Killing the Big Snake

2018 ◽  
pp. 32-50
Author(s):  
Oscar de la Torre
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Natural Landscape ◽  
Genealogical Trees ◽  
Written Sources ◽  
Travel Accounts

This chapter takes the story of the Big Snake, a famous oral tradition among maroon descendants in the Trombetas river (called mocambeiros in the region), as a symbol of their relocation to new residential spaces below the waterfalls, where they would fully enjoy their hard-won freedom right after abolition. The chapter places the narrative in conversation with “outside sources that can be checked and certified as independent,” such as police and governmental reports, travel accounts, genealogical trees, and interviews with the mocambeiros. With this I seek to generate a dialogue between narrative and written sources and to dig as deep as possible into its key natural and topological symbols. I considered the tradition of the Big Snake a “hypothesis,” a source that could enter into dialogue with, and even correct, “other perspectives just as much as other perspectives [could] correct” it. The story of the Big Snake also uses the river’s natural geography to sustain an interpretation of the maroons’ origins that emphasized autonomy and community. Finally, it bears witness to the sheer centrality of the natural landscape for the viability of maroon communities in Amazonia.

Угорські запозичення в західноукраїнських топонімічних переказах

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-116
Author(s):  
ЛЕСЯ МУШКЕТИК
Keyword(s):  
Creative Process ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Human Memory ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Long Period ◽  
White Horse ◽  
Other Information ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Village ◽  
Written Sources

The oral folk prose of Transcarpathia is a valuable source of history and culture of the region. Supplementing the written sources, it has maintained popular attitudes towards events, giving assessments and interpretations that are often different from the official one. In the Ukrainian oral tradition, we find many words borrowed from other languages, in particular Hungarian, which reflects the long period of cohabitation as well as shared historical events and contacts. They also occur in local toponymic legends, which in their own way explain the origin of the local names and are closely linked with the life and culture of the region, contain a lot of ethnographic, historical, mythological, and other information. They are represented mainly by lexical borrowings, Hungarian proper names and realities, which were transformed, absorbed and modified in another system, and, among other things, has served the originality of the Transcarpathian folklore. The process of borrowing the Hungarianisms is marked by heterochronology and a significant degree of assimilation in the receiving environment. It is known about the long-lasting contacts of the Hungarians with Rus at the time of birth of the homeland - the Honfoglalás, as evidenced by the current geographical names associated with the heroes of the events of that time - the leaders of uprisings Attila, Almash, Prince Latorets (the legends Almashivka, About the Laborets and the White Horse Mukachevo Castle). In the names of toponymic legends and writings there are mentions of the famous Hungarian leaders, the leaders of the uprisings - King Matthias Corvinus, Prince Ferenc Rákóczi II, Lajos Kossuth (the legends Matyashivka, Bovtsar, Koshutova riberiya). Many names of villages, castles and rivers originate from Hungarian lexemes and are their derivatives, explaining the name itself (narratives Sevlyuskyy castle, Gotar, village Gedfork). The times of the Tatar invasion were reflected in the legends The Great Ravine Bovdogovanya and The village Goronda. Sometimes, the nomination is made up of two words - Ukrainian and Hungarian (Mount Goverla, Canyon Grobtedie). In legends, one can find mythological and legendary elements. The process of borrowing Hungarianisms into Ukrainian is marked by heterochronology, meanwhile borrowings remain unchanged only partially, and in general, they are assimilated in accordance with the phonetic and morphological rules of the Ukrainian language. Consequently, this is a creative process, caused by a number of different factors - social, ethnocultural, aesthetic, etc. In the course of time, events and characters in oral narratives are erased from human memory, so they can be mixed, modified and updated, adapting to new realities.

