Chapter 19 Homework #1 - Griots

Would you like learn history verbally like the Griots in Africa? Why or why not?

Though leaning history verbally as the Griots in Africa did would be an interesting experience, I would not base my understanding of history solely on the words of others.  One reason why I would not base my COMPLETE understanding of history on stories of oral tradition is that they are, as one might expect, stories.  This means that the storyteller is not obligated to tell the truth about a situation or occurrence.  This means a storyteller could literally make up history and incorporate it into a seemingly legitimate story.  If a storyteller was biased for any reason, he or she could bend and distort the story in any way they seem fit in order to cast a positive light on their perspective of a situation; or they could even omit important pieces of information or evidence as part of a story, thus creating a false illusion.  For example, a griot of Tribe A might be telling a story about a war with Tribe B.  Even if the members of Tribe A were responsible for the war, the griot will be inclined to put his own tribe in a positive light.  He could omit Tribe A's atrocious deeds, while emphasizing, for example, the destructive nature of Tribe B.  In this way, a listener would have to infer from the limited information given to him or her that Tribe B was in the wrong, though historically Tribe A may have been fully responsible for the war.  Another reason why learning history verbally from a person, specifically by a method known as oral tradition, is that the stories are often distorted as they are passed on from generation.  Similar to the game of Telephone, any story told and passed down many generations could be distorted.  For example, a story of a merchant traveling from Egypt to Nubia may be told to Generation A.  As Generation A tells Generation B of this feat, it develops into an extreme adventure, and as Generation B tells it to Generation C, it has morphed into a exhilarating story of a 15-year old boy traveling from Egypt to China by himself, having had to defend himself from robbers and escape death on numerous occasions.  It is for these reasons why I feel leaning history verbally would seem inaccurate compared to written documents or primary source information.