THE MILITARY SYSTEM OF BENIN KINGDOM, c.1440 - 1897

whole process.” 91 This view suggests that as oral tradition pass through a chain oftransmission, it probably risks a restructuring, and therefore, the process of transmission is asimportant as the product. On this ground, E. J. Alagoa points out that “both the historian andthe informant are important in the proper identification, appreciation and use of oraltraditions.” 92 Thus, the central epistemological complication that arises with the final productsof oral tradition is the manner in which the historian creates the facts of history from oral data.In other words, dealing with the problem of epistemology is significant in establishing arelation between the past and the present, and in particular, what the historian must seek out inthe representation of knowledge about precolonial Africa.From the enormous literature on African studies, there is no doubt that the impact oforal tradition has been great in the representation of historical knowledge about Africa.Jewsiewicki and Mudimbe have noted that no one would dare to propose now, as did somescholars in the middle of the twentieth century, that there might be an African past, but forlack of writing its past does not exist. 93 In their views, methodological developments ofAfrican historiography advanced the frontiers of knowledge, as a feeling of urgency pushedresearch towards the oldest tradition, for “every time one of the elders dies, a librarydisappears.” 94 There has therefore, been the need to always demonstrate, albeit scholarly, thatthe oral mode of conserving information guarantees its transmission and can just be as faithfulto facts as the written.The need to be empirical, particularly in establishing evidence and justifyinginterpretations, implies a differentiation between the concepts of tradition and individualknowledge. It is pertinent to point out that not all memory information is tradition nor can italso be claimed that individual knowledge constitutes tradition. Thus a knowledge of thevarious levels of oral traditions, and the modes of their transmission are quite significant forthe historian in examining the forms of the sources of knowledge about the past of a society,and how that knowledge has been produced. Bassey Andah suggests that “since thecommunication of oral (or even written) tradition takes place between individuals and withingroups formed by them, the researcher can only get authentic information of this transmissionthrough detailed analysis and in-depth study of the society.” 9591 ibid.92 E. J. Alagoa, “Introduction,” In: Tarikh (Oral Historical Traditions in Africa). Volume 8, 1987, p.1.93 B. Jewsiewicki and V. Y. Mudimbe, “Africans’ Memories and Contemporary History of Africa,” History andTheory (History Making in Africa), Beiheft 32, 1993, p.1.94 ibid., pp.2-3.95 Bassey Andah, “The Nature of African Oral Tradition,” Tarikh (Oral Historical Traditions in Africa). Volume8, 1987, p.11.30