The Importance of Oral Traditions in African History

One of the most crucial aspects of the development of philosophy of African history has been a realization of the importance of the spoken or oral traditions in the framing and interpretation of African history. The oral tradition is a living, and dynamic organism within the African community, and the original element of oral traditional is djembe. The Djembe is a traditional African drum and is the symbolic instrument of the West African community. The Djembe is held on a high pedestal in the social communal aspect of the society’s daily routine, and is seen in many gatherings. The value and importance of the djembe as embodiment of African tradition and its translation in West Africa and the United states via the salve trade demonstrate†¦show more content†¦The slaves who were taken from West Africa also carried their cultures and values with them. Drumming served as a vehicle of communication and reconciliation with African roots. In her book entitled â€Å"The dr ummers path: moving the spirit with ritual and traditional drumming† (1992), Sule Greg Wilson who advances the understanding of the presence of African drums, shows illustrations and photographs of drums and also landscape settings depicting the drumming scenes from the eighteen and nineteenth century in the United States. One of those photographs shows a drum described as â€Å"typical of the Ashanti of Ghana† which was collected in Virginia in the 1750s and is now kept in the British Museum (Wilson 1992). However, the drum is not made with the typical traditional materials conventions; the drum in this case was made with deerskin and wood. Also, the drum was misclassified as an Indian drum for reasons not discussed, and it is was not until further down the years that it was confirmed to be an African drum, and thus served as proof that African-style drums were being constructed in the United States as early as the mid-eighteenth century (Wilson 1992). 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