Challenges of Studying Written and Oral Sources in Africa

ace of the biggest issues set intimately African historians is the circumstance that the study of actual African History is relatively new. A outstanding majority of the book of factss on hand(predicate) ar create verbally from the point of view of Europeans, with an int conclusion audience of Europeans. L In this egocentric method of reporting account statement, Africans were viewed more(prenominal) than as objects a throng with a past but no history. 2 The pen historic get-gos provided by imperialists robbed Africans of their spokesperson.The principal gainsay facing African historians Is to find a way to Inject the African voice Into the narrative, and thus roved a more accurate representation of the continental history. This lying-in presents more profound questions. What qualities make someone an African? Is it sufficient to be a black person living on the continent? argon there levels of ethnicity? Are the posterity of Africans brought to other(a) split of the world In the slave trade Africans? Ultimately, who decides who Is African? Equally problematic is the Issue regarding what represents a credible arising, either pen or literal exam.Each presents unique challenges that must be handleed in order to qualify the value of the info they foreshadow to provide. While the more traditional African historical sources are perpetually prone to the problem of European bias, cave paintings offer a source that was born out of a desire of an African ( non a European) to archive their experiences. For example, the rock art of Gill Kefir in what is present-day Egypt represents people allegedly engaging in the catchy of swimming. 3 This offers historians perhaps the oldest example of source material regarding African history. UT what does this Written source actually narrate African historians? Most importantly, it definitively fires that someone was there, and finished scientific dating cuisines, It indicates nearly when they were th ere. This is real, hard evidence, which underpins all historical query. 4 This Is non to Infer that there are non problems with the affair of the paintings as a source of us commensurate evidence. The older a source is, it is more likely to be inaccurate. 5 Were the people in the paintings actually swimming, as scientists believe?Does that mean that the desert where the cave paintings were found was once a land that contained lakes or rivers? Or did the cave painters devise their art from the second-hand memories of others who had traveled to faraway lands? What was the reason they chose to enrolment their experience? Was it graffiti? Was it done for religious reasons? Was it a territorial scrape? Archaeological sites are less prevalent in Africa than other parts of the world, which Is problematic In having the ability to compare this particular site to others.Further, the available archives needed to compare these archeological finds are fewer in heel in African regions, and sometimes less accessible collectable to political reasons. The Information In the African archives that do survive Is often more difficult to translate than traditional archival Information In that most African engages are oral, and not written, and nearly out(predicate) to document without the benefit of oral history. 6 How can African historians subside these challenges and OFF source?One suggestion is to actively search for other existing examples of cave paintings and to compare them based on materials, method, content, location, etc. When such(prenominal)(prenominal) comparable examples do not exist, scientists could initiate more archaeological digs, clear communication among scientists to broaden the evidence base, and exert political pressure upon leadinghip to focus on scientific endeavors, as well as the deliverance of the archives. Like historians in other parts of the world, African historians face the challenge of deteriorating archives because of damage caused by the elements, water damage, and insects. Traditional written sources such as government documents, tax interprets, and newspapers whitethorn overly be garbled due to archival neglect. Historians must consider several criteria of source upbraiding to determine each written sources historical value. 8 Regardless of the earn on the document, who was the actual author? What was the real purpose of the document? Who was the intend audience? Did the author have personal motives in reporting it in the manner in which he did? For example, most government documents from Colonial Africa were written by Europeans, with an intended European audience.There is no African voice in this history. Africans were treated like objects,9 and colonial imperialistic authors of written sources believed that they actually were generating history for the first time?that Africa (and Africans) had no history before their arrival. 10 other limitation of written documents is that they are created from the point of view of an observer, and thus unwrap an opinion that is completely clearive, and thereby, by definition, are open to other opinions and observations. To address the limitations of written documents, historians often attempt to incorporate oral sources in concurrence with written sources in order to chant historical evidence. Anxiety nigh flawed written sources drew scholars away from libraries and into t throws and villages for historical narrative. 12 The internalisation of oral history into the narrative makes it more evidential and gives the written documents a more verifiable African voice. Relying on written documents from the Colonial time period without the incorporation of oral sources, in m whatsoever cases, produces an inaccurate version of African history.Typically, in the African history provided by Colonial Europeans their culture, norms, and ideology were largely ignored. One of the key methods to avoid (the surmise of denying Africans a voic e in their own history) is to include a peoples own oral traditions and life histories in ethnographically and archaeological work. 13 Because most African languages in Colonial Africa were oral and not written,14 it is imperative to consider oral sources to bolster the evidence provided by written sources. verbal sources can provide a wealth of historical evidence.For example, historic linguists use oral sources to accurately track the movement of people crosswise the continent. 15 This evidence of human migration can help explain ethnic change, which is important when considering that a lack of concentration of people in a particular area makes a study of their culture less possible. spoken histories offer first-hand accounts of events. These oral histories evolve into oral traditions16 stories passed down from multiplication to contemporaries, offering us a glimpse of pre-colonial Africa not found in the Euro-centric written documents of imperialists.Oral sources obviously c an complement the written, a realization that was for too long lost on most professional order to strengthen written sources to form cohesive historical evidence is Jan Vinson, who established that the stories give down from one generation to other Were as stable and veritable accounts of their past as were the written chronicles and personal narratives (and) that in fact they were of the same(p) genre. 18 In Bananas own words by creating a born(p) setting, (oral tradition) gives evidence about how situations as they were observed, as well as about beliefs showing situations. 19 Thus, oral sources, through both shared oral history and oral traditions, combined with written sources, form a more credible account of historical occurrences than written sources alone provide. Oral sources, though, are not without their limitations. (H)Astoria can place trust in oral sources tho to the extent that they can be verified by means of extraneous evidence of another kind, such as archae ological, linguistic, or cultural. 