ORAL TRADITION AND THE HISTORY OF PRE-COLONIAL CAMEROON

JENKINS DIOMO BETOMBO

jenkinsdiomo@gmail.com

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ABSTRACT

The research drains the utilization of oral tradition to brandish the historical content and context of Pre-colonial Cameroonian societies. The digestion of relevance aspect such as the rationales and characteristic of the source was diagnosed. This went along the emulation of the different types, strength and lapses of oral tradition in the accounting of ancient societies in Cameroon. The research sampled primary and secondary sources in interviews and published documents to provide an in-depth justification of facts and evidence of the painted picture. The sources argued that oral tradition was and is the store of historical contents in all issue of human relation to the environment.

INTRODUCTION

Jan Vansina defines ''oral Tradition as verbal messages, which are statements from the past beyond the present generations and emphasized that the messages must be oral statement spoken of sun. These collections from the past should be commonly known in a given society and should be transmitted over a period of time longer than the contemporary generation”. Joseph Miller held the view that “oral tradition is the narrative describing or purporting to describe eras before the time of the person who relates”. According to Diolde Laya, “Oral tradition is the whole of all testimonies types verbally transmitted by a people on their past”.

Every community in the world has a representation of the origin of the world, the creation of mankind, and the appearance of its own particular society and community. Such traditions of origin or genesis were what anthropologists termed myth. They are accounts that originate out of speculation by local sages about these questions out of pre-existing material of the same nature or borrowed from other communities and out of heavily fossilized group accounts(that is accounts reduced to clichés). Traditions of origin were new accounts and the mayor may not remain stable over long periods of time. The practice of oral history since its postcolonial inception during the early 1960s. At the time, historians and newly independent African nation states alike became concerned with recovering a usable past.

 A history that would demonstrate African agency and establish an autonomous sense of identity apart from the preceding period of European colonial rule. Depicting Africa’s pre-colonial past consequently became a central goal, although written evidence proved to be scares. With the exception of Islamic states and communities. African societies did not use written languages. Collecting oral histories therefore became a necessity and indeed the richness of African oral tradition that had developed over centuries in place of written records aided in this effort of reconstructing the African history.

Cameroon has been inhabited by several people since the early time. There was known through archaeological, oral tradition and linguistic source. In this almost triangular land, different people settled, others met while others moved.  The land between the Atlantic ocean and lake Chad became zones of so much African human activity and influence that historians referred to as the melting pot of African races because of the diverse people, culture and tradition. Pre-colonial Cameroon also reflects a society of no international boundaries before contacts with the whites or Europeans. A society and inhabitants with an original way of communal life.

RATIONALES FOR THE ADOPTION OF ORAL TRADITONAL AS AN AUTHENTIC SOURCE OF RECCOUNTING THE HISTORY OF PRE-COLONIAL CAMEROON

Documents of the past in the present

Oral traditions are documents of the past in the present because they are told in the present. As Jan Vansina noticed that, “Ancient things are today”.  Yet they also embody a message from the past, so they are expressions of the past at the same time. They are the representation of the past in the present. One cannot deny either the past or the present in them. To attribute their whole content to the evanescent present as some sociologists do, is to mutilate tradition; it is reductionists. To ignore the impact of the present as some historians have done is equally reductionist. Traditions must always be understood as reflecting both past and present in a single breath.

Memory Information

As opposed to all other sources, oral tradition consists of information existing in memory. It is in memory most of the time, and only now and then are those parts recalled which the needs of the moment required. This information forms a vast pool. One that compasses the whole of inherited culture for culture for culture and the reproduction of society from generation to generation. Traditions in memory are only distinguished from other more recent information by the convention that they stemmed from previous generations, just as memory itself is only distinguished from the information by the conviction that the item is remembered not dreamt or fantasied. The convictions can on occasions be erroneous but by and large they hold up well.

