Oral Tradition as History

by Jan Vansina

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

Genres: History, Anthropology, Oral History, Africa, Folklore, Nonfiction, Mythology

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Jan Vansina was a Belgian historian and anthropologist regarded as an authority on the history of Central Africa.

Reviews

[Sense of History]

This is a very theoretic but basic book on oral history, by the "father" of this discipline. There's a remarkable strong focus on Africa, the theatre of Vansina's expertise. Jan Vansina (1929–2017) was an outstanding Belgian-American historian and anthropologist, especially well introduced to the history of Central Africa. His methodology on 'oral history' set the mark for generations of historians, whilst teaching at the University of Madison (Wisconsin) and - of course - being very active on the terrain. In the meantime this approach has been developing and deepened, principally through the study of collective and individual memory, making this book outdated (hence only 2 stars). I think I read the original edition, published in 1965 (originally written in French); this is an amended edition, published in 1985.

[Mark Bowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oral Tradition as Process
* The process is a transmission of messages by mouth over a period of time
* News and experience are the 2 main types of messages
* As the messages are passed down they become oral tradition
* Types of oral tradition: Memorized speech, accounts of events, fictitious tales
* Oral traditions can be a source of history
* Performance, Tradition, and Text
* The question of authenticity begins with examining the performance, then establishing the relationship to the tradition, then recording it and setting it to text.
* Performance is the telling of the tale.
* The performance must be examined by its frequency, the intent of the performance, processes of remembrance, variability (the accuracy is established by comparing the performance to others attempting to tell the same story)
* Once the performance is recorded 2 questions are asked: How typical was that performance and how does the record correspond to it?
* Getting the Message
* Once the performance is recorded the first step is to understand it.
* This requires a study of the form and structure, after that the content can be understood.
* Next the meaning of the message must be understood. Was the meaning intended, is the meaning apparent
* After the message is understood, the aim of the message must be examined. It is of great importance to determine which messages are designed to tell us about the past and which are not. This is the difference between tales and accounts.
* The Message is a Social Product
* All message of an oral tradition have a “social surface”. This social surface can change the message so this must be understood.
* Performances do not occur randomly, they appear at particular moments and their content is related to the occasion.
* Every message has a purpose and it fulfills a particular function, otherwise it would not survive.
* Each message is also changes by the particular interests of the performed
* Oral traditions then mirror society. They relate events that society believes to be important
* The Message Expresses Culture
* Culture is what is common in the minds of a given group of people. This culture shapes messages.
* Example, historical causality and change are culture specific. Oral societies have a simpler notion of change than we do. We see multiple causes and a gradual change. They see institutions that come into existence in 1 moment.
* Culture included representations of substantive matter and also imagery. Ex. what is the symbol of a banana tree. (Fecundity: productive, fruitful)
* Tradition as Information Remembered
* Information relating to oral traditions is not available in discrete packages, but exists in memories. Thus, to cope with this we must go beyond the rules of evidence
* Verification of traditions is accomplished by independent agreement among performers stories
* How can chronology be established? Notice occurrences of before and after, use lists of genealogies. But, little importance has been given to chronology in oral tradition. Thus, we must use other means to date, archeology, astronomical.
* This lack of chronology is one of the most severe limitations of oral history
* Oral Tradition Assessed
* Some have said that the limitations of oral history are so severe that they could not be used by themselves
* Main limitations: lack of chronology, selectivity of the contents of oral history (certain groups are interesting, they are the ones that are remembered)
* Conclusion: Historians using oral traditions should not expect to gain a complete view of the past with oral traditions.

[Marc Lamot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Theoretical exposition on the oral tradition, strongly focused on Africa. Jan Vansina was one of the pioneers of Oral History.

[Flint Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit to being pleasantly surprised this book has even been received. As a graduate student I was repeatedly told not to believe any of the oral materials I might come across. My superiors were so vague, however, that I had a hard time believing them. This book lays out clearly the issues and advantages of oral materials. Using Vansina in conjunction with Molly Miller's work was a great boon to my own research. He has truly done his homework to draw the conclusions he has.

[Mark Isaak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vansina takes on a difficult topic and handles it pretty well. Most of the problems I saw with the content -- some stuff sounds obvious; for others, no good solution was proposed -- were probably more problems with the field. Vansina's treatment seems thorough, although his examples come mainly from Africa. I would like to have seen more of "how do we know this" addressed, but perhaps that would have made the book too long. The book could also have used more summaries of main points. It was dry reading.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great reference and resource for scholars or historians that deal with Oral Traditions or histories. A little big of a tough read... Dynamic and challenging language and analogies. Recommended only for people deeply interested in Oral Tradition or Jan Vansina.

[Clifton Toliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is still considered to be the bible when it comes to the study of oral tradtion. It covers the full spectrum of research into this subject matter. This book is well researched, well written, and is very thought provoking. If you study oral literature this book would be an ideal addition to your library. Just make sure you get the revised 1985 edition. I think if you read it along with Ruth Finnegan's book Oral Poetry, and Albery Lord's The Singer Of tales you will learn a great deal about this fascinating topic.

[Anthony Buccitelli]

This is a surprisingly relevant book for folklorists, despite the fact that it was originally published in the 1950s and revised in the 1980s.

Many of Vansina's comments are old hat for folklorists these days; nevertheless, he offers a rigorous theoretical approach to the study of folk history that is well worth reading.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book on oral history as a tool in historical reconstruction and interpretation...