20 Oral sources are subject to misinterpretation because of selective or collective memory, rumor, myth, or hearsay. That being said, oral sources subject to these limitations shut away offer substance, because historians can still study why the subjects believe it happened that way. 22 African historians can justify the limitations of oral sources by searching for breeding that is valuable, if not as historical evidence, but as information that is not readily apparent through the written archive. While attempting to glean evidence from a source on one topic, a historian may gain knowledge of another unintended topic.Ultimately, it is the duty of the historian to subject all written accounts to stalk internal and external analysis to determine authenticity and credibility. If the accounts are exhaustively assayd, and the texts can be compared to one another with the information contained in oral and other sources, they will continue to yield valuable information on the history of Africa. 23 These things considered if an historian wanted to get an approximation of how many Africans were enslaved, maimed or killed in the occupation of King Leopold in the Congo, where would they broach? What sources would they utilize, and what would they postulate to find?What there information might they accidentally stumble upon? I propose that a good place to start would be to examine any existing hospital documents from 1885-1908, to determine if there is a written record of the number of people treated for loss of limbs. Local censuses (if available), practice of law records, military ledgers, property records, death certificates might also prove as fruitful written resources. Additionally, missionary records in the region mighty prove to be valuable, especially considering that they would probably not require translation, lessening the possibility that any information would be mistranslated.Another possible valuable written sourc e might be records in the Belgian archive, or that of the present-day popular Republic of Congo. The historian might hope to find information or documents concerning the Congo Reform Association, which might shed some light on the information she seeks. Additionally, research on the Congo Free State propaganda contend and the International Association of the Congo might provide valuable useful written sources of evidence of injuries and deaths to those enslaved at that time.One might also be able to glean useful information from historical-based literary productions, such as Joseph Concords Heart of Darkness, Sir Arthur Cowan Doles The annoyance of the Congo, and Bertrand Russell Freedom and Organization. Research on the parties evidence of the atrocities in the region, including Edmund Dine Muriel, Roger Casement and the same Bertrand Russell. Local museums might contain artistic production from the region during Loopholes occupation that captures the outrage, despair and hel plessness of the affected.By speaking to locals, she might image, through oral tradition, the stories passed down from generation to generation about the occupation. In the unlikely, yet still possible event, that any 106-year-old residents still survive, they would be able to provide first-hand oral history. Other than gaining information regarding the number of enslaved, killed and maimed, she would, in all probability, gain an understanding of the long-term personal effects of the occupation of Leopold upon the citizens, as well as information of how Loopholes occupation came to an end due to intense international criticism.Possible obstacles that she might experience In retreat, Leopold may have destroyed written evidence of the atrocities, as well as local artwork or libraries. His regime may have been so strict that any expression, either written or oral, was prohibited and subject to the same penalties as those who refused to work in the mines, or underperformed in their dut ies, fall oral sources. Lets consider that the same historian endeavored to learn the approximate number of the posterity of diasporas Africans who strikeed to partake in the so-called redeeming of Africa. Where might she begin, and what would she expect to find? What limitations might she encounter? What other information might she learn along the way? A good starting mint would be to visit the archives in Liberia and Sierra Leone countries set up as places of African repatriation for freed slaves. There, she could view the legal records regarding who came back and when they returned, who their family members were, where they lived, as well as their professions. Available Census documents would prove to be invaluable in that regard.Ships manifests would consider the number of passengers returning to these countries, as well as the number of family members that come with them. She could research the founders of both countries, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first president of Libe ria, and Christopher Koru Cole and Osaka Stevens, early leaders of Sierra Leone, to find documents pertaining to the numbers of returning Africans. She could study historical literature about repatriation, such as Back to Africa the Colonization Movement in Early Africa by Timothy Crummier, as well as cutting Migration in America a Social Demographic History by Daniel M.Johnson and Rexes R. Campbell. She could also read the works of the men who themselves returned, such as George upper-case letter Williams, Samuel Jay Crotchet, and Henry McNealy Turner. 4 Some limitations she might experience in her research inconclusive data due to the relative impossibility of proving that they (or their descendants) were indeed earlier removed from the continent. Incomplete or inaccurate documentation might also prove to be a stumbling block in attaining this information.Additional research on topics such as the American Colonization Society, and the histories of both Liberia and Sierra Leone would not only provide numerical data, but also undoubtedly uncover unintended useful information about the achievements and political and religious aims of those who returned, as well as how hey were received. Did they consider themselves more civilized than the native Africans whose descendants had not been removed from the continent?What other the reasons why some Africans did not return, even though they had the opportunity. Through personal interviews of present-day citizens who are descendants of returning freed slaves she could learn of the oral traditions they had developed. She might also learn of the artwork prevalent in these regions, as well as the folklore and literature that the return to Africa produced, and how it differed from that of indigenous Africans. As a recognized academic endeavor, (African history) has emerged only in the last four or five decades. 25 Until recently, African history was written by and for Europeans, and as such, didnt provide a realistic de piction of the people, the culture, and the boilers suit actual history of the continent, but served more as a record of White encroachment, and functioned as a tool of propaganda to legitimate the civilizing mission of Europeans. By altering traditional methodology and utilizing both written and oral sources, a more accurate picture of African history ND its people can be discovered and studied.Beyond the fade of imperialistic African history, there is a real history of the African continent that invites further study, and such an endeavor is necessary in restoring the African voice. If we fail to do so, (w)e bucket along the risk of not only denying people a voice in the reconstruction of their own history, but offending and demeaning indigenous cultures when we use them as a model for the past without recognizing not only their ever-changing past but their active involvement in changing and/or maintaining their identities and history in the present. 26