Introduction
It is undeniable that oral traditions play an indispensable role in articulating a society's past. Despite the existence and realness of messages from the past, their accessibility to the senses is not continuous. Therefore, telling oral traditions is the only avenue for the masses to access them. The traditions often dwell in people' minds, and while their utterance is transitory, human memories are not. In oral societies, there is a consensus amongst the members that memories are important repositories for past information. In this case, memories not only contain the past human experiences but are also vital in explaining how and why things are as they are in the present. For example, oral traditions help in reproducing culture. Passing deeds and words from one generation to the next using remembrance helps achieve this. Therefore, through memory, the human mind is responsible for carrying culture and passing it across generations. The human mind can remember and conjure complex messages, ideas, and instructions that are vital for human survival. This attribute aids in establishing continuity over time. Oral tradition is crucial for any scholar of culture, ideology, society, psychology, art, and history. Traditions act as a crucial historical source and comprise the unwritten messages whose preservation is dependent on the memories of a society’s successive generations. 1 This data acts the source of history for oral societies. It also serves as a vital source of information about an illiterate group's past which fosters understanding in literate societies. Further, this data acts as the wellspring of the numerous ancient writings. Oral traditions are conceptualized as documents of the present since the telling of oral traditions takes place in the present. However, they also act as expressions of the past since the message they embody is from the past. Oral traditions are therefore representations of the past but in the present. Thus, traditions are reflections of both the present and the past. Oral traditions have been utilized intensively by all African societies over the years. Therefore, these traditions are vital sources of information about the diversity of African history. Likewise, they can aid in fostering an understanding of the marginalization of Africans. To achieve the two, there is a need to pay attention to the methods of interpreting these oral traditions. When interpreted effectively, oral traditions provide vital leads to the diversity of African history and the cause and process of marginalization of Africans.
Oral Traditions: A Background
The term oral tradition refers to a process and its resultant products. 2 The products of oral traditions are the oral messages that whose basis is the previous generation-old oral messages. The process, on the other hand, denotes the transmission of these messages using word of mouth and over a period up to the disappearance of the messages. Therefore, any particular oral tradition is a rendering that occurs at a given moment. Likewise, it is a single element in the process of oral development whose basis is the original communication. The attributes of an individual rendering differ in accordance to their position in the larger process. The fact that any scenario in which individuals speak is bound to result in the generation of messages acts as a notable understanding of oral tradition as a process. Repeating some of these messages initiates the process of transmission again. For instance, people are likely to be exposed to different scenarios that require them to speak and to reiterate what others said in the past. In the process, a historian is likely to identify two elements of the communication. The two are news and interpretations of existing information. 3
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News conveys information about a happening that took place recently and is unknown to an individual's audience. 4 However, the news in question needs to bear some interest to the targeted audience. Often, for news to generate interest, it has to have some sensational value. The argument in this regard is that the more sensational the news, the more often it is likely to be repeated. Such communications rarely concern the past. Instead, they involve the present and only imply the future. News comes from hearsay, eyewitnesses or such internal experiences as visions, hallucinations, and dreams. Eyewitness accounts act as the basis of al history. It is undeniable that everyone has at one point or another given an account of events he or she participated in or witnessed to an audience that was not present during their occurrence. Despite their importance in shaping history, for eyewitness accounts to be reliable, the eyewitness must have been in a position to see and understand what he or she saw. Likewise, they have not to be too involved in the occurrence as to alter what they saw. 5
In most instances, even the most experience witness is not likely to give an entirely accurate account of the happenings he or she is reporting. This is partly because eyewitness accounts are not only personal but also involve both emotions and perception. Also, most witnesses are rarely idle standers-by but rather participants of the events they eventually report about. Moreover, it is impossible for one to have a complete understanding of an even by using perception as the sole source of data. This is because the individual in question has to organize the perceptions coherently and subsequently use the situation's logic to give the missing bits of the observation. Due to these attributes, scholars deem eyewitness accounts to be partly reliable. 6 Most accounts, whether complex, unexpected or simple, are often imperfect. The expectation of the event, for instance, is likely to distort a witness’s account. In other cases, individuals have a tendency of reporting what they expect to hear or see as opposed to what they actually hear or see. Therefore, the emotional state and memory mediate perception and ultimately shape the account in question. 7 In this regard, memory selects particular features from the succeeding perceptions and subsequently interprets them based on previous knowledge, expectation or the notion of what might have happened. It then goes ahead and fills any existing gaps in perception. Due to these attributes, when strict standards are employed, any interested party might render eyewitness accounts incorrect. However, this stance may not apply in practice.
