Can We Add to The Work of Jan Vansina? Study of Oral Traditi

Professor Te Maire Tau, Pou Whakarae of the Ngāi Tahu Centre at the University of Canterbury, will give the opening lecture at the biennial conference of the National Oral History Association of New Zealand which is being held in conjunction with the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies, Te Herenga Waka | Victoria University of Wellington. He will be considering the legacy of Belgian historian & anthropologist Jan Vansina (1929-2017), his publication Oral Tradition. A Study in Historical Methodology (1965) and how it relates to the study of oral traditions in Aotearoa.

It was not so long ago that oral history lacked widespread respect and credibility within the Western historical discipline. Jan Vansina’s Oral Tradition as History was an important step in changing this, with his proposed model for the interpretation and categorisation of oral history based on his studies of peoples and traditions in Central Africa. When completing his master’s thesis on oral traditions, Te Maire Tau used this model with reference to Māori oral histories, while also incorporating David Simmons’ template for Māori myth. Subsequently there has been a huge growth in the merit and use of oral tradition in academia, which has begun to move forward into the study of Mātauranga Māori. However, recent misuse of oral traditions to make mistaken claims, including that Māori made voyages to Antarctica prior to European contact, means we must take careful stock of how our traditions and histories are used and interpreted. Professor Te Maire Tau considers the questions: Have we really learnt anything? What is the path forward for approaching our oral histories with both respect and rigour? The National Oral History Association of New Zealand was formed in 1986 to promote and practice and methods of oral history and to act as a co-ordinator of oral history activities throughout New Zealand.

Professor Tau is the Pou Whakarae of the Ngāi Tahu Centre at the University of Canterbury. He took up the Director position of the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre in 2011, having previously been a Senior Lecturer in History at the University. Te Maire belongs to Ngāi Tahu, the principal tribe of the South Island, and lives in Tuahiwi, the largest village of that tribe. Te Maire is the Ūpoko (Director) of Ngāi Tūāhuriri (the tribal group of the Tuahiwi region in Canterbury). As a specialist historian on oral traditions, tribal genealogies and indigenous knowledge systems, Te Maire was used as an expert witness and historian for the settlement of the Ngāi Tahu Claim - the largest settlement in its day between Māori and the Crown for lands wrongfully taken. Since then he has had a number of publications dealing with oral traditions and the relationship between indigenous knowledge systems and how they intersect with western science. Te Maire’s research interests include the philosophy
of knowledge, oral traditions, myth, indigenous development and history.