Memory is not an inert storage system like a tape recorder or a computer. Remembering is an activity, a recreation of what once was. It uses for this purpose not just this or that bit of information, but everything available in the information pool that is needed in this circumstances, reshaped as needed for this particular recreation. It follows from this characteristic of oral tradition as information remembered that there is a corpus of information in memory wholly different from a corpus of written documents. The information here is inchoate following channels which are completely different from flows of information between written documents.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ORAL TRADITION IN ACCOUNTING FOR THE HISTORY OF PRE-COLONIAL CAMEROON

Verbally Transmitted

Oral tradition makes an appearance only when they are told verbally that is, through the mouth. For fleeting moments they can be heard but most of the time they dwell only in the minds of people.  The utterance is transitory, but the memories are not. No one in oral societies doubts that memories can be faithful repositories which contain the sum total of past human experiences and explains the how and why of present day condition. Whether memory changes or not, culture was and is produced by remembrance put into words and deeds. The mind through memory carries culture from generation to generation.

Serve as Messages

Among the various kinds of historical sources traditions occupy a special place. They as messages but unwritten. Their preservation entrusted to the memories od successive generation of people. Yet, until a generation ago, little had been done towards the study of what this means in terms of historical methodology. The more astonishing in views of the fact that traditions were constantly used as source material. Not only are such data the obvious sources for the history of oral societies or for information about the past of illiterate groups in literate societies, but they are the fountainhead of many ancient writings as well, be those of early writings in the Mediterranean, India, China, Japan, or those of later times, such as many writings from the European Middle Ages before the turn of the first millennium in western Europe.

Express Culture of the Pre-Colonial Cameroonian Society

Culture can be defined as what is common in the minds of a given groups people; it refers to the community of society. People in Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies shared many ideas, values, and images. However, the divisions in color spectrums into recognized primary colors vary from language to language. Idiosyncrasies do exist but the principles through which experiences in internalized as common and most of what people hold to be true about reality is common as well. Such cultural contents are transmitted to children in the process of learning the language and in learning how to behave. Communication of oral tradition is part of the process of establishing collective representations. As J. Goody argued that “common culture is much more encompassing in oral societies than in literate societies, because one can only acquire contemporary, generally known materials in the former, and all learn them”.

TYPES OF ORAL TRADITIONS AND THEIR ROLES IN ACCOUNTING AND RECONSTRUCTING THE HISTORY OF PRE-COLONIAL CAMEROON

Poetry and Songs

In pre-colonial Cameroonian societies all oral tradition had social function as t. they were meant to transmit everything vital to a society. This had made African and Cameroonian historians to value the relevance of the sources. According to Finnegan, “Historical poems and songs are intended to pass onto the next generation an account of important events as well as to glorify deeds of rulers and their ancestors. Wars and death of famous men and women are some of the themes of historical poems and songs which are often composed for propaganda purposes”. From the poetry and songs, Cameroonian writers such as Tazifor Tajoche have learnt about the political events and attitudes of some powerful kingdoms and states in Cameroon like Bamum, Bangwa, Kom and Bakundu, Kingdoms and chiefdoms.

War poetry also reflected the values relating to war. Songs are particularly useful to the historians as reliable records of events since they are not generally amenable to alteration because of their wide exposure. Praise poetry was meant to record the praise name the victories and glorious qualities of the chiefs and his ancestors. Some Cameroonian historians such poems are a sources of information about social values and ideals prevalent at the time when they were composed. For example, the Nso-Bamum war of 1888-89, where the Nso defeated the Bamum under Nsangu. The Nso people composed rhythms and riddles of that victory. Religious poetry referred to hymns and prayers that are performed on ritual occasions such as praying for rain and ceremonies to do with in initiation, marriage or death. So information about changes in religion can be deciphered from such poetry.

