Ruth Finnegan
Author of Oral literature in Africa
About the Author
Ruth Finnegan OBE, FBA, Emeritus Professor Open University. Her work has mainly been on oral performance, narrative, the ethnography of music, and communicating (including extra-sensory perception). Her publications include Oral Literature in Africa, The Hidden Musicians, Communicating: the show more Multiple Modes of Human Communication, Why Do We Quote? and, most recently, the novels Black Inked Pearl, Voyage of Pearl of the Seas, and The Helix Pearl Born in Ireland, she now lives in Old Bletchley, southern England. show less
Works by Ruth Finnegan
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Finnegan, Ruth Hilary
- Birthdate
- 1933-12-30
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Nuffield College, Oxford (PhD; Anthropology; 1963)
Somerville College, Oxford (Literae humaniores) - Occupations
- linguistic anthropologist
- Organizations
- Open University (1969-)
University of Ibadan (1965-1967)
University of Zimbabwe (1963-1964) - Awards and honors
- Rivers Memorial Medal (2016)
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (2000)
Fellow of the British Academy (1996)
Honorary Fellow of Somerville College - Short biography
- Ruth Finnegan OBE, an anthropologist and multi-award (fiction and nonfiction) author, was born (1933) in the beautiful fraught once-island city of Derry, Northern Ireland, and brought up there, together with several magical years during the war in Donegal. She was educated at Ballymore first School County Donegal, Londonderry High School, Mount (Quaker) School York, then first class honours in Classics and a doctorate in Anthropology at Oxford. This was followed by fieldwork and university teaching in Africa (principally Sierra Leone and Nigeria). She then joined the pioneering Open University as a founding member of the academic staff, where she spent the rest of her career apart from 3 years (and more fieldwork) at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, and is now an Emeritus Professor. She is a Fellow of the British Academy, The Royal Anthropolgical Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and the American Folklore Society. She is also an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College Oxford.
She has three daughters and five grandchildren and lives in Old Bletchley, southern England, with her husband of over 50 years, where she continues her academic and dream-inspired creatve writing, but now devotes much of her time to her work as co-editor of the innovative Balestier Press young adult series ‘Hearing Others’ Voices’. - Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Derry, Northern Ireland, UK
- Associated Place (for map)
- Northern Ireland, UK
Members
Reviews
Pearl in the Deep Wood by Ruth Finnegan is an intriguing and unique read. According to Finnegan, the story came to her in a dream, and that dreamlike quality is evident throughout. The book creates a magical yet often bewildering realm.
This story takes readers on a surreal journey, with clear influences from Homer’s writing style. At times, it even gave me Alice in Wonderland vibes. One of the most enjoyable aspects was the wealth of knowledge about trees. The book is rich with show more tree-related quotations, poems, and lore, which added depth to the world. I especially appreciated how the trees were depicted as individuals with distinct personalities, rather than feeling like a single, uniform entity.
The writing style is quite unique, and I appreciated that the author took the time to explain it in the foreword. While the beginning of the story was a bit challenging for me to follow, likely due to my unfamiliarity with the rest of the series, I gradually found myself understanding more as the story progressed. Although some moments of confusion remained, I enjoyed uncovering the narrative's depth. Kate’s conversations with the trees, while repetitive at times, added an interesting dynamic, even if certain sections felt a bit drawn out.
If you enjoy fantastical, dreamlike romances, this book is worth exploring. It’s a perplexing yet thought-provoking parable that takes you on an unusual and imaginative journey. show less
This story takes readers on a surreal journey, with clear influences from Homer’s writing style. At times, it even gave me Alice in Wonderland vibes. One of the most enjoyable aspects was the wealth of knowledge about trees. The book is rich with show more tree-related quotations, poems, and lore, which added depth to the world. I especially appreciated how the trees were depicted as individuals with distinct personalities, rather than feeling like a single, uniform entity.
The writing style is quite unique, and I appreciated that the author took the time to explain it in the foreword. While the beginning of the story was a bit challenging for me to follow, likely due to my unfamiliarity with the rest of the series, I gradually found myself understanding more as the story progressed. Although some moments of confusion remained, I enjoyed uncovering the narrative's depth. Kate’s conversations with the trees, while repetitive at times, added an interesting dynamic, even if certain sections felt a bit drawn out.
