Problems Associated With African History Orality As A Source

Author : James Pinnock
Publisher : GRIN Verlag
Page : 6 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2018-02-27
Category : History
ISBN : 9783668648180

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Problems associated with African history. Orality as a source by James Pinnock Pdf

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject History - Africa, grade: 80.0%, , language: English, abstract: “History,” according to E.H. Carr, “cannot be written unless the historian can achieve some kind of contact with those about whom he is writing”. Throughout the pursuit of history, we search for a link between the past and the present, and that, almost definitively, arrives in the form of written sources. However, how should we approach history when written sources elude us, and all we have to rely on (for the most part) are oral sources and tradition? A nature that certainly defines the so-called ‘acephalous’ societies of pre-colonial Africa, and to a lesser extent contemporary Africa. Orality is not seen in modern scholarship, admittedly dominated by Western and Europeanized thought, as a viable or reliable source for constructing history. Yet, does this orality consign Africa to the peripheries of history, to the wastelands of historical thought and theory? Is Africa, as Hugh Trevor-Roper once claimed “unhistoric”? This essay will examine whether oral sources are a sufficient foundation for the history of a continent, and whether their innate weaknesses and flaws as a source indeed render them, as previously believed, inadequate for such a venture. Of paramount importance in this essay is to assess whether a history of Africa can survive within the ideas of what History is and should be, ideas ultimately Western, indeed European, in their conception. Or can we separate Africa from Europe, both in terms of colonial impact and historical theory, and create a purely Africanist history? Hence, by the end of this essay, I hope to have displayed that oral sources have value within themselves as a source for history, and that the constraints of European history need not necessarily apply to Africa. Perhaps then, Africa can be resurrected from the “graveyard of academic publishing”.

Author : Toyin Falola,Christian Jennings
Publisher : University Rochester Press
Page : 438 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : History
ISBN : 1580461409

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Sources and Methods in African History by Toyin Falola,Christian Jennings Pdf

An overview of the ongoing methods used to understand African history. Spurred in part by the ongoing re-evaluation of sources and methods in research, African historiography in the past two decades has been characterized by the continued branching and increasing sophistication of methodologies and areas of specialization. The rate of incorporation of new sources and methods into African historical research shows no signs of slowing. This book is both a snapshot of current academic practice and an attempt to sort throughsome of the problems scholars face within this unfolding web of sources and methods. The book is divided into five sections, each of which begins with a short introduction by a distinguished Africanist scholar. The first sectiondeals with archaeological contributions to historical research. The second section examines the methodologies involved in deciphering historically accurate African ethnic identities from the records of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The third section mines old documentary sources for new historical perspectives. The fourth section deals with the method most often associated with African historians, that of drawing historical data from oral tradition. Thefifth section is devoted to essays that present innovative sources and methods for African historical research. Together, the essays in this cutting-edge volume represent the current state of the art in African historical research. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Christian Jennings is a Doctoral Candidatein History at the University of Texas at Austin.

Author : John Edward Philips
Publisher : University Rochester Press
Page : 556 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : History
ISBN : 1580462561

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Writing African History by John Edward Philips Pdf

A comprehensive evaluation of how to read African history. Writing African History is an essential work for anyone who wants to write, or even seriously read, African history. It will replace Daniel McCall's classic Africa in Time Perspective as the introduction to African history for the next generation and as a reference for professional historians, interested readers, and anyone who wants to understand how African history is written. Africa in Time Perspective was written in the 1960s, when African history was a new field of research. This new book reflects the development of African history since then. It opens with a comprehensive introduction by Daniel McCall, followed by a chapter by the editor explainingwhat African history is [and is not] in the context of historical theory and the development of historical narrative, the humanities, and social sciences. The first half of the book focuses on sources of historical data while thesecond half examines different perspectives on history. The editor's final chapter explains how to combine various sorts of evidence into a coherent account of African history. Writing African History will become the most important guide to African history for the 21st century. Contributors: Bala Achi, Isaac Olawale Albert, Diedre L. Badéjo, Dorothea Bedigian, Barbara M. Cooper, Henry John Drewal, Christopher Ehret, Toyin Falola, David Henige, Joseph E. Holloway, John Hunwick, S. O. Y. Keita, William G. Martin, Daniel McCall, Susan Keech McIntosh, Donatien Dibwe Dia Mwembu, Kathleen Sheldon, John Thornton, and Masao Yoshida. John Edwards Philips is professor of international society, Hirosaki University, and author of Spurious Arabic: Hausa and Colonial Nigeria [Madison, University of Wisconsin African Studies Center, 2000].

