Education in Africa 
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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | Historical Tales (Ibiteekerezo) and the History of Rwanda |
| Author: | Vansina, Jan |
| Year: | 2000 |
| Periodical: | History in Africa |
| Volume: | 27 |
| Pages: | 375-414 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Rwanda |
| Subjects: | Rwanda polity oral history Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration Education and Oral Traditions |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3172121 |
| Abstract: | Under the direction of the author, the Institute of Scientific Research in Central Africa (IRSAC) instituted a large collection of tales on the history of the former kingdom of central Rwanda, or Nyiginya kingdom, between 1958 and 1962. These tales form the backbone of the oral history of the Nyiginya kingdom. The aim of this article is to illustrate how this ignored corpus of tales can be analysed as a source of history and what it can contribute to the history of the Nyiginya kingdom. The collection contains mostly historical tales ('ibiteekerezo'), shorter historical communications about more recent times ('amakuru'), and dynastic poetry, from all over the country, as well as samples of other genres. Of the over 1000 items in the collection, about 900 are records of 'ibiteekerezo' or 'amakuru'. After an outline of the nature of 'ibiteekerezo', the author examines the different purposes for which they can be studied and the different sort of analysis required in each case, the dating of 'ibiteekerezo', and the overall profile of the collection. He emphasizes that the quality of 'ibiteekerezo' as sources for history varies considerably, and that comparison of variants of the same tale and analysis of the relationship between tales is necessary for historical analysis. App., notes, ref. |