If you enjoy fantastical, dreamlike romances, this book is worth exploring. It’s a perplexing yet thought-provoking parable that takes you on an unusual and imaginative journey. show less
This is a more challenging read, as it is written very much like poetry. The style is very unique, much how I imagine people first thought of Shakespeare during his time. The english is contrastive, and I think it’s meant to be read and interpreted to each individual reader. Unfortunately, I think it lead to me not understanding a large portion of the book. Although, I have had books I have felt the same way about, that I understood more each time I reread the book, so it is possible that show more this is one of those sort of books.
The main theme of the book is love and romance and big life experiences. All topics that are easy to ponder and reflect on. There is so much in this book that can even be compared to as dream like, really making you contemplate the symbolism and meaning behind every sentence.
Challenging but still enjoyable. I would easily rate this book at 4/5. I plan on rereading this in the future to see how the story changes with each new read. show less
The main theme of the book is love and romance and big life experiences. All topics that are easy to ponder and reflect on. There is so much in this book that can even be compared to as dream like, really making you contemplate the symbolism and meaning behind every sentence.
Challenging but still enjoyable. I would easily rate this book at 4/5. I plan on rereading this in the future to see how the story changes with each new read. show less
For ages, people around the world have not taken any keen study on Africa to find out what the continent can offer the world. this book explains how wrong this notion is, providing clear information on how people have been bearing the wrong perception about Africa for a very long time now. Most people especially from the West believe that Africa has no history and this book proves that wrong, escribing different sectors that the continent is rich in, alongside with some lessons the world can show more take on Africa.
The author of this book is Ruth Finnegan, was brought up in Ireland but spent some time in Sierra Leone, Africa. She explores different misconceptions about Africa and gives firsthand information basing on her stay in Africa.
The author of this book has organized it in different chapters in order to handle the topic in the most comprehensive way possible. She begins by introducing Africa to her readers in the first chapter. The other ten chapters consist of knowledge about different norms and practices that the West could learn about. One of the aspects researched by Finnegan is “The strength of women”, a topic of concern for the rest of the world, as every nation, organization and other entities strives to maintain gender balance. Moreover, you could learn about the beauty of language, wisdom of proverbs, magic of names, power of praise, the dance of music as well as the play, pain and the miracles of children in the chapters presented in the book.
Africa is a rich continent in terms of literacy, history and resources among other sectors that the rest of the world thrives in. people need to change their perception on Africa in order to take lessons on some of the burning issues witnessed in different parts of the world. moreover, this book elaborates that Africa is diverse. Cultures from the East, West, North and South of Africa vary widely unlike the common notion that Africans are all the same. It is high time the world learnt from Africa. show less
The author of this book is Ruth Finnegan, was brought up in Ireland but spent some time in Sierra Leone, Africa. She explores different misconceptions about Africa and gives firsthand information basing on her stay in Africa.
The author of this book has organized it in different chapters in order to handle the topic in the most comprehensive way possible. She begins by introducing Africa to her readers in the first chapter. The other ten chapters consist of knowledge about different norms and practices that the West could learn about. One of the aspects researched by Finnegan is “The strength of women”, a topic of concern for the rest of the world, as every nation, organization and other entities strives to maintain gender balance. Moreover, you could learn about the beauty of language, wisdom of proverbs, magic of names, power of praise, the dance of music as well as the play, pain and the miracles of children in the chapters presented in the book.
Africa is a rich continent in terms of literacy, history and resources among other sectors that the rest of the world thrives in. people need to change their perception on Africa in order to take lessons on some of the burning issues witnessed in different parts of the world. moreover, this book elaborates that Africa is diverse. Cultures from the East, West, North and South of Africa vary widely unlike the common notion that Africans are all the same. It is high time the world learnt from Africa. show less
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 29
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 295
- Popularity
- #79,434
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 4
- ISBNs
- 85
- Languages
- 3