by Joseph Iyo

The theory and practice of oral historical research is not new in the academia. However, in the Belize case study, not much has been done towards employing this very important tool in the reconstruction of African Belizean past. Arguably, anthropologists, ethnographers, and ethnohistorians among others, have produced volumes based on the ethnographic present. The methodology proposed here is based on a twelve month preliminary investigation. I argue in this paper that, the early Africans who were brought in Belize were preliterate, and the only way the could have passed on information regarding their way of life was through the spoken word-oral tradition. This paper, therefore, proposes some tentative guidelines for the would-be exploiter of this method.

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Iyo, J. (1996). “Using oral traditions as a research method of studying Belizean African heritage: a proposal.” UCB Journal of Belizean Affairs 1(10th Anniversary Inaugural ).

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https://www.academia.edu/18996353/Using_Oral_Traditions_as_a_research_method_of_studying_Belizean_African_Heritage_A_Proposal