Ngundeng and the “Turuk:” Two Narratives Compared

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 119-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Southern Sudan ◽  
Source Evaluation ◽  
Creative Tension ◽  
History Of ◽  
Local Materials

The historiography of the southern Sudan offers few examples of the critical assessment of sources. Surprisingly, the only conscious attempts at source evaluation have been made by anthropologists or ethnographers. Most historians and political scientists have been preoccupied with chronologies of administration and policy based on colonial documents and have been all too uncritical in accepting these sources for their generalizations on the history of southern Sudanese societies. Part of the reason why the historiography of the southern Sudan has lagged so far behind the rest of Africa in this respect is that, until recently, a limited number of colonial documents were the main sources available on southern Sudanese history, and these remained both unchallenged or uncorroborated by indigenous sources. Over the last ten years, however, it has become possible for scholars to collect and examine a wider variety of local materials in the southern Sudan itself, and the comparison of these materials with the older, better-known, sources can help to produce that creative tension so necessary for any critical advance to be made.There is an urgent need for an evaluation of oral history in the southern Sudan. Oral traditions have been collected for over eighty years, but most of the recorded forms, those found in government files and reports, are composite summaries and interpretations by their collectors--government officials--rather than systematic comparisons of different accounts. In this form it is often difficult to separate the assumptions of the colonial officials from the claims of their informants, a task made particularly difficult by the fact that rarely does the record specify the source of an account or the context in which it was collected. Comparisons of modern accounts, when the source and context of the narrative are known, with these older, vaguer records can reveal something about both the traditional history of southern Sudanese societies and the assumption of colonial administrators.

Монгол домог дахь Мин улсын хаадын өгүүлэмж (= Устные предания монголов о правителях династии Мин)

2020 ◽  
pp. 139-152
Author(s):  
Bata Darzhagiin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Ming Dynasty ◽  
Tibetan Buddhism ◽  
Yuan Dynasty ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Good Fortune ◽  
History Of ◽  
Common Man ◽  
The Ming Dynasty

In the oral traditions of Mongols there are a lot of legends and stories not only about Genghis Khan and the period of Mongolian Yuan dynasty, but also about the first emperor of the succeeding Ming dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang (1368–1398). These stories, first of all, tell that Zhu Yuanzhang was not of the noble origin, he was the son of a common man and became the king by good fortune. Secondly, they state that the Ming dynasty emperors were Mongols by their origin. Thirdly, all these stories and legends in their form and content are typical for Mongolian folklore. The goal of this article is to introduce the plot and themes of the Mongolian historic legends and stories about the Ming dynasty emperors. Most of the texts of legends and stories were recorded by the author from Agvanchoidor (they were included into the book “The Oral History of Mongolian-Tibetan Buddhism”) and also from other informants during expeditions.

Introduction: The Evolution of Oral History

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald A. Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Samuel Johnson ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
New Yorker ◽  
Greenwich Village ◽  
Standard Procedures ◽  
Digital Recorder ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into

Oral history is as old as the first recorded history and as new as the latest digital recorder. Long before the practice acquired a name and standard procedures, historians conducted interviews to gain insight into great events, beginning at least as early as Thucydides, who used oral history for his account of the Peloponnesian wars. In the eighteenth century, Samuel Johnson commented that “all history was at first oral,” but the term “oral history” was first used in reference to troubadours and oral traditions. However, the study of oral history was taken up seriously only during the twentieth century. Oral history did not attach itself to interviewing until an article appeared in the New Yorker in 1942 about Joe Gould, a Greenwich Village bohemian who claimed to be compiling “An Oral History of Our Time”. This article further discusses the importance of oral history projects and oral historians at the same time.

The Swaziland Oral History Project

1987 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 383-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Political Position ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
National Archives ◽  
History Of ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Selection Of

In 1985 an oral history project was established in Swaziland, based in the National Archives at Lobamba. The Oral History Project set itself three tasks; the establishment of an oral archive on Swazi history; the publication of a selection of transcripts form the oral archive concerning the precolonial history of Swaziland; the popularization of precolonial history.The precolonial history of Swaziland is the history of a largely non–literate people. The colonial period is well–documented, but mostly from the perspective of the colonial administration. Oral traditions are thus a primary source for both the precolonial and the later history of Swaziland. The Project is concerned to preserve oral testimonies about all periods of Swazi history, including the immediate past. Special attention however, has been paid to the collection and preservation of the oral record pertaining to the precolonial history of Swaziland, a period for which documentary sources are largely absent.There are several reasons for this. Firstly, the relative stability of the Swazi kingdom and its high degree of centralization imparted to early Swazi traditions a unique chronological depth. Secondly, the varied circumstances of incorporation of its many component chiefdoms have endowed Swaziland with an exceptionally rich corpus of local and regional traditons. This diversity facilitates the development of a picture of precolonial life that moves beyond the elitist versions of history which have long dominated both Swazi history and precolonial history elsewhere in southern Africa. Not only are the surviving Swazi oral traditions about the precolonial past unusually rich, but Swaziland occupied a pivotal political position in nineteenth–century southeast Africa. Its traditions illuminate the processes and forces that shaped the history of the entire region

The King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives

2001 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-46
Author(s):  
Fahd Al-Semmari
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Historical Source ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Information Center ◽  
History Of ◽  
Private Donations ◽  
Source Materials ◽  
Center Research

The King Abdulaziz Foundation for Research and Archives (KAFRA) (Arabic title: Darat al-Malik Abdulaziz) was established in 1972 with the aim of preserving the history of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, along with its geography, literature, thought, and architecture. The Foundation is an independent academic establishment governed by a board of directors, chaired by HRH Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. Its funds are based on project returns, investment activities, government funds, and private donations. Its major sections are: Saudi History Archives, Oral History Center, Information Center, Research Department, Female Center, Ad-darah Journal, the Library, King Abdulaziz Memorial Exhibition Hall, Muraba Palace, and the Royal Family History Center.During its twenty-nine years of existence, the King Abdulaziz Foundation has collected and preserved huge quantities of historical source materials: documents, manuscripts, books, magazines, photographs, sketches, paintings, films, and oral traditions. The Foundation is keen to collect, classify, and preserve historical documents in both original and duplicate forms. It has collected, as well as copied from, various archives and research centers outside the Kingdom.

Studying the History of Those Who Would Rather Forget: Oral History and the Experience of Slavery

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 209-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin A. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Individual Experience ◽  
Different Types ◽  
History Of

Research on oral history tends to be concerned with two very different types of sources. I would refer to them as oral traditions and oral data. Oral traditions are formally preserved, not always as narratives, but in some fixed form. They can, for example, be passed on as songs, as drum names, or as proverbs. They are part of the collective memory of the group and get passed on from generation to generation. They serve a legitimating function and must of necessity be analyzed in terms of who and what they legitimate. There is also a large body of data at any time which individuals hold in memory, data about individual experience, data that consist essentially of things that people have seen and experienced. It is not preserved in any formal way because it is not deliberately structured for legitimation or communication. Popular writers in western countries have tapped this rather rich treasure trove in recent years to write about the Depression, two World Wars, and the Spanish Civil War among other things. Oral tradition is limited in what it passes on, and once the transition from generation to generation is made, the amount of data is forever circumscribed.Oral data are largely concerned with people describing things they experienced. They are valid primarily during the lifetime of those being interrogated. They are absolutely essential for the reconstruction of the history of peoples without history, those low down in any social order who have little to legitimate.

