Can oral tradition be used as a source in scholarly papers?
Upvote:1
At risk of pointing out the obvious, just about every early text of significance was oral tradition of some shape or form put in writing, with varying degree of research and reinterpretation on top -- not unlike, let's face it, oral tradition itself. Think the Bible, Herodotus, etc. all the way to the Middle Ages when sources become common enough that you're able to continually corroborate what happened through other sources. (And even those correlate significantly, because as the saying goes, history is written by victors.)
In that light, it's a perfectly valid source. Capturing the oral tradition is, of course, an important part of the value of the work if you go down that path. Putting it in context is another. It's an even more important one if anything: what is said? who is narrating? why? what might that tell you? what's omitted? why? what might that tell you? etc.
Assuming you're looking for a source that sketches out how to use such sources, and that you're open to learning by example, I found Wickham's "The Inheritance of Rome" extremely dry but thoroughly illuminating in this respect -- especially in the early chapters, where he spends enormous amounts of time discussing the merits of the sources he's referencing. Surely you'll be able to find inspiration on how to use equivalently dubious sources for your own research topic.
Upvote:3
Oral tradition needs to be documented properly and put into context. Your source can be something like "statement by a tribal elder, interview by the author in April 2020 at ..."
Side note -- check with your research institution about privacy protocols. Do you name the elder in the publication? Your own records need the exact name and date, of course.
Then you need to gauge the transmission, relevance and biases of the source. Not much different than any other historical work, except that transmission is a little more complicated.
- Can you confirm that this is actually the oral tradition of the tribe as of today and not just the fancy of one elder? Multiple independent sources would be nice. Multiple related sources are still better than one.
- Does it seem credible that nothing was lost or added in the retelling? (I know some of what my grandfathers did in WWII. I'm certain that they heavily censored what they told little kids.)
- If you find it credible that the oral tradition properly reflects the original story, you need to judge that like any other piece of evidence. (I recall President Bush talking about Iraqi WMD. The reality was more complicated. Even internal, classified government documents will not show the truth, they only show what officials saw fit to put into writing at the time.)
An (almost random) example of how interviews can be quoted is chapter 1, page 3, footnote 11 of this study.
More post
- 📝 In general, what was the level of technology like in central Africa, just before the scramble for Africa?
- 📝 Did viking longboats in fact have shields on the side of the ships?
- 📝 Were railroads indispensable to American economic development?
- 📝 Which were the continent-wide common languages in human history?
- 📝 How deep would a Roman Marian cohort's battle line be, in a melee?
- 📝 Of which countries was Ludwig von Mises a citizen?
- 📝 Was there a policy of preemptive attack on foreign fleets in the British Empire?
- 📝 1 coin found in Sachsen Anhalt Germany, please help me to identify the coin
- 📝 Why did the UK allow India to be a republic rather than a democratic parliament under the British Monarch?
- 📝 How were dagger axes used in battle?
- 📝 Where can I find an official record of names and service dates for commanding officers of former US Navy vessels?
- 📝 At what point, and why, did snuff tobacco fall out of favor with European nobility?
- 📝 What was the process for the Japanese to sign up for the Kamikaze suicide program?
- 📝 What was the contemporary popular opinion of the Anglo-Irish Treaty?
- 📝 Why didn't the English overrun France when the king was their captive?
- 📝 What was the longest lasting economic bubble?
- 📝 Is there, or was there ever a venue known as "Cobo Arena" in Detroit?
- 📝 Did the United States ever impose any trade embargoes on the basis of health related concerns?
- 📝 How did British queens get power over kings despite a male-dominant society?
- 📝 What procedures follow the resignation of a minister in the Westminster model?
- 📝 Did ancient miners have ways of predicting ore/stone deposits?
- 📝 Has there ever been a true kidnapped princess from anywhere in the world?
- 📝 How did the news of the reality Nazi concentration camps reach the United State's mainstream? What were the waves of awareness and when?
- 📝 Was Classic Mayan civilization really so gruesome?
- 📝 How did Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof end up on the list of prisoners to be released, by Black September?
- 📝 When was the concept of electoral districts / constituencies with their own borders (as opposed to pre-existing towns/counties) invented?
- 📝 Why did the United States under the Articles of Confederation have a hard time getting funding?
- 📝 Did any Nazi court convict officers of atrocities that went "too far" even by SS standards?
- 📝 Athenian Democracy - How were the citizens motivated to be so politically active?
- 📝 What was the reasoning behind the Washington Committee's complaint to the Liquor Tax during the Whiskey Rebellion?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Can oral tradition be used as a source in scholarly papers?
- 📝 Can anyone tell me what this coin was used for, an approximate date and possibly what it’s worth?
- 📝 What was the source of "presidium" as used by the Soviets?
- 📝 Can a source be considered 'primary' if it is not written by an eyewitness and partly based on another source?
- 📝 How can scholarly non-historians locate and properly use scholarly histories?
- 📝 What was the primary source Brugsch used to argue for Egyptian monotheism?
- 📝 Where can I get information used to make Soviet economic plans?
- 📝 Is History a subject where certain knowledge is accepted by all historians or can any event be a source for debate?
- 📝 Why are there laws that are used to limit how long a house can be in a family?
- 📝 Where can I find a reliable source for the U.S. national population estimated since 1790?
- 📝 What drugs were used in England during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 Which culture used no personal names?
- 📝 Why were Navajo code talkers used during WW2?
- 📝 When were swords last used in European warfare?
- 📝 Why can I visit battlefields, but not battleships?
- 📝 Which countries (or comparable geographical units) have a lower population now than they used to at some point in history before 1950?
- 📝 What is the source of quote attributed to W.E.B. Du Bois: "When you have mastered numbers..."
- 📝 How were drawbridges and portcullises used tactically?
- 📝 What is the date and original source of this medieval picture?
- 📝 Were slings used for throwing hand grenades? If not, why?
- 📝 What were sandbags used for in medieval duels?
- 📝 What kind of ink was used by medieval scribes in Iceland, given that there were no plant galls for iron-gall ink?
- 📝 Why weren't army snipers used at the Munich massacre?
- 📝 Was any stimulant used in wars before WW2 that gave a significant advantage to soldiers?
- 📝 Why was language not used to establish dominance throughout England 1066 AD–1360s CE?
- 📝 What evidence is there of the vision aids people used before the invention of eyeglasses in about 1286?
- 📝 Can the Queen of England fire the prime minister of Australia?
- 📝 Has chattel slavery ever been used as a criminal punishment in the USA since the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment?
- 📝 Can anyone identify the military branch and rank of the man in the front row? This is from Germany @1932
- 📝 Where are the Native American primary source documents?
