Based on a situated field study, the present thesis devotes to epic textualization from indigenous oral epic tradition of the Miao people in southwest of Guizhou province, known as seib gangx neel in local Miao dialect. It consists of four sections: introduction, a performance-centered report of fieldwork, a performance-centered record of seib gangx neel, and conclusion. There are 22 pictures and tables as illustrations, bibliography, and excerpts of fieldwork journal as appendices.
In introduction, the author deals mainly with follows: 1) objects of the study; 2) situated context of field study; 3) methods and theoretical perspectives of documentation; 4) processes and targets of field study.
In part one, the author discusses the following issues concerning the performing context of the oral epic tradition seib gangx neel among the Miao people: 1) definition of the epic as an oral genre; 2) problems of previous text-making which placing texts of oral narratives in improperly subjectified formats; 3) textual analysis of formula; 4) forms of performances. Based on the outlined above, the author gives further interpretations of the targets and processes of the field study, explaining interactively the co-relationship between transcribing texts and performing events in the oral epic tradition seib gangx neel.
In part two, the author presents us a performance-centered text—a transcription of an oral performance of the epic song seib gangx neel. At the very beginning of this part, there is a statement illustrating rules for transcribing the Miao Language. Based on video-recording of 90 minutes, the transcription covers 16 paragraphs, namely 585 poetic lines in all, including the translation from the text of oral performance in bi-linguistic representations of the Miao and the Han language, the melody, as well as connotations of performing events in context.
In conclusion, the author stresses the significance for collecting living oral traditions by practicing a performance-centered textualization through reconsidering the co-relationship between performing texts and cultural contexts, and generalizes problems that the thesis targets at and the possibilities for theoretical development in future.
In sum, having applied fundamental methods developed in Oral Poetics such as participatory observation and ethnographic interview, the present thesis tries to make a performance-centered text on epic singing seib gangx neel consistent with the spirit of Folkloristics. By representing oral performance from five local singers, the author combines a field report and a performance record together in a case study, provides us with an experimental documentation for further studies of the Miao people’s oral epic tradition.
