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Kabila

How knowledge passes down by oral tradition

How a society keeps its history, law and science accurate over generations without writing.

heard bywhen accuratemay alsoKnowledge holderShaped for memoryTold in publicLearners repeatCommunity checksNew holderRecording today

  1. Knowledge holder. Oral tradition means knowledge passed on by speech and performance. It starts with a holder. In West Africa a griot, or jeli, is a hereditary keeper of family histories and praise songs.
  2. Shaped for memory. Plain facts are hard to remember, so they are given shape. Rhythm, rhyme, melody and story act as memory aids. Māori whakapapa recites ancestors as an ordered chain of names.
  3. Told in public. Knowledge is tied to occasions and places. Aboriginal Australian songlines link songs to features of the land, so that walking the country prompts the next verse.
  4. Learners repeat. Learning is slow and personal. A learner sits with a teacher for years, listening and repeating. Parts of the knowledge are given only when the learner is judged ready.
  5. Community checks. Performance is public, so mistakes are noticed. Other knowledgeable people correct the teller. This shared checking is what keeps a tradition stable.
  6. New holder. In time the learner is recognised as someone with the right to tell. The chain has gained a link. If no learner comes forward, the knowledge can be lost in one generation.
  7. Recording today. Today many peoples record elders and build archives. Recording helps, but communities often set rules on who may hear what, as they always have.

Read the lesson

  1. Oral tradition and memoryMost peoples in history kept their knowledge without writing. You will learn how oral tradition works, how reliable it can be, and what tools help memory.

Seven peoples, once a week

Every Monday: seven peoples you may never have heard of, who they are and where they live.