Hearsay, also referred to as rumors, are often transmitted from ear to mouth and is also concerned with sensational news. Sensationalism, in this case, acts as the reason that the rumor builds up. 8 For these accounts, even when the bare facts are true, some parts are often overdone with the account taking a form that directly appeals to the audience's empathy with the speaker in question. Rumors have a basis, particularly in a society that is devoid of mass media and writing. In such a society, speech acts a core medium of passing information. Despite this, rumors are likely to be untrue and untrustworthy. This is particularly the case when these rumors bear such practical purposes as galvanizing supporters or disheartening opponents. In reality, most false rumors eventually die out since their expected consequences rarely occur. When this happens, new rumors replace the old ones. However, the rumors that lack contradiction eventually survive and first become a store of history and later become a store of oral tradition. 9 This holds true for hearsay that is followed by changes that are visible to the public. Conversely, the false rumors that were not expected to bear such effects are likely to remain and later turn into tradition. Hearsay acts as the basis of most traditions or written documents. Eyewitness accounts are rare in the two categories. Subsequently, it is difficult for one to determine whether or not a particular rumor comes from an eyewitness. When this happens, internal evidence acts as the source of guidance. Rumor is the process of building a collective historical consciousness. The collective interpretations that come from massive rumors eventually lead to a universally accepted interpretation of sets of events, nonevents, or events. 10 As a result, a tradition whose basis is rumor informs the public about the prevailing mentality at the time of occurrence of the event as opposed to the event itself.
Expression of experience includes iconatrophy which is the etiological commentary of the existing objects. It also entails personal reminiscences, linguistic expressions of folk etymology, literary expression of experience as exemplified by oral art, and lastly traditions. These sources are reflective and products of thought about existing messages and situations. They also represent a given phase in the amplification of historical consciousness and are thus key origins of culture. These sources sometimes testify to events but always have to testify to situations that prevail at a given time. Personal reminiscences are the most common products of human history and act as recollections of past situations or events that are given by individuals long past occurrence of the event in question. 11 Reminiscences are crucial determinants of the notion of identity and personality. They are rarely comprised of random collections of memory but rather are components of an organized unit of memories that project the narrator’s image in a consistent way. Often, reminiscences justify a narrator’s life. Reminiscences act as the perfect exemplifications of the power of memory. For instance, people forget situations and events if they are inconvenient or irrelevant. A person is likely to retain, reorder, reshape or remember situations and events based on the role they play in creating his or her mental self-portrait.
In most cultures, people create two self-portraits. The first one acts as a public image or a mask that based on statuses and role, principles and values. The second portrait is less clear and may reveal traces of fear and doubt. The difference between the two portraits differs from one culture to another and is dependent on the prevailing notions of individuality. As a result, a historical researcher has to be sensitive to these notions of personality. He or she also has to adhere to the requirements of privacy in different cultures. By doing this, the researcher is likely to gain sufficient insight into the gap that exists between the past both in terms of how it may have been as well as its subsequent rendering. A life history’s internal consistency allows an individual to establish the principles of selection whose role in linking individual reminiscences cannot be overstated. Consequently, the individual can evaluate the impact of the principles on the reminiscence. These kinds of sources are vital inputs of oral history. As a result, it is important for any oral historian to discuss how to generate, gather, and use these resources. Reminiscences act as vital inputs for later traditions. 12 This is because these sources deal with both events and situations and are part of dialogues between family and friends, associates or neighbors in a community or common organization. Reminiscences include hearsay and eyewitness accounts, and their existence is dependent on human memory.
