7.4.5 : Describe the importance of written and oral traditions in the transmission of African history and culture.
ORAL TRADITIONS IN AFRICA
At first, Africans passed down history orally. Clans and kinships used griots to tell the stories. Griots were storytellers who added music to tell parts of history. Griots were used before Africa was introduced to any form of writing. Griots were also part of religious ceremonies and rituals. Griots also performed to kings and other leaders. They taught commoners about history and often had the people participate as well. The con about oral history is that as it gets passed down and told by different people, the story may change.
WRITTEN TRADITION IN AFRICA
As Africa became more known and open to other cultures, they started to learn written tradition. Africa first learned written language from the berbers. They were introduced to the Arabic language, which the Muslims used. Starting from that period, Africans started to write down history and copying it into books. Because Africa was introduced to the Arabic language, there became Bantu speakers who a language with Arabic. The good thing about history being written is that it allows you to make exact copies of it. The history is able to be passed down without having change to it.