Author : Luise White,Stephan Miescher,David William Cohen
Publisher : Indiana University Press
Page : 348 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : History
ISBN : 0253339480

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African Words, African Voices by Luise White,Stephan Miescher,David William Cohen Pdf

African Words, African Voices considers African history as an art incorporating the experience and testimony of ordinary Africans. It is a provoative volume that evokes the richness and relevance of oral sources for understanding a complex past.

Author : Jan M. Vansina
Publisher : Univ of Wisconsin Press
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 1985-09-06
Category : History
ISBN : 9780299102135

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Oral Tradition as History by Jan M. Vansina Pdf

Jan Vansina’s 1961 book, Oral Tradition, was hailed internationally as a pioneering work in the field of ethno-history. Originally published in French, it was translated into English, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Hungarian. Reviewers were unanimous in their praise of Vansina’s success in subjecting oral traditions to intense functional analysis. Now, Vansina—with the benefit of two decades of additional thought and research—has revised his original work substantially, completely rewriting some sections and adding much new material. The result is an essentially new work, indispensable to all students and scholars of history, anthropology, folklore, and ethno-history who are concerned with the transmission and potential uses of oral material. “Those embarking on the challenging adventure of historical fieldwork with an oral community will find the book a valuable companion, filled with good practical advice. Those who already have collected bodies of oral material, or who strive to interpret and analyze that collected by others, will be forced to subject their own methodological approaches to a critical reexamination in the light of Vansina’s thoughtful and provocative insights. . . . For the second time in a quarter of a century, we are profoundly in the debt of Jan Vansina.”—Research in African Literatures “Oral Traditions as History is an essential addition to the basic literature of African history.”—American Historical Review

Author : Terence O. Ranger,University College, Dar es Salaam
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 1968
Category : Africa
ISBN : STANFORD:36105001627699

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Emerging Themes of African History by Terence O. Ranger,University College, Dar es Salaam Pdf

Author : David P. Henige
Publisher : Longman Publishing Group
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 1982
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015002672023

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Oral Historiography by David P. Henige Pdf

This book is a major re-evaluation of the collection and interpretation of oral historical data. A comparative framework is adopted, though the principal emphasis is on Africa and is based upon the author's extensive knowledge of the continent. Concluding chapters point to the distinction between oral tradition and oral history, and stress the necessity to conserve and make available information collected by oral methods in the field.

Author : Joseph Calder Miller
Publisher : Folkestone, Eng. : Dawson ; Hamden, Conn. : Archon
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 1980
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015004731512

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The African Past Speaks by Joseph Calder Miller Pdf

Author : Jan Vansina
Publisher : Transaction Publishers
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2024-07-02
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780202367620

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Oral Tradition by Jan Vansina Pdf

Author : Thomas T. Spear
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2019
Category : Africa
ISBN : 0190698713

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The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Historiography by Thomas T. Spear Pdf

The difficulties of exploring African history, especially for earlier periods, have spurred the development of a wide range of methodologies and approaches, such that Wyatt McGaffey once termed it 'the decathlon of the social sciences.' Historians have long utilized archaeology, ethnography, historical linguistics, and oral traditions, but are only beginning to explore the possibilities of genetics or many of the new techniques used by archaeology and other sciences. And as digital sources proliferate, so do the problems in using them. 'The Oxford Encyclopedia of African Historiography' discusses these sources and methods, and examines how these developments have influenced the scholarship that historians produce.