The narrative that all kinds of situations motivate the need to explain why they occur forms the basis for commentaries. These explanations often arise after the occurrence of the situation and thus act as new messages. A notable form of these explanations seeks to expound on the features of a landscape or monument. The best term for these explanations is iconatrophy. Besides these spurious commentaries, other explanations arise from the time of the monument or site. An individual is expected to treat stories related to archaeological sites with caution. One the one hand, rejecting the stories as a whole is inappropriate. On the other hand, it is not wise for anyone to accept the stories on wholesale. Popular etymologies also form an important class of commentaries. Etymologies are often spurious with only a few being correct. Their regular linguistic derivation attests to the latter. Etymologies apply to both place names and personal names and title and ultimately result in tales. 13 Commentaries also include the explanatory glosses of obscure passages in traditions such as contained in poetry. The explanation often goes back to particular events. However, explanatory glosses are likely to be changed a number of times even if it stems immediately after a given event. Most of the time, these commentaries emerge long after the existence of the original tradition. Examples of explanatory glosses include explanations of the archaisms of speech, and non-existent allusions and customs. Speculative commentaries, on the other hand, give an origin to cultural traits and in the process, explain their existence. Examples include etiological tales which offer information about cultural history. Speculative commentaries also have memories of archaic features and are important in the study of a particular culture's cosmological concepts.
The sources of oral history include hearsay, reminiscences, and eyewitness accounts of contemporary situations and events. The latter events entail those that have taken place in the informants' lifetime. This attribute differs from oral traditions since oral traditions are not contemporary but rather have moved from one mouth to another over a period that exceeds the informants' lifetime. Oral history and oral traditions also differ with regard to how their sources are collected and analyzed. 14 For instance, oral historians often interview participants on recent and very recent events. The nature of these events is dramatic, and interviews take place while a community's historical consciousness is still uncertain. Historians often compare these interviews with the current information as communicated via television or radio. The reason for doing this to ensure that oblivion does not cloud the resources, to ensure immediate assessment of the situations or events studied, and to ensure that the actors of the happenings in question are conscious. Since oral historians have to select all the potential witnesses, they bear the challenge of identifying the most appropriate research approach. In the process, the historians avoid in-depth analysis of the testimonies obtained and focus on a few individuals and the cross-check the information acquired with that of the larger group.
Oral Traditions as a Dynamic Process and as a Source of History
When individuals transmit messages past the generation of their genesis, these messages become traditions. As the messages evolve, the traditions develop various classes. One class comprises of the memorized messages, which may entail messages contained in everyday language such as prayers and those that are subject to specialized rules of language such as poetry. The latter group entails either everyday language or formal speech. Examples of the two include narrative and speech. The memorized traditions exhibit different tendencies form the others. While some narratives are true, others are fiction. The transmission of accounts or traditions that are factual takes a different approach compared to such fictional narratives as sayings, proverbs, and tales. The chosen criterion is dependent on truth whose conceptualization varies between cultures. Different societies treat tales and accounts differently, and the degree of this difference also varies. As a result, historians have to investigate each on the basis of its individual merits. 15 Owing to the existence of various distinct transmission modes, oral traditions fall into various distinct categories. These include memorized speech; accounts; epic; tales; and sayings, proverbs, and tales.
Oral traditions refer to verbal messages that are also the reported statement whose genesis is the past. As a result, the messages have to comprise oral statements that are sung, spoken or called out using musical instruments. With the exception of oral history, this attribute distinguishes oral traditions from written messages and other sources. Further, oral traditions have to be transmitted over at least one generation using word of mouth. 16 Due to this, oral traditions do not include sources for oral traditions. Oral traditions also need not be just narratives and solely about the past. However, people in a given culture should be fully aware of these traditions implying that the traditions embody common historical consciousness. Oral traditions act as vital sources of history by providing evidence. Irrespective of the model used to achieve this, it is crucial to establish a clear link between the observation and it subsequent record. The absence of this link renders the historical evidence ineffective. Based on this argument, a tale whose beginning lacks a specific time loses its evidential property. However, proportions of the tale that take the form of existing situations and subsequently incorporated into tale’s action or setting offer a link to an observation and thus act as evidence.
