essay

Traditional recall and family histories: a commentary on mode and method

selected papers on a serbian village : social structure as reflected by history, demography and oral traditionAmherst, Mass. • Published In 1977 • Pages: 165-198

By: Halpern, Barbara, Halpern, Joel Martin, Foley, John Miles.

Abstract
In this document the Halperns attempt to analyze the degree of reliability of recall of individuals in regard to their collective pasts. The authors examine the role of oral transmission in everyday life, then discuss how the values of the narrator may condition the data being presented, and how this information, gathered from oral recall, match archival and other written records. Contrastive material is also presented here from a contemporary English village (Akenfield) where oral tradition exists in a more attenuated form than found in Orasac village. Using as an example an autobiographical text prepared by one of their informants, a detailed analysis is made to show how oral traditional history is perpetuated in the course of transition to writing.
Subjects
Life history materials
Traditional history
Literary texts
Lineages
culture
Serbs
HRAF PubDate
1997
Region
Europe
Sub Region
Southeastern Europe
Document Type
essay
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 1996
Field Date
1953-1966
Coverage Date
1953-1966
Coverage Place
Orasac Village, Serbia and Montenegro
Notes
by Barbara Kerewsky Halpern, Joel M. Halpern and John Miles Foley
Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-191)
LCCN
sf80001606
LCSH
Serbs