The Conquest That Never Was: Ghana and the Almoravids, 1076. II. The Local Oral Sources

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 53-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Conrad ◽  
Humphrey J. Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Time Scale ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Eleventh Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Positive Identification ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Oral Evidence ◽  
Remote Past ◽  
Written Sources

“The land took the name of the wells, the wells that had no bottom.”In Part I of this paper we examined the external written sources and found no unambiguous evidence that an Almoravid conquest of ancient Ghana ever occurred. The local oral evidence reviewed in this part of our study supports our earlier hypothesis, in that we find nothing in the traditions to indicate any conquest of the eleventh-century sahelian state known to Arab geographers as “Ghana.” Instead, the oral traditions emphasize drought as having had much to do with the eventual disintegration of the Soninke state known locally as “Wagadu.”An immediate problem involved in sifting the oral sources for evidence of an Almoravid conquest is that a positive identification between the Wagadu of oral tradition and the Ghana of written sources has never been established. Early observers like Tautain (1887) entertained no doubts in this regard, and recently Meillassoux seems to have accepted a connection, if not an identification, between Ghana and Wagadu when he notes that “les Wago, dont le nom a donné Wagadu, sont les plus clairement associés à l'histoire du Ghana.” However, much continues to be written on the subject, and the question remains a thorny one. On the lips of griots (traditional bards) and other local informants, Wagadu is a timeless concept, so a reliable temporal connection between people and events in the oral sources on one hand and Ghana at the time of the Almoravids on the other, is particularly elusive. Indeed, any link between the traditions discussed here and a specific date like 1076 must be regarded as very tenuous, as must any association of legendary events with Islamic dates. In western Sudanic tradition influenced by Islam, the hijra (A.D. 622) is both prestigious and convenient, a date with which virtually any event in the remote past can be associated, though such a claim may have nothing to do with any useful time scale.

Oral Tradition and Sierra Leone History

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
C. Magbaily Fyle
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Oral Traditions ◽  
Oral Histories ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Human Problem ◽  
Written Sources

This paper attempts to examine specific problems encountered with the collection and interpretation of oral traditions in Sierra Leone and ways in which these were approached. I will suggest with examples that problems facing oral traditions are not always peculiar to them, as the researcher with written sources faces some similar problems.Much has been said about methodology in collecting oral tradition for it to warrant much discussion here. One point that has been, brought out, however, is that methods which work well for one situation might prove disastrous or unproductive in another. It is thus necessary to bring out specific examples of situations encountered so as to improve our knowledge of the possible variety of approaches that could be used, while emphasizing that the researcher, as a detective, should have enough room for initiative.For the past eight years, I have been collecting oral histories from among the Yalunka (Dialonke) and Koranko of Upper Guinea, both southern Mande peoples, and the Limba and Temne, grouped under the ‘West Atlantic.’ Extensive exploration into written sources has indicated that similar problems arise in both cases. In both situations, the human problem was evident. For the oral traditionist this problem is more alive as he is dealing first hand with human beings. A number of factors therefore, like his appearance, approach to his informants, his ability to ‘identify’ with the society in question, may affect the information he receives. These could provide reasons for distortion which are not necessarily present with written sources.

Place Names as an Historical Source: An Introduction with Examples from Southern Senegambia and Germany

1992 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 45-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Bühnen
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Place Names ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Egg Shells ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Written Sources

Written sources for the history of sub-Saharan Africa (with the exception of East Africa) only begin to appear with the inception of Arabic records from the ninth century onwards, and these are restricted to the Sahel and the northern part of the savanna belt. European sources begin in the mid-fifteenth century, first for Senegambia. They, in turn, confine themselves to the coast and its immediate hinterland, as well as the navigable courses of rivers, with few, and often vague, references to the interior. For the time before the early written sources and for those extensive areas which only much later entered the horizon of writing witnesses, other sources illuminating the past have to be traced and tapped. Among such non-written sources are the findings of anthropology and archeology, of research in oral tradition and place names. Because of their interdependence, working with different source types contributes to the reliability of results.So far little systematic use has been made of place names as a source for African history. Houis' 1958 dictum, “la toponymie ouest-africaine n'est pas encore sortie de l'oeuf,” has not yet been proven obsolete. In this paper I hope to stimulate the process of shedding the egg shells. It is intended as a short introduction to the potential historical treasures place names may yield, into their characteristics, and into some principles guiding their interpretation. With the aim at illustrating my arguments, I add examples of place names. These I have chosen from two areas which, at first sight, seem to have been selected rather randomly; southern Senegambia and Germany. In fact both areas share few features, both geographically and historically. Two reasons have led me to select them. First, they simply are the regions I know best. Secondly, the recourse to German place names is instructive, as research on place names has been undertaken there for more than a century, leading to a wide range of data and to the accumulation of rich research experience.