Testimonies

Testimonies have been an important component of oral tradition in the reconstruction of the history before western interruption.  According to Jan Vansina 'the lists kings, place and chiefs form an official tradition intended as a historical record to benefit the posterity of the society concern'. The main testimonies of  this kind was to maintain and defend the pride and right of the land. They are the source for the study of migrations and for information about demographic story and structures of the past. In Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies, kings lists and genealogies of chiefs are very important. Their functions was to proof the continuity of the chieftainship and to justify the occupation about an office by a leader.  Africans and Cameroonian historians have obtained information about the political and social development of chieftaincy or kingdom. The King lists and genealogies could be used to provide relevant chronology and duration necessary to evaluate how far the past events  and happenings sometimes unfolded.

Historical Talks and Narratives

Historical tales provide an account of the Pre-Colonial Cameroonians events such as wars, migration and establishments of ruling dynasties and deeds of heroes. Their function was to record the happenings and events of the ancient societies of the Cameroon land. As well as provide relevant arguments for the continued position and power of the ruling houses which are recited at ceremonies. Hence, they are useful as sources of information about military, political and international history of Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies. Tales on tribal Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies alluded to the development of the history such as creation of the state, leading offices in the state and changes in territorial organizations. According to Finnegan, tales also referred to raids, wars and territorial conquest. Historical narratives also reflect the migration , demographic trends and economic development of trade, trade routes, and markets , for instance, historical narratives of slave routes and trade linking the Bangwas to the Bayang Slave Markets unto Calabar in Nigeria.

Titles of Ruler Slogan, Proverbs and Riddles

These types of oral tradition to some extent allude to the history of Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies. Titles of rulers like'Mbuembe' in the Bamum kingdom for instance, in Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies were handed down to successive rulers and signified the chief's important status. Historian have used titles and proverbs as auxiliary sources as the events they referred to required more information to be understood.

Commentaries and Historian Myth

Commentaries are designed to explain those parts of a tradition which listener may failed to understand. Commentaries were and are good sources of information about the diffusion of cultural straits. Myth are tales which concern events, thought and believed to have happened in the remote part, when the earth was sacred and different from what it is today. They attempted to explain a society and culture of the Pre- Colonial Cameroonian societies in terms of religious causes and their main characteristics are gods, animals or heroes. Their functions educated people or warn them not to break norms of the society. Hence, historian myth are valuable sources for the history of religions and beliefs.

STRENGHTS OF ORAL TRADITION AS A SOURCE IN ACCOUNTING FOR THE HISTORY OF PRE-COLONIAL CAMEROON

All traces from the past fall in two major categories according to a basic characteristic be it a message or not. This is the outer most relevant feature of a source from the perspective of the rules of evidence. A jar dug up from a site is not a message but a testimony of the age it was made and its existence. Oral tradition is a message. Messages are information that have been diagnosed in the mindset of an individual or group of persons about events or situations in questions. Messages are unveiled two dimensions such that of the sender and the receiver. However, all sources are evidence which has only to go through a single interpretation that of the person who uses them for an historical reconstruction. Messages encompass written sources, and oral tradition.

Oral tradition are messages. Even though one must search for symbolic significance and intended meaning. One is never allowed to interpret them without any concrete reference to the message itself. The structuralists failed to do that and thereby disregarded the cornerstone of all rules of evidence. They suppressed the first subjectivity to give wider scope to the subjectivity of the present. Oral tradition relinquishes the framework of historical content of events unheard and unknown.

On an important note, it follows that oral tradition is not just a source about the past, but a historiology of the past events, an account of how people have interpreted it. As such oral tradition is not only a raw source. It is a hypothesis similar to the historian's own interpretation of the past. Therefore oral traditions should be treated as hypothesis and as the first hypothesis the modern scholar must test before he or she considers others. To consider them first means not to accept them literally, uncritically. It means to give them the attention they deserve to take pains to prove or disprove them systematically for each case on its own merits. It is not enough to say that, in general, genealogies are telescoped; one must adduce reasons why this one would or would not be. It is not enough to say that a particular king, who was supposedly a great warrior, is really a culture hero figure that he attracted to his name the glorious campaigned of other kings. One must prove that it was so, and not merely assumed.

