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Most African societies used oral tradition to record their history, meaning there was little written history. Colonial histories focussed on the exploits of soldiers, colonial administrators, and "colonial figures", using limited sources and written from an entirely European perspective , ignoring the viewpoint of the colonised under the ...
Jan Vansina, who specialised in the history of Central Africa, pioneered the study of oral tradition in his book Oral tradition as history (1985). Vansina differentiates between oral and literate civilisations, depending on whether emphasis is placed on the sanctity of the written or oral word in a society. The Akan proverbs translated as ...
Types of information held by oral repositories includes lineages, oral law, mythology, oral literature and oral poetry (of which oral history is often entwined), folk songs and aural tradition, and traditional knowledge. In many indigenous societies, such as Native American and San, these roles are fulfilled in a general sense by elders.
African historiography is a branch of historiography concerning the African continent, its peoples, nations and variety of written and non-written histories.It has differentiated itself from other continental areas of historiography due to its multidisciplinary nature, as Africa's unique and varied methods of recording history have resulted in a lack of an established set of historical works ...
Griots have the main responsibility for keeping stories of the individual tribes and families alive in the oral tradition, with the narrative accompanied by a musical instrument. They are an essential part of many West African events such as weddings, where they sing and share family history of the bride and groom.
The writing systems of Africa refer to the current and historical practice of writing systems on the African continent, both indigenous and those introduced. In many African societies, history generally used to be recorded orally despite most societies having developed a writing script, leading to them being termed "oral civilisations" in ...
An important element of Black family reunions is often the passing down of the family history in the culture’s oral tradition. In Africa, the keeper of the village history is the griot ...
The book is considered one of the earliest works of indigenous African historiography, as it was written by a native of Benin who had access to oral traditions and written sources from both the local and European perspectives. The book is appreciated for its simplicity, clarity, and authenticity, as well as its contribution to the preservation ...