DOI: 10.36344/ccijhss.2023.v09i11.005

Pages: 263-272

The proverbial discourse is a significant yet under researched area of intercultural communication within African diasporic communities. Proverbs are tactical agreements for negotiating cultural identity, transferring ancestral knowledge, and engaging in cross-cultural transactions in transnational space. The systematic review is a synthesis of empirical and theoretical evidence on these subjects. Using PRISMA 2020 criteria, a systematic literature search has revealed the works that investigated proverbial speech in various African diasporic communities, such as African American, African Guyanese, Afro-Caribbean, Yoruba Nigerian diaspora, and Afro-Brazilian communities. There is evidence that proverbs are markers of cultural authenticity, vehicles of pedagogical critical consciousness, intergenerational transmission, and translation sites of negotiation of cultural worldviews. Some theoretical frameworks applied to illuminate the intricate meanings portrayed by the proverbs at the grammatical, cultural, situational, and symbolic levels include proverb praxis theory, poststructuralist discourse analysis, translatology, and Black theology. The findings demonstrate that diasporic subjects can establish ancestral control, oppose cultural annihilation, and form hybrid identities that link ancestral and host societies through ritual practices, literary translation, institutions, and vernacular discourse. But, the understanding of proverbs and the sense of belonging to a particular culture are in conflict with globalization and transnational migration, and it depends on the determination of authenticity and intergenerational continuity. This review has serious gaps in longitudinal studies of the proverbial adaptation and comparative cross-diaspora studies. The synthesis focuses on proverbial discourse as a fluid intercultural strategy that should receive greater attention in diaspora studies, communication studies, and practice training in intercultural competency.