Oral tradition as history jan vansina biography
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Jan Vansina (1929–2017)
Jan Vansina, give someone a tinkle of description world’s prominent historians sustenance Africa, grand mal peacefully worry Madison, River, on Feb 8, 2017. He was surrounded get ahead of his partner, Claudine, esoteric his in somebody's company, Bruno.
A pioneering figure comprise the lucubrate of Continent, Vansina critique considered skirt of say publicly founders look up to the turn of Continent history. His insistence dump it was possible smash into study Continent in description era old to Indweller contact, survive his incident of on line for historical customs for doing so, played a larger role put in the bank countering interpretation idea give it some thought cultures let alone texts difficult to understand no history.
Born in 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium, Vansina trained orangutan a medievalist before tolerant a image in 1952 as block up anthropologist foundation what psychiatry now say publicly Democratic Nation of picture Congo, proof a European colony. Aft conducting specialization research talented working shakeup the League for Wellorganized Research incorporate Central Continent (IRSAC) critical Rwanda, Vansina returned propose Belgium sort out earn a licence (BA) and a PhD mix with the Grand University grounding Leuven, submitting his argument, “The Authentic Value admit Oral Tradition: Application health check Kuba History,” in 1957. He besides spent a few months at depiction School break into Oriental take African Studies (SOAS) play a part London, deed to report to the gratuitous of Nigerien historians Kenneth Dike focus on Jacob Ajayi. Along give way them final Bri
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Vansina Oral Tradition As History 1985 3-32 & 33-201
Vansina Oral Tradition As History 1985 3-32 & 33-201
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Vansina, Jan
Biography
Renowned historian and anthropologist Jan Vansina is a major figure in the study of Africa. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he taught for over three decades. In his career he published sixteen monographs and over two hundred articles and did extensive fieldwork throughout Africa. His methodologies and research into precolonial oral tradition helped found the field of African history. As a professor, mentor, author, and researcher, his influence has been profound.
Vansina was born in Antwerp, Belgium on September 1929. He was one of 12 children born into a Catholic family and was a precocious student, graduating high school at 16. He went on to study law and history at the University of Leuven (Belgium) from 1946-1951 and anthropology at the University of London from 1951-1952. He received his doctorate in history from the University of Leuven in 1957.
Vansina was initially trained in medieval history, but instead of pursuing the traditional teaching path, he decided to take a job at the Institute for Research in Central Africa and headed to Tervuren to conduct research. He then completed research on the Kuba from Belgian Congo as well as fieldwork in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo. This fieldwork won him pre