the Àkókó people of the Northeastern part of Yorùbá land. The study focuses on the motifs and cultural significance of Akoko oral literature in promoting the sustainability of Àkókó oral literature and culture. Its role in the preservation of cultural values cannot be eroded. Like several Yorùbá people whose cultures have received little scholarly attention, oral literature among the Àkókó people occupies a mere footnote position in the extant cultural sustainability in Yorùbá land. This is the gap this study seeks to fill. It examines the sustainability of oral literature for socio-cultural advancement. The study adopts an ethnographic research design. The study concludes that as far-reaching as the Western influence on oral literature, the sustainability of oral literature on the preservation and understanding of norms and values in Àkókó cannot be over-emphasized.