Main
Topic: NON-DOCUMENTRY/UNWRITTEN SOURCE OF AFRICAN
HISTORY
Sub Topic 1:
Definition of Non-documentary/unwritten source of African history
Sub Topic 2: Oral
Tradition
Sub Topic 3:
Advantages/Merits or Disadvantages/Demerits of Oral Tradition
Objectives
(By the end of the Lesson students will be able to):
1. explain and give examples of
non-documentary sources of African history
2. identify the forms of Oral Traditions
3. discuss the merits and demerits of
Oral Tradition
Definition of Non documentary or
unwritten sources of African history
This refers to pieces of
information about past events collected from sources of history other than
books and other written materials. This explains why this section refers to
unwritten sources. Examples of non-documentary sources are Archaeology, Oral Tradition,
Linguistic, Ethnography, Art forms/History, Ethnobotany, Ethnozoology,
Ethnomusicology, Numismatics, and Serology.
Primary
sources
Primary sources are materials produced by the people or groups directly involved in the event or topic under discussion, ether as participants or as witnesses. Some primary sources are written documents such as letters, diaries, newspaper and magazine articles, speeches, autobiographies, treatise, census data and marriage, birth and death registers. In addition, historians often examine primary sources that are not written. Examples are works of art, films, and recordings, items of clothing, household objects, tools and archaeological remains.
Oral Tradition
Oral tradition refers to accounts of the
traditions about the past passed from generation to generation by word of mouth
or other methods. It is usually passed on in the form of a story, legend, song,
myth, folk tales, customs or other forms of music. There are two forms of oral
traditions:
1.
The
Fixed Text Type
2.
Free
Text Type
The fixed text type of oral traditions
have an unchanging format and content and have to be memorized and passed on
from generation to generation. Example of ‘fixed text’ type are words of folk
music, praise songs, drum music and horn music.
An example of drum music is the Mpintin
drums of Denkyira which recall the past hegemony and wealth of that state in
two terse lines: ‘kotoko som amponsem’ (the porcupine i.e. Asante serves
Amponsem-the king of Denkyira) and ‘Boa Amponsem aa odi sika atomprada’ (King
Boa Amponsem who uses fresh gold all the time). Similarly, Abuakwa horn music
immortalize the valour of Abuakwa’s Queen Dokuaa at the Akatamanso (1826) they
sing ‘Dokua obaa basia aa oko oprem ano’ (Dokua the valiant woman who fought before
canon).
The free-text type consists of accounts of events usually stool (dynastic) histories and family or village traditions. For example some court officials can memorize some aspects of the state history and can tell others when necessary. Some court officials include the linguist (okyeame), court heralds (esen) and executioners (abrafo) in the Akan states. Also, in Mali the (griot) and Togo (evne) played similar roles.
Merits/Advantages of Oral Tradition
1. Oral
tradition is easily Accessible
Oral tradition is easily accessible in the sense that,
gathering information by the historian does not involve much work. In every
community, town or village in Africa, one can get some elders who are ready to
give the traditions and historical events in the area. The historian in one way
or the other, only need to contact knowledgeable informants and respondents for
the necessary information needed.
2. Oral
tradition is the main Source of History
In the absence of other
sources, oral tradition becomes one of the sole sources of writing history. In
a situation where there are no written records or other pieces of information
like personal diaries, minutes of meetings, journals etc. the historian often
relies to a large extent on the information provided by oral tradition to
compile his findings.
3. Oral
tradition helps other Sources
Oral tradition as a
source of African history has helped to confirm historical facts from other
sources. For example, it helps the archeologist to confirm their findings thus
throwing more light on the findings of the history of a place. Again, the archaeologist
would have to be directed by a story from the local people before he goes to
excavate the site. Therefore, without oral tradition, the archaeologist’s work
become difficult.
4. Oral
tradition helps to know historical trends and events
Oral tradition helps the
historian to determine historical trends and events. Through the comparison of
several oral traditions, the historian can eliminate biases, inconsistencies or
inaccuracies in the written records they are using, to come out with an
accurate historical account of the past.
5. Oral
tradition helps in the interpretation of Archeological Findings
Oral tradition has also helped in the interpretation of archeological data dug from the soil. This is necessary because the artefacts found are both anonymous and fragmentary. For instance, if an archaeologist unearthed human skeletons with lost limbs apparently severed by sharp-edged materials, they may deduce that the excavated site was a mass grave where people who died after an armed conflict were buried. They may not conclude with that, but rather validate their evidence by embarking upon personal enquiry, interviewing target groups in the area. If they are lucky, they would have pieces of information about events similar to what they have speculated.
6. Preservation
of History
Oral tradition has done a
lot to assist with the reconstruction of African history, this is because
Africans have relied on oral traditions to preserve their history for
centuries. It is again, the only living source of historical reconstruction
because it gives room for further questioning and analysis of the information
given to ensure its validity or truthfulness.
Demerits/Disadvantages
of Oral Tradition
1.
Oral tradition is not precise in detail
In the first instance, oral tradition is
not precise in detail. The narrator may give information in a long clumsy way
without any specific point. Important aspect of events and their sequences are
forgotten as the informants advance in age. As these stories are retold to
subsequent generations, they are filled with misrepresentation of facts.
2.
Oral tradition may be full of Exaggerations
Oral tradition is full of exaggeration,
biases and prejudices. The narrator might add irrelevant information or might
leave out information which does not suit his interest. Narrators normally
leave out these aspects of the story consciously or unconsciously leading to
one-sided information that cannot serve as a sound basis for historical
writing.
3.
Oral tradition may contain inaccurate
Figures
Moreover, oral tradition cannot be dated
with certainty. The narrator might forget part of the events or important
dates. People tend to lose track of events through no fault of theirs and
therefore forget the actual date and time that a particular event took place.
For instance, situations where an event occurs frequently, it brings confusion
in terms of specifics since the narrator does a lot of guesswork.
4.
Death of Informants
Another shortfall of oral tradition is
that, death or calamity affecting people can result in the loss of important
aspect of oral tradition since only the living can tell it and not the dead. To
top it up, if people were afflicted by a calamity leading to the loss of lives
including the key informants, then the information of the affected area would
be lost forever.
5.
Mixing Up Facts
Furthermore in using oral tradition as the
main source of reconstruction of African history, details and sequence of
events might be forgotten with the passage of time since the human mind keeps
the history, one might forget some important points as years pass by.
6.
Oral tradition may be difficult to
Cross-Check
Indeed cross-checking becomes difficult in
oral tradition if the narrator is the only source of information. It is a fact
that oral tradition is most likely to contain inaccuracies and failures to
collaborate the information gathered from other source might produce shoddy
work hence the need to cross-check and test events.
Past
Questions.
·
What are the two forms of Oral Tradition?
·
To which type of Oral Tradition does stool
dynastic histories belong?
·
Mention any six unwritten sources of
African history.
In
what four ways has Oral Tradition helped in the writing of African history?
(WASSCE
MAY/JUNE 2014)
·
Identify any four benefits of Oral
Tradition to a historian? (WASSCE MAY/JUNE 2015)
·
Outline any four disadvantages of Oral
tradition as a source of African history.
(WASSCE 2017)
Watch a video tutorial on the topic
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