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Oral Tradition: Primary Source Only for the Collector?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2014

Beatrix Heintze
Beatrix Heintze*
Affiliation:
Frobenius-Institut
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Extract

The golden rule of all scientific publication is that the reader must be in a position to be able to check the author's statements.

The scientific level of existing publications of oral traditions is, as a rule, not very high.

The ideal treatment of oral traditional materials by the historian may be considered as occurring in four main stages:

1. the collection of the traditions in the field

2. the creation of a primary souce with the pubhcation of the raw materials

3. the analysis of this raw material

4. the creation of a secondary source with the publication of the results of this analysis and interpretation

These various stages cannot easily be demarcated very clearly. Preliminary analyses influence the field work and often pass into the pubhcation of the raw material (that is, the nature of the published material is anticipated in the very recording of the data). In turn, the publication of the interpretative analysis frequently contains quotations from the raw field data and should yield insights into the analytical process.

The accumulated (and rather extensive) literature on this subject has heretofore been devoted mainly to the analysis of traditions, and quite rightly so: if anything, it has tended to discuss the methodological problems associated with the analysis, sometimes drawing attention to these problems for the first time. After Jan Vansina, it was Philip Curtin who particularly concerned himself with the first stage (the collecting and recording of traditions in the field), outlining the standard to be sought and offering a series of important practical suggestions. In my opinion, Curtin is the only author so far who has dealt in a systematic manner with the preliminary processing and publication of the raw material (stage 2) and established guidelines for it.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 3 , 1976 , pp. 47 - 56
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1976

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References

NOTES

1. Vansina, Jan, Oral Tradition (Chicago, 1965), p. 204.Google Scholar

2. Ibid., p. 203.

3. Cf. Jensen, J., “Probleme historischer Rekonstruktion aufgrund oraler Traditionen,” Tribus 22 (1973): 187–96.Google Scholar This is a review essay of Cohen, David W., The Historical Tradition of Busoga (Oxford, 1972).Google Scholar

4. E.g., see Vansina, , “Recording the Oral History of the Bakuba, I: Methods,” JAH 1 (1960): 45–53 Google Scholar; idem, Oral Tradition passim; idem, “The Use of Oral Tradition in African Culture History,” in C. Gabel and N.R. Bennett, eds., Reconstructing African Culture History (Boston, 1967), pp. 55-82; Henige, David, The Chronology of Oral Tradition (Oxford, 1974)Google Scholar; MacGaffey, W., “Oral Tradition in Central Africa,” IJAHS 7 (1974): 417–26Google Scholar; Vansina, , “The Power of Systematic Doubt in Historical Enquiry,” History in Africa 1 (1974): 109–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5. Curtin, P.D., “Field Techniques for Collecting and Processing Oral Data,” JAH 9 (1968): 367–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6. Naturally, the problem raised here is restricted neither to oral traditional materials nor to Africa, but too extensive a field of enquiry may be more deterrent than stimulus.

7. Curtin, , “Field Techniques,” p. 369.Google Scholar

8. Ibid., p. 370.

9. Ibid., pp. 377, 379-82.

10. Ibid., p. 381.

11. For instance, see Kagame, A., “Etude critique d'un poème historique du Rwanda,” Symposium Leo Frobenius (Munich, 1974), pp. 151–95Google Scholar; and Kamissoko, Wa and Cissé, Youssouf Tata, L'empire du Mali (Paris, 1975).Google Scholar

12. To cite only a few of the more important examples: E.J. Alagoa, Niger delta tapes and transcripts in the original language with English translation, University of Wisconsin and Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan; D.W. Cohen, Selections of historical texts: Busoga traditional history, mimeographed, available at Center for Research Libraries, Chicago, and elsewhere; P.D. Curtin, taped collection of about forty hours of original recordings and sixty hours of taped and annotated translations into French concerning traditions of Bondu, available at IFAN, Dakar, and Archives of Traditional Music, University of Indiana, Bloomington; H.W. Langowrthy, field notes from eastern Zambia and Mchinji and Kasungu districts of Malawi, available at libraries of Boston University and University of Zambia; A. Redmayne, tape recordings on Hehe and related peoples, available from British Institute of Recorded Sound, 29 Exhibition Road, London, SW7; Jan Vansina, fifty-six tapes from Rwanda and Burundi, available at Musée royale de l'Afrique centrale, Tervuren, with microfilms at Center for Research Libraries.

13. In this regard, see Jensen, “Probleme.”

14. Vansina, , “Recording,” p. 51.Google Scholar

15. E.g., the publication of Portuguese archival materials in Brásio, A., ed., Monumenta Missionária Africana: Africa Ocidental (1st. ser., 10 vols., Lisbon, 1952–1965)Google Scholar triggered quite a little interpretative boom.

16. CAMP issued a catalog in 1972 with supplements being issued for 1973 and 1974. These do not include materials which are presently restricted because of their “sensitive nature.” CAMP's address is 5721 Cottage Grove Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60637, U.S.A.

17. The Institut d'Ethnologie's latest catalog was issued for 1975 and is available from: Institut d'Ethnologie, Musée de l'Homme, Palais de Chaillot, Place du Trocadéro, 75116 Paris, France.

18. For details, see History in Africa 1 (1974): 168–69Google Scholar; and African Research and Documentation, nos. 5/6 (1974): 21.Google Scholar

19. For details see Laya, D., “Tradition orale et recherche historique en Afrique: méthodes, réalisations, perspectives,” Cahiers d'histoire mondiale 12 (1970): 560–87Google Scholar; and Laya, D., ed., La tradition orale (Paris//Miamey, 1972).Google Scholar

20. Letter of 9 December 1975 from Frank J. Gillis, Associate Director of the Archives. For details of holdings see A Catalog of Phonorecordings of Music and Oral Data Held by the Archives of Traditional Music (Boston, 1975).Google Scholar Indiana University Press is to publish African Music and Oral Data: A Catalog of Field Recordings, 1902-1975 in 1976.

21. See African Research and Documentation, no. 7 (1975): 27.Google Scholar This project is complementary to the now completed Colonial Records Project at Rhodes House (Oxford) and to the University of London's project (1974-77) at the Centre for International and Area Studies for the identification and collection of material relating to recent economic, social, and political changes in southern Africa. See African Research and Documentation, no. 7 (1975): 4.Google Scholar

22. Letter of 15 November 1975 from Jan Vansina. Several recent dissertations in African history emanating from Northwestern University have included extensive textual materials as well.

23. For further details see African Research and Documentation, no. 2 (1973): 21 Google Scholar; no. 7 (1975): 27-28. Angola and Mozambique were excluded to avoid overlapping with the Portuguese Africa Project at the University of California, Los Angeles.

24. Some important guides for Africanists are: International Council on Archives, Guide to the Sources for the History of Africa (5 vols, to date: Zug, 1970–)Google Scholar; Matthews, N. and Wainwright, M.D., A Guide to Manuscripts and Documents in the British Isles Relating to Africa (London, 1971).Google Scholar Syracuse University has issued several guides to Kenya archival material available there and through CAMP.

25. In my opinion, African Research and Documentation–as the publication of the African Studies Association of the United Kingdom and the Standing Conference on Library Materials on Africa (SCOLMA)–would be an ideal vehicle for this.