H M Wright
Biographic Data
| ID | 300953 |
|---|---|
| NAME | H M Wright |
| GIVEN NAMES | H M |
| FAMILY NAME | Wright |
| SIGNATURE | WRIGHT H M |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 69 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1964 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Oral Tradition and Historical Methodology
Oral traditions are historical sources of a special nature. Their special nature derives from the fact that they are &s;unwritten&s; sources couched in a form suitable for oral transmission, and that their preservation depends on the powers of memory of successive generations of human beings. Ethnologists who have attempted to study the past of peoples without writing have been faced with the problem of how much worth to attach to oral tradition.…
The Interpretation of History
Interpretation is a choice between several possible hypotheses, and the good historian is the one who chooses the hypothesis that is most likely to be true. In practice it can never have more than a likelihood of truth, because the past has gone for good and all, and the possibility of first-hand observation of past events is forever excluded. The layman is too often inclined to entertain a completely false idea as to the powers of the historian,…
Tradition as a Chain of Testimonies
This chapter focuses on the special nature of oral tradition. It is differentiated from other kinds of historical source by being a chain of testimonies. The chapter deals with the three problems: the relation between each testimony and the tradition as a whole, the methods of transmission, and the kind of distortions that may arise in the course of transmission. Verbality is a quality which the testimonies belonging to an oral tradition share wi…
The Evaluation of Testimonies
The value of a testimony is always a relative matter, depending upon the extent to which the account it gives of a historical event, or a series of historical events, is reliable or not. The value of the testimonies of the informants in the chain of transmission, one must make sure that each has had the opportunity of hearing the testimony of the preceding link in the chain which he is supposed to have repeated. Comparison of testimonies will est…
The Testimony as a Mirage of Reality
Testimony is no more than a mirage of the reality it describes. The initial informant in an oral tradition gives, either consciously or unconsciously, a distorted account of what has really happened, and places his own interpretation on what he has seen. This chapter analyses three factors: distortions made in defence of private interests, distortions made under the influence of cultural values, and distortions due to the individual psychology of…
Historical Knowledge
This chapter explores the typology of traditional sources and the characteristics of each type and explains the characteristics of oral tradition in general and discusses the scientific disciplines which the historian can use as an auxiliary aid to enable him to go beyond the limitations inherent in oral traditions. These scientific disciplines have their own bias and their own limitations, but they are of a very different order from those of ora…
Understanding the Testimony
This chapter discusses the three topics: historical content of a testimony, its structure, and its meaning. Knowledge of both the literal meaning and the purport of the text of a testimony make it possible to arrive at an accurate understanding of its overall meaning. The most important distinction to be established among the various types of oral tradition is that between testimonies which do, whether intentionally or unintentionally, produce a …
Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology
Oral traditions are historical sources of a special nature. Their special nature derives from the fact that they are ""unwritten"" sources couched in a form suitable for oral transmission, and that their preservation depends on the powers of memory of successive generations of human beings. In many parts of the world inhabited by peoples without writing, oral tradition forms the main available source for a reconstruction of the past. Do the speci…
The Making of South-East Asia
Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276
The Making of South East Asia
Oral Tradition. A Study in Historical Methodology
The Making of South East Asia
Women of Tropical Africa
Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology
Oral traditions are historical sources of a special nature. Their special nature derives from the fact that they are ""unwritten"" sources couched in a form suitable for oral transmission, and that their preservation depends on the powers of memory of successive generations of human beings. In many parts of the world inhabited by peoples without writing, oral tradition forms the main available source for a reconstruction of the past. Do the speci…
Women of Tropical Africa
The Making of South East Asia
Oral Tradition. A Study in Historical Methodology
The Making of South East Asia
Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276
The Making of South-East Asia
Oral Tradition and Historical Methodology
Oral traditions are historical sources of a special nature. Their special nature derives from the fact that they are &s;unwritten&s; sources couched in a form suitable for oral transmission, and that their preservation depends on the powers of memory of successive generations of human beings. Ethnologists who have attempted to study the past of peoples without writing have been faced with the problem of how much worth to attach to oral tradition.…
The Interpretation of History
Interpretation is a choice between several possible hypotheses, and the good historian is the one who chooses the hypothesis that is most likely to be true. In practice it can never have more than a likelihood of truth, because the past has gone for good and all, and the possibility of first-hand observation of past events is forever excluded. The layman is too often inclined to entertain a completely false idea as to the powers of the historian,…
Tradition as a Chain of Testimonies
This chapter focuses on the special nature of oral tradition. It is differentiated from other kinds of historical source by being a chain of testimonies. The chapter deals with the three problems: the relation between each testimony and the tradition as a whole, the methods of transmission, and the kind of distortions that may arise in the course of transmission. Verbality is a quality which the testimonies belonging to an oral tradition share wi…
The Evaluation of Testimonies
The value of a testimony is always a relative matter, depending upon the extent to which the account it gives of a historical event, or a series of historical events, is reliable or not. The value of the testimonies of the informants in the chain of transmission, one must make sure that each has had the opportunity of hearing the testimony of the preceding link in the chain which he is supposed to have repeated. Comparison of testimonies will est…
The Testimony as a Mirage of Reality
Testimony is no more than a mirage of the reality it describes. The initial informant in an oral tradition gives, either consciously or unconsciously, a distorted account of what has really happened, and places his own interpretation on what he has seen. This chapter analyses three factors: distortions made in defence of private interests, distortions made under the influence of cultural values, and distortions due to the individual psychology of…
Historical Knowledge
This chapter explores the typology of traditional sources and the characteristics of each type and explains the characteristics of oral tradition in general and discusses the scientific disciplines which the historian can use as an auxiliary aid to enable him to go beyond the limitations inherent in oral traditions. These scientific disciplines have their own bias and their own limitations, but they are of a very different order from those of ora…
Understanding the Testimony
This chapter discusses the three topics: historical content of a testimony, its structure, and its meaning. Knowledge of both the literal meaning and the purport of the text of a testimony make it possible to arrive at an accurate understanding of its overall meaning. The most important distinction to be established among the various types of oral tradition is that between testimonies which do, whether intentionally or unintentionally, produce a …
Oral Tradition: A Study in Historical Methodology
Oral traditions are historical sources of a special nature. Their special nature derives from the fact that they are ""unwritten"" sources couched in a form suitable for oral transmission, and that their preservation depends on the powers of memory of successive generations of human beings. In many parts of the world inhabited by peoples without writing, oral tradition forms the main available source for a reconstruction of the past. Do the speci…
History (11 works) · Geography (7 works) · Archaeology (4 works) · China (4 works) · Ancient history (3 works) · East Asia (3 works) · Philosophy (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies (3 works) · Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography (2 works)