Modern African literature has greatly been influenced by the continent’s long tradition of
orality. As a consequence, many contemporary African writers have continuously borrowed
techniques from the oral tradition in their written productions. Among those writers are Ngugi
wa Thiong’o and Ayi Kwei Armah whose selected works are the focus of our study. The
paper attempts through an analytical process to explore Ngugi’s and Armah’s use of oral
devices in Devil on the Cross and The Healers respectively. Our contention is that, by
resorting to devices that are typical of the oral storytelling techniques, the authors not only
want to advertise the greatness of their indigenous cultures, but also to ensure their survival in
a continent constantly under the weight of Western cultural domination. The study will be
carried out through the prism of post-colonialism. It will consist in a literary analysis relying
primarily on the two novels under study.

Culture – Indigenous – Oral devices – Orality – Tradition