The simplest model of understanding oral traditions as a source of evidence presupposes that the initial observer of a tradition reported his or her experience orally leading to the creation of the initial message. Subsequently, a second party heard the message and passed it to others. Individuals, pass the message from one party to another up to the last performer, who acts as the informant that tells to the recorder. Creation of an oral tradition comprises a chain of transmission whereby each party that is involved acts a vital link. According to a historian, the most vital defining attribute of an oral tradition is its propagation via word of mouth over an extended period whose length exceeds that of the contemporary generation. 17 Therefore, individuals should see a tradition as part of successive historical documents a majority of which get lost except for the last one. Often, the interpretation of a tradition involves all the links in the chain of transmission. Transmission, on the other hand, is not only continuous but also communal.
The chosen model should not handle oral messages like written messages with copies. Rather, the model should view oral messages as statements of information bearing the flexibility of oral expression. For a tradition to bear evidence, the existence of a link between the record and observation is requisite. In practice, tracing a transmission is difficult. Often, the recorded messages are fusions of various previously restated messages. This is because the information coming from different people is characterized by intensified redundancy as opposed to when the information flows via a single communication channel. Nevertheless, the multiple flows of information do not necessarily imply that there are distortions. Instead, it may lead to enhanced clarity. 18 On recording, a tradition does not die. Instead, people continue telling the tradition, and a later time, re-recording takes place. Written records may also act as sources of oral tradition resulting in a mixed transmission period that can last for an extended period. Historians have to be wary of this and thus are expected to ensure that oral traditions bear feedback from previous writings. The historians should also ensure that a tradition has several recordings.
A message that contains historical information such as an oral tradition informs interested parties about single events or a sequence of events, reports a particular trend or describes a past situation. 19 Many times, trends and situations in tradition as summaries of generalized events. As a result, statements related to trends or situations need not relate to actual observations or events. In most cases, the people derive statements from generalizations that come from either contemporaries or the subsequent generations. This information serves to show the held values and opinions, and testify to the mentalities as opposed to being a testimony to facts. Individuals should thus scrutinize the available traditions to ensure that they are expressions of norms or generalizations as opposed to statements of observations of situations or events. These distinctions are important particularly in the context of the different classes of oral traditions. Except for poetry, only accounts testify to events directly. The other classes report trends and situation. By establishing a life-like setting, tales offer evidence about situations according to observations and about beliefs concerns specific situations. As a result, tales may act as important sources. On the other hand, concentrating so much on accounts may mislead especially with regard to reconstructing actual situations. The reason for this is that accounts act as the historical consciousness of the past and present generations. However, using memorized traditions and tales helps generate different and less-biased data sets.
The Diversity of African History and the Marginalization of African Peoples from the Context of Oral Traditions
The preservation of Africa’s history has taken numerous forms. For instance, geography plays a vital role in shaping the history of Northwestern Africa. A notable geographical feature, in this case, is the Sahara Desert. 20 This is especially the case of Mali, Ghana, and Songhay Empires. As revealed by rock paintings, the Sahara region was comprised of lakes and rivers until 5000 B.C.E and was also home to fishermen, hunters and numerous animals such as elephants, giraffes, elephants, and rhinoceros. 21 Others included crocodiles, fish, and hippopotami. The region dried at about 3000 B.C.E leading to migration of both humans and the big animals. The former moved into Maghrib which is home to present-day Tunisia and Morocco. Despite Sahara’s harshness, a significant number of people remained in the Sahara with some settling in the oasis while others settled on its fringes. These people are mostly nomads and have been instrumental in the preservation of the empires that developed below the Sahara Desert. These empires sprang around the Sahel, Bilad Al-Sudan and the Niger River.
