Editing Oral tradition (section)

==History==
According to John Foley, oral tradition has been an ancient human tradition found in "all corners of the world".<ref name="MacKay1999p1"/> Modern archaeology has been unveiling evidence of the human efforts to preserve and transmit arts and knowledge that depended completely or partially on an oral tradition, across various cultures:
{{Blockquote|
The Judeo-Christian Bible reveals its oral traditional roots; medieval European manuscripts are penned by performing scribes; geometric vases from archaic Greece mirror Homer's oral style. (...) Indeed, if these final decades of the millennium have taught us anything, it must be that oral tradition never was the other we accused it of being; it never was the primitive, preliminary technology of communication we thought it to be. Rather, if the whole truth is told, oral tradition stands out as the single most dominant communicative technology of our species as both a historical fact and, in many areas still, a contemporary reality.
|John Foley|''Signs of Orality''<ref name="MacKay1999p1">{{cite book |last1=MacKay |first1=E. Anne |title=Signs of Orality: The Oral Tradition and Its Influence in the Greek and Roman World |date=1999 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-11273-5 |pages=1–2 }}</ref>}}

Before the introduction of [[Text (literary theory)|text]], oral tradition remained the only means of communication in order to establish societies as well as its institutions.<ref name="Oral tradition"/> Despite widespread comprehension of [[literacy]] in the recent century,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Literacy - Our World in Data |url=https://ourworldindata.org/literacy#:~:text=Over%20the%20course%20of%20the,better%20educated%20than%20ever%20before. |access-date=2024-08-23 |journal=Our World in Data| date=6 March 2024 |language=en-GB | last1=Roser | first1=Max | last2=Ortiz-Ospina | first2=Esteban }}</ref> oral tradition remains the dominant communicative means within the world.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Oral Tradition : Words, Signs and Gestures |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44295581 |access-date=2024-08-23 |journal=Indian Literature |jstor=44295581 |language=en-GB |last1=Mahapatra |first1=Sitakant |date=1994 |volume=5 |issue=163 |pages=69–78 }}</ref>

=== Africa ===
[[File:Sénégal-Chef indigène et son griot (AOF) cropped.jpg|thumb|Griot for a native ruler in Senegal]]
In Africa, the oral tradition includes proverbs, folktales, songs, dances, customs, traditional medicine, religious practices, and cultural sayings that are told and expressed to teach lessons about life, social systems, religion, and spirituality.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iheanacho |first1=Valentine U. |title=The significance of African oral tradition in the making of African Christianity |journal=HTS Teologiese Studies |date=2021 |volume=77 |issue=2 |doi=10.4102/hts.v77i2.6819 |url=https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6819 |access-date=19 March 2025|doi-access=free }}</ref> All [[List of Indigenous peoples|indigenous African societies]] use oral tradition to learn their origin and [[History of Africa|history]], civic and religious duties, crafts and skills, as well as traditional myths and [[legend]]s.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |last1=Cooper |first1=Grace C. |title=Oral Tradition in African Societies |journal=Negro History Bulletin |date=1983 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=101–103 |jstor=44246885 }}</ref> It is also a key socio-cultural component in the practice of their [[Traditional African religions|traditional spiritualities]], as well as mainstream [[Abrahamic religions]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iheanacho |first1=Valentine U. |title=The significance of African oral tradition in the making of African Christianity |journal=HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies |date=22 September 2021 |volume=77 |issue=2 |id={{Gale|A679072762}} {{ProQuest|2582693440}} |doi=10.4102/hts.v77i2.6819 |s2cid=240523785 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The prioritisation of the spoken word is evidenced by African societies having chosen to record history orally whilst some had [[Writing systems of Africa|developed]] or had access to a [[Writing system|writing script]]. [[Jan Vansina]] differentiates between ''oral'' and ''literate'' civilisations, stating: "The attitude of members of an oral society toward [[spoken word|speech]] is similar to the reverence members of a literate society attach to the [[written word]]. If it is hallowed by authority or antiquity, the word will be treasured." For centuries in Europe, all data felt to be important were written down, with the most important texts prioritised, such as [[Bible]], and only trivia, such as song, legend, anecdote, and proverbs remained unrecorded. In Africa, all the principal political, legal, social, and religious texts were transmitted orally. When the [[Bamum people|Bamums]] in Cameroon [[Writing systems of Africa#West Africa|invented a script]], the first to be written down was the [[chronicle|royal chronicle]] and the code of [[customary law]]. Most African courts had archivists who learnt by heart the royal genealogy and history of the state, and served as its [[unwritten constitution]].

The performance of a tradition is accentuated and rendered alive by various gesture, social conventions and the unique occasion in which it is performed.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ebine |first=SA |title=The Roles of Griots in African Oral Tradition among the Manding |journal=International Journal of Research |volume=11 |issue=1 |year=2019 |url=https://www.globalacademicgroup.com/journals/approaches/V11N1P23-2019_Approaches.pdf}}</ref> Furthermore, the climate in which traditions are told influences its content. In [[Burundi]], traditions were short because most of them were told at informal gatherings and everyone had to have his say during the evening; in neighbouring [[Rwanda]], many narratives were spun-out because a one-man professional had to entertain his patron for a whole evening, with every production checked by fellow specialists and errors punishable. Frequently, [[gloss (annotation)|glosses]] or [[Commentary (philology)|commentaries]] were presented parallel to the narrative, sometimes answering questions from the audience to ensure understanding, although often someone would learn a tradition without asking their master questions and not really understand the meaning of its content, leading them to speculate in the commentary.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ebine |first=SA |title=The Roles of Griots in African Oral Tradition among the Manding |journal=International Journal of Research |volume=11 |issue=1 |year=2019 |url=https://www.globalacademicgroup.com/journals/approaches/V11N1P23-2019_Approaches.pdf}}</ref> Oral traditions only exist when they are told, except for in people's minds, and so the frequency of telling a tradition aids its preservation.<ref name="Vansina 1971 442–468">{{cite journal |last=Vansina |first=Jan |title=Once upon a Time: Oral Traditions as History in Africa |journal=Daedalus |volume=100 |issue=2 |year=1971 |pages=442–468 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20024011 |publisher=MIT Press|jstor=20024011 }}</ref> These African ethnic groups also utilize oral tradition to develop and train the human intellect, and the memory to retain information and sharpen imagination.<ref name=":3" />

====West Africa====
[[File:Balafon griot (1).jpg|thumb|Balafon griot]]
{{See also|Griot|History of the Soninke people|Oral history in modern Mali|Epic of Sundiata|Kouroukan Fouga|Kwagh-Hir|Gassire's lute|Oríkì|Mbeku|Agadzagadza|Asebu Amanfi|Anansi}}
Perhaps the most famous repository of oral tradition is the west African [[griot]] (named differently in different languages).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Abdul-Fattah |first1=Hakimah |title=How Griots Tell Legendary Epics through Stories and Songs in West Africa |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/sahel-sunjata-stories-songs |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |date=20 April 2020 |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> The griot is a hereditary position and exists in [[Dyula people|Dyula]], [[Soninke people|Soninke]], [[Fula people|Fula]], [[Hausa people|Hausa]], [[Songhai people|Songhai]], [[Wolof people|Wolof]], [[Serer people|Serer]], and [[Mossi people|Mossi]] societies among many others, although more famously in [[Mandingo people|Mandinka society]]. They constitute a [[caste]] and perform a range of roles, including as a historian or library, musician, poet, [[mediation|mediator]] of family and tribal disputes, spokesperson, and served in the king's court,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Iantosca |first1=Caroline |title=Music and Storytelling in West Africa |url=https://worldview.unc.edu/news-article/music-and-storytelling-in-west-africa/#:~:text=If%20you%20were%20born%20into,of%20your%20village%20and%20family. |website=The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |publisher=UNC Chapel Hill |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> not dissimilar from the European [[bard]]. They keep records of all births, death, and marriages through the generations of the village or family. When [[Sundiata Keita]] founded the [[Mali Empire]], he was offered [[Balla Fasséké]] as his griot to advise him during his reign, giving rise to the [[Kouyate family|Kouyate line of griots]]. Griots often accompany their telling of oral tradition with a musical instrument, as the ''[[Epic of Sundiata]]'' is accompanied by the [[balafon]], or as the [[Kora (instrument)|kora]] accompanies other traditions.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sundiata Epic: Griots, Words, Songs and Performance |url=https://www.brandeis.edu/compact/programs/global-community-engagement/2024-2025/mali-residency.html |website=Brandeis University |access-date=25 November 2024}}</ref> In modern times, some griots and descendants of griots have dropped their historian role and focus on music, with many finding success, however many still maintain their traditional roles.

====East Africa====
{{See also|Empire of Kitara|Kilwa Chronicle|Hainteny|Ebyevugo|Ibonia|Fumo Liyongo|Ibitekerezo|Azmari}}

Kenya safeguarded its oral tradition by ratifying the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in October 2007.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nyangila |first1=Jacob |title=Safeguarding Endangered Oral Traditions in East Africa |journal=National Museums of Kenya - UNESCO |date=2008 |url=https://www.academia.edu/63377949 |access-date=13 January 2025}}</ref>

====North Africa====
{{See also|Malhun|T'heydinn|Asefru}}

====Central Africa====
{{See also|Mwindo epic}}

====Southern Africa====
{{See also|The Child with a Moon on his Chest (Sotho)|South African folklore|Afrikaans folklore|Emperor Shaka the Great}}

===Europe===
====Albania====
[[File:Gjama.jpg|thumb|Men of [[Theth]] ([[Shala (tribe)|Shala]]) practicing the [[gjâmë]] – the [[Albanians|Albanian]] lamentation of the dead – in the funeral of Ujk Vuksani, 1937. The earliest figurative representations of this practice in traditional Albanian-inhabited regions appear on [[Dardani]]an funerary stelae of [[classical antiquity]].{{sfn|Joseph|Dedvukaj|2024|pp=1–3}}]]
{{Further|Albanian folklore|Albanian paganism|Albanian epic poetry|Kângë Kreshnikësh|Kanun (Albania)}}
Albanian traditions have been handed down orally across generations.<ref>{{harvnb|Elsie|1994|p=i}}; {{harvnb|Elsie|2001|p=ix}}; {{harvnb|Tarifa|2008|pp=3, 11–12}}; {{harvnb|Sokoli|2013|pp=182–184}}.</ref> They have been preserved through traditional memory systems that have survived intact into modern times in [[Albania]], a phenomenon that is explained by the lack of state formation among [[Albanians]] and their ancestors – the [[Illyrians]], being able to preserve their [[Albanian tribes|"tribally" organized society]]. This distinguished them from civilizations such as [[Ancient Egypt]], [[Minoans]] and [[Mycenaeans]], who underwent state formation and disrupted their traditional memory practices.{{sfn|Galaty|2018|pp=100–102}}

[[Albanian epic poetry]] has been analysed by [[Homeric scholarship|Homeric scholars]] to acquire a better understanding of [[Homer]]ic epics. The long oral tradition that has sustained Albanian epic poetry reinforces the idea that pre-Homeric epic poetry was oral.{{sfn|Gadamer|2013|p=160}} The theory of [[oral-formulaic composition]] was developed also through the scholarly study of Albanian epic verse.{{sfn|Blum|2023|p=91}} The Albanian traditional singing of epic verse from memory is one of the last survivors of its kind in modern [[Europe]],<ref>{{harvnb|Elsie|2014|p=1}}.</ref> and the last survivor of the Balkan traditions.<ref>{{harvnb|Di Lellio|Dushi|2024}}.</ref>

==== Ancient Greece ====
{{See also|Rhapsode|Aoidos}}
"All ancient Greek literature", states Steve Reece, "was to some degree oral in nature, and the earliest literature was completely so".<ref>Reece, Steve. "[https://www.academia.edu/30640456/Orality_and_Literacy_Ancient_Greek_Literature_as_Oral_Literature Orality and Literacy: Ancient Greek Literature as Oral Literature]", in David Schenker and Martin Hose (eds.), ''Companion to Greek Literature'' (Oxford: Blackwell, 2015) 43-57. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200101220823/https://www.academia.edu/30640456/Orality_and_Literacy_Ancient_Greek_Literature_as_Oral_Literature |date=2020-01-01 }}.</ref> [[Homer]]'s epic poetry, states Michael Gagarin, "was largely composed, performed and transmitted orally".<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael Gagarin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vkfRvkgDTOsC |title=Signs of Orality |publisher=BRILL Academic |year=1999 |isbn=978-9004112735 |editor=E. Anne MacKay |pages=163–164}}</ref> As folklores and legends were performed in front of distant audiences, the singers would substitute the names in the stories with local characters or rulers to give the stories a local flavor and thus connect with the audience, but making the historicity embedded in the oral tradition unreliable.<ref>{{cite book |author=Wolfgang Kullmann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vkfRvkgDTOsC |title=Signs of Orality |publisher=BRILL Academic |year=1999 |isbn=978-9004112735 |editor=E. Anne MacKay |pages=108–109}}</ref> The lack of surviving texts about the Greek and Roman religious traditions have led scholars to presume that these were ritualistic and transmitted as oral traditions, but some scholars disagree that the complex rituals in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were an exclusive product of an oral tradition.<ref>{{cite book |author=John Scheid |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZ5JP8gZgJEC&pg=PA17 |title=Religion and Law in Classical and Christian Rome |date=2006 |publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag |isbn=978-3-515-08854-1 |editor=Clifford Ando and Jörg Rüpke |pages=17–28 |author-link=John Scheid}}</ref>

==== Ireland ====
An Irish ''[[seanchaí]]'' (plural: ''seanchaithe''), meaning bearer of "old lore"'','' was a traditional [[Irish language]] storyteller (the [[Scottish Gaelic]] equivalent being the ''seanchaidh,'' [[Anglicisation|anglicised]] as shanachie). The job of a ''seanchaí'' was to serve the head of a lineage by passing information orally from one generation to the next about [[Irish folklore]] and history, particularly in medieval times.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKendry |first=Eugene |title=Study Ireland: An Introduction to Storytelling, Myths and Legends |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/11_16/storyteller/pdf/gen_notes_all.pdf |url-status=live |website=BBC Northern Ireland |access-date=2022-01-18 |archive-date=2022-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220211021132/https://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/11_16/storyteller/pdf/gen_notes_all.pdf }}</ref>

==== Rome ====
The potential for oral transmission of history in [[ancient Rome]] is evidenced primarily by [[Cicero]], who discusses the significance of oral tradition in works such as ''Brutus'',<ref>Cicero, Brutus, (75) translated by E. Jones (1776) Attalus, available at: Attalus</ref> ''Tusculan Disputations'',<ref>Cicero, Tusculan Disputations, (1.3) translated by J. King. Loeb Classical Library. London: Heinemann, 1927</ref> and ''On The Orator''.<ref>Cicero, On The Orator, (3.197) translated by E. Sutton. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1942</ref> While [[Cicero|Cicer]]o’s reliance on Cato’s Origines may limit the breadth of his argument,<ref name="ReferenceA">Wiseman, T. Historiography and Imagination. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1994</ref> he nonetheless highlights the importance of storytelling in preserving [[Roman history]]. [[Valerius Maximus]] also references oral tradition in Memorable Doings and Sayings (2.1.10).<ref>Valerius Maximus, Memorable Doings and Sayings, translated by D. Shackleton Bailey. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000</ref>

Wiseman argues that celebratory performances served as a vital medium for transmitting Roman history and that such traditions evolved into written forms by the third century CE.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He asserts that the history of figures like the house of Tarquin was likely passed down through oral storytelling for centuries before being recorded in literature.<ref>Wiseman, T. Roman Legend and Oral Tradition, The Journal of Roman Studies, 79, 129-137. Available at: JSTOR</ref> Although Flower critiques the lack of ancient evidence supporting Wiseman's broader claims,<ref>Flower, H. (1995). Fabulae Praetextae in Context: When Were Plays on Contemporary Subjects Performed in Republican Rome? The Classical Quarterly, New Series, 45(1), 170-190. Available at: JSTOR</ref> Wiseman maintains that dramatic narratives fundamentally shaped historiography.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

=== Asia ===
In Asia, the transmission of folklore, mythologies as well as scriptures in ancient India, in different Indian religions, was by oral tradition, preserved with precision with the help of elaborate [[Vedic chant|mnemonic techniques]]:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lopez |first1=Donald |title=Authority and Orality in the Mahāyāna |journal=Numen |date=1995 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=21–47 |doi=10.1163/1568527952598800 |jstor=3270278 |hdl=2027.42/43799 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

According to Goody, the Vedic texts likely involved both a written and oral tradition, calling it a "parallel products of a literate society".<ref name="Goody1987p82"/><ref name="lopez1995p21"/> Mostly recently, research shows that oral performance of (written) texts could be a philosophical activity in [[Early Chinese Empire|early China]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wong |first=Peter T. K. |date=2022 |title=The Soundscape of the Huainanzi 淮南子: Poetry, Performance, Philosophy, and Praxis in Early China |journal=Early China |language=en |volume=45 |pages=515–539 |doi=10.1017/eac.2022.6 |s2cid=250269080 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

It is a common knowledge in India that the primary Hindu books called Vedas are great example of Oral tradition. Pundits who memorized three Vedas were called Trivedis. Pundits who memorized four vedas were called Chaturvedis. By transferring knowledge from generation to generation Hindus protected their ancient Mantras in Vedas, which are basically Prose.

The early Buddhist texts are also generally believed to be of oral tradition, with the first by comparing inconsistencies in the transmitted versions of literature from various oral societies such as the Greek, Serbia and other cultures, then noting that the Vedic literature is too consistent and vast to have been composed and transmitted orally across generations, without being written down.<ref name="Goody1987p82"/>

====Middle East====
{{See also|Oral Torah}}
In the Middle East, [[Arabic language|Arabic]] oral tradition has significantly influenced literary and cultural practices.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dwight F.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40|title=Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language, and Song|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40.5|chapter=Rhyme in Arabic Oral Poetry|publisher=Finnish Literature Society|editor-last1=Sykäri|editor-first1=Venla|editor-last2=Fabb|editor-first2=Nigel|volume=14|year=2022|pages=47–62 |jstor=j.ctv371cp40.5 |isbn=978-951-858-587-2 }}</ref> Arabic oral tradition encompassed various forms of expression, including [[Metre (poetry)|metrical poetry]], [[Blank verse|unrhymed prose]], [[rhymed prose]] (''[[saj']]''), and [[prosimetrum]]—a combination of prose and poetry often employed in historical narratives. [[Arabic poetry|Poetry]] held a position of particular importance, as it was believed to be a more reliable medium for information transmission than prose. This belief stemmed from observations that highly structured language, with its rhythmic and phonetic patterns, tended to undergo fewer alterations during oral transmission.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dwight F.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40|title=Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language, and Song|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40.5|chapter=Rhyme in Arabic Oral Poetry|publisher=Finnish Literature Society|editor-last1=Sykäri|editor-first1=Venla|editor-last2=Fabb|editor-first2=Nigel|volume=14|pages=48–49|year=2022|jstor=j.ctv371cp40.5 |isbn=978-951-858-587-2 }}</ref>

Each genre of rhymed poetry served distinct social and cultural functions. These range from spontaneous compositions at celebrations to carefully crafted historical accounts, political commentaries, and entertainment pieces. Among these, the folk epics known as [[siyar]] (singular: sīra) were considered the most intricate. These prosimetric narratives, combining prose and verse, emerged in the early Middle Ages. While many such epics circulated historically, only one has survived as a sung oral poetic tradition: [[Sirat Bani Hilal|Sīrat Banī Hilāl]]. This epic recounts the westward migration and conquests of the [[Banu Hilal]] [[Bedouin]] tribe from the 10th to 12th centuries, culminating in their rule over parts of North Africa before their eventual defeat.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dwight F.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40|title=Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language, and Song|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40.5|chapter=Rhyme in Arabic Oral Poetry|publisher=Finnish Literature Society|editor-last1=Sykäri|editor-first1=Venla|editor-last2=Fabb|editor-first2=Nigel|volume=14|page=56|year=2022|jstor=j.ctv371cp40.5 |isbn=978-951-858-587-2 }}</ref> The historical roots of Sīrat Banī Hilāl are evident in the present-day distribution of groups claiming descent from the tribe across North Africa and parts of the Middle East. The epic's development into a cohesive narrative was first documented by the historian [[Ibn Khaldūn]] in the 14th century. In his writings, Ibn Khaldūn describes collecting stories and poems from nomadic Arabs, using these oral sources to discuss the merits of colloquial versus classical poetry and the value of oral histories in written historical works.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Reynolds|first1=Dwight F.|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40|title=Rhyme and Rhyming in Verbal Art, Language, and Song|chapter-url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv371cp40.5|chapter=Rhyme in Arabic Oral Poetry|publisher=Finnish Literature Society|editor-last1=Sykäri|editor-first1=Venla|editor-last2=Fabb|editor-first2=Nigel|volume=14|page=57|year=2022|jstor=j.ctv371cp40.5 |isbn=978-951-858-587-2 }}</ref>

The [[Torah]] and other ancient Jewish literature, the Judeo-Christian Bible and texts of early centuries of Christianity are rooted in an oral tradition, and the term "People of the Book" is a medieval construct.<ref name="MacKay1999p1" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Delbert Burkett |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EcsQknxV-xQC&pg=PA124 |title=An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-521-00720-7 |pages=124–125, 45–46, 106–107, 129–130}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Leslie Baynes |title=The Heavenly Book Motif in Judeo-Christian Apocalypses 200 BCE-200 CE |publisher=BRILL Academic |year=2011 |isbn=978-90-04-20726-4 |pages=40–41 with footnotes}}<br />{{cite book |author1=Birger Gerhardsson |title=Memory and Manuscript: Oral Tradition and Written Transmission in Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity |author2=Eric John Sharpe |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |year=1961 |isbn=978-0-8028-4366-1 |pages=71–78}}</ref> This is evidenced, for example, by the multiple scriptural statements by Paul admitting "previously remembered tradition which he received" orally.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Terence C. |last1=Mournet |title=Oral Tradition and Literary Dependency: Variability and Stability in the Synoptic Tradition and Q |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2005 |isbn=978-3-16-148454-4 |pages=138–141}}</ref>

===Oceania===
====Australia====
[[Australian Aboriginal culture]] has thrived on oral traditions and oral histories passed down through thousands of years.
In a study published in February 2020, new evidence showed that both [[Budj Bim]] and [[Tower Hill (volcano)|Tower Hill]] volcanoes erupted between 34,000 and 40,000 years ago.<ref name=earlier>{{cite web | first=Sian | last=Johnson | title=Study dates Victorian volcano that buried a human-made axe | website=ABC News | date=26 February 2020 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-26/study-dates-victorian-volcano-that-buried-a-human-made-axe/11991290 | access-date=9 March 2020 | archive-date=8 September 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200908041638/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-26/study-dates-victorian-volcano-that-buried-a-human-made-axe/11991290 | url-status=live }}</ref> Significantly, this is a "minimum age constraint for human presence in [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]]", and also could be interpreted as evidence for the oral histories of the [[Gunditjmara]] people, an [[Aboriginal Australian]] people of south-western Victoria, which tell of volcanic eruptions being some of the oldest oral traditions in existence.<ref name="MatchanPhillips2020">{{cite journal |last1=Matchan |first1=Erin L. |last2=Phillips |first2=David |last3=Jourdan |first3=Fred |last4=Oostingh |first4=Korien |title=Early human occupation of southeastern Australia: New insights from 40Ar/39Ar dating of young volcanoes |journal=Geology |date=April 2020 |volume=48 |issue=4 |pages=390–394 |doi=10.1130/G47166.1 |bibcode=2020Geo....48..390M |s2cid=214357121 }}</ref> A basalt stone axe found underneath [[volcanic ash]] in 1947 had already proven that humans inhabited the region before the eruption of Tower Hill.<ref name=earlier/>

=== Americas ===
==== Native American ====
Native American society was always reliant upon oral tradition, if not [[storytelling]], in order to convey knowledge, morals and [[Native American cultures in the United States|traditions]] amongst others,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oral Traditions |url=https://indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/oral_traditions/ |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=www.indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca|language=en-GB}}</ref> a trait [[European colonization of the Americas|Western settlers]] deemed as representing an inferior race without neither culture nor history,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Native American Oral Literatures |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199827251/obo-9780199827251-0070.xml |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=www.oxfordbibliographies.com|language=en-GB}}</ref> often cited as a reason behind [[Cultural assimilation of Native Americans|indoctrination]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United States: The Allotment and Assimilation Era (1887 - 1934) |url=https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/allotment |access-date=2024-08-23 |website=www.library.law.edu|language=en-GB}}</ref>

Writing systems are not known to exist among Native North Americans before contact with Europeans except among some Mesoamerican cultures, and possibly the South American [[quipu]] and North American [[wampum]], although those two are debatable. Oral storytelling traditions flourished in a context without the use of writing to record and preserve history, scientific knowledge, and social practices.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Native American Storytelling: A Reader of Myths and Legends|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe|url-access=limited|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4051-1541-4|editor-last=Kroeber|editor-first=Karl|location=Malden, MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe/page/n11 1]}}</ref> While some stories were told for amusement and leisure, most functioned as practical lessons from tribal experience applied to immediate moral, social, psychological, and environmental issues.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Native American Storytelling: A Reader of Myths and Legends|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe|url-access=limited|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4051-1541-4|editor-last=Kroeber|editor-first=Karl|location=Malden, MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe/page/n13 3]}}</ref> Stories fuse fictional, supernatural, or otherwise exaggerated characters and circumstances with real emotions and morals as a means of teaching. Plots often reflect real life situations and may be aimed at particular people known by the story's audience. In this way, social pressure could be exerted without directly causing embarrassment or [[social exclusion]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Native American Storytelling: A Reader of Myths and Legends|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe|url-access=limited|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4051-1541-4|editor-last=Kroeber|editor-first=Karl|location=Malden, MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe/page/n12 2]}}</ref> For example, rather than yelling, [[Inuit culture|Inuit]] parents might deter their children from wandering too close to the water's edge by telling a story about a sea monster with a pouch for children within its reach.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/03/13/685533353/a-playful-way-to-teach-kids-to-control-their-anger|title=How Inuit Parents Teach Kids To Control Their Anger|website=NPR |date=13 March 2019|language=en|access-date=2019-04-29|last1=Doucleff|first1=Michaeleen|last2=Greenhalgh|first2=Jane|archive-date=2020-10-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026061927/https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2019/03/13/685533353/a-playful-way-to-teach-kids-to-control-their-anger|url-status=live}}</ref> One single story could provide dozens of lessons.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Native American Stories, Told by Joseph Bruchac|last1=Caduto|first1=Michael|last2=Bruchac|first2=Michael|publisher=Fulcrum Publishing|year=1991|isbn=978-1-55591-094-5|location=Golden, Colorado|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00bruc}}</ref> Stories were also used as a means to assess whether traditional cultural ideas and practices are effective in tackling contemporary circumstances or if they should be revised.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Native American Storytelling: A Reader of Myths and Legends|url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe|url-access=limited|publisher=Blackwell Publishing|year=2004|isbn=978-1-4051-1541-4|editor-last=Kroeber|editor-first=Karl|location=Malden, MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanst00kroe/page/n16 6]}}</ref>

Native American storytelling is a collaborative experience between storyteller and listeners. Native American tribes generally have not had professional tribal storytellers marked by social status.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact|last=Deloria, jr.|first=Vine|publisher=Scribner|year=1995|isbn=978-0-684-80700-3|location=New York, NY|pages=54}}</ref> Stories could and can be told by anyone, with each storyteller using their own vocal inflections, word choice, content, or form.<ref name=":0" /> Storytellers not only draw upon their own memories, but also upon a collective or tribal memory extending beyond personal experience but nevertheless representing a shared reality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ballenger|first=Bruce|date=Autumn 1997|title=Methods of Memory: On Native American Storytelling|journal=College English|volume=59|issue=7|pages=789–800|doi=10.2307/378636|jstor=378636}}</ref> Native languages have in some cases up to twenty words to describe physical features like rain or snow and can describe the spectra of human emotion in very precise ways, allowing storytellers to offer their own personalized take on a story based on their own lived experiences.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact|last=Deloria, jr.|first=Vine|publisher=Scribner|year=1995|isbn=978-0-684-80700-3|location=New York, NY|pages=51}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lawrence|first=Randee|date=Spring 2016|title=What Our Ancestors Knew: Teaching and Learning Through Storytelling|journal=New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education|volume=2016|issue=149|pages=63–72|doi=10.1002/ace.20177}}</ref> Fluidity in story deliverance allowed stories to be applied to different social circumstances according to the storyteller's objective at the time.<ref name=":0" /> One's rendition of a story was often considered a response to another's rendition, with plot alterations suggesting alternative ways of applying traditional ideas to present conditions.<ref name=":0" />

Listeners might have heard the story told many times, or even may have told the same story themselves.<ref name=":0" /> This does not take away from a story's meaning, as curiosity about what happens next was less of a priority than hearing fresh perspectives on well-known themes and plots.<ref name=":0" /> Elder storytellers generally were not concerned with discrepancies between their version of historical events and neighboring tribes' version of similar events, such as in origin stories.<ref name=":1" /> Tribal stories are considered valid within the tribe's own frame of reference and tribal experience.<ref name=":1" /> The 19th century Oglala Lakota tribal member [[Four Guns]] was known for his justification of the oral tradition and criticism of the written word.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/americanindianvo00harv |title=American Indian Voices |publisher=Millbrook Press |location=Brookfield, Conn. |author=Karen D. Harvey |year=1995 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanindianvo00harv/page/66 66] |isbn=9781562943820}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanre0000unse |title=Native American Reader: Stories, Speeches, and Poems |publisher=Denali Press |location=Juneau, Alaska |year=1990 |page=[https://archive.org/details/nativeamericanre0000unse/page/73 73] |isbn=9780938737209}}</ref>

Stories are used to preserve and transmit both tribal history and environmental history, which are often closely linked.<ref name=":1" /> Native oral traditions in the Pacific Northwest, for example, describe natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. Various cultures from Vancouver Island and Washington have stories describing a physical struggle between a Thunderbird and a Whale.<ref name=":22">{{Cite journal|last1=Ludwin|first1=Ruth|last2=Smits|first2=Gregory|date=2007|title=Folklore and earthquakes: Native American oral traditions from Cascadia compared with written traditions from Japan|journal=Geological Society of London, Special Publications|volume=273|issue=1|pages=67–94|doi=10.1144/GSL.SP.2007.273.01.07|bibcode=2007GSLSP.273...67L|s2cid=130713882}}</ref> One such story tells of the Thunderbird, which can create thunder by moving just a feather, piercing the Whale's flesh with its talons, causing the Whale to dive to the bottom of the ocean, bringing the Thunderbird with it. Another depicts the Thunderbird lifting the Whale from the Earth then dropping it back down. Regional similarities in themes and characters suggests that these stories mutually describe the lived experience of earthquakes and floods within tribal memory.<ref name=":22" /> According to one story from the [[Suquamish|Suquamish Tribe]], [[Agate Pass]] was created when an earthquake expanded the channel as a result of an underwater battle between a serpent and bird. Other stories in the region depict the formation of glacial valleys and moraines and the occurrence of landslides, with stories being used in at least one case to identify and date earthquakes that occurred in 900 CE and 1700.<ref name=":22" />

Further examples include [[Arikara]] origin stories of emergence from an "underworld" of persistent darkness, which may represent the remembrance of life in the Arctic Circle during the last ice age, and stories involving a "deep crevice", which may refer to the Grand Canyon.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal|last=Echo-Hawk|first=Roger|date=Spring 2000|title=Ancient History in the New World: Integrating Oral Traditions and the Archaeological Record in Deep Time|journal=American Antiquity|volume=65|issue=2|pages=267–290|doi=10.2307/2694059|jstor=2694059|s2cid=163392796}}</ref> Despite such examples of agreement between geological and archeological records on one hand and Native oral records on the other, some scholars have cautioned against the historical validity of oral traditions because of their susceptibility to detail alteration over time and lack of precise dates.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mason|first=Ronald J.|date=2000|title=Archaeology and Native North American Oral Traditions|journal=American Antiquity|volume=65|issue=2|pages=239–266|doi=10.2307/2694058 |jstor=2694058|s2cid=147149391}}</ref> The [[Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act]] considers oral traditions as a viable source of evidence for establishing the affiliation between cultural objects and Native Nations.<ref name=":32" />