The Perspective of Interpreting Cultural Values Based on Folklore (Using The Example of Ethnic Groups in Kenya and Neighboring Regions)

Folklore collections usually complement ethnographic studies, as folklore provides ethnographers with valuable sources of information. Extracting and analyzing different types of text information is a well-known technique in the humanities. Therefore, it is promising to use folklore as a source for exploring and interpreting cultural values. This article uses a value-based approach to the study of culture. It aims to examine the folklore of ethnic groups in Kenya and neighboring regions as a source for identifying and interpreting sociocultural values. The main contribution of this article to a model for teaching Russian as a foreign language in educational institutions in Kenya is to give an idea of the traditional values of the peoples of Kenya and to show the importance of folklore for teaching as it appears in the fairy tales of peoples around the world. African fairy tales convey certain morals and reflect ancestor worship, beliefs in spirits, talismans, and the forces of nature.Since it is difficult to obtain information directly from the peoples of Kenya, the idea of using folklore to interpret cultural values seems quite promising, especially given the efforts of the Kenyan intelligentsia to focus the attention of urbanized Kenyan youth on their native culture while they receive their school and university education in English.The article discusses examples of applying ethnographic analysis to African fairy tale material to interpret sociocultural values. It suggests that folklore reflects the combination of universal and ethno-national values in a particular way: The examples of values considered are universal, but their expression is ethnic.

prosaic folklore of Kenyan ethnic groups, culture, value-based approach, ethnographic analysis, interpretation of values