Oral Tradition in Central Africa

Abstract

Alfredo Margarido has recently pointed out the Eurocentrism of certain linguists who, when faced with puzzling West African concept, solve the puzzle to their satisfaction by adducing what seems to them to be the most relevant feature of the environment. This procedure leads them to conclude that fifteenth-century expression said to mean a white child may refer to cabin boys on European ships. Margarido, on the other hand, points to the relatively common presence of albinos in the population and their ritually important roles in West and Central African capitals.' By both its form and its content, this minor difference of opinion draws attention to much broader issues which social scientists, particularly historians, have not yet squarely faced. In brief, I suspect that the interpretation of oral tradition in Africa is far more difficult than is usually supposed. The modern willingness to employ indigenous texts and concepts for historiographic purposes is not enough unless the cosmologies that generate them can first be understood. This viewpoint can be illustrated from an analysis of Kongo and other traditions from west central Africa, with reference to the work of Jan Vansina and W.G.L. Randles among others. Andre Fu-kiau provides the best summary of the Kongo view of the universe.2