Because of their power to dictate how things should be, myths can be very powerful in shaping and carrying on traditions in a society. Folktales are acknowledged as things which did not really happen, but are useful stories for providing moral or social lessons or for amusement." (www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-14.html) .
Oral tradition is a great way to research and to study about a culture or civilization. In this paper I will explain how historians can use oral traditions like Sundiata, African storytelling, and Native American oral traditions, in writing of history and historical reconstruction.
Africans appreciate and admire great stories and storytellers, like most civilizations around the world whose roots are found in oral traditions. Writing traditions do consist in ancient history in Africa, but most Africans prefer the traditions of African storytelling and oral history. African storytelling is one of the oldest way of telling a civilizations history, also called "African orature" which "is orally composed and transmitted, and often created to be verbally and communally performed as an integral part of dance and music." (www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/afstory.htm) .
Historians can use African storytelling to reconstruct history because "the oral arts of Africa are rich and varied, developing with the beginnings of African cultures, and they remain living traditions that continue to evolve and flourish today." (www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/afstory.htm) .
Using an oral tradition like Sundiata is a great way for a historian to reconstruct history, because of all its fact about the culture and the ruling class that existed at that time. For example in the first pages the griot introduces himself and tells what his job is and why he is important. A historian can take this information and record it so that everyone around the world could learn the history of the great kings and queens of Africa.
