Kampala — THAT traditional values and cultures are threatened with extinction is no longer a question of debate. The terrific speed at which the world is transforming is suffocating many activities associated with African culture. A quick look around is testimony to this.

Today, it is easier for a Muganda child to perform Brick and Lace's Love is Wicked, but has no idea on Bitontome (Buganda poetry), or a Mutooro child will reel off the names of players in the Premier League, but scratch his head to name any regent in the kingdom.

The times when the fire-place acted as the centre of knowledge are disappearing, yet there is a general consensus that riddles, stories, songs, proverbs, tongue-twisters and rituals were of great moral value.

In their performances, children learnt the histories, values and vices of their tribes.

So, do we just watch as what is 'African' becomes extinct or do we salvage what we can?

The literature department of Makerere University has decided to record and analyse some of these cultural performances.

In partnership with the Bergen University of Norway, the department has selected 11 researchers, who have been dispatched to different parts of the country to gather and record this material.

Sr. Dr Dominic Dipio, the department head, who is also a researcher and coordinator of the project, explains: "Whereas the country was developing fast, no one was paying attention to culture in terms of its survival but importantly, the role it can play in the development process."

She explains that the researchers, two masters students, two PhD students and of the academics are doing a detailed study of specific cultural aspects and recording them in audio and visual forms.

A quick survey of what is being researched exposes material that is intriguing and edifying. For example, Dr Susan Kiguli, a poetess, is studying how the now famous Enkuka and Ekitoobero music festivals organised by CBS radio are employing age-old symbols of Buganda music.

She is also exploring whether they are music functions, where the Kabaka meets his subjects, or they are veiled political gatherings. The results will be made known in April.

Another interesting research is being undertaken by Dr Wotsuna Khamalwa of the Makerere Institute of Languages. He is documenting Bamasaba proverbs and how they develop relationships. One interesting proverb he got is; Bulebe munwa kwa angaki kubimba lilyani (Relationship is the upper lip that covers the missing tooth).

Simply explained, the proverb emphasises the role of relatives in standing together even in troubled times. One, therefore, should not underrate the power of relationships.

Dr Khamalwa, however, is concerned about the absence of proverbs that address behaviour change in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. He notes that many Bamasaba proverbs propagate the notion of manliness (many times interpreted as free sexual behaviour) at the cost of caution.

He says some elders told him there were no more composers of African cultural performances because no one is willing to pay for the compositions.

Whereas the Government maybe grappling with methods of solving the northern war, one of the researchers has a solution. Dr Dipio, who is looking at how rituals are used to resolve conflicts among the Madi of West Nile region, argued that ritual has a significant part to play in conflict resolution.

In her findings, the Madi elders hold rituals as significant in settling the conflict between them and the Acholi, with whom they have had previous experiences of conflict.

The symbolic acts in these rituals are what the people believe in to create a new bond of understanding. Anyone who goes against what the rituals brings curses upon himself and the group he represents.

Such is the beauty; maybe controversy that culture portends that one cannot wait to consume the products of the entire research.

Because on board, among others are Dr Abasi Kiyimba, who is investigating how oral literature indicates social change, Dr Aaron Mushengyezi, whose research is examining why children's songs among the Baganda are laden with adult imagery, Dr Okello Ogwang, who is compiling information on how songs are a commentary on the war in the north and Cornelius Wambi, a PhD student, who is studying Kisoga riddles and the sexual message embedded in them.

The other researchers are Alex Mutua, who is gathering material on the dirges of the Lugbara, Isaac Tibasima, a Masters student, analysing how power conflict is captured in the poetry of the Batooro and Saida Namayanja, whose research centres on whether the audience is an important tool when performing folk tales among the Baganda.

According to the project editor, Prof. Sillars Stuart of Bergen University, the results of these findings will be published in a book.

"The publication will be ready by September when universities open for the new academic year," he said.

Recognising that Makerere University has been criticised for not making public the information it generates, Prof. Stuart and Dr Dipio say the information will also be published on the Internet.

"We shall also have an audio and visual bank in Makerere for the work, so that successive generations of Ugandans can access what were important cultural aspects of their communities at that point in time," adds Dipio.