Author : Nkparom C. Ejituwu
Publisher : University of Port Harcourt
Page : 428 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Africa
ISBN : UCBK:C071030252

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The Multi-disciplinary Approach to African History by Nkparom C. Ejituwu Pdf

Author : John Parker,Richard (Honorary Professor of History Rathbone, University of Aberystwyth),Richard Rathbone
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 185 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2007-03-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9780192802484

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African History: A Very Short Introduction by John Parker,Richard (Honorary Professor of History Rathbone, University of Aberystwyth),Richard Rathbone Pdf

Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.

Author : Oladipo O. Olubomehin
Publisher : College Press Publ. (Nigeria)
Page : 162 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015059995004

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Issues in Historiography by Oladipo O. Olubomehin Pdf

This work is for African students and students of African history, offering a local perspective on the study of history. It considers biography as history, objectivity, oral/non-literate societies and history, archaeololgy, ideological issues in African historiography and writing Nigerian history. A whole section is given to a discussion of the challenges facing the twenty-first century Nigerian historian. These are identified as: how to overcome the slump in the study of history, and crisis in identity and relevance after the peak and progess of the late seventies; how to improve the status of history at secondary and tertiary levels, and more generally, how to encourage the wider participation of Nigerian historians in international research networks. The contributors are mainly professors and lecturers at the University of Lagos and Ogun State University.

Author : Adekunle Ojelabi
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2020-09-11
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9798685301895

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A Textbook of West African History by Adekunle Ojelabi Pdf

PREFACE: The need to provide the West African students of History, with an objective analysis of the activities of the peoples who occupy the Western zone of the continent of Africa, has motivated this publication. This book has been specially prepared to meet the demands of the West African School Certificate examinations in history; the special history paper for candidates offering General Certificate of Education examinations at Advanced level; and the Higher School Certificate examinations. It has also been written to provide the general reader with a direct communion with the traditions and culture of our peoples.To the students and the general readers alike is addressed this note of warning: You must not expect all your historical problems to be solved solely by this book. Other books, journals and current magazines should be read to supplement and enrich your historical experience. In such a quest, you are bound to come across some other ideas about historical writing and the study of history; particularly our own history, African history. Some historians erroneously believe that African history consists of European activities in Africa. This is utterly nonsense and baseless. Such historians persist in their mistakes because their views of African history are based on the European Imperialist-colonialist activities in Africa during the 19th and the 20th centuries. These simple questions which destroy their myth and expose their error must be asked: Does it mean that there were no people in Africa before the advent of the Europeans? Did the Portuguese not find highly organised communities in Africa during their Atlantic exploration in the 15th and 16th centuries? Did such explorers not find Africans in useful and rewarding trade, and other economic activities? Were the people then without indigenous religion outside Christianity and Islam? Or, are we to regard the ancient Egyptian civilization as European? Or else, what then is history? No one would contest the fact that compact biographies of European nationalities can be compiled into a single book and called "History of European Activities in Africa". But it is the height of intellectual dishonesty to call such a compilation "a history of Africa". European influence in Africa is only a part of the foreign of our cultural relations. Therefore, it cannot be a substitute to the whole entity. Among other problems that may confront teachers, students and the general readers are the difficulties of securing adequate periodization and valid justification for our historiography. Here, some attempts may be made to evince some thoughts among other historians on these items. Recent research and archaeological excavations have increasingly pointed the way to an acceptable classification of the periods on African history along the following lines.1.Pre-Historic - Before 4000 BC 2. Ancient - 4000 BC - 300 A.D. 3. Medieval - 300 A.D. - 1800 A.D. 4. Modern - 1800 A.D. Upwards Much can be said in favour of this classification but would be fully expatiated upon in another work. The generalisation that African History heavily relies on the use of oral tradition for its primary source, and therefore its facts cannot be reliable is untrue and illogical. From periodization above, it is obvious that periods (1), (2), and partly (3) are likely to lean on oral tradition. The use to which African scholars have put oral tradition for the recovery of the past is sound and offers a novelty in the history of historiography. Cont.

Author : Okon Edet Uya
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 120 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Africa
ISBN : UOM:39015063178654

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African History by Okon Edet Uya Pdf