The individuals that laid the foundations for the West African medieval empires failed to develop a written language for use in recording their history. Thus, the dates and events recorded in history are only approximate. The archeologists excavated ancient cemeteries and ruins of early cities and towns while climatologists used ancient environmental changes and weather patterns. Linguistics, on the other hand, have had to use writings found on tombstones. In the 1013 C.E, Arabic language specialists used writings of early geographers while ethno-historians have used modern descendants of the early people and extrapolated the lives of their ancestors. Other scholars have interpreted the oral traditions passed from one generation to another using word of mouth. 22 As a result, most of these traditional stories lack dates. Arab geographers were the first people to document ancient Ghana and began this documentation in the ninth century. These geographers used the stories they gathered from other travelers. For instance, these travelers gave tales of how rich Ghana was in gold. 23 With repetition from other travelers like Ibrahim al-Fazari, al-Hasan ibn Ahmad al-Hamdani, and al-Hamdani, this perception of Ghana became popular.
Ghana, Mali and Songhay Empires dominated the history of West Africa for about 900 years. Ghana was the critical power south of Sahara as described by among others, historian and geographer Ahmad al-Yaqubi. 24 Ghana, the second empire dates back to the 13 th century. This empire housed various Mande chiefdoms. Oral traditions point that Sunjata Keita was the Mande people's most recognized heroes. Keita unified the numerous Mande chiefdoms laying the foundations for the Mali Empire. Songhay Empire started as a trading center going by the name of Gao. Gao developed into a kingdom later, and the Songhay people controlled it. The Gao were also related to the Mande people of Mali and Ghana. Mali Empire conquered Gao in the 14 th century, but the latter regained its independence by the 1430s. Sii Ali Beeri came to power in Gao in the 15 th century. He subsequently conquered the neighboring kings and chiefs, took their territories and then established the Songhay Empire. The empire's lands included portions of the old Mali and Ghana Empires.
According to Soninke, who are the native inhabitants of the Ghana Empire, Wagadu was the name of this ancient kingdom. 25 The history this empire is anchored on such elements as the ancients’ heroic deeds and relationships with the spirit world. These people also emphasized family rivalries. Ideas of the Soninke people regarding their history are expressed extensively through the legend of Wagadu. 26 The gesere, the Soninke professional musicians and storytellers, pass this oral tradition from one generation to another. While variations in details exist, the legend begins with a description of how Dinga, a Soninke ancestor came from the Middle East. Dinga first stayed at Jenne, an ancient city north of Bamako on the Niger River. He later relocated to Dia on Niger's Inland Delta where he got married and bore two sons. These sons became ancestors in various Sahel towns. The storytellers' accounts of Dinga's movements from one place to another are used to justify the presence of the Soninke in different parts of the Sahel. Following Dinga's death, his son Diabe Cissé succeeded him.
A critical account of Diabe's reign is his encounter with a giant rock python. On arriving at a site where he sought to establish the town of Kumbi Saleh, Diabe found that a python called Bida guarded the site. 27 According to the legends’ different versions, Bida resided in either a cave or well. Since pythons reside near rivers and swamps, there may have been a water body next to Kumbi Saleh. Diabe made an agreement with Bida so that he could establish his town. They agreed that Diabe would set up his town while Bid a remaining the site's guardian. Diabe would also give Bida a beautiful young virgin annually, and in return, Bida would ensure that the area received plenty of rains and gold. This pact remained until a young man killed Bida following a contested offering. While some aspects of the legend of Wagadu are questionable, its various elements reflect environmental and social aspects that may have been true components of the history of the Ghana Empire. Other critical aspects of the empire include the regional and trans-Saharan trade, emergence of the city of Awdaghust, and the spread of Almoravids, a group of different groups that formed a powerful Islamic state. 28
The decline of the Ghana Empire prompted the Soninke people to establish various smaller kingdoms. Resultant states included Diara, Kaniaga, and Mema. Another important state was the Susu which was ruled by Kanté, a powerful family of blacksmiths. Susu had expanded into the neighboring regions by the 12 th century, and its authority spread to some parts of the previous Ghana Empire. The basis of information about the Susu kingdom was the Mande oral tradition making it difficult for independent sources to confirm it. 29 Also, since there were no archaeological excavations in the region, there is no material evidence to support the oral tradition. Arab geographers, however, confirmed the existence of this region. These geographers established that Susu was the most powerful amongst the new kingdoms and had incorporated some territories of the Ghana Empire. Mande oral tradition highlights that Sumanguru Kanté was Susu leader in the 13 th century.