Sense and Sadness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tala Jarjour
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Stable Element ◽  
Syrian Orthodox ◽  
Music Aesthetics ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Ethnographic Analysis ◽  
Written Sources

Sense and Sadness is a story of the living practice of Syriac chant in Aleppo, Syria. To understand and explain this oral tradition, the book puts forward the concept of the emotional economy of music aesthetics, an economy in which the emotional and the aesthetic interrelate in mutually indicative ways. The book is based on observing chant practice in the Syrian Orthodox Church in contemporary contexts in the Middle East and beyond, while keeping as its nexus of analysis the Edessan chant of St. George’s Church of Hayy al-Suryan and focusing on Passion Week. It examines written sources on the music of Syriac chant in light of ethnographic analysis, thus combining various modes of knowledge on this problematic subject. This historically informed reading of an early Christian liturgical tradition reveals contemporary modes of significance in the dynamic social and political surroundings of a community that endures exile after exile. The book thus places the music, and its subject(s), in a global context the only stable element of which is uncertainty. The first of the book’s four parts addresses issues of contextuality, such as geographic and temporal situationality, along with musical complexity in conceptions of modality. The second and third parts address overlapping modes of knowledge and value, respectively, in the musical ecclesiastical enterprise. The final part brings together the book’s subthemes. Spirituality, ethnic religiosity, authority, and value-based forms of identification and sociality are brought to bear on analyzing ḥasho: the mode, emotion, and time of commemorating divine suffering and human sadness.

The Collection, Authentication, and Use of Oral Evidence in African History

Anthropos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 116 (2) ◽  
pp. 385-392
Author(s):  
Chukwuemeka Ojione Ojieh
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
African History ◽  
Reliable Source ◽  
Oral Evidence ◽  
Credible Source ◽  
Written Sources

Several works on this subject have substantially established that oral evidence is a reliable source in African historiography. But it is not sufficient for such works being Africanist responses to Eurocentric postulations that pre-literate African societies, lacking Western-written sources, had no history. Though such works have improved our knowledge of the relevance of oral tradition in the reconstruction of African history, African oral tradition has been criticized by Western scholars. To this end, the article departures from most works on African oral historiography whose attentions are on the relevance of oral evidence in African history. Rather, it provides a manual on the process of engaging in the collection, authentication, and use of such oral data as to ensure that it is a credible source for writing African history. It is argued in the article that pre-literate African history will be more credible after critically scrutinizing data derived from oral evidence.

scholarly journals From Stranded Praos ‘up to’ People Trailed by the Sea Stream: A Study about the Maritime Oral Tradition as a Source in the Writing about the Migration History in the Region of the Sawu Sea in the Lesser Sunda Islands

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 78-94
Author(s):  
Didik Pradjoko
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Indigenous Studies ◽  
Maritime History ◽  
Migration History ◽  
The People ◽  
Plural Society ◽  
Sea Area ◽  
Written Sources

  This research is about the migration history in the Sawu Sea Area, the Lesser Sunda Islands which made use of the oral tradition as its main source. For this purpose, this research can also be looked upon as a research in the maritime history which source is based on non-written sources. One can say that this topic has been much felt as not much important in the research on indigenous studies in particular in the areas outside Java so far. For this reason, this research is an effort to go beyond the conventional habit which is so far has been based on written sources (documents). In line with the applying of the oral tradition created a new genre the nonconventional historical genre which put the stress on the ‘mentalite’ of the people (society) which it studies. Although it is concerned with the local environment, this study also contributes to the national Indonesian history which it is hoped could strengthen the national integrity. The topic which has been studied is related to the process of migration and integration is a plural society in Sawu Sea area. The interaction between the society (people) and the people who came to this area from several areas of the islands of archipelago or nowadays Indonesia for sure have created social, economic, and cultural problems. These mentioned problems could be noticed in the oral tradition which is to be found everywhere in the area, from several oral stories which could be found everywhere in the area, one could know that the Sawu Sea area has developed into an area of the traffic and commerce, locally and regionally since hundred years ago. Methodological the oral sources played an important role as a source in written social history which has not developed and spread out its written culture.

