Description
Book SynopsisAlthough historians today turn increasingly to oral tradition as a source of data on the history of non-literate peoples, Paul Irwin cautions them against uncritical use of such evidence. In an attempt to determine how much historians can learn about the past from oral traditions, he studies those of Liptako, now a part of Upper Volta hut in the ni
Table of Contents*FrontMatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*List of Maps, Figures, and Tables, pg. ix*Acknowledgments, pg. xi*List of Abbreviations, pg. xv*A Note on Transcription, pg. xvii*Introduction, pg. xix*Chapter 1. The Characters, pg. 1*Chapter 2. Transmitting Memory Down Through the Generations, pg. 22*Chapter 3. A World of Lineages, pg. 42*Chapter 4. Reckoning Time's Passing, pg. 67*Chapter 5. The Jihad, pg. 90*Chapter 6. The Style of Politics, pg. 133*Conclusion, pg. 162*Notes, pg. 165*Bibliography, pg. 203*Index, pg. 219
