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
ORAL TRADITION AS HISTORY
JAN VANSINA
ORAL TRADITION AS HISTORY
THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
The University of Wisconsin Press 1930 Monroe Street Madison, Wisconsin 53711 3 Henrietta Street London WC2E 8LU, England www.wisc.edu\wisconsinpress Copyright © 1985 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved
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Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Vansina. Jan. Oral tradition as history. Bibliography: pp. 229-245 Includes index. 1. Oral tradition. 2. History-Methodology. 3. Oral tradition-Africa. 4. Africa-History-Methodology. I. Title. 016. V2784 1985 960 84-40504 ISBN 0-299-10210-6 ISBN 0-299-10214-9 (pbk.)
CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgments
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ORAL TRADITION AS PROCESS 3 I. THE GENERATION OF MESSAGES (1) News (a) Eyewitness (b) Hearsay (c) Visions, Dreams, and Hallucinations
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(2) The Interpretation of Experience (a) Reminiscence (b) Commentaries (c) Verbal Art
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(3) Oral History
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II. DYNAMIC PROCESSES OF ORAL TRADITION (1) Memorized Speech (2) Accounts (a) Historical Gossip (b) Personal Tradition (c) Group Account (d) Traditions of Origin and Genesis (e) Cumulative Accounts v
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Contents
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III.
(3) Epic
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(4) Tales, Proverbs, and Sayings
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ORAL TRADITION AS A SOURCE OF HISTORY
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(1) Definition
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(2) Oral Tradition as Evidence (a) From Observation to Permanent Record (b) Evidence of What?
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CHAPTER TWO
PERFORMANCE, TRADITION, AND TEXT
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I.
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PERFORMANCE
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(1) Performing
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(2) Performers
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PERFORMANCE AND TRADITION
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(1) Reproduction of Performances (a) Frequency, Time, and Place (b) The Intent of the Performance (c) Remembering: Cueing and Scanning (d) Mnemotechnic Devices (0 Objects (ii) Landscapes (iii) Music (e) Learning
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(2) Variability Within a Tradition (a) Poems and Their Kin