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This chapter discusses the three topics: historical content of a testimony, its structure, and its meaning.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 record of historical facts, and those which do not. A varying degree of significance is attached to each tradition within the society in which it is handed down. The manner of testifying influences the contents of the testimony, if the informant is an individual, the testimony will reflect the tradition as it is interpreted by the informant. A criterion of classification used by A. Feder is whether the testimony is anonymous or not.

History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies