Zeinab Badawi

How far it marries back with oral tradition, that may be a bit of a stretch, Dan, because, I mean, just a quick, you know... snapshot of how we evolved. Modern humans, that's Homo sapiens sapiens, we were fully formed about 100,000 years ago. By about 90,000 years ago, we had populated the whole continent of Africa. Sometime around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago, those first hardy pioneers left the

to the Arabian Peninsula and Asia and Europe. And there they encountered other hominins like Denisovans or the Neanderthals, and they bred with them until these other species were bred into extinction. So to say that Africans today remember that history about 60,000 years ago when they migrated from the continent would be a bit of a stretch.

to the Arabian Peninsula and Asia and Europe. And there they encountered other hominins like Denisovans or the Neanderthals, and they bred with them until these other species were bred into extinction. So to say that Africans today remember that history about 60,000 years ago when they migrated from the continent would be a bit of a stretch.

to the Arabian Peninsula and Asia and Europe. And there they encountered other hominins like Denisovans or the Neanderthals, and they bred with them until these other species were bred into extinction. So to say that Africans today remember that history about 60,000 years ago when they migrated from the continent would be a bit of a stretch.

But what is certainly true is that if you are trying to piece together early African history, and by that I really mean pre-colonial history before the Europeans arrived and started writing about Africa's history, Oral tradition is very, very important, and this is what African historians do and which Western historians often overlook. They look at their own written records.

But what is certainly true is that if you are trying to piece together early African history, and by that I really mean pre-colonial history before the Europeans arrived and started writing about Africa's history, Oral tradition is very, very important, and this is what African historians do and which Western historians often overlook. They look at their own written records.

But what is certainly true is that if you are trying to piece together early African history, and by that I really mean pre-colonial history before the Europeans arrived and started writing about Africa's history, Oral tradition is very, very important, and this is what African historians do and which Western historians often overlook. They look at their own written records.

They perhaps don't put enough attention on written records which have been given to us by the Arabs, for instance. The Arabs were in Africa much, much earlier than the Europeans from about the seventh century. And they had their chronicles, their travelers and so on. You've got other non-Western languages, Persian, Gujarati. So African scholars tend to look at these other sources.

They perhaps don't put enough attention on written records which have been given to us by the Arabs, for instance. The Arabs were in Africa much, much earlier than the Europeans from about the seventh century. And they had their chronicles, their travelers and so on. You've got other non-Western languages, Persian, Gujarati. So African scholars tend to look at these other sources.

They perhaps don't put enough attention on written records which have been given to us by the Arabs, for instance. The Arabs were in Africa much, much earlier than the Europeans from about the seventh century. And they had their chronicles, their travelers and so on. You've got other non-Western languages, Persian, Gujarati. So African scholars tend to look at these other sources.

but they also rely on oral tradition a great deal to piece together their early history, and that's often supported by archaeological evidence. If you say that, oh, Africans didn't always write and record their history, therefore they had no history, that, in my opinion, is very short-sighted, and that has often been the case.

but they also rely on oral tradition a great deal to piece together their early history, and that's often supported by archaeological evidence. If you say that, oh, Africans didn't always write and record their history, therefore they had no history, that, in my opinion, is very short-sighted, and that has often been the case.

but they also rely on oral tradition a great deal to piece together their early history, and that's often supported by archaeological evidence. If you say that, oh, Africans didn't always write and record their history, therefore they had no history, that, in my opinion, is very short-sighted, and that has often been the case.

And that is why I think Africa's history before the Europeans arrived has been denigrated because they say, oh, you know, they didn't write, they don't have any history. Of course, documentary evidence is important, but it doesn't mean to say that just because Africans didn't always write that they didn't record their history. You just have to get at it in different ways.

And that is why I think Africa's history before the Europeans arrived has been denigrated because they say, oh, you know, they didn't write, they don't have any history. Of course, documentary evidence is important, but it doesn't mean to say that just because Africans didn't always write that they didn't record their history. You just have to get at it in different ways.

And that is why I think Africa's history before the Europeans arrived has been denigrated because they say, oh, you know, they didn't write, they don't have any history. Of course, documentary evidence is important, but it doesn't mean to say that just because Africans didn't always write that they didn't record their history. You just have to get at it in different ways.

And that's what I liked about the African historians that I encountered. They... do, you know, that they are aware of how accounts of great deeds and actions and words of great leaders throughout history have been handed down through the generations. Because, you know, knowledge in Africa is held communally. Knowledge in the West is held by an individual.

And that's what I liked about the African historians that I encountered. They... do, you know, that they are aware of how accounts of great deeds and actions and words of great leaders throughout history have been handed down through the generations. Because, you know, knowledge in Africa is held communally. Knowledge in the West is held by an individual.

And that's what I liked about the African historians that I encountered. They... do, you know, that they are aware of how accounts of great deeds and actions and words of great leaders throughout history have been handed down through the generations. Because, you know, knowledge in Africa is held communally. Knowledge in the West is held by an individual.

But in Africa, you know, knowledge is communal. It's, you know, your great grandmother may be the custodian of certain tables about your people's history. And that's mirrored in countless communities, you know, across regions. And so that's a very important point to make. And what the African historians are saying is we're not supplanting what the Western historians have done.