Sumanguru was a ruthless conqueror and a great sorcerer. In his pursuit to expand his kingdom, Sumanguru conquered the Mande kingdoms. The Mande people's account of the origins of the Mali Empire gave rise to the Sunjata Epic. 30 This epic is called Sunjata Keita, after one of the founders of the Mali Empire. The story begins in Farakoro, a Mande chiefdom in the 13 th century. 31 Other vital contributors of the Mali Empire included Mansa Musa’s, Mansa Sulayman, Mari Jata II, and the growth of commerce in the region. The Songhay people dominated Niger’s Bend eastern side and eventually established an empire that covered vast portions of Western Sudan. Numerous groups of people came together in ancient times and subsequently formed Songhay. These groups include Sorko, Do and Gow. In the 10 th century, powerful horse-riding individuals speaking the Songhay language joined these early settlers. The horsemen established control over the other groups and with time all the groups beginning speaking Songhay. Eventually, the people and their region adopted the name of Songhay. 32
The pre-colonial ancient African societies were mostly oral societies implying that these societies had unwritten language. This is despite the fact that the African continent was the first to use written characters. The introduction of hieroglyphics alphabet and writing structure about 3000 B.C in ancient Egypt forms the first account of the characters. 33 As a method of communication, hieroglyphic was a writing system that featured pictorial characters. The marginalization of African peoples is tied to colonization since African societies were more oral than written. The colonial powers selectively marginalized African peoples by comparing them the whites and branding them the ‘others.’ The whites argued that Africans were deficient in culture, development, manners, education, and values. Further, the colonizers relegated the oral traditions of the African societies to historical non-significance. The colonizers also used African traditions as a basis for colonization. For instance, colonization was aimed at civilizing Africans since they lacked a written language and thus were backward. 34 Also, the foreigners refused to promote and appreciate the oral traditions of African societies as viable means of communication or education. Some colonists even deemed these oral traditions unfit for human development.
The most significant form of marginalization was the failure of the colonial powers to accept African oral traditions as valid and genuine forms of cultural, economic, social, legal, and political expression. 35 Instead, the European powers that controlled the lives of Africans during the colonial era declared that only written literature was to be used and utilized as any form of meaningful literature. Since only colonial languages had written versions, the colonizers marginalized the African oral traditions. The Europeans also regarded their culture as being superior. Therefore, by imposing European education on Africans, the colonizers sought to elevate Africans. Over time, Africans bought this narrative and aspired to gain this high culture by embracing European education. By equating written language with learning, education, and civilization, the Europeans successfully marginalized the African oral traditions.
Bibliography
Conrad, D. C. Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay . Infobase Publishing, 2010.
Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
1 Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
2 Ibid., 3
3 Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
4 Ibid., 4
5 Ibid., 5
6 Ibid., 5
7 Ibid., 5
8 Ibid., 6
9 Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
10 Ibid., 6
11 Ibid., 8
12 Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
13 Ibid., 10
14 Ibid., 13
15 Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
16 Ibid., 28
17 Ibid., 29
18 Vansina, Jan M. Oral tradition as history . Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1985.
19 Ibid., 31
20 Conrad, D. C. Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay . Infobase Publishing, 2010.
21 Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
22 Conrad, D. C. Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay . Infobase Publishing, 2010.
23 Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
24 Conrad, D. C. Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay . Infobase Publishing, 2010.
25 Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
26 Conrad, D. C. Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay . Infobase Publishing, 2010.
27 Conrad, D. C. Empires of Medieval West Africa: Ghana, Mali, and Songhay . Infobase Publishing, 2010.
28 Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
29 Ibid., 41
30 Ibid., 42
31 Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
32 Ibid., 140
33 Hams, Robert. Africa in Global History with Sources. W.W. Norton and Company, 2018.
34 Ibid., 8
35 Ibid., 424