One cannot emphasized enough, however, that such sources are irreplaceable, not only because information would otherwise be lost, but because they are sources from the inside. Oral tradition provides intimate accounts for populations that are otherwise apprehended only from outside points of views. Written documents have been written with a lot of bias as there exist limitations of oral traditional facts and evidence.

Oral tradition is intangible. In this direction, it must br reproduced from the time of their first appearance until they are recorded. Oral history and oral tradition are the only ones among them which are also messages. That means that they accumulate interpretations as they are being transmitted. There is no longer an original encoding interpretation and a decoding one, but there are many encoding and decoding interpretations. One could whimsically argue that, since encoding paradoxically assures more objectivity than if there is just the interpretation of the modern scholar.

It follows that oral tradition are not just a source about the past but a historiology of the past and an account of how people have interpreted it. Oral tradition is a raw material source and should be treated with hypothesis. One must prove that it was so and not merely assumed. The historian must justify his interpretation, that is the question he must address. He must continue the historiological process that has been underway. This by no means is to say that the historian's interpretations should be literal, but only that they should at least be more believable than the already existing oral hypothesis. Despite the strengths, there were also weaknesses which characterized oral traditionary source of accounting and reconstructing the history of Pre-Colonial Cameroon.

LIMITATIONS OF ORAL TRADITION AS AN AUTHENTIC SOURCE OF RECOUNTING THE HISTORY OF PRE-COLONIAL CAMEROON

Inadequate Pursue of Chronology

Critics have questioned the mind blowing validity of Oral Tradition as a source of recounting the history of Pre-Colonial Cameroon on the basis of its lack of chronology. Chronology remains an essential element to the writing and development of historical facts and evidence. It deals with scientificity. In the arguments on the relevance of chronology, Lord Raglan emphasized that 'without precise chronology there can be no history'. Thus , this aspect of chronological representation of Pre-Colonial Cameroon events have been a menace to Oral Tradition.

Selectivity and Interpretation

 Interpretation always combined with memory effects and included cultural selectivity. Casual links tend to be reduced to rudiments, or general causes linked to worldwide are introduced.  A cultural profile results for all the traditions. They correspond to the present view of reality and of the world. Again, cultural profiles can be fleshed out by the use of other sources. The essence of selecting relevant facts and evidence to support particular arguments cannot be strengthened by oral tradition that brandishes views on a rough storylines without been selective and well scientifically interpreted to correspond and justify the appropriate terms and points of arguments.

Memory Failure

This aspect of memory failure can be envisaged in Oral Traditional components like , poetry and song which are excellent sources when they contain historical data and assert events of the Pre-Colonial Cameroonian societies. Most of them, however, are allusive only. They tend not to be of a great age because, when they are no longer relevant, they are usually forgotten. A very few come to stand in the position of prayer formulas which cannot be changed even if they are no longer understood. Historical gossip can deal in such small bits that they are not affected as long as they are remembered, but they, are usually not remembered very long. It is important to historians to differentiate between sources. All are not historical accounts remembered as such and given out as history, nor are all genealogies. Plotting items against time scales will show that the distortions resulting from the limitations of oral traditions apply to the smaller body of data, but only one that is older than a century or so. Hence, it is wise to propose a reconstruction for the last period first, and to go from the present in to the past.

CONCLUSION

Oral tradition has played a veritable role in the reconstruction of the history of Pre-Colonial Cameroon. The relevance varies in place and time. However, it is similar to that of written sources because both are messages from the past to the present and the messages are key elements in historical reconstruction. But the relationship is not one of the diva and her understudy in the opera; when the stars can’t sing the understudy appears; when writing fails, tradition comes on stage. Despite the essence that oral tradition is the frame work of historical content of any society, there exist recession in its scientific presentation of facts and events in time and space.