Oral history is one of the methodology in finding out the way people lived in Africa. This powerpoint will help you understand why oral history can be considered a credible method of learning about a culture in Africa.

1. Edice Hua
Ancient Africa Civilizations
February 3, 2017
Ms. Francine Sabal
Oral Tradition & its
Methodology in
General History of Africa volume 1:
Methodology and African Prehistory
(Unesco General History of Africa
(abridged)) (Vol 1)

2. Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is a
British writer of African descent, dub
poet and Rastafarian.

3. • About the Editor
i. Emergence of Oral
Civilization
ii. Nature of Oral tradition
• Tradition as a literary
work
• Importance of
Chronology
i. Evaluation of Oral
Traditions
ii. Collection &
Publication
Content of Presentation

4. 1. About the Editor
• The Editor of this book: Joseph Ki-
Zerbo (June 21, 1922 – December
4, 2006) was a Burkinabé (Burkina
Faso, West Africa) historian,
politician and writer.
• He was known as one of Africa’s
foremost thinkers. In 1991 he
published the book, General
History of Africa.
Ki-Zerbo c.a 2005

5. i. Emergence of Oral
Civilization
• According to Ki- Zerbo, numerous
civilizations in the Sahara and
south of the desert develop spoken
word instead of writing because
only a few in the population
learned how to right. (pp. 142,
paragraph 2)
• Keep in mind, oral traditions must
be understood very well and accept
the attitude towards speech of an
oral civilization.
• For instance, the Dogon tribe
(Mali) has numerous words has
more than on meaning. To them,
“to say” can also mean “to do.”
(pp. 142, paragraph 2)
• “The historian must learn how the
oral society thinks before he can
interpret its traditions.“ (pp. 143,
paragraph 1)Dogon Dancer

6. Map depicting the practice of oral tradition in
Africa

7. ii. Nature of Oral
Tradition
• What exactly is oral tradition?
Well, Ki- Zerbo states “oral
tradition is a testimony transmitted
orally from generation to another.”
(pp. 143, paragraph 2)
• The unique thing about it is that
the basis of oral tradition is
completely different from written
sources.
• Oral traditions are very
fascinating! In fact, there are
documented cases of two
completely different tribes telling
the same event and subject in
which both descriptions were
totally similar. (pp. 143, paragraph
2).
• As scholars, we must be very
careful in eliminating oral sources
that are rumors and keep the ones

8. 2. Tradition as a literary
work
• Literary works are narratives that
are based on facts but written, well
in this case, told as if it were a
fiction.
• The problematic part is finding the
actual form of the message. Thus,
it must be thoroughly checked and
placed in general framework of
literary works. (pp. 144, paragraph
)

9. 3. Importance of
Chronology
• “If there is no chronology, there is
no history, because it is no longer
possible to distinguish what
preceded from what follows.” –
Ki-Zerbo (pp 157, paragraph 2)
• The use of relative chronology, is
possible to try to co-ordinate
separate neighboring different
related sequences by studying
synchronisms. (pp 159, paragraph
6- pp. 160 paragraph 160)
• The thing is… synchronisms occur
between persons who met each
other. This can be confusing
because it cannot really emphasize
on the synchronism of generations
or reigns.

10. i. Evaluation of Oral
Traditions
• Once sources have been subjected
to thorough literary and
sociological criticism, they can be
assigned a degree of probability.
(pp. 160, paragraph 3)
• A tradition's accuracy will be
greatly increased if the information
it contains can be checked against
that given in other independent
traditions or from other sources.
(pp. 160, paragraph 3)
• “It will be borne in mind that
written quantitative information is
often more reliable, but that oral
information concerning motives is
often more accurate than that from
written sources.” (pp. 161,
paragraph 2)

11. ii. Collection &
Publication
• Historians who are collecting data
from oral traditions must use
ethnologists, linguists and
interpreters in order to organize
their findings. (pp. 162, paragraph
2)
• Therefore, the research must be
well planned with a clear historical
idea in view. It is never possible to
collect all the traditions and any
attempt to do so would produce
only a confused mass of
information. (pp. 163, paragraph
2.)
• Remember to always have patience
otherwise you will be in danger!

12. Reference
• "Oral Tradition and the
Methodology." In General history
of Africa, edited by Joseph Ki-
Zerbo, 142-60. Paris: Unesco,
1990.