Sudanese Historiography and Oral Tradition

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 117-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullahi Ali Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
Southern Sudan ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
The One ◽  
The University

One of the most curious aspects of Sudanese historiography is that it has almost completely ignored the ongoing attempts to apply the methods of historical criticism to oral tradition in reconstructing the African past. Though an awareness of these attempts on the part of Sudanese historians is not lacking, it has not gone beyond vague indications, casual remarks, and limited use of oral data. This paper investigates the apathy of Sudanese historiography with respect to oral traditions, drawing on articles on the writing of history in the Sudan, as well as on historical writings that have actually made use of oral traditions.Sudanese historiography here means writings by Sudanese on history-writing in the Sudan; general histories of the Sudan; and local histories of the Northern Sudan. The history of the Southern Sudan is excluded because the contribution of oral tradition in reconstructing the history of this region has been markedly different. I also distinguish between traditional (biographers, genealogists, etc.) and amateur historians on the one hand and modern historians on the other. The modern historians, with whom this article will deal exclusively, are graduates of the Department of History in the University of Khartoum (or a similar university by extension), which was established in the late 1940s,and who have been exposed to the Western critical spirit and modern techniques of historical research and writing.2 Unlike the modern historians, traditional and amateur historians have always made use of both oral traditions and written sources.

Oral History and Social Work

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene Bowers Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Oral History ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
History Of

This article reviews basic skills for conducting and using oral histories, summarizes ethical issues, presents examples relevant to social work, and suggests useful resources. For social workers, oral history can be a way to record the history of social change as well as a means of promoting social change. Oral history can honor, inform, raise consciousness, and motivate action. Oral histories are particularly relevant for historically excluded populations and those with oral traditions. Generating the history requires a thorough awareness of the narrator, the story, and the role of the listener as well as skillful interviewing, use of digital technology, and appropriate archiving.

Mülteci olmak: Mersin’de yaşayan Filistinli mültecilerin göç hikâyeleri

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-224
Author(s):  
Bilge Deniz Çatak
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Palestinian Refugees ◽  
Emotional Bonds ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Oral History Interviews ◽  
Refugee Experience

Filistin tarihinde yaşanan 1948 ve 1967 savaşları, binlerce Filistinlinin başka ülkelere göç etmesine neden olmuştur. Günümüzde, dünya genelinde yaşayan Filistinli mülteci sayısının beş milyonu aştığı tahmin edilmektedir. Ülkelerine geri dönemeyen Filistinlilerin mültecilik deneyimleri uzun bir geçmişe sahiptir ve köklerinden koparılma duygusu ile iç içe geçmiştir. Mersin’de bulunan Filistinlilerin zorunlu olarak çıktıkları göç yollarında yaşadıklarının ve mülteci olarak günlük hayatta karşılaştıkları zorlukların Filistinli kimlikleri üzerindeki etkisi sözlü tarih yöntemi ile incelenmiştir. Farklı kuşaklardan sekiz Filistinli mülteci ile yapılan görüşmelerde, dünyanın farklı bölgelerinde mülteci olarak yaşama deneyiminin, Filistinlilerin ulusal bağlılıklarına zarar vermediği görülmüştür. Filistin, mültecilerin yaşamlarında gelenekler, değerler ve duygusal bağlar ile devam etmektedir. Mültecilerin Filistin’den ayrılırken yanlarına aldıkları anahtar, tapu ve toprak gibi nesnelerin saklanıyor olması, Filistin’e olan bağlılığın devam ettiğinin işaretlerinden biridir.ABSTRACT IN ENGLISHPalestinian refugees’ lives in MersinIn the history of Palestine, 1948 and 1967 wars have caused fleeing of thousands of Palestinians to other countries. At the present time, its estimated that the number of Palestinian refugees worldwide exceeds five million. The refugee experience of Palestinians who can not return their homeland has a long history and intertwine with feeling of deracination. Oral history interviews were conducted on the effects of the displacement and struggles of daily life as a refugee on the identity of Palestinians who have been living in Mersin (city of Turkey). After interviews were conducted with eight refugees from different generations concluded that being a refugee in the various parts of the world have not destroyed the national entity of the Palestinians. Palestine has preserved in refugees’ life with its traditions, its values, and its emotional bonds. Keeping keys, deeds and soil which they took with them when they departed from Palestine, proving their belonging to Palestine.

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