Stories About the Destruction of a Shrine in the Context of a Cycle: Observing a Particular Pattern

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-114
Author(s):  
Антонина Петровна Липатова
Keyword(s):  
Oral Tradition ◽  
The Core ◽  
Official History ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sacred Object ◽  
Text Formation ◽  
Official Recognition ◽  
Written Sources

В статье осуществлена попытка рассмотреть цикл рассказов, группирующихся вокруг святыни, как живую, «самонастраивающуюся» систему. Структуру цикла образуют нарративы, описывающие этиологическое и историческое прошлое святыни и ее чудесное настоящее. В случае рутинизации устной традиции структура цикла нередко подвергается изменениям. Предмет нашего рассмотрения - корпус текстов о сакральном объекте в условиях широкого официального признания, сопровождающегося рутинизаций устной традиции. Происходит своего рода «перераспределение» ролей в рамках цикла. Сюжет этиологической легенды, зафиксированный во множестве письменных источников, становится «официальной историей» края. Рассказчики теряют интерес к ней, в традиции осуществляется пересказ, а не рассказывание по законам фольклорного текстообразования. Примета легендарного - актуальность информации. Трансформантный тип вариативности, характерный для этиологической легенды, становится приметой рассказов о поругании святыни. Традиционно рассказы о разрушении сакрального объекта рассматриваются как «дочерние» образования. Однако при широком официальном признании статуса объекта рассказы о его разрушении начинают восприниматься как «ядро представления», именно с их помощью объясняется сакральность. Таким образом, говорить о деградации устной традиции даже при широком официальном признании не приходится. This article attempts to consider a cycle of stories grouped around the image of a shrine as a living, “self-adjusting” system. The cycle is formed of narratives that describe the shrine’s etiology, its history, and miraculous present, but the cycle often changes as the oral tradition becomes routinized. The article analyzes a corpus of texts about shrines that have wide official acceptance and are subject to the routinization of the oral tradition. In this case a kind of redistribution of roles takes place within the cycle. Many written sources record an etiological legend that serves as the official “history” of the region. Thereupon, narrators lose interest in it, which results in a paraphrase rather than a storytelling according to the usual laws of folklore text formation. A mark of legends is the topicality of their content. The variations characteristic of etiological legends (of the transformative type) become a marker of tales concerning desecration of the shrine. Traditionally, stories about the destruction of a sacred object are considered “daughter” (subsidiary) formations. But with widespread official recognition of the status of a shrine, stories about its destruction often begin to be perceived as the “core of representation,” since it is with their help that the shrine’s sacred character is explained. Thus, one cannot speak of the degradation of the oral tradition even given its widespread official recognition.

Some Johannine ‘Herrnworte’ with Parallels in the Synoptic Gospels

1955 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 75-86
Author(s):  
C. H. Dodd
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Oral Tradition ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Synoptic Gospels ◽  
Fourth Gospel ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Written Sources

The question whether or not the Fourth Gospel is based upon the Synoptic Gospels has been discussed endlessly, and will no doubt continue to be discussed. The divergent conclusions which different critics draw from the same body of evidence (for it is seldom that really fresh evidence can be adduced) largely depend on their presuppositions. In particular, if the critic takes the view that the writings of the New Testament form a series of literary works in an orderly sequence of development, each depending on its predecessors and influencing its successors, even though some links in the chain may be lost, then wherever the contents of the Fourth Gospel coincide more or less with those of the Synoptic Gospels, he will be disposed, prima facie at least, to see an instance of a writer's use of written sources. Such was, in the main, the presupposition, even if not always the avowed presupposition, of nineteenth-century criticism of the Gospels, and it is by no means entirely abandoned. But the whole course which the investigation of the history and literature of primitive Christianity has followed in the period since the first world war has tended to weaken this presupposition. It suggests that the early Church was not as bookish a community as that, and it tends to emphasize the importance of oral tradition, not only in the dark years before any of the extant Christian writings appeared, but all through the New Testament period. It is not denied that in some cases New Testament writers were probably dependent on written sources, extant or lost, but it is no longer safe to entertain a general presumption that any coincidence of content is due to literary dependence. To prove such dependence some specific evidence is required—some striking or unexpected identity of language, for example, or some agreement in an apparently arbitrary arrangement of material. The question of the relation of John to the Synoptics needs to be closely re-examined from this point of view. In this article I propose to take, as specimens, four dominical sayings in the Fourth Gospel which have parallels in the Synoptics, and to ask whether, if there is no general presumption of literary indebtedness, the phenomena are such as to suggest indebtedness, or whether they rather point to independent use